Jeff,

Brilliant solution.......is there a way to perform similar set-based magic in select statements - without using a temp table or joining to a counter table - I can't tell you...

Greg,

The query failed when I tried to run it agaist one of our smaller client DBs -

Server: Msg 510, Level 16, State 2, Line 1

Cannot create a worktable row...

I know you are looking for a free tool - but SQL Compare is still worth serious consideration - the cost is nominal and the product is fast and reliable. ...

Steve,

Sorry but I don't know - the servers are all outsourced to a large third-party - fortunately I have been able to at least retain sa rights on DEV and...

Rudy,

Question - why are you recommending 10K disks for data and 15K for logs - we upgraded our data disks to 15K and noticed a substantial performance increase?

Regards,

Harley

Peter,

Great idea - I did notice that it doesn't catch those instances where there is more than 1 consecutive number misssing in the sequence.

-- prepare test data

declare @bill table...

SQL Compare from Red Gate - fast and very easy to use!

I have used the Redgate and Embaradero tools - the functionality was similar but I was very impressed with the speed of the Redgate tool - it ran a compare on...

Dave,

The application I inherited is very much the same - views referencing views which are built on more views - the typical view joins together 20 tables when you drill all...

When I try to run this query I get the following error:

Server: Msg 195, Level 15, State 10, Line 1

'SCHEMA_NAME' is not a recognized function name.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Harley

Here is a list of the counters we monitor - we collect the data every 5 minutes to a spreadsheet - as you watch them over...

The results don't agree???  One query says SP3 - the other SP4???  We appear to be a level in between the levels noted in the chart that was posted:

RTM                                ...

Thanks for all the well-considered responses - a lot of ideas to digest.

Regards,

Harley

Thanks for all of the thoughful responses......

In answer to some of the the thoughts,

>Statistics are updated nightly based on 20% selection. 

>We just ran dbcc reindex on all the tables...

Andrew,

Thanks for the response and the links!

Harley