SQL Server Magazine UPDATE, June 27, 2002

SQL Server Magazine UPDATE—brought to you by SQL Server Magazine
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June 27, 2002—In this issue:

1. COMMENTARY

2. SQL SERVER NEWS AND VIEWS

3. ANNOUNCEMENT

4. HOT RELEASE (ADVERTISEMENT

5. RESOURCE

6. NEW AND IMPROVED

7. CONTACT US

1. COMMENTARY

(contributed by Brian Moran, news editor, [email protected])

Have you deployed SQL Server technology in a creative and innovativeway to solve a thorny technical or business problem? Do friends walkinto your server room and sigh, "Wow, I wish I had a SQL Server setuplike that"? Do you yearn to stand on top of your server, arms outstretched, and proclaim, "I'm king of the SQL Server world"? Would youlike to win $1 million and your own private Caribbean island?

I can't help out with the million bucks or the island, but you mightstill be interested in entering the first annual SQL Server MagazineInnovator Awards. SQL Server Magazine and Microsoft are jointlysponsoring this year's SQL Server Innovator Awards. Outstandingentries will receive a cool pewter mug trophy that can be filled withthe beverage of your choice. In addition, the top prizewinner willreceive bragging rights, an all-expenses-paid round-trip to the SQLServer Magazine LIVE! Fall 2002 conference in sunny Orlando, Florida,and the prestigious SQL Server Innovator's Cup traveling trophy for anentire year. Who cares about the World Cup when you can take home thisbeauty!

So how do you win? If you work with SQL Server and have created atechnical solution to a problem or enhanced a program or systemfeature to improve performance or Return on Investment (ROI), youqualify to enter this awards program. Entering is easy. SQL ServerMagazine is accepting entries until August 15. Select members of theSQL Server Magazine editorial staff and Microsoft representatives willevaluate the entries and will contact finalists for in-depth phoneinterviews. You'll find more information and an entry form athttp://www.sqlmag.com/awards.

What are we interested in? Here are a few of the sample, guidingquestions we've posted on the entry form to give you some ideas:

But heck, these are the Innovator Awards. Innovation means that youmight be the only person who's thought of the solution. That's why allapplicants need to summarize in 300 words or fewer (No. 2 penciloptional) the problem you solved, key points of your solution, and themeasurable benefits from the solution. Go ahead, impress us.

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2. SQL SERVER NEWS AND VIEWS

(contributed by Ken Pfeil, [email protected])

Mark Litchfield of Next Generation Security Software (NGSSoftware)discovered a vulnerability in SQL Server 2000 when used in conjunctionwith the Microsoft Jet 4.0 database engine that can lead to anattacker executing arbitrary code on the vulnerable system. Thisvulnerability stems from a remotely exploitable buffer overrun in theOpenDataSource function. Microsoft recommends that affected usersapply the patch mentioned in the Microsoft article "ACC2002: Updated Version of Microsoft Jet 4.0 Available in Download Center," which you can read at the first URL below.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q282010
http://www.secadministrator.com/articles/index.cfm?articleid=25673

(contributed by Paul Thurrott, [email protected])

ASP.NET coders will want to check out a free new development toolcalled Web Matrix, which includes a WYSIWYG development environment,SQL Server management capabilities, and mobile-application creationfeatures, all wrapped up in a tiny 1.2MB download of managed codegoodness. While I was at Microsoft for a technical workshop, I learnedthat the company will use Web Matrix to test features intended for thenext Visual Studio (VS) version. For more information, see the ASP.NETWeb site.
http://www.asp.net/webmatrix

Sponsored by BMC Software

The voting has closed in SQL Server Magazine's nonscientificInstant Poll for the question, "Where do you usually enforce data integrity?" Here are the results (+/1 percent) from the 407 votes:

The next Instant Poll question is, "Do you think Microsoft shouldbe held financially liable for defective software?" Go to the SQLServer Magazine Web site and submit your vote for 1) Yes, 2) No, or 3)Not sure.
http://www.sqlmag.com

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3. ANNOUNCEMENT

(brought to you by SQL Server Magazine and its partners)

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5. RESOURCES

Running SQL Server 2000 on Windows 2000 offers great flexibility inhow you manage logins, how you secure both the authentication processand the channel between the client and server, and how you limitaccess to services enterprisewide. Kerberos authentication, thedefault authentication protocol in Win2K, improves on Windows NT'sauthentication protocol in several ways and offers identification ofboth the client and the server. Examine how you can use Kerberos toprotect the data on your SQL Server 2000 servers by reading MorrisLewis's article "Guard Your Data with Kerberos," which appears in theJuly 2002 issue of SQL Server Magazine and is available online at thefollowing URL:
http://www.sqlmag.com/articles/index.cfm?articleid=25080

KellyB is working with customers who are unable to connect to SQLServer 2000 through Microsoft Access. The customers receive an errormessage that might point to an ODBC driver problem; KellyB suspectsthe error might also be related to the version of Microsoft DataAccess Components (MDAC) in use. Offer your advice and read otherusers' suggestions on the SQL Server Magazine forums at the followingURL:
http://www.sqlmag.com/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=3&threadid=6937

(contributed by the Microsoft SQL Server development team)

Q. In SQL Server 2000, how can I list a database's stored procedures and their change dates?

A. The data you're looking for is stored in SQL Server 2000's systemtables. Because Microsoft discourages users from querying the systemtables directly (the tables change from release to release), werecommend that you retrieve this information from the ANSI-standardinformation schema views for each database. The following statementuses an information schema view to return the data you want:

   USE  -The database that holds the stored procedures                    -and functions.   GO   SELECT specific_catalog, specific_schema, routine_type,      routine_name, created,   FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.ROUTINES   ORDER BY 1 asc, 2 asc, 3 asc, 4 asc

Note that SQL Server retains only the created date for storedprocedures, so to capture the date of the latest version, you need todrop, then create the procedure instead of using ALTER to modify orupdate the procedure.

Send your technical questions to [email protected].

6. NEW AND IMPROVED

(contributed by Carolyn Mader, [email protected])

PolyVista announced PolyVista, analytical software that featuresdata-mining algorithms to automate the process of discoveringanomalies or hidden relationships in the data. The software integratesOLAP directly with interactive 2-D and 3-D graphics. The deviationalgorithm discovers statistically interesting data anomalies and ranksthe result list for you. The summary algorithm discovers combinationsof dimensions that yield the greatest or least measure values.PolyVista supports SQL Server. For pricing, contact PolyVista at713-521-1101.
http://www.polyvista.com

Data Junction announced the Data Junction Integration Suite,software for e-document integration and message-based integration foryour e-business project. The suite comprises Data Junction, ContentExtractor, and Integration Engine. Data Junction is a Windows-basedgraphical design tool. The Content Extractor is a visual interfacethat automates the creation of extraction rules and conditions forextracting unstructured data. The Integration Engine enables rapiddeployment, multithreaded parallel processing, and XML support. TheData Junction Integration Suite lets you access SQL Server datathrough XML and HTTP. For pricing, contact Data Junction at800-580-4411.
http://www.datajunction.com

7. CONTACT US

Here's how to reach us with your comments and questions:

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