Arun Sirpal

I am a Senior DBA with interest in MS technology especially SQL Server and Azure. During 2015 I was mentored by Paul Randal – Data Platform (SQL Server) MVP and during 2016 I completed my SQLskills Immersion training on Internals and Performance Tuning. When I am not working I am in the gym burning calories.

Databases and AI Agents

As part of my wider work exploring Claude Code and AI-assisted database engineering, I have been looking at how AI can support SQL Server operations. A failed job, missed...

2026-06-03 (first published: )

531 reads

Blog Post

Claude Context Window

Every Claude conversation has a context window. It is the total amount of text Claude can work with in a single chat — your messages, its replies, uploaded files,...

2026-05-30 (first published: )

29 reads

Blogs

Narrow Task Decomposition in AI Pipeline Agents

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

Car Update: August 2026

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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

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

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Managing Incidents and Fighting Fires

By Pat Wright

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Backing Up a DMK

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

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The Quiet Part

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

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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?

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