Referencing fully-qualified object names in SQL Server can be tedious, particularly if you're not using an editor with Intellisense (a la
ApexSQL Edit). If the object you're working with is on a linked server, it becomes even more of a burden to get the full name correct, since it can have 4 parts:
server.database.owner.object
Fortunately, SQL Server 2005 comes to the rescue with a new database feature called
synonyms. Synonyms can be used as an alias to a fully-qualified object name, so the table "ProductionServer.ProductionDatabase.dbo.Parts" can be referenced in your queries as simply "Parts" by issuing the following statement:
CREATE SYNONYM Parts for ProductionServer.ProductionDatabase.dbo.Parts SELECT * FROM PartsThis can also be done visually in SQL Server Management Studio.