SQL Server Tips and Tricks for non-DBAs

I have collected some Good-To-Know-Things here and will add more as time goes by…

Cleaning up backups in SQL 2005

In SQL pre 2005 you could set up a backup job to delete backupfiles older than X number of days (see picture). This feature has been removed in SQL 2005.
 

If you want to do the same thing in SQL 2005 you do the following:

1. Goto the maintenance plan that does the backup
2. Rightclick and select Modify
3. Drag and drop a Maintenance Cleanup Task and connect it after the last task
4. Edit the task
5. Specify the Path to the backup files, the extension och the files and the number of days you want to keep the backups
6. Click OK to save the job

Adding more memory to a SQL Server

1. Start Management Studio
2. Open properties for the server
3. Go to memory and change minimum and maximum memory
4. Reboot the server

Change the default path for databases and logs

1. In management studio, right click on the server and select properties.
2. Goto database Settings
3. Change Database and Log paths