Brad,

Quite a suscinct presentation and IMHO is a great starter set for those begining their DBA responsibilities.

In 'class' #4 you mention a #5 in the offing....

Your post here (tongue in cheek) is very funny!

If I were some years closer to retirement, I'd be considering this offer. It...

Hey Jeff,

  Yes I know this description of this function's capabilities is not found in BOL. I discovered it's 'hidden feature' after testing (my) conclusions that I drew from reading what...

Exactamundo Antares! 

And!... this marvelous function (DATALENGTH) also returns the defined length of your table's columns. This has proved very handy in ETL work.

Hi all.

Has anyone considered using the following?

SELECT RIGHT(space(DATALENGTH("column name")) + "column name", DATALENGTH("column name"))

from "table name"

Um, replace "column name" and "table name" with...

Andy,

  Nice presentation with the screen shots. The caveats and advice you offer at each step is what really makes your article most valuable. I also administer just a few...

Hi! Yes, I've installed and run it on several 2K databases with nothing but helpful suggestions. I'd reccommend it without reserve.

If you'd like a lightning fast solution, try this:

SELECT count(distinct( BINARY_CHECKSUM(*))) FROM TableName