Something for the Weekend – SQL Server Links 18/03/11

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This is an emotional last SFTW post that I will be sharing with you from my twenties. For on Monday 21st March (also the first day of Spring here in the UK) is my 30th Birthday. You may be familiar with the peculiar tradition we have here in our UK working culture of the Birthday boy/girl buying treats for all their colleagues, surely the wrong way around to be doing things. So whilst I will be fattening up my work chums on Krispy Kreme Doughnuts it seems only fitting that I give a gift to you dear reader too. So on Monday I will post another SQL Crossword for you to puzzle over. Previously (here and here) these have proved to be a big hit and you know I believe in giving the people what they want. Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Here’s your weekly roundup of SQL Server Blog Posts, News and Techie Stuff. Enjoy!

SQL Server Links

• Sanitizing Execution Plans using Powershell – Everyone knows that The Best Database Administrators Automate Everything and Jonathan Kehayias (Blog|Twitter) is no exception, this week flexing his PowerShell muscles to scrub a rather large query plan.
• Geek City: What gets logged for SELECT INTO operations? – More internals from her excellent Geek City Series of posts it’s Kalen Delaney (Blog|Twitter).
• Consulting Lines: “Do you want 10% faster, 100% faster, or 1000% faster?” – One of the things that I admire about Brent Ozar (Blog|Twitter) is that he keeps his content fresh and unique. As a Blogger you can sometimes get stuck in a rut, churning out the same flavour of content but this guy knows how to mix things up and do it well. Here’s the next instalment of Brent’s excellent Consulting Lines series of posts.
• Ever had poor performance saving files in SSMS over slow network? – Is it just me or is there something oddly therapeutic about reading the frustrations of a pro? Tales from the DBA trenches courtesy of Paul Randal (Blog|Twitter).
• SQLSoton UG March 2011 – It’s fantastic to see new User Groups flourishing and is yet more proof of just how awesome the SQL community is! Adrian Hills (Blog|Twitter) gives us his round-up. A hat tip to all involved for making this new User Group such a great success.
• How to add an article to an existing Transactional Subscription initialized through backup – Making it sound all so easy it’s those clever folks from the Microsoft Replication Team Blog. I work with Replication a lot and I know that implementing this can be a real PITA. Make sure you practice this procedure in your DEV environments before letting loose on Production and ensure that you are fully aware of the risks involved. Replication is an awesome and powerful product feature but also commands respect.
• Mirrored Database Backups vs. Striped Database Backups – Glenn Berry (Blog|Twitter) walking us through with more real world DBA implementation tips.
• What Does Microsoft Mean By Scans? – It’s that Database Whisperer full of artistic flair Michael J. Swart (Blog|Twitter) with a fantastic post here.
• Balancing Work and Life – Such an important message here from Joe Webb (Blog|Twitter) and one I too touched on in How To Raise Your Game By Doing Nothing. Joe is a talented consultant and his posts portray his unique perspective of the SQL Server landscape. I highly recommend you add him to your RSS Reader.
• Restore and Relocate Database Files Using PowerShell – More PowerShell magic from Chad Miller (Blog|Twitter).