Acknowledgments

I would first like to thank Kim Spilker at Sams Publishing for spearheading this second edition of SQL Server 2000 Unleashed , giving us the opportunity to revisit and improve upon our first efforts. Thanks also to all the other authors and editors involved in this project for their efforts in helping to turn out a quality publication.

I'd also like to thank my in-laws, John and Loretta Czachor, for helping shuttle my son around to the skate park and other activities while I was trying to meet my publishing deadlines. I extend my deepest appreciation to my parents, Peg Pinkham and Ernest Rankins, for all of their support and guidance through the years .

Most of all, I wish to thank Elizabeth and Jason for their patience and understanding during the long days and late nights as I was squirreled away in my office trying to get this book done. Thanks, too, to my budding graphic designer, Jason, for his help creating some of the figures used in this book.

”Ray Rankins

I would like to thank my family for allowing me to encroach on many months of what should have been my family's "quality time." Additional thanks must also go to Intel Corporation and 4 Points Technologies for hardware and technical assistance with Windows 2000 Advanced Server and Clustering and to Adam Greifer for a bit of BCP and DTS material. Breg Corporation helped out on a few complex performance issues and thanks to Jason Lefebvre for help with some ADO.NET details. He and I coauthored Sams Teach Yourself ADO.NET in 24 Hours . Many good suggestions and comments came from the technical and copy editors at Sams Publishing, along with the other primary authors of this book, yielding an outstanding effort. I appreciate Sams Publishing for allowing us to write the way we wanted to on the subjects that we live and breathe every day of our working life, and not forcing us to pour information into a cookie cutter manuscript.

”Paul Bertucci

While writing may seem a solitary pursuit, it as actually very much a collaborative effort, and as such, I extend my thanks and appreciation to my coauthors , editors, and the staff at Sams for their support throughout this project.

”Paul Jensen