Now that you've learned where the bottlenecks are, it's time to fix them. Understand how different types of memory give different bottlenecks, and how to fix each. Also learn how to fix these CPU bottlenecks: recompilation, intra-query parallelism, and inefficient cursor usage. Finally, learn about disk configuration and tempdb I/O bottlenecks, and what it takes to fix them.

We work hard to make sure our database won't fail, but sometimes it happens no matter what. When it does we need to diagnose, repair, and restore service as quick as possible. This nugget shows how to diagnose database failures including filtering and viewing the log files, understanding database engine errors, as well as knowing common problems so you can fix them quickly. Also, you'll learn how to diagnose server failures including volume and disk issues, as well as memory and processor failure. Finally, you'll learn about service errors and how to diagnose them using the Services Console, the Windows system log, and the SQL Server Configuration Manager.

In this nugget you'll learn how to make sure your database conforms to business needs and restrictions. This also helps your database interface smoothly with applications. To do this, the data in your database needs to be clean and uniform -- and meet some basic data quality standards. So in this nugget you learn how to clean and transform your data with SQL Server 2005. You also learn about data mining to find important business stats. Plus you learn how to use some helpful tools for enforcing business rules.

These simple steps will greatly increase the security of your SQL Server 2005 deployment. Learn how to enforce strong passwords in SQL Server 2005. Also, audit Windows and service accounts that have access to your server, including monitoring for both successful and failed logins. Use encryption on passwords, keys, and certificates. Configure security updates and service packs using best practices. And finally, configure the surface area of your SQL Server 2005 deployment to minimize potential weak spots and intrusion points.

In this nugget you'll walk through how to perform a distributed query using different databases -- including databases from different vendors installed across multiple servers. This takes understanding the architecture of linked servers, and how to create linked servers with SQL Server 2005. You'll learn these plus you'll be shown how to map logins for the different servers, enable remote connections, and finally create and run your distributed queries -- including helpful procedures for getting information about your linked servers so you can make them interface better.

Reporting allows you to set up easy processes for people who want access to the data in your database, but aren't as savvy with SQL as you are. In SQL Server 2005, there's a whole architecture built around creating and delivering reports. You'll learn how to use it to create both basic reports and parameterized reports that use input values to complete report processing. Finally, you'll learn about the security roles available to give to users who only need access to reporting functionality.

The last two nuggets in this series cover performance. This first performance video is about monitoring the performance of your server. Learn to collect baseline information -- how your database performs during normal activity -- and how to set thresholds that notify you when your database activity veers too far from normal. Paying attention to this is part of the responsibility of any database adminis-trator, and we'll give you a good list of metrics that it will be helpful to monitor. Also, you'll learn how to trace performance at the system and session levels with SQL Profiler, and how to configure alerts and notifications to either page you or run an executable when your database does something you may not want it to.