TheSQLPro

Ayman is a passionate SQL Server DBA, Developer, and Business Intelligence Developer. His passion for technology started when he was a young boy playing DOS games on his father's computer. From there, he moved up to computer programming in high school and went on to get B.S. and M.S. degrees in Information Systems from Drexel University in Philadelphia. He has worked with the SQL Server product since 2006 and has experience with SQL 2000 through SQL 2012. He holds a MCITP SQL 2008 DBA certification and is also a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT. He has been active with the virtual chapters of PASS, participating in online training and also giving presentations. Ayman has lived in many different countries around the world including the U.S., U.K., Egypt, Saudi Arabia and speaks fluent Arabic. He is huge football(soccer) fan and is always looking forward to learn more about SQL Server, SQL Server BI, and technology in general. www.thesqlpro.com

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Don’t Miss Out – SQL Server Query Tuning Fundamentals Starts Next Monday!

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Next Monday, February 9, 2026, my one-day live online training SQL Server Query Tuning...

Monday Monitor Tips: SQL Auditing Preview

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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

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Microsoft fixed the AVX instruction issue in SQL Server 2025 CU1. The container now...

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25 Years of SQL Server Central

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item 25 Years of SQL Server...

The Decoded Value

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Decoded Value

Deploying SQL Server Developer Edition in Kubernetes: A Cost-Effective Alternative to RDS

By Sujai Krishna

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Deploying SQL Server Developer Edition...

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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)

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