MS SQL Server 2K Editions

I was googling to know difference between three flavors of MS SQL server i.e. Enterprise, Standard, Developer. I was amazed to know that SQL servers comes with eight editions actually !!!!
Wanna explore difference between each of them…check it out here

Right to Information Act, 2005

I was surfing net searching for something, the other day and by chance I came across document related to Right to Information Act (RTI) and when I read it, I found it quite interesting. I mean interesting in actually two senses.

One, to know how whole RTI system works. I mean knowing duties for public information officer, information commissioner and how we can exercise our rights for the information.

Secondly, as this was probably first of this kind of document, I was going through; I noticed how these kind of documents need to cover guidelines for each related aspect with deadlines:
a. Guidelines to govt. organization about how to organize things to provide information.
b. Necessary staff (officers, commissioners etc.) required
c. Situations in which request can be denied.
d. Public appeals against officers and penalty, in case officer are found to be guilty etc.
e. Different costs involved.
f. Guidelines about how Govt. should make people aware about this act and encourage them to exercise their rights.

If you would like to go through it, here is where I found it. This really sounds great!!! (I mean, at least on papers :))

Interesting interviews abt SQL Server

Someone, forwarded me this link today telling about some interesting interviews about SQL Server.
Really good one :)
How do you spell S-Q-L?

All about Garbage Collection

These are some of the very useful links about garbage collection.

Enjoy !!!

Jeffrey Richer on MSDN – Garbage Collection

Part 1- http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/1100/GCI/default.aspx

Part 2 -http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/1200/GCI2/

Maoni's WebLog

Using GC Efficiently – Part 1 http://blogs.msdn.com/maoni/archive/2004/06/15/156626.aspx

Using GC Efficiently – Part 2 http://blogs.msdn.com/maoni/archive/2004/09/25/234273.aspx

Using GC Efficiently – Part 3 http://blogs.msdn.com/maoni/archive/2004/12/19/327149.aspx

Using GC Efficiently – Part 4 http://blogs.msdn.com/maoni/archive/2005/05/06/415296.aspx

Career Development: Attending Conferences

This is excerpt from one of the article on simple-talk.com talking briefly about a few good conferences and what to expect from each of them.

Which Conference?

As soon as conference season starts, I receive advertisements and emails for numerous conferences. The ones I choose to attend are simply the ones that most closely match my current needs. For broad coverage of all aspects of Microsoft development, Tech Ed , or the Professional Developers Conference (PDC) are probably the conferences to attend. PDC is more future-oriented and happens only when Microsoft has new technology to announce, whereas Tech Ed focuses more on shipping technology. If you work extensively with Visual Studio, then VSLive is an obvious choice. Similarly, SQL PASS is good option for SQL Server developers and DBAs.

However, if you have very specific requirements then a more specialized conference may be a better bet. For example, I work on a number of systems that target the Pocket PC and, as such, will be attending the Microsoft Mobilized and Embedded Developers Conference in May. The MIX conference in March interests me because this is the Microsoft oriented conference that will focus on what is often called Web 2.0. I write about and use ASP.NET for my development, and things like IE7 and Atlas need to be a part of the Web sites I will be doing in the next couple of years.

I would be remiss if I did not also mention the Code Camp conferences. These are always free and always held outside of normal work hours. Since my blog post in 2003, Code Camp has become a viable option for people who do feel that conferences cost too much or take you away from your job for too long. For many people, especially those just starting out or with fairly general needs, Code Camps are a wonderful way to get the conference experience with limited, or possibly even no cost (presuming that there is a Code Camp close enough to you that you do not need a hotel).

In a similar vein, user groups offer single evening a month chances to get some of the benefits of a conference, with generally a single session, but lots of chance to network. My local .NET user group occasionally has "Geek Dinners," where there is no technical content, just networking while eating good food.

MS Desktop Search : Soft way to force restart :)

I used to get reminders from Office 12 to download Microsoft Desktop Search, whenever I open my Outlook. After quite a lot of reminders, I finally thought … lets download and give it a try.
This is final screen of the installation process asking if I want to restart my comp now or later by checking on the given check box. But check box is already disabled. Cool na !!!!

Error : General network error. Check your network documentation.

SQL server 2000 throws General network error sometimes when I try to update values. The behavior is quite random (I m not even able to reproduce it. Only way, I know about this error is thru log file, as application is configured to log all the errors in a log file) Sometimes, It happens at one place and sometimes at the other. But the common thing is it always happens when I try to call fill for adapter object. I mean it works fine for executing stored procedures. I tried googling for the solution of the same and found a couple of suggestions to try. Like increasing command timeout, removing pool settings etc.
http://weblogs.asp.net/pleloup/archive/2003/07/23/10451.aspx
http://dotnetjunkies.com/WebLog/rtgurskevik/archive/2005/03/03/58301.aspx

Only thing which seems to be working is removing pool settings from web.config (as I did not see that error occurring after this). but again that’s quite weird solution as I know that gonna directly impact the performance of the system. Can anyone suggest some better solution or at least the possible cause of the problem?