Silly SQL Server 2008 Management Studio Trick

SQL Server
This one is pretty minor and came up in the forums at SQL Server Central. You may have noticed that the Registered Servers window is tabbed with the Object Explorer window. In SQL Server 2005, they were in the same window, stacked on top of each other. To get back to the "good old days" configuration, you can right click on the Registered Servers tab and select Floating. This will cause the window to detach and appear somewhere on your screen. Right click on it again and select Dockable. Now drag it on to the Object Explorer window and it should settle in on top. Ta da, back with the old GUI.
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Things you know now 2

Misc
I can't believe I forgot this: Test, Test, Test And when you're done testing, test some more. You can't assume that you know how something works. You need to know how it works. Test it. Verify your database design by testing. Check your queries by testing them. Be sure the new index works by testing it. Test the new deployment process before you announce it to the development (way before). When you get done with all this testing... Start testing again.
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Things you know now…

Misc
Brent Ozar has passed on another doozie. His list is pretty good. Since I'm much more a tactical guy than a big picture strategic guy, my advice to me in the past is going to be more tactical in nature. Learn the Rules of Normalization Yeah, eventually I picked up  on them, but not before I built about six or seven systems I would be profoundly embarassed to show anyone today. I realize that pointing at the fundamentals is just shy of a non-answer to the question, but the fact of the matter is, I was a bit of a cowboy. Still am. The beauty, and curse, of being a cowboy is, you tend to bypass things. Sometimes, you're riding by trouble you just don't need. Other times, you're hell bent for…
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VSTS:DB More on Composite Projects

Visual Studio
It occurred to me, all the searches coming by looking for information on composite projects in VSTS:DB, maybe instead of wondering how it's done you're wondering why it's done. In the GDR release there are three kinds of projects you can create; database, server, partial. Database and Server projects are created directly through the VS GUI as new projects and I covered that a bit in the last post. Partial projects are something different. Partial projects are pieces of structure or code, for example a tally table, that you want to share across multiple projects. Partial projects are created by accessing the object or objects you want to define as a partial project in the Solution Explorer. Right click on the object(s) and select Export As Partial Project. This creates a…
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VSTS:DB Composite Projects

Tools, Visual Studio
I've seen several searches go by from people who are looking for how to create composite projects. Here's a quick run-down. In the example, I'm going to create a main database project called BaseDB, a server project called MyServer, and a composite project that combines the two called Comp. This project is just another database project as you can see in Figure 1: [caption id="attachment_379" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="New Database Project"][/caption] Once the new project is created, you need to right click on the References object in the Solution Explorer. Figure 2: From the pop-up menu select Add Database Reference. The window in Figure 3 will pop up: [caption id="attachment_383" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Add Database Reference"][/caption] You can select the other projects for a dynamic view into their changes, or for a…
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SQL Server 2008 Management and Administration

Uncategorized
I just got a book in the mail from a friend, Todd Robinson, who was the technical editor. The name of the book is Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Management and Administration. The book was written by Ross Mistry and Hilary Cotter. I don't know Ross Mistry and I think I met Hilary Cotter once, although I know who he is. However, since Todd was involved, I'm pretty sure this is going to be a high-end, must read. I just started and the initial chapter's discussion on using Windows Server 2008 sparked a few questions for my local admin team. I'm looking forward to more. Thanks Todd.
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Visual Studio Team System Database Edition Best Practices

Visual Studio
Barclay Hill, Program Manager for Visual Studio Team System Database Edition at Microsoft has just launched a new blog that I'm excited about. He's going to be blogging on best practices for VSTS:DB. His initial post outlines the topics he hopes to address and it's an impressive list. I responded immediately with an offer to help because I'm using the tool and struggling a bit to get it to do everything we need and because I really like all that VSTS:DB has done for me and my team already. Any one else interested in pitching in should go over there and get involved. Here's what I sent as an initial message: I saw your blog post and request for interest and participation and decided to pitch in. The company where…
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