Brian Kelley

Brian Kelley is an author, columnist, and Microsoft SQL Server MVP focusing primarily on SQL Server security. He is a contributing author for How to Cheat at Securing SQL Server 2005 (Syngress), Professional SQL Server 2008 Administration (Wrox), and Introduction to SQL Server (Texas Publishing). Brian currently serves as an infrastructure and security architect. He has also served as a senior Microsoft SQL Server DBA, database architect, developer, and incident response team lead.

Interests: Chess, Reading, Soccer (Football), Baseball, Animals, Theology

All authors

Plan your 2026

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

If you don't have a plan, you'll accomplish it. That's not a good thing.

2026-01-19 (first published: 2026-01-08)

227 reads

Act on Your Certification Test Results

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

Pass or fail, act on your certification test results.

2026-01-14 (first published: 2026-01-05)

455 reads

I recommend Smart Brevity (book) for communications

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

Following the advice in Smart Brevity improves communication.

2026-01-06

21 reads

Resetting on the AI hype train

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

There's a great article from MIT Technology Review about resetting on the hype of AI. AI's current state is somewhere between the die hard evangelists and the doomsayers

2026-01-05 (first published: 2025-12-19)

384 reads

Patch Tuesday – Where to get more information

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

For a number of years I have subscribed to Randy Franklin Smith's Patch Tuesday newsletter. It tends to hit my inbox in the wee hours of Wednesday.

2025-12-31 (first published: 2025-12-10)

251 reads

Prepping for Certification, Part 4 of 4

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

In Parts 1-3, I covered how I prepare for a certification exam. In this last part, I'll talk about how I go about taking the exam.

2025-12-19 (first published: 2025-12-08)

442 reads

4 CPE Opportunity (Virtual) for Charity

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

Every year, the South Carolina State Internal Auditors Association and the South Carolina Midlands ISACA Chapter partner together to put on a "CPE catchup" opportunity in December to provide...

2025-12-17

20 reads

Quantum Computing and SQL Server Article Is Up

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

In parallel with the presentation I gave at the PASS Data Community Summit on quantum computing's impact on data, I wrote an article specifically on impact with respect to...

2025-12-17 (first published: 2025-12-03)

241 reads