4. Multi-Instance Support
All editions of SQL Server 2000 support multiple instances, letting you run multiple, independent instances of SQL Server simultaneously on the same box. This feature offers an opportunity to consolidate production environments, but where people frequently overlook its benefits is not in the production environment, but rather in the development and testing environments. If your organization supports multiple development projects and several teams need their own environments to evolve and build their applications, SQL Server 2000 lets you host multiple projects on one box while the teams operate as freely as if each had its own machine. Likewise, testing environments, specifically those used for functional testing, have the same opportunity to share resources. Depending on your hardware's capacity and your system's memory, CPU, and storage needs, this type of consolidation might not be practical. But don't overlook the potential cost benefit of eliminating one or more servers and the corresponding OS licenses from your budget. Kalen Delaney provides a good overview of multi-instance support in her July 2000 article "Multiple Instances" (InstantDoc ID 8686).
5. Workflow Management
Most SQL Server users are familiar with Data Transformation Services (DTS), a set of utilities for extracting, transforming, and loading data. However, many people don't realize that DTS's workflow engine also provides a straightforward, easy way to manage task execution, even when those tasks have nothing to do with moving or transforming data. Say you need to run several stored procedures and, for efficiency reasons, you want to run as many in parallel as you can. One DTS package could do the trick. The package could contain one Execute SQL task for each procedure and one connection for each parallel task. You could then use SQL Server Agent to schedule the package to run at whatever interval you choose. You can set up this type of workflow management with just a few clicks of the mouse.
6. Computed Columns
Often overlooked by data modelers are SQL Server 2000's abilities to define a dynamic or computed column within a table as part of the table's underlying definition and to improve query performance by indexing the computed column. Rather than storing a data value in such a column, which increases row size, SQL Server 2000 derives the column's value at query runtime. Centralizing the column's calculation lets your users access a single, uniform column definition, thereby reducing the inherent risk that arises when you duplicate a frequently reused formula across multiple queries. And if testing reveals an index is warranted, you can add it to the computed column to increase performance. In his October 2001 T-SQL Black Belt column, "Storing Computations" (InstantDoc ID 22091), Itzik Ben-Gan shows you how to implement computed columns.
7. Reporting
By now, you've heard about Microsoft's new reporting solution, SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services. Although it's too soon for Microsoft to claim total victory in the reporting arena, early customer feedback indicates that Reporting Services is quickly gaining popularity and will be a big player in the business intelligence (BI) and traditional relational reporting markets. But even if you're not yet interested in Reporting Services, you're likely equipped already with not just one but three other Microsoft reporting options: Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel, and the Microsoft Office Web Components. Granted, these are in no way full-fledged, end-user reporting tools, but when combined with a well-designed database and a bit of custom coding, they all can offer a rich end-user experience for presenting canned parameter-driven reports. For example, in their June 2002 article, "Building a Web-Based Analysis System" (InstantDoc ID 24692), Mark Scott and John Lynn explore a reporting system they built by combining SQL Server technologies with the Office Web Components. Their solution includes Analysis Services' OLAP functionality, but you can also use the Office Web Components to report against native SQL Server tables.
Why Wait?
Don't let all the hype surrounding SQL Server 2005's new-and-improved functionality keep you from implementing useful solutions now. You still have plenty of creative ways to leverage SQL Server 2000's valuable, often overlooked features. Why put off until tomorrow what you can start today?