The Community is YOU, Not Any Organization
As I type this, we’re leaving behind spring, and all the amazing events that take place then, and entering the quiet time of summer. After that, we’ll go into...
2024-06-18
33 reads
Blog Posts
Copilot Reminded Me How To Find a File Handle
Recently I was trying to delete a folder and kept getting the “something is using this, try again” dialog. It was annoying, but I couldn’t figure out what process...
2024-06-17 (first published: 2024-05-27)
584 reads
Six Months!
Oh good gosh. Six months without a single blog post. Most important information: I’m not dead. Apologies. The issue is pretty simple. I’m getting old. Ha! Seriously though, I...
2024-06-17
38 reads
Speaking at dataMinds Connect 2024
I’m very excited to announce I’ve been selected as a speaker for dataMinds Connect 2024, Belgium’s (and maybe/probably/most likely mainland Europe’s) best and greatest Microsoft data platform conference. My...
2024-06-17
20 reads
Why the masters and what lies ahead
I recently graduated with a Master’s in Strategic Communication from the University of Delaware. Attending the graduation ceremony with my sister made it a truly memorable experience. Here’s a...
2024-06-17 (first published: 2024-05-28)
303 reads
Level Up Your SQL Skills: The Best Intermediate to Advanced Courses
In the data-driven landscape of 2024, advanced SQL isn't just a nice-to-have, it's a career game-changer. Companies crave professionals who can wrangle data, uncover insights, and drive decision-making. If...
2024-06-16
99 reads
Extracting Data from the Planview Portfolios REST API using ADF – Introduction
I have a client using Planview Portfolios to manage their PMO. As part of the data warehouse, we want to extract the project data from the Planview REST API....
2024-06-14 (first published: 2024-05-26)
344 reads
Writing Parquet Files – #SQLNewBlogger
Recently I’ve been looking at archiving some data at SQL Saturday, possibly querying it, and perhaps building a data warehouse of sorts. The modern view of data warehousing seems...
2024-06-14 (first published: 2024-05-20)
354 reads
ERD Your Existing Databases
There are several tools out there to make your life easier by creating an ERD for your existing db. Everything works pretty well when you have a small number...
2024-06-12 (first published: 2024-05-23)
592 reads
Microsoft Build event announcements on Fabric
There were a number of Microsoft Fabric announcements at Microsoft Build yesterday that I wanted to blog about. Everything announced at Build can be found in the Microsoft Build 2024 Book of...
2024-06-12 (first published: 2024-05-22)
264 reads
Blogs
Microsoft announces new cybersecurity AI multi-model
By Brian Kelley
Yesterday, July 27, 2026, Microsoft announced a new cybersecurity effort called Project Perception. Included...
Getting the SQL Server MCP Server Running
By Steve Jones
If you’ve wanted a SQL Server MCP server for your databases, it’s available. The...
Introducing azsql-migration-test: Test and Validate Azure SQL Database Migrations
Introducing azsql-migration-test, a small open-source CLI that validates your Azure SQL Database migrations against...
Forums
Symmetric Key Encryption
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Symmetric Key Encryption
The “Successful Login” Dilemma: Why Your Login Auditing Strategy Might Be Hurting Your Server
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The “Successful Login” Dilemma: Why...
Building Your Own Software
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Building Your Own Software
Question of the Day
Symmetric Key Encryption
If I run this statement in SQL Server 2025, how is the password encrypted?
CREATE SYMMETRIC KEY MySymmetricKey WITH ALGORITHM = AES_256, KEY_SOURCE = 'My secret key source passphrase', IDENTITY_VALUE = 'My secret identity value' ENCRYPTION BY PASSWORD = 'S&perS#cretP@ssword7'; GOSee possible answers