May 5, 2001

Perform an MSDE database backup through Transact-SQL

The MSDE database engine is 100% compatible with SQL Server and subject to the same license policy of the Jet engine. One of the fundamental differences between MSDE and SQL Server is the lack of any graphical tool for the administration. Many users take advantage of Access 2000 as administrative

Enumerate the users’ rights on a DB’s objects

SQL Server provides several security levels, and the control that the system administrators can pursue over the DB’s objects is extremely accurate. It’s often useful to know which rights each user has. As you might know already, a lot of administrative SQL Server tasks can be performed through the proper

How to perform a distributed query using a linked server on SQL Server

One of the neatest features in SQL Server 7 and later versions is the capability to query external data sources through their OLE DB providers, in other words behaving exactly as an ordinary OLE DB data consumer. Queries performed in this way are known as distributed queries and can be

Manage the SQL Server date format with SQL DMO

If you haven’t localized SQL Server for your language, the default date format is the American one: DD/MM/YY. You may need to display a date in different formats, and you can solve this problem with the help of SQL DMO. A possible solution is using the T-SQL CONVERT() function to

Advanced Lock Monitoring

In order to assist continuous and effective monitoring of lock status, SQL Server offers the system stored procedure SP_LOCK, which can provide several useful pieces of information on how locks are set and removed.However, using this information – such as process ID, database ID, and object ID – to determine

Restore the SQL Server master database

Restoring a corrupted master database is one of the most difficult tasks you may have to deal with. If this catastrophic event happens, here’s how to proceed. First, you need to rebuild the master database. Details on this operation depend on the SQL Server version you run. With SQL Server