TDE and backup compression – still not working?
Until SQL 2016 if you used TDE (Transparent Data Encryption) you couldn’t use backup compression.
In 2016 Microsoft changed this, but...
2019-04-26 (first published: 2018-02-16)
2,391 reads
Matthew McGiffen
- Twitter: @MattMcGiffen
- Website: https://matthewmcgiffen.com/
There’s Still a Place for SQL Server Profiler
Follow a few of the SQL Family on Twitter and you’ll mostly see one view regards SQL Profiler, and it’s...
2019-04-26 (first published: 2018-07-25)
2,258 reads
Think twice before using table variables
T-SQL Tuesday
For T-SQL Tuesday this month Raul Gonzalez has asked us all to blog about lessons learnt the hard way:
http://www.sqldoubleg.com/2017/07/03/tsql2sday-92-lessons-learned-the-hard-way/
My...
2019-04-26 (first published: 2017-07-11)
8,662 reads
T-SQL Tuesday 107 – Viral Demo
For this month’s T-SQL Tuesday. Jeff Mlakar invites to talk about “a project you worked on or were impacted by...
2019-04-26 (first published: 2018-10-09)
1,868 reads
Understanding Keys and Certificates with Always Encrypted
Always Encrypted on SQL 2016 is pretty easy to set up. There’s even a single wizard to guide you through...
2019-04-26 (first published: 2017-05-30)
8,443 reads
Understanding Keys and Certificates with Transparent Data Encryption (TDE)
I’ve been taking a bit of a deep dive into understanding Transparent Data Encryption (TDE). As part of that I’ve...
2019-04-26 (first published: 2017-12-12)
2,711 reads
Using the built-in System Health session
When Microsoft introduced Extended Events (XE) in 2008, they also gave us a built-in XE session called system_health (though it’s...
2019-04-26 (first published: 2018-08-01)
5,338 reads
Using the Sequence Object to Generate Reference Numbers
The SEQUENCE object was added to T-SQL in SQL Server 2012. It’s reasonably well known to DBAs, but less so...
2019-04-26 (first published: 2019-02-20)
4,103 reads
What is Transparent Data Encryption?
Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) was introduced in SQL 2008 as a way of protecting “at rest” data. It continues to...
2019-04-26 (first published: 2018-01-26)
2,157 reads
Attending a climate protest for the first time
This is a blog devoted to databases, but for once I’m going to go off topic and talk about something I did at the weekend that I’ve never done...
2019-04-25
18 reads
Blogs
Don’t Miss Out – SQL Server Query Tuning Fundamentals Starts Next Monday!
Next Monday, February 9, 2026, my one-day live online training SQL Server Query Tuning...
Monday Monitor Tips: SQL Auditing Preview
By Steve Jones
One of the features we advocates have been advocating for is a better way...
SQL Server 2025 CU1 Fixes the Docker Desktop AVX Issue on macOS
Microsoft fixed the AVX instruction issue in SQL Server 2025 CU1. The container now...
Forums
Unlock the Best Excel Tricks for 2026 Financial Reporting
Discover how to simplify, automate, and enhance your financial reporting with Excel in 2026....
25 Years of SQL Server Central
Comments posted to this topic are about the item 25 Years of SQL Server...
The Decoded Value
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Decoded Value
Question of the Day
The Decoded Value
In SQL Server 2025, what is returned from this code:
DECLARE @message VARCHAR(50) = 'Hello SQL Server 2025!'; DECLARE @encoded VARCHAR(MAX); SET @encoded = BASE64_ENCODE(CAST(@message AS VARBINARY(1000))); SELECT BASE64_DECODE(@encoded)See possible answers