I'm catching back up on the TechNet webcasts

I found interesting from April. Most are during the day and with

meetings and the like I don't have the ability to watch a given webcast

live. For instance, the SQL Server 2005 Security overview webcast was

from the beginning of April and I missed it when it was first shown.

However, it's available on-demand at the following location:

TechNet Webcast: SQL Server 2005 Security Overview (Level 200)

The presenter is Rob Walters, a PM at Microsoft. After viewing it, I

felt it was a good introduction to SQL Server 2005 security changes.

There was light coverage of the SQL Server Surface Area Configuration

tool and the concept of endpoints. Login authentication, especially

password policy coverage, was also light. There was more coverage on

user-schema separation and encryption, at least enough to get most

developers started exploring these new features. The webcast also

covered auditing using Profiler and the example given was being able to

audit a database creation event specifically. Again, light coverage,

but if you're not familiar with the new audit events, it serves as a

nice introduction.

There is a 300 level webcast available on SQL Server Security which

I'll be taking a look at in the next few days. Once I've gone through

it I'll post my thoughts on the blog.