Activate Conference 2018: Three days of Tech Learning
Tomorrow I'll be giving two workshops at the super-slick-brandedActivate Conference 2018 in Baton Rouge at the Louisiana Technology Park, a...
2018-02-21
287 reads
Will Assaf
"What's New in SQL 2017?" at the Baton Rouge SQL Server UG meeting
We had a great joint meeting tonight of the Baton Rouge SQL and .NET User Groups at the Louisiana Tech...
2018-02-15
542 reads
SQL Server on TLS 1.2: Checklist to disabling TLS 1.1 and 1.0
A common finding in security audits these days is the failure to conduct all communications via TLS 1.2. (Correspondingly, a...
2018-01-16 (first published: 2018-01-09)
31,239 reads
SQL Server on TLS 1.2: XEvent session to catch TLS in use
How can you tell what version of TLS is currently used for client connections? Unfortunately there isn't a handy queryable column...
2018-01-09
2,410 reads
Our SQL Server 2017 Administration Inside Out fun author survey
I was honored to be on the author team of the new SQL Server 2017 Administration Inside Out book by...
2017-12-20
798 reads
Start/Stop Group of Azure RM VM's
For testlab purposes, I often have a group of Azure VMs to manually spin up/spin down at once. I've had...
2017-12-19
373 reads
Attracting Non-Technical Speakers to Your SQLSat Events
Fellow DBA and community leader Peter Shore of the Columbus SQL PASS UG and SQLSat Columbus OH asked me via Twitter, "What is the...
2017-12-04
389 reads
SQLSat Organizers and UG Leaders Meetings at PASS Summit - Tips and Tricks notes
At the SQLSat Organizers and UG Leaders Meetings at PASS Summit meetings last week, we were given an opportunity to share...
2017-11-06
324 reads
The #SQLSAT Speaker Goodie Bag
Last summer, I heard about an awesome idea for speaker gifts at SQLSat Pensacola 2017 from organizer Karla Landrum and...
2017-10-29
611 reads
VS Code: PowerShell and focusConsoleOnExecute
If you're used to the behavior of SSMS or PowerShell ISE where upon executing code in the script panel, your...
2017-10-03
492 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
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
Deploying SQL Server Developer Edition in Kubernetes: A Cost-Effective Alternative to RDS
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Deploying SQL Server Developer Edition...
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