A Day in the Life of a SQL Server Data Architect
This article looks at what an average day of a SQL Server Data Architect looks like and some of the things you would need to as a Data Architect.
2021-12-29
Additional Articles
DBAs at work #3: The finance company Manager DBA
Want an insight into how your fellow DBAs work? This episode features Kevin Davis, Manager of Database Administration at Tower Loan, a consumer finance company with 250 branches across the US.
2021-12-29
Flyway with MariaDB for Those of a Nervous Disposition
This article will get you up and running quickly with Flyway migrations on MariaDB or MySQL databases, from PowerShell.
2021-12-27
Learn about SQL Joins on Multiple Columns
Learn about joining SQL Server tables together for a query when there is a need to join on multiple columns.
2021-12-27
Bulk Loading Data via a PowerShell Script in Flyway
How to quickly and automatically bulk load test data once Flyway Teams completes a database migration. A baseline migration script creates the empty database version, which then triggers a PowerShell callback script that bulk loads in the right version of the data. It is a very fast way to provision multiple copies of a specific database version, complete with data, for ad-hoc or automated testing.
2021-12-24
Implementing Deduplication Logic in the Lakehouse using Synapse Analytics Mapping Data Flow
Learn how to perform data deduplication for Azure Synapse Analytics using Azure Mapping Data Flows.
2021-12-24
Adding Test Data to Databases During Flyway Migrations
How to add test data to a SQL Server database, during Flyway development. We use SQL Data Generator to produce some "realistic but fake" data and then SQL Data Compare to produce an INSERT script that Flyway can use to load the data into a newly-built version of the database.
2021-12-22
Unity state machine behaviours
Video games would not be much fun without animation. In this article, Lance Talbert demonstrates Unity state machine behaviours to define code running during specific animation states.
2021-12-22
Why cloud and hybrid estates are important - but bring complexity
With 92% of organizations now reported to be multi-cloud, a well thought-out approach to cloud migration is imperative. Download our final insights report in this series on database monitoring to find out how 2500+ of your peers are dealing with the challenge.
2021-12-20
Working with PowerShell strings
Knowing how to manipulate strings is critical in any language. In this article, Greg Moore explains working with PowerShell strings.
2021-12-20
Blogs
Microsoft announces new cybersecurity AI multi-model
By Brian Kelley
Yesterday, July 27, 2026, Microsoft announced a new cybersecurity effort called Project Perception. Included...
Getting the SQL Server MCP Server Running
By Steve Jones
If you’ve wanted a SQL Server MCP server for your databases, it’s available. The...
Introducing azsql-migration-test: Test and Validate Azure SQL Database Migrations
Introducing azsql-migration-test, a small open-source CLI that validates your Azure SQL Database migrations against...
Forums
Symmetric Key Encryption
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Symmetric Key Encryption
The “Successful Login” Dilemma: Why Your Login Auditing Strategy Might Be Hurting Your Server
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The “Successful Login” Dilemma: Why...
Building Your Own Software
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Building Your Own Software
Question of the Day
Symmetric Key Encryption
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