Designers of document storage and mgmt apps (with large document objects) had to decide where to store the objects. These included document management systems like LiveLink, and more recentlySharepointt....

A covering index just means that the query does not have to go to the table for any attribute values. The attributes can either be part of the index, or...

yea, the string functions in T-SQL are not vast, but if you work them, they can do the trick.

Agree with Steve, there is almost no reason not to have a witness. You can use the express version, so cost is not an issue. There should be...

It sounds like you have total freedom to explore all roads to meet your needs, but if your company has paid for Crystal, you may want to take some time...

Like all aspects of a database, or development for that matter, views have +/-'s . learn all aspects of the database so you can use them wisely

The amazing thing is that normalization is really simple and straight forward. 4th normal form can get a bit much, but other than that, it all makes sense. ...

And don't forget to test the backups

Unfortunately, this is not a topic that can be quickly addressed in a forum. But if you use SSIS (its part of SQL Server) you can automate the process to...

Use SSIS. Then you can automate the process to move a copy of your database backup from prod to where ever. If the backup is zipped, or if you...

Interesting. So is filepath a declared user variable?

I'm dynamically building the Filespec via expression, since I already know what the file name should be, if it exists. I...

They Do Not have to be similar.

Mirroring is totally independent of the physical setup.

The load on the mirror is only about 20% or less as the load on...

A quick way to remember Boyce-Codd normal form, which is the typical end point (its a little past 3nF) is with this saying:

An attribute should be dependent on the key,...

Reveiwing a database schema absent any business requirements is difficult, perhaps impossible. Start with the business requirements.

With the progression of the database/object abstration tools like MyGeneration/DooDads/EntitySpace/Hibernate, views offer the DBA/SQL developer the ability to pre-design application queries that can then be used easily by the development...