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SQLServerCentral Editorial

The Double-Edged Sword of AI and Data Democratization

Agentic AI is often hailed as a game-changer by organizations, bringing autonomous decision-making, intelligent automation, and powerful predictive capabilities. However, as organizations rush to leverage these technologies, those dealing with critical data in relational databases, documents and datasets, especially personally identifiable information (PII) face a harsh reality: moving AI projects from proof-of-concept to production is […]

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2025-08-06

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SQLServerCentral Editorial

When DBAs Should Consider Using SQL Server to Store Vector Data and If It Makes Sense

As we continue to build more applications using AI embedded solutions, database professionals are increasingly being asked to support workloads that would have seemed outside their charter just a few years ago. One of the most significant shifts has been the rise of vector data (i.e. high-dimensional numerical representations of content like text, images, and […]

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2025-07-26

412 reads

SQLServerCentral Editorial

Why Podcasts Matter for the Technical Professional

In a world of always-on learning and the relentless march of tech evolution, podcasts emerged as a quiet revolution in how I consume information.  I’ve been part of several podcasts this year, including recording one earlier today with Ed Roske for the Oracle community. As a data professional and technical specialist, for me they’re more […]

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2025-07-24

107 reads

SQLServerCentral Editorial

How Microsoft Fabric Is Reshaping Data Value

The data professional’s world is changing and I know you hear this from me in editorials, blogs posts and social media, but it’s the truth. With the rise of Microsoft Fabric, we’re not just seeing another platform shift; we’re witnessing a redefinition of how data is valued, governed, and protected across the enterprise. Fabric isn’t […]

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2025-07-22

245 reads

SQLServerCentral Editorial

Navigating Multi Platform Realities in My Database Life

Working across Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and MySQL, I've learned that the real challenge isn’t just knowing each platform, but understanding the subtle differences in terminology, syntax, and mindset, and staying open to learning on the fly every time I jump in.  The “Sacred Six” are rules that I’ve learned to live by and accept. […]

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2025-07-12

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SQLServerCentral Editorial

Formatting Dates and Times: The SQL Dialect Divide

If you’ve ever had to format dates and times in SQL, you’ve probably come across one of the most jarring realities of working across platforms: every major RDBMS does it differently and sometimes confusingly.  What’s a TO_CHAR() in Oracle becomes FORMAT() or CONVERT() in SQL Server, and its sort of the same in PostgreSQL… but […]

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2025-07-11

214 reads

SQLServerCentral Editorial

In Praise of Simplicity or The Power of Plain Language in a Buzzword World

There’s a moment I experience all too often in tech meetings, presentations, or vendor demos where someone starts talking, and instead of clarity, I get hit with a tidal wave of jargon: “synergizing AI-driven orchestration pipelines for real-time actionable insights using cloud-native microservices and agentic AI to serve as a digital twin.” And somewhere in […]

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2025-07-09

135 reads

SQLServerCentral Editorial

The Mindset of a Database Administrator: A Love Letter to Risk Aversion

Sometimes, while working on something as foundational as SQL Server Central, (which is a temporary responsibility for Grant, John and I while Steve is on sabbatical) I catch myself falling into an old, familiar loop double-checking my choices, second-guessing even the most minor decisions, as is the norm for anyone who’s a database administrator (or […]

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2025-07-08

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Restoring On Top II

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SQL Art 2: St Patrick’s Day in SSMS (Shamrock + Pint + Pixel Text)

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Question of the Day

Restoring On Top II

I have a database, DNRTest, that has a number of tables and other objects in it. The other day, I was trying to mock up a test and ran this code on the same server: 

-- run yesterday
CREATE DATABASE DNRTest2
GO
USE DNRTest2
GO
CREATE TABLE NewTable (id INT)
GO
Today, I realize that I need a copy of DNRTest for another mockup, and I run this: 
-- run today
USE Master
BACKUP DATABASE DNRTest TO DISK = 'dnrtest.bak'
GO
RESTORE DATABASE DNRTest2 FROM DISK = 'dnrtest.bak' WITH REPLACE
What happens?

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