---

[Focus]

---

Top 9 Analysis Services Tips
Some of these tips might sound unconventional, but they work! And who knows, one of them might just save your latest project.
 — Tom Chester


Unearthing Patterns
A geological data-analysis project shows that whatever the size of your data set, SQL Server 2000's data mining capabilities can save you time and effort.
 — Gregory B. Meyer , et al.

---

[Lab Reports]

---

Log Explorer 3.03
Lumigent Technologies' Log Explorer lets you recover transaction log data, often while the system is running—-and you can select exactly the transactions you want to restore.
 — Ron Talmage

---

[SQL Server Savvy]

---

Don't Skimp on Password Security
Using a long, complex password might seem like more touble than it's worth, but it does make your system more secure.
 — Brian Moran


Sorting in Non-Standard Ways
Here's a way to use the flexible ORDER BY clause to sort data in a non-standard order.
 — Brian Moran


Turn to Profiler First
Running SQL Server Profiler lets you quickly view the commands that Enterprise Manager generates, which you can use in your own applications.
 — Brian Moran

---

[Editorial]

---

Keeping Up with Web Releases
Microsoft offers a lot of functionality as free downloads, including the latest SQL Server 2000 XML functionality. If you ignore these updates, you're leaving money on the table.
 — Michael Otey

---

[Reader to Reader]

---

Finding Foreign Key Candidates
If you've inherited someone else's database, you might be frustrated as you try to clean the data and create foreign keys. Here are some techniques that can make the process easier.
 — Readers

---

[SQL Seven]

---

Starting SQL Server
Mike Otey shows you seven methods you can use to start SQL Server.
 — Michael Otey

---

[Inside SQL Server]

---

Off the Record
How do you decide whether to store large data objects in the table or separately? Here are some pointers.
 — Kalen Delaney

---

[Mastering Analysis]

---

Customizing Dimension Security
When you want to secure selected data, you have options other than Analysis Services. Here's a customized, flexible way to manage dimension-level security.
 — Russ Whitney

---

[Solutions by Design]

---

Indexing Dos and Don’ts
Indexing can be a double-edged sword—you can improve performance or hinder it. Consider these nine important points as you develop your indexing strategies.
 — Michelle A. Poolet

---

[T-SQL Black Belt]

---

No Table? No Problem
When you need to perform calculations that don’t necessarily involve accessing data that's stored in tables, take the logical path to a solution.
 — Itzik Ben-Gan

---

[Answers from Microsoft]

---

Determining a Stored Procedure's Execution Status
Wrapping your stored procedure call with state-change logic will let you determine the execution status of the procedure.
 — Microsoft's SQL Server Development Team


Importing an XML File
Microsoft's SQL Server development team shares 3 approaches for importing an XML file into SQL Server 2000.
 — Microsoft's SQL Server Development Team


Initializing a Database When Installing Replication
Generate scripts to recreate stored procedures and triggers every time you set up replication.
 — Microsoft's SQL Server Development Team

---

[Exploring XML]

---

ID Attributes in XML Views
XML supports uniquely identifying entities and referencing those entities from other locations within an XML document. Find out how to reduce the size of an XML result by eliminating duplicate data when you express many-to-many relationships.
 — Rich Rollman

---

[Letters]

---

Letters, January 2003
Readers write in about how to grant developers Restore permissions, the benefits of filegroups, and more.
 — Various Authors

---

[New Products]

---

New Products, January 2003
Check out the latest SQL Server-related new and improved products.
 — Carolyn Mader