The purpose of a database build is simple: prove that what you have in version control can successfully create a working database, and yet many teams struggle with unreliable and untested database build processes that slow down deployments and prevent the delivery of new functionality. Grant Fritchey explains how to achieve an automated and reliable database build that is only as complex as the database system it needs to create.
2016-03-22
5,439 reads
The processing of the Transaction Log seems simple to reproduce, but be sure you consider all the possibilities.
2016-03-21
2,786 reads
As you develop, test and deploy SSIS packages, you need to specify different parameter values for things like database connection strings, file and folder paths, etc. without having to edit the individual SSIS packages to make these changes. Ray Barley looks at how you can accomplish this goal by taking advantage of the configuration capabilities that SSIS provides, in particular the SQL Server package configuration.
2016-03-21
5,914 reads
When replicating data to other servers it is always a concern that the subscribers may be far behind. In this article, Tim Smith shares some queries to help monitor SQL Server replication row counts.
2016-03-18
3,632 reads
SQL Server instances are generally poorly-documented. How easily can you tell if something has changed? How easily can you check that there is adequate space for growth? Are you up-to-date with licenses? What errors are happening? Who has accessing the system? Before PowerShell, it was difficult to be on top of all this. Now you can, with the help of Sander's database documenter.
2016-03-17
5,004 reads
Whenever a query is executed in SQL Server, its execution plan, as well as some useful execution data are placed into the plan cache for future use. This information is a treasure trove of metrics that can allow some very useful insight into your server’s performance and resource consumption - Ed Pollack shares some useful queries to start utilizing it.
2016-03-16
4,373 reads
Virtual Chapter meeting, Mar 16, 12pm EST. Documentation is mostly overlooked and only comes up when a problem arises. What if you'd have a tool or method to generate documentation for all your database servers? In this session, Sander Stad will show you show how easy it is to use PowerShell to retrieve information from your servers. He'll detail what can be used to document your servers, how to retrieve the information and what should be documented. In the end you no longer have an excuse not to document your servers.
2016-03-15
4,054 reads
Erin Stellato (@erinstellato) looks into sparse columns in SQL Server – the changes to space requirements and the impact on the write portion of your workload.
2016-03-15
3,581 reads
2016-03-14
110 reads
You can still do Database Lifecycle Management (DLM) workflows in the hosted version of Team foundation Server (TFS) in Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS) . If you are doing your database development in SSMS, you can use a mix of tools to set up the functionality in VSTS. Jason Crease demonstrates how to build and deploy a simple database into the test environment using SQL CI, SQL Source Control, Octopus Deploy, tSQLt, SQL Cop and SQL Release, all with the minimum of hassle and effort.
2016-03-14
2,885 reads
By Arun Sirpal
Transaction log issues are one of the quietest ways a healthy database turns into...
By Steve Jones
I wrote earlier this week about the SQL MCP Server using the Data API...
By Brian Kelley
Yesterday, July 27, 2026, Microsoft announced a new cybersecurity effort called Project Perception. Included...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Symmetric Key Encryption
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The “Successful Login” Dilemma: Why...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Building Your Own Software
If I run this statement in SQL Server 2025, how is the password encrypted?
CREATE SYMMETRIC KEY MySymmetricKey WITH ALGORITHM = AES_256, KEY_SOURCE = 'My secret key source passphrase', IDENTITY_VALUE = 'My secret identity value' ENCRYPTION BY PASSWORD = 'S&perS#cretP@ssword7'; GOSee possible answers