SSW Update - December 2005


SSW Update - Do you create new databases in the default directory?

Tech Breakfast - January 2006

39 days to go!

Reporting Services 2005
Friday 27th January 2006
8:00am - 11:00am
Location: SSW

Share in Adam Cogan's knowledge and acquire the skills to author, deploy and manage reports using the brand new Microsoft Reporting Services 2005. After this session you will be able to:

Understand the Architecture of Microsoft Reporting Services and Office integration.
Author reports using Report Designer.
Deploy and publish reports.
Manage the lifecycle of a report, including report scheduling and backup and restore.
Understand how to apply Reporting Services to a business problem.

Tech Breakfast - February 2006

67 days to go!

TOP 15 SQL Server DBA Tasks for SQL Server 2005
Friday 24th February 2006
8:00am - 11:00am

In this session we will examine:

How to automate your SQL Server 2005 servers and set them on "auto-pilot" for routine tasks.
How best to take advantage of the DBMaint utility to automate your backups and index reorganisation. Take a look at how to set-up your alerts and operators to get proper notifications when events occur.
Administering proper security, testing your restores, and routine performance monitoring. tuning. Examine resources to help you diagnose problems as they occur on your SQL Servers.

Merry Christmas from SSW

From all the staff at SSW we would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. May you enjoy the festive season with your families and keep safe. See you in 2006.

SSW will be closed on the following dates:

Monday 26th December 2005
Tuesday 27th December 2005
Monday 2nd January 2006

Resources

Lumigent Log Explorer
www.lumigent.com

Access Unlimited
by Garry Robinson
https://www.vb123.com

Database FAQ's and Links
/ssw/Database/
DatabaseDocsLinks.aspx

Tips

How can I install my new .NET software in my networked office? Can I install it on one machine only ? - answered by Marten Ataalla.

Why do Microsoft Upsizing Wizard 97/2000 fall over if I was trying to upsize two tables with One-to-One Relationship? - answered by: Sergei Tchernykh

The Cutting Edge

G'Day Developers!

Do you create new databases in the default directory?

When trying to create a database in SQL Server 2005 from an existing create script written for SQL Server 2000, we came across a problem. Our create script was trying to determine the path to save the database file (the path to the default data store) by using the sysdevices table in the Master database; however, the schema for the Master database had changed in 2005 and our script could no longer find the column it relied on to determine this path.

Rather than creating a new script specific to 2005, we found that by removing the optional FILENAME attribute all together, both SQL Server 2000 and 2005 were happy and the database files were saved into the default data directory which is what we were after.

The moral of the story is - keep it simple.

When using a create script to create a new database, let SQL Server determine the filename and path from its default settings. This will help make the script simpler, more flexible, and ready to use with utilities such as MS OSQL and SSW SQL Deploy.

More on Rules to Better SQL Server Databases

Cheers until next time, Adam
SSW Chief Architect and Microsoft Regional Director, Australia

Got a comment for Adam? 6164616d636f67616e407373772e636f6d2e6175

Sydney .NET User Group - The best place to learn .NET for free in Sydney

2 days to go!

Sydney .NET User Group 21 December 2005

Round up of The Launch and VS Live

This month Adam Cogan will take us through the Top 10 things we learnt from the Launch of:

The Best Ways to Show Your Data

Today there are a myriad of ways to connect to and display your data. What are the options? Which technology gets you across the finish line with the lowest cost and greatest flexibility? In this session we will compare the most popular reporting technologies in the industry:

Reporting Services 2005
ASP.NET 2.0
Crystal
Access (via SSW Access Reporter for IIS)
Office Web Components (OWC)
OLAP - Reporting Services 2005, Data Analyzer and 3rd Party Web Solutions

Adam will take you through developing the same sample report using all these technologies so you can make an informed decision on what is best for your organisation.

Wednesday 21 December 2005 5:45 pm at Microsoft, 1 Epping Road North Ryde
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Volunteer Developer Required: LIFELINE Brookvale Requires a Developer to do some charitable work.

Lifeline Northern Beaches urgently requires the assistance of a developer willing to donate their time to build them a simple database.

Lifeline Northern Beaches Inc offers 24 Hour Telephone Counselling and a variety of other support services, servicing the Manly Warringah Pittwater areas for over 37 years. Their area now extends across the Spit Bridge to Mosman, Neutral Bay, Cremorne and Kirribilli.

Relying on community support for over 90% of their operational funding this simple task would not take up too much of a developers time and would be greatly appreciated by them.

For further details contact Mr. David Catchlove on (02) 9997 3850 or on his mobile 0402 973 593.

SSW Exchange Reporter

Get the information you want from your Exchange Server with SSW Exchange Reporter

Is Microsoft Exchange Server an integral part of your organisation? If so, SSW Exchange Reporter provides the tools and reports you need to efficiently analyse your organisation's email usage.

Exchange Reports range from who is sending the most emails to clients to who has the largest mailbox. The built in reports can be customised and extended because they are built with SQL Server Reporting Services.

The SSW Extraction Windows Service runs on your Exchange Server to seamlessly extract your email messages and mail folder statistics. It is very lightweight Windows Service and the reports are very fast because it uses the power of SQL Server.