I am currently a Senior DBA for Integrys Energy Services in Green Bay, WI. I’ve been a DBA since 2008 and have worked primarily with SQL Server versions 2005 and above supporting databases as large as 6TB.



Although my title says “DBA”, I also play the role of SAN administrator and data warehouse developer. I love learning and applying new technology and have a passion for making the environment I support as fast as possible. My blog is syndicated from www.adamkreul.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @AdamKreul.

All authors

All authors

Blogs

Don’t Miss Out – SQL Server Query Tuning Fundamentals Starts Next Monday!

By

Next Monday, February 9, 2026, my one-day live online training SQL Server Query Tuning...

Monday Monitor Tips: SQL Auditing Preview

By

One of the features we advocates have been advocating for is a better way...

SQL Server 2025 CU1 Fixes the Docker Desktop AVX Issue on macOS

By

Microsoft fixed the AVX instruction issue in SQL Server 2025 CU1. The container now...

Read the latest Blogs

Forums

25 Years of SQL Server Central

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item 25 Years of SQL Server...

The Decoded Value

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Decoded Value

Deploying SQL Server Developer Edition in Kubernetes: A Cost-Effective Alternative to RDS

By Sujai Krishna

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Deploying SQL Server Developer Edition...

Visit the forum

Question of the Day

The Decoded Value

In SQL Server 2025, what is returned from this code: 

DECLARE @message VARCHAR(50) = 'Hello SQL Server 2025!';
DECLARE @encoded VARCHAR(MAX);

SET @encoded = BASE64_ENCODE(CAST(@message AS VARBINARY(1000)));
SELECT BASE64_DECODE(@encoded)

See possible answers