Chris

Chris started in computing and I.T. in the mid to late 1990's. After the dust had settled from Y2K, he found himself a bit more focused and working with database servers on the Unix platform. His first exposure to SQL Server was in 2007 and he has been working on that platform ever since. Chris is currently a Sr. SQL Server DBA in more of a DevOps role with a main focus on operational reliability, stability and performance. His specialty is automation. He truly enjoys the days he gets to spend building tools with PowerShell to help his fellow DBA's manage their ever growing SQL Server environment.

Blog Post

Configure SQL Server Agent using SMO

Saw this on twitter and thought I would throw it up on the blog. Easier than responding on twitter.

[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SqlServer.Smo") | Out-Null;

$SQLServerInstance...

2015-03-24

403 reads

Blog Post

Get-DiskSpace

My cheap and dirty PowerShell script for dumping the disk space usage for a Windows machine. It was originally some...

2015-03-24

464 reads

Blog Post

My Specialty

So I was reading the following blog post by Brent Ozar and I think it finally hit me right between the...

2015-03-24

311 reads

Blog Post

Who is cjsommer?

I’ve been a problem solver as far back as I can remember, always looking for a new challenge. I love...

2015-03-24

262 reads

Blogs

Narrow Task Decomposition in AI Pipeline Agents

By

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

Car Update: August 2026

By

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

By

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

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Forums

Managing Incidents and Fighting Fires

By Pat Wright

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Managing Incidents and Fighting Fires

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

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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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