I've set up a new category on my blog where I plan to post some articles about using command-line utilities to perform various tasks for, or in support of, SQL Server. I'll go over the basics like bcp, osql, DOS commands, and hopefully go more in-depth on some other utilities from the Unix/Linux world that are incredibly useful. I'm hoping to even post a full case study where an existing monolithic, mission-critical VB app is replaced with command-line utilities (depends upon workload and office politics though) I won't post all of them in the main SQL Team blog page, so you should check the above link periodically if you're interested.

I've recently finished converting one small process from 140 lines of SQL down to about 30 combined lines of SQL and command-line scripting. I hope to have it written up over the weekend (1/16/05) so if you don't see it by then, make sure to harass me about it. :) And if you have any ideas, requests, or questions that you think might make a good topic please feel free to share. Worst case, you get a little free consulting.