Here's a sample.  Make sure to use CAPS on the 4-part section.

select TOP 5 * from LINKEDSERVERNAME..SCHEMA.TABLE

You may want to try a different OLE DB driver for Oracle.  There may be a problem if the Oracle database is an old version and the driver is a newer...

Not sure if this will work or not, but you could give it a try.  Create an Alias in the Client Network Utility on the server and then use it...

I was at a SQL Server conference lately and this was briefly explained.  Even though the snapshot appears to take up 50 GB, it physically only takes up the amount...

You can also try using the 4-part naming convention.  Make sure the Oracle schema and object names are in caps.

"select * from LinkedServerName..ORACLESCHEMA.TABLENAME"

I think automating all backups would be better than having the Help Desk do them.  Less room for errors or problems.

You said you always check processes before killing them.  Does...

Personally, I wouldn't let the "Help Desk" be able to do either.  I guess the backup might be ok if you have a procedure for them, but again I wouldn't.  What...

The only time I see that error is when our tape backup is running on a disk file that SQL Server is trying to write a backup to.  I usually...

Our database is only 160 GB but it takes 1.5 hrs to back up, 5.5 hrs to copy the backup to the secondary, 2 hrs to restore plus the time...

See KB article 307336.  Looks like you'd have to rebuild the Cluster.

I checked SQL 2005 BOL and the procedures still exist with this warning:

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 supports the following system stored procedures that are used to set up core maintenance tasks...

I agree with splitting up the tables to be defragged on different days on a VLDB.  I've tried the above defrag script on a large database and it runs a...

No, snapshots aren't available in standard edition.  See "SQL Server 2005 Database Engine Features" in BOL.  I personally don't like the idea of setting up database mirroring and then a snapshot...

You can't use AWE with the Standard Edition.  Taken from "Using AWE" in 2005 BOL:

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition uses the Microsoft Windows Address Windowing Extensions (AWE) API to...

If you plan on switching the recovery mode you can't use Log Shipping because it will break it.  Been there 🙂