Additional Articles


External Article

Column-Level Encryption in SQL Server

Beginning with SQL Server 2005, column-level encryption and decryption capabilities were made available within the database, providing a solution for situations where one-off types of data need to be secured beyond your existing authorization, authentication or firewall settings. This article provides an overview and example of securing a column using native SQL Server cryptography functions.

2011-02-18

4,894 reads

External Article

Avoid External Dependencies in SQL Server Triggers

I sometimes want to perform auditing or other actions in a trigger based on some criteria. More specifically, there are a few cases that may warrant an e-mail; for example, if a web sale takes place that requires custom or overnight shipping and handling. It is tempting to just add code to the trigger that sends an e-mail when these criteria are met. But this can be problematic for two reasons: (1) your users are waiting for that processing to occur, and (2) if you can't send the e-mail, how do you decide whether or not to roll back the transaction, and how do you bring the problem to the attention of the administrator?

2011-02-14

2,819 reads

External Article

SQL Azure - Creating backups and copies of your databases

As a DBA you always followed a practice to back up your database (or take a snapshot of your database) before making any changes so that you can revert to your old database state if something goes wrong. Also to setup a development or test environment you use a backup of your database and restore it in the respective environment. If you are moving to SQL Azure, what would you do in these cases as backup / restore and database snapshots are not supported as of now?

2011-02-10

3,731 reads

External Article

Re-generating SQL Server Logins

SQL Server stores all login information on security catalog system tables. By querying the system tables, SQL statements can be re-generated to recover logins, including password, default schema/database, server/database role assignments, and object level permissions. A comprehensive permission report can also be produced by combining information from the system metadata.

2011-02-08

5,514 reads

Technical Article

SQL Server Migration Assistant 2008 (SSMA)

One of my client’s requirements is to migrate and consolidate his company departments’ databases to SQL Server 2008. As I know the environment, they are using MySQL , MS-Access and SQL Server with different applications. Now the company has decided to have a single dedicated SQL Server 2008 database server to host all the applications. So there are a few things to do to upgrade and migrate from MySQL and MS-Access to SQL Server 2008. For the migration task, I found the SQL Server Migration Assistant 2008 (SSMA 2008) is very useful which reduces the effort and risk of migration. So in this tip, I will do an overview of SSMA 2008.

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2011-02-07

3,206 reads

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Fun with JSON II

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Fun with JSON II

Changing Data Types

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Changing Data Types

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Question of the Day

Fun with JSON II

I have some data in a table:

CREATE TABLE #test_data
(
    id INT PRIMARY KEY,
    name VARCHAR(100),
    birth_date DATE
);

-- Step 2: Insert rows  
INSERT INTO #test_data
VALUES
(1, 'Olivia', '2025-01-05'),
(2, 'Emma', '2025-03-02'),
(3, 'Liam', '2025-11-15'),
(4, 'Noah', '2025-12-22');
If I run this query, how many rows are returned?
SELECT t1.[key] AS row,
       t2.*
FROM OPENJSON(
     (
         SELECT t.* FROM #test_data AS t FOR JSON PATH
     )
             ) t1
    CROSS APPLY OPENJSON(t1.value) t2;

See possible answers