How to change password of SA login using Management Studio: log in with Windows Authentication, open the SA login properties, set the new password and test it.
SQL SERVER – Difference Between Quality Assurance and Quality Control – QA vs QC
A Tea Time chat at our India office turned into a debate on Quality Assurance vs Quality Control. Here is a simple way to tell QA and QC apart.
Writing Tests for Stored Procedures
Write tests for stored procedures with arrange, act, and assert steps in T-SQL, isolated data, and a repeatable check before every change.
SQL SERVER – TRUNCATE Can’t be Rolled Back Using Log Files After Transaction Session Is Closed
Can TRUNCATE be rolled back? Inside an open transaction yes, but once the session is closed TRUNCATE can’t be rolled back using log files, while DELETE can.
SQL SERVER – Mirrored Backup Introduction and Explanation
SQL Server 2005 Enterprise and Developer editions support mirrored backup: one BACKUP DATABASE command with MIRROR TO writes the same backup to two places.
SQL SERVER – Delete Duplicate Records – Count Duplicate Records Links
Two of my articles on managing duplicate rows: how to count duplicate records and how to delete duplicate records in SQL Server tables.
EXP and LOG: Read Approximate Inverse Calculations
EXP and LOG can undo each other mathematically, but their SQL float calculations remain approximate. Keep a deliberate display scale and test only the permitted logarithm domain.
Setting Up Database Mail for Alerts
Setting up Database Mail for alerts means creating an account and profile, testing delivery, linking Agent, and checking the queue when mail stops.
Check Constraints That Enforce Business Rules
Check constraints keep row rules inside SQL Server, but NULL behavior and trusted status determine how much protection they provide.
SQL SERVER – 2008 – New DataTypes DATE and TIME
SQL Server 2008 adds separate DATE and TIME datatypes, something DBAs wanted for years. I compare them with the SQL Server 2005 way of using DATETIME.