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[Focus]

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Buried Treasure in Your Backyard
With SQL Server 2005 still on the distant horizon, how can you get the most out of your SQL Server 2000 system today? Dig into these seven valuable and often overlooked features.
 — Brian Lawton


Materialize Your Views
Everyone knows how views can bring information together and how they can drag down query performance. But materialized, or indexed, views--when used with care--can give your transactional database a big query-performance boost.
 — Michelle A. Poolet

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[Features]

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MDX(-Ray) of Excel
Navigating OLAP cube data sometimes requires that you know MDX, but learning the syntax can be challenging. Logging MDX statements that Microsoft Excel generates is an easy way to collect example MDX statements so that you can learn how they work.
 — John Lynn

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[SQL Server Savvy]

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Exploring the Auto Update Statistics Option
Want to know how often SQL Server runs the auto update statistics option, or if the update has a negative effect on performance? Here's the answer...
 — Brian Moran


Performing Usage-Based Costing
Brian Moran presents some insights from SQL Server MVP, Linchi Shea, about usage-based costing tools and SQL Server.
 — Brian Moran


Testing for Job Execution Status
Find out how to create an SQL batch to programmatically test whether SQL Server Agent is running a job.
 — Brian Moran


The sp_reset_connection Procedure
The sp_reset_connection procedure runs when the OLE DB (or ODBC) connection pool grabs a connection that’s been released to the pool but is still active on SQL Server.
 — Brian Moran


Turn Off AUTO_CLOSE
You can enable or disable the AUTO_CLOSE option by using the ALTER DATABASE command.
 — Brian Moran

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[Editorial]

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The 80/20 Rule
In the software realm, the first 20 percent of the work produces 80 percent of the project, but the remaining 20 percent of the project takes 80 percent of the overall project’s time.
 — Michael Otey

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[Inside SQL Server]

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Inside Search Arguments
Constructing useful search arguments can be tricky, but when you do it right, you can help the optimizer help your queries.
 — Kalen Delaney

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[Solutions by Design]

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Recursive Relationships
Supporting a bill-of-materials is a common but complex task. With careful modeling and an understanding of recursive relationships, you can avoid the redundancy and update problems that often occur in a database that supports this architecture.
 — Michelle A. Poolet

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[T-SQL Black Belt]

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Cycling with CTEs
Recursive CTEs let you use short, efficient code to manipulate single and multi-parent hierarchies. With a bit of sophistication, you can even provide solutions to the toughest hierarchical problems—detecting cycles and sorting siblings.
 — Itzik Ben-Gan

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[Exploring XML]

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Enhanced FOR XML
There’s more to Yukon’s XML improvements than just the XML data type. The new TYPE directive makes your FOR XML queries more powerful, flexible, and efficient.
 — Rich Rollman

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[New Products]

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New Products, June 2004
Check out the latest SQL Server-related new and improved products.
 — Dawn Cyr

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[SELECT TOP(X)]

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Heterogeneous Management Tools
SQL Server’s built-in management tools are powerful, but they have limitations. However, third party tools can make up the difference. Here are three heterogeneous management tools to manage SQL Server, Oracle, and DB2 databases.
 — Michael Otey