steve@thesqlguy.com

I am a Microsoft certified SQL Server expert with over 20 years of experience. Creating secure, reliable, and fast data structures is my passion, and I want to share my expertise with you.

I am passionate about sharing my experience with the community, making information available and seamless to the world. Check out my blog and look for my various articles across the internet.

I love an audience. I have experience speaking to dozens or thousands, and I love to share my knowledge and experience. I would be happy to speak at your event with content ranging from very technical to more conceptual and business-friendly.

SQLServerCentral Article

6 steps to a more secure SQL database

Security is often something people think about only after they have had a problem. Given that the average cost of a data breach is $3.92 million (SecurityIntelligence 2019) and ransomware attacks have increased 97% over the past 2 years (PhishMe 2019), the "if it's not broke, don't fix it" approach can clearly be catastrophic. Here […]

(2)

You rated this post out of 5. Change rating

2019-10-07

9,364 reads

Blogs

Post-quantum key exchange – Insurance policy for your packets

By

AWS recently added support for Post-Quantum Key Exchange for TLS in Application Load Balancer...

Plan your 2026

By

If you don't have a plan, you'll accomplish it. That's not a good thing.

Another Change

By

Today Redgate announced that we are partnering with Bregal Sagemount, a growth-focused private equity...

Read the latest Blogs

Forums

Why 2026 is the Best Year to Start Earning Online

By DLBSEOMARKETING

The year 2026 presents the strongest opportunity yet for people looking to earn extra...

Where Your Value Separates You from Others

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Where Your Value Separates You...

Fixing the Error

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Fixing the Error

Visit the forum

Question of the Day

Fixing the Error

On SQL Server 2025, I have a database that has this collation: SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS. I decide I want to run this code:

SELECT UNISTR('*3041*308A*304C*3068 and good night', '*') AS 'A Classic';
I get this error:Msg 9844, Level 16, State 4, Line 24 The char/varchar input type uses an unsupported collation. Only a UTF8 collation is supported with char/varchar input type in UNISTR function.What is the easiest way to fix this error?

See possible answers