Well, Friday brought another flood of great questions from everyone as we moved our way through many of the new 2005 tools. The one thing that I really wanted to stress was that *many* SQL Server 2005 tools (SQLCMD, SSMS and SQL Profiler) offer important features that can be leveraged today, even if your primary production servers are still SQL Server 2000. I did move through the tools quickly and showed quite a few new features; there are a lot of excellent resources to help you dive in deeper now that you're interested, ready and know some of the rewards of starting now. Here are a few of those resources:
- My Blog entry: SQL Server 2005 Tools – Resources to Effectively use SQLCMD this includes a few additional links but most importantly, links to the TechNet webcast: Scripting in SQL Server 2005, by Michiel Wories.
- TechNet webcast: Manage SQL Server 2005 Using Command Line Tools and the SQLCMD Utility by Ramesh Singh.
- TechNet Webcast: Administration Tools
- TechNet Webcsat: Monitoring Tools
- And – checkout the large number of related "on-demand" webcasts here: http://www.microsoft.com/events/series/technetsqlserver2005.mspx
For deleting old database backup history, there are a couple of stored procedures in msdb that can be used:
- sp_delete_backup_and_restore_history
- sp_delete_backuphistory
- sp_delete_database_backuphistory
For cycling errorlogs, use: sp_cycle_errorlog.
And – lots of other questions that I primarily answered online in the last 40+ minutes. We had a great group and I hope everyone had fun. For the second half+ of the series we're going to focus on architectures and solutions – mostly related to disaster recovery and avoidance. However, the next part of the series is going to branch into a new (and *very* interesting) area of SQL Server 2005 – Service Broker. There are many impacts of Service Broker on the SQL Server system AND you might find a few applications of the technology within your own application as well. Have a great time with Bob for part 6 and I'll be back for part 7 next Friday.
See you soon!
kt