Crocs and Naps….
I was planning a blog post for a TSQL2sday..instead would up writing an obituary blog post for a dear friend who passed on yesterday. Brian Moran was among the...
2021-07-23 (first published: 2021-07-10)
362 reads
Mala Mahadevan
Scripting using SMO
I will be delivering a lightning talk at DataMinutes on June 7th on this topic. I thought it would help to write a synopsis of what am going to...
2021-06-06
50 reads
Data dictionary script
I restarted speaking with New Stars of Data today – I gave a talk on Database documentation. Below is the script I created to pull metadata into an excel...
2021-03-16 (first published: 2021-03-12)
717 reads
Old but not gone…
I am part of a weekly talk show we run at the TriPASS user group, called ‘Shop Talk’. Shop Talk was the brainchild of Kevin Feasel, our key user...
2021-02-25 (first published: 2021-02-22)
382 reads
TSQL Tuesday #134 – Taking a break
This month’s TSQL Tuesday invite is from James McGillivray – he asks people to write about what they were/are doing to take a break during this crisis ridden time...
2021-01-12
19 reads
End of an Era – SQL PASS and Lessons learned
Most of my blog is filled with posts related to PASS in some way. Events, various volunteering opportunities, keynote blogging, this or that…With the demise of the organization, I...
2020-12-31 (first published: 2020-12-22)
526 reads
PASS Summit 2020 – My experience
This was the first year in 16 years for me that there has been a fall season without the PASS Summit to go to. Every year, during the fall,...
2020-11-25 (first published: 2020-11-15)
256 reads
T-SQL Tuesday 132: Coping with a pandemic
This month’s T-SQL Tuesday is hosted by my good friend and data platform MVP Taiob Ali. Taiob’s challenge is very relevant to current season – he asks to blog...
2020-11-10
30 reads
T-SQL Tuesday 131: Data Analogies, or: Explain Databases Like I’m Five!
This month’s TSQL2sday is hosted by one of my favorite presenters, Rob Volk. His challenge for us is to use analogies and explain a database concept like you would...
2020-10-19 (first published: 2020-10-13)
439 reads
Azure SQL Championship
There is no doubt that this is a time when we all have to be extra aware and work towards keeping our skills aligned with market needs. During this...
2020-10-13 (first published: 2020-10-07)
342 reads
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
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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