in addition to the above, do you have a sql 2008r2 server you can restore the backup to to rule out version difference being the problem?

oh sorry! you can try and set up linked servers from the remote sql instances to make sure you can connect successfully. then query the instance through those linked servers.

because iacceptsqllicense terms will need to be true

if you fire up a new trace and use the login audit template, this will trace just connections. then in the hostname field you will see the source of the...

sqlbill's method is a bit of a quicker route, which i'll probably use in future! but effectively uses the same tool.

hi you should have 'import and export data' tool installed on your machine if you installed management studio complete. you will find it under start > programs > sql 2008(r2)...

why don't you import the excel spreadsheet into sql, then you can write and execute a query referencing the two tables with a join.

give it a try. create a new database and see if it is backed up automatically.

can't see the image but why don't you just write it into the query like

select

cola

,colb

,cola-b "variance"

from table

then create the report from that data set?

are you doing this using the gui or via the cmd prompt?

Can become an issue if its writing many times and filling up error log for no reason.

Yeah, I wouldn't expect backup jobs to hammer the cpu, is there anything else running on the server other than the SQL instance? Any applications?

What about any index maintenance jobs,...

sqljobvis is a really good free tool that gives you a graphical view of jobs and their running times on the sql server. worth a look.

http://www.sqlsoft.co.uk/sqljobvis.php

What recovery model is the database in? if full set to bulk logged for the bulk insert operation. Are there any unused indexes on the table? get rid of them....

Any scheduled jobs running at the time?