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

Tool: KeePass Password Safe password manager/vault

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

Some time ago I was looking for a password vault and came across some recommendations for KeePass. KeePass is open...

2007-10-31

2,611 reads

SQL Server: Listing all the database roles for a given database user

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

SQL Server 2005 introduces Common Table Expressions (CTEs), which are great for recursive queries. Previously, in order to do recursion,...

2007-10-30

2,571 reads

Becoming a DBA, Part I

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

A recent thread on SQLServerCentral.com had an individual what it took to be a successful DBA. Couple that with a...

2007-10-29

1,678 reads

Structuring the Blog Better

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

For a variety reasons, including personal/family concerns and workload, I've not been able to write as often as I'd like....

2007-10-28

1,466 reads

Alpha Version of SQLPing3 Command Line Available

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

Noted SQL Server security expert, Chip Andrews, has released an alpha version of a command-line version of SQLPing3. You can...

2007-10-25

2,310 reads

My Book is Out!

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

How to Cheat at Securing SQL Server 2005

I recently had the opportunity to contribute a couple of chapters to this...

2007-10-04

549 reads

Midlands PASS October Meeting

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

Taya Blanchard to speak on A
Practical Guide to Making Sense of Your SQL Server Application
Performance
Midlands PASS Chapter - October...

2007-10-03

577 reads

Vacation... and the need for it

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

I have been on vacation the last week, which meant I spent the previous three weeks at work preparing to...

2007-09-10

609 reads

Midlands PASS Chapter - August 2, 2007

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

"Database Professional Toolkit" with Brian and Jeremy
Midlands PASS Chapter - August 2, 2007 Meeting
Sponsored by Red Gate Software

The Midlands PASS Chapter...

2007-07-31

1,563 reads

ApexSQL's Industry Experts program

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

If you're a Microsoft MVP, ApexSQL has brought back their industry experts program. You can find out more about it...

2007-07-25

1,732 reads

Blogs

Narrow Task Decomposition in AI Pipeline Agents

By Eduardo Pivaral

A nightly load into sales_fact fails. Ask an orchestrating agent to break down the...

Car Update: August 2026

It’s been some time since I provided a car update, so I decided to...

Microsoft Fabric OneLake Shortcuts: When to Use Them and When Not To

An architecture scenario Imagine separate Sales, Finance, Shared Data, and Executive Analytics workspaces. Sales...

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Forums

Backing Up a DMK

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Backing Up a DMK

The Quiet Part

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Quiet Part

BIT_COUNT in SQL Server

Comments posted to this topic are about the item BIT_COUNT in SQL Server

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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?

See possible answers