(Ralph Clark) Here’s a diagnostic table and stored procedure to track the fragmentation of large tables within databases. The user passes the database name and the table name as parameters to the SP. The SP can be set up to run as a scheduled job every few hours to produce a historical trend of frag

This article describes the Microsoft SQL Server edition of the Microsoft Product Support (MPS) Reporting tool (MPSRPT_SQL.exe). The article also describes how to download, install, and use the Microsoft SQL Server edition of the MPS Reporting tool.

This step-by-step article describes how to move a database diagram that was created in SQL Server Enterprise Manager. Database diagrams are contained in the dtproperties system table of the database.

(Scot J. Reagin) If you’re like many IT professionals, designing and managing reports isn’t likely to make your list of “top 10 ways I’d like to spend my day.” The continuous maintenance and modification tasks inherent in reporting can be a significant strain on already stretched resources, and y

(Dinesh Asanka) How often have we seen password is saved in plain text? After doing all kinds of security arrangements still we keep the password in plain text. This short article will discuss about how to keep the passwords in somewhat secure way. (R)

(Calvin Luttrell) If you’ve ever found yourself scratching your head, wondering how to queue a message from MS SQL Server, then you might find yourself writing your own plumbing. (Microsoft will most certainly be dealing with this boggle in future version). And I don’t know how your boss operates, b

(Darren Green) There is a known issue where DTS truncates delimited columns at 255 characters when exporting to a text file. The problem is not with the DataPump itself, it is due to the default properties of text file connection provider as used within the DTS designer and the Import/Export wizard.

(Brian Moran) I often send query results to users through email or copy the results to Microsoft Word documents. Query Analyzer in text mode provides headings for the query results, but the headings don’t copy and display well in Microsoft Excel or email. I can use Query Analyzer’s output-file optio

(Roman Rehak) Developers love database programming tips, tricks, and workarounds—especially those that slash development time or boost application performance. Here’s a collection of such nuggets for developing SQL Server applications.

To view, edit, protect, schedule, and run Data Transformation Services (DTS) packages on your network, you need to understand issues that affect package access, permissions, and connections.