Database DevOps – Where do I start?
By now you have most likely heard the term DevOps and you are most likely working for a company that has implemented DevOps is some manner, that could be...
2020-07-29 (first published: 2020-07-17)
591 reads
Snowflake – Understanding constraints
One of the concepts in Snowflake that I find many struggle with is how constraints are handled. If you come from a traditional database platform such as Microsoft SQL...
2020-07-21 (first published: 2020-07-08)
641 reads
Don’t be afraid of No
How many times have you been afraid to hear “No”? We have all been there because we have been trained over the years to perceive “No” as a rejection,...
2020-07-17 (first published: 2020-07-08)
499 reads
SSIS Package Execution Failure – When google fails you :(
We have all done it, get some sort of cryptic error and the first place we go to search is Google hoping the sea of message boards and blog...
2020-03-23 (first published: 2020-03-14)
689 reads
MS Ignite Day #2 Recap
Day 2 was my opportunity to be focused and dive into a few technologies that were really peaking my interest, namely Azure Synapse Analytics and SQL Server 2019. Since...
2019-11-13 (first published: 2019-11-06)
303 reads
MS Ignite Day#1 Recap
What an amazing first day at Microsoft Ignite that all started at about 6:30 this morning when I got in line to be one of the first 3000...
2019-11-05
98 reads
Employees don’t work for you; you work for them
Alex Yates (b | t) is hosting this month’s T-SQL Tuesday (the 119th edition) with asking us to write about something in our IT career that we have changes our minds...
2019-10-15 (first published: 2019-10-09)
754 reads
Leadership Part 2: Talent acquisition and Employee Retention
The two most costly human capital expenses an organization will have is the onboarding and offboarding of staff. Just take a moment to think about that and if your...
2019-06-26 (first published: 2019-06-12)
413 reads
Back with new focus
Back with a new focus First let me say wow can’t believe that it has been almost 3 years since I have blogged. The last few years my career...
2019-06-16
27 reads
Leadership Part 1: Team building
One of the most challenging aspects of being a good leader is building a team that can support the initiatives you will set forth. Without a team that will...
2019-06-14 (first published: 2019-05-28)
458 reads
Blogs
Narrow Task Decomposition in AI Pipeline Agents
A nightly load into sales_fact fails. Ask an orchestrating agent to break down the...
Car Update: August 2026
By Steve Jones
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 James Serra
An architecture scenario Imagine separate Sales, Finance, Shared Data, and Executive Analytics workspaces. Sales...
Forums
Managing Incidents and Fighting Fires
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Backing Up a DMK
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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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