SQLCAT members have published several tools on Codeplex and other places. They are all consolidated here at SQLCAT.com. http://sqlcat.com/toolbox/default.aspx

As anyone working with partitioned tables knows by now, the process of creating stand-alone ‘staging’ tables to support switching  data into or out of a partition can be a management challenge, especially if the design of the partition table or its indices change over time.   A staging table for new data to be switched-in must ...

The database system in a company that is growing internationally must support multilingual characters in tables with Unicode data types. Existing databases that support only non-Unicode information must be migrated from non-Unicode data type to Unicode data type. This paper summarizes best practices for migrating database systems from non-Unicode ...

It's a new year and, with it, we come bearing gifts! We have a pretty significant update to SQL Server 2005 Best Practices Analyzer. It contains many new and updated rules for Analysis Services, a few important rules for the Relational Engine, a couple bug fixes for the UI and command line tools. And all of these rules have rich documentation ...

Scale-Out Querying with Analysis Services Using SAN Snapshots

If you are view the XMLA script that is generated for an Analysis Services database, you will notice that there are both ID and NAME attributes.  The reason Analysis Services has this differentiation is so one could rename an Olap database (which you could not do officially within Analysis Services 2000). Database name defaults ...

Author: Bren Newman Introduction When using Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Transactional Replication, the Log Reader Agent reads the log, constructs SQL statements for published articles and posts it to the Distribution database; the Distribution Agent reads the Distribution database, delivers and applies the ''package'' to the Subscriber. Often the ...

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sql/bestpractice/default.mspx Get the real-world guidelines, expert tips, and rock-solid guidance to take your SQL Server implementation to the next level. Drawing on the extensive experience and expertise from respected developers and engineers at Microsoft as they walk you through the specifics on ...

SQLCAT Blog:  Managing Schema Changes (Part 2)   Question: What are best practices for managing schema changes in SQL Server 2005?  What are the fastest, least intrusive techniques for high availability?    Answer:  In Part 1, we outlined the behavior of SQL Server 2005 schema changes.  In Part 2, we will ...

Question: What are best practices for managing schema changes in SQL Server 2005?  What are the fastest, least intrusive techniques for high availability?   Answer: A common requirement as business requirements evolve over time is managing schema changes.  While SQL Server 2005 supports the changing of schema (e.g. adding columns ...