[dba-SQLServer] QLRE: Copy a database using a stored procedureor

David Lewis David at sierranevada.com
Wed Mar 26 10:28:58 CDT 2008


Hi John:  I don't think this will really 'help' you at this point, but it may make it a little easier for you to accept your situation the next time you start getting annoyed...

You accepted a job that requires (form the sounds of it) a full-scale rdms -- Access wouldn't fit the bill.  All the functionality that Access wrapped up neatly into gui's is in sql server, but not necessarily in a gui, and generally in a much more powerful and flexible form.  But, as you are discovering, each of the things you are trying to do requires quite a learning curve.  That isn't the fault of sql server -- it was built for needs that presuppose a fairly deep bench.  Most places that use all the functions that you are using have a person(s) that specialize in each of the functions.  There is a T-sql guy, an SSIS guy, a dba for tuning, backups and restores, etc.  You are wearing many hats, and all the hats are pretty sophisticated.

To take a very simple example, if you are used to building queries in Access using its gui, you've got a repertoire of approaches to getting the data you want.  When you move to sql server, the gui for building queries is pretty crude, and if you take the plunge and go to the screen to write raw t-sql, you begin to discover many many many t-sql commands that either you didn't know existed, or had only heard of but had never tried (I am speaking from my own experience).  Many of these turn problems that in access were a pain in the neck to solve, into pretty something trivial.  I am speaking of sub-queries, case statements, correllated sub-queries, derived tables, etc. etc. etc.  Using these in Access is nearly impossible, or actually impossible, so Access people generally never learn to use them.  At least that was my experience (I didn't learn to write t-sql until I moved to sql server, and now I shudder at the thought of having to use access' gui to build a query).

This example holds true for all the tools you are trying to use.  Not a pleasant or comfortable state of affairs for you, but that is the way it is.  When I have found myself in a similar position in the past, for example completely stuck on how to use DTS (now SSIS), I looked for a person who could work side by side with me to get things done; in that way I was able to learn from an expert (or at least someone with a lot more experience than I).  That means spending money on a consultant, and I don't know how that fits with the economics of this job, but either way you look at it you need training or help, and that generally doesn't come cheap.

Hope this helps (but of course I realize it likely just pissed you off more!)  David

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