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External Article

PostgreSQL Basics: Roles and Privileges

Information security, whether in databases, applications, or larger IT systems, is based on the principles of Authentication and Authorization, often referred to as AuthN and AuthZ respectively. Likewise, PostgreSQL security involves creating roles that allow access to server resources (AuthN) and then granting privileges to database objects appropriately (AuthZ). Understanding how each of these components work together is essential to effectively manage security in a PostgreSQL cluster.

2023-02-22

External Article

Undoing Actions on Groups of Database Tables

During development, you'll occasionally need an undo script that drops a group of tables, or you might need to truncate a group of tables and then insert fresh data in order to run some tests. Unless you perform the required actions in the correct dependency order, you'll be tripped up by foreign key constraint violations. This article provides a SQL function that returns the list of tables in the correct dependency order.

2023-02-22

SQLServerCentral Article

How To Avoid MERGE in SQL Server

Introduction This article shows how to script a basic merge between two tables, without using MERGE. This can be handy when you're merging a pair of tables with hundreds of columns, since the script doesn't know anything about them. This technique introduces and populates some auditing columns (IS_DELETED, IS_INSERTED, IS_UPDATED, TRANSACTION_DATE) for each record, and runs fast. […]

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2023-02-20 (first published: )

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External Article

Join us in our castle at SQL Bits, March 15-18

SQL Bits is coming to Wales, home of dragons and D&D, and we’re happy announce we’re supporting them as platinum sponsors again this year. Meet us at our Red Keep and catch sessions by noble Fighter Grant Fritchey, Sorcerer Steve Jones, and more beloved Redgate Paladins and Druids. For a magical 10% discount on your ticket, use 10REDGATE from our spell book.

2023-02-17

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Managing Incidents and Fighting Fires

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Backing Up a DMK

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The Quiet Part

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Question of the Day

Backing Up a DMK

In SQL Server 2025, I have a database with a Database Masker Key (DMK). I want to back up this key and keep a copy offline. When do I have to open this key before running the backup?

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