---

[Features]

---

Don't Be Afraid of BLOBs and CLOBs
With SQL Server 2005's three new LOB data types and CLR functionality, you can easily compress and decompress large amounts of data.
 — Yoel Martinez


Excel 2007's Powerful PivotTables
Microsoft Excel 2007 PivotTables give you more ways than ever to analyze and present data from SQL Server Analysis Services 2005 OLAP cubes.
 — Tyler Chessman


Moving Cubes from Analysis Services 2000 to 2005
Deciding to upgrade from Analysis Services 2000 to 2005 might be a no-brainer, but figuring out how to move your cubes can be a more complicated process. Here are some key concepts to help you decide whether to migrate or rebuild your cubes.
 — Erin Welker

---

[Editorial]

---

BI: Pass the Status Quo
BI is definitely not just Microsoft hype. The value in BI technologies is how they help businesses obtain more information from their data.
 — Michael Otey

---

[Reader Challenge]

---

Change the Status of Table Items

 — Umachandar Jayachandran

---

[Reader to Reader]

---

A Quick and Easy Way to View Errorlog Files
Using sp_ShowErrors to view SQL Server errorlog files is time-saving alternative to manually reviewing them in Enterprise Manager.
 — Bill McEvoy


Procedure Helps Pinpoint Problematic Processes
Here's a stored procedure that displays all the T-SQL statements currently being executed along with the IDs of the processes running those statements.
 — Eli Leiba


UDF Eliminates Concatenation Woes
If you often need to provide multiple values in a variable but find the 8,000-character limit too restrictive, give dbo.fn_AddToBuffer a try.
 — Readers

---

[Inside SQL Server]

---

Use Missing-Index Groups for Query Tuning
Identify and implement missing-index groups to tune your queries, and use SQL Server 2005's XML Showplan output feature to examine detailed missing-index information.
 — Kalen Delaney

---

[T-SQL Black Belt]

---

DATETIME Calculations, Part 3
This third part of a series about datetime challenges and calculations focuses on techniques for calculating the date of the last/next occurrences of a weekday that correspond to a given event date.
 — Itzik Ben-Gan

---

[Letters]

---

Letters to the Editor

 — Readers , et al.

---

[New Products]

---

New Products

 — Blake Eno

---

[SELECT TOP(X)]

---

Size Up Team Data
Before you buy Visual Studio Team Edition for Database Professionals, get more information about it with these 5 resources, including blogs, a forum, and a trial version for downloading.
 — Michael Otey

---

[Tool Time with Kevin Kline]

---

Analysis Services Samples
The SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services samples perform functions that aren’t otherwise available in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) or the SQL Server Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS). Here are several that you should add to your toolkit.
 — Kevin Kline

---

[Review]

---

SQL Server Performance Monitoring and Management Tools
Both Idera's SQL diagnostic manager and Quest Software's Spolight on SQL Server Enterprise can help you quickly detect and diagnose problems with your SQL servers.
 — John Green

---

[Cover Story]

---

10 Steps to SQL Server 2005 Security
Apply protection at the perimeter, network, host, application, data, and physical environment layers of your database installation.
 — John Howie