Oklahoma City Event Questions and Answers (8-25-2005)

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Good afternoon Everyone!  Sorry for the delay in getting your questions answered.  I want to say thank you for coming to the event and I look forward to coming back to OKC.  Please comment if you have any further questions or if I missed any.

Q: How do I upgrade SQL 2005 beta to the Full SQL 2005?
A:   There will not be a setup-based upgrade from preRTM to RTM. You will need to un install the preRTM and then install RTM. The un install will not remove your user databases. Once you reinstall you can connect those databases to the new install. They will automatically upgrade when they're installed. One word of caution: it's best to move between the same editions (i.e. Beta -> Developer, Standard -> Standard, etc).

Q: What if I do no want to give SQL 2005 Management Studio to my Developers how to I give them access to the databases?
A:   I was talking with some of the attendees at the events, and they recommend that you use SQL 2000 query analyzer for that type of access.  During their testing this worked fine with the 2000 QA specifically if you used SQL 2005 Express.  However, I am unsure if there is going to be a stand alone install of the SQL Server Management Studio Query Editor.  I do not believe so, but we shall see if the full release will do that.

Q: Can you rename the SQL 2005 SA account?
A: Yes you can.  With the new security model there are some great ways to really secure the SQL Instance.  You can rename the account with the ALTER LOGIN statement.  This is a great way to reduce surface area for your SQL instances.  Here is an example:

ALTER LOGIN sa WITH NAME = [new name here];

Additionally you can disable the account as well:

ALTER LOGIN sa DISABLE;

You can down load a great presentation on the new Security enhancements for SQL 2005 here:
https://download.microsoft.com/documents/australia/msdn/Session_2_Greg_Low.ppt

Q: How do you resync in a peer to Peer replication?
A:  There is a restarable synch capability built into the replication engine,  There is a great Q/A log here:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/SQL/2005/2005Webcasts/ReplicationQandA.aspx

Also you can view an awesome replication web cast here: https://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032263302&EventCategory=5&culture=en-us&CountryCode=US