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[Focus]

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Synchronizing on Demand
Transactional replication helps maintain data availability, but if data becomes unsynchronized, you might not be able to quickly synchronize by using conventional techniques. You can synchronize selected data on the fly--without disrupting business.
 — Gary Zaika

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[Features]

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Fast Cache, Fresh Data
To avoid stale data in your Web applications' cache, try this trigger-based solution.
 — Tim McCarthy


XML for Analysis: Marrying OLAP and Web Services
Learn to use XML for Analysis to build an analytic application for any device, language, or platform that supports XML.
 — Rob Ericsson

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[SQL Server Savvy]

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Foreign Key Constraints (Without NOCHECK) Boost Performance and Data Integrity
Here are two examples of using foreign key constraints to improve performance.
 — Brian Moran


Stopping a Stubborn Trace
Learn how to disable C2 auditing to stop a constant SQL Server Profiler trace.
 — Brian Moran

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[Editorial]

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XP SP2 and SQL Server
The question for SQL Server customers isn't whether to apply Windows XP SP2 but how to do so effectively.
 — Michael Otey

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[Inside SQL Server]

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Get Into Index Structures
Grab your tools and get at the root of indexes' b-tree structure. The information you find can help you make your queries faster than ever.
 — Kalen Delaney

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[Solutions by Design]

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Design Testing with Questions and Views
Short timelines and limited budgets often force designers to forgo formal design testing. But you can use this question-and-view technique to integrate testing during your design creation.
 — Michelle A. Poolet

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[T-SQL Black Belt]

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Accumulating Aggregations
These five examples show you how to query aggregated data over time.
 — Itzik Ben-Gan

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[New Products]

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

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[SELECT TOP(X)]

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SQL Server 2005 Express
The newest MSDE debuts as SQL Server 2005 Express--a free, powerful, relational database engine. Here are SQL Server 2005 Express's six best new features.
 — Michael Otey

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[Ask Microsoft]

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Archiving User Activity
Microsoft's Patrick Conlan shares the best way to retrieve data from an active archive database and an inactive archive database.
 — Microsoft's SQL Server Development Team


Changing a Column's Data Type
Microsoft's Patrick Conlan describes how to change a column's data type from numeric to float with the least impact on data availability.
 — Microsoft's SQL Server Development Team


Explaining UserOrAlias Values
Microsoft's Gert Drapers tells readers what the UserOrAlias column's values mean.
 — Microsoft's SQL Server Development Team


Identifying a Database's Files, Filegroups
Microsoft's Richard Waymire explains how to use sp_helpdb to identify files and filegroups.
 — Microsoft's SQL Server Development Team