Copilot Outside of SSMS Seems to Work
I read Brent’s first look at SSMS and Copilot in there. He didn’t have a great opinion of the tool, especially comparing it to Gemini or Claude. I haven’t...
2025-05-30
89 reads
Blog Posts
KDA: Echoes of Deception - Case 1
Another KDA case: Digitown’s utility bills suddenly doubled for no good reason. With the election coming up, I got pulled in to figure out what went wrong. I’ve got...
2025-05-30 (first published: 2025-05-02)
191 reads
Why Data Silos Hurt Your Business Performance
Businesses rely on data for decision-making and strategy, but data silos hinder productivity. These silos lead to ineffective decisions from incomplete data, wasted resources through redundant efforts, and missed...
2025-05-30 (first published: 2025-05-12)
400 reads
Deciphering Data Architectures: When to Use a Warehouse, Fabric, Lakehouse, or Mesh
As discussed in my blog and book “Deciphering Data Architectures: Choosing Between a Modern Data Warehouse, Data Fabric, Data Lakehouse, and Data Mesh” (Amazon), organizations are often challenged with...
2025-05-28 (first published: 2025-05-06)
539 reads
SQL Data Type Conversions: Your Key to Clean Data & Sharp Queries
If you're a data analyst juggling varied datasets, mastering SQL data type conversions isn't just handy—it's crucial. Whether you’re making different data types play nice together or boosting query...
2025-05-28 (first published: 2025-05-14)
523 reads
SQL Server Logins vs. Users: Why You Really Need to Know the Difference
The Two-Layer Model Explained “We added them to the database, but they still can’t connect.” Sound familiar? That’s the kind of confusion SQL Server’s two-layer security model creates when...
2025-05-28
99 reads
Using AI to Test a SQL Query
Someone sent me this code. WITH p AS ( SELECT ID, ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY ID ASC) AS RN FROM wp_posts WHERE post_parent = 94341; ) UPDATE p SET...
2025-05-28
134 reads
Your SQL Starting Line: Best Free Databases for Beginners
Wondering which database to tackle first? I’ve got the lowdown on the top free choices for anyone new to SQL, and I’ll tell you exactly why they’re stellar for...
2025-05-28
369 reads
SQL Server 2025: Using ZSTD Compression for SQL Server Backups
SQL Server 2025 introduces a new compression algorithm, ZSTD (Zstandard), which can help with database backup performance. The implementation of ZSTD gives you more control over your backup performance...
2025-05-27
37 reads
Azure Vulnerability Assessments
Regarding managing databases in the cloud, security should never be an afterthought. That’s where Azure Vulnerability Assessments, officially named Microsoft Defender, come in—they help you spot weak spots in...
2025-05-26 (first published: 2025-05-07)
415 reads
Blogs
A New Word: Foilsick
By Steve Jones
foilsick – adj. feeling ashamed after revealing a little too much of yourself to...
Accelerated Database Recovery for tempdb in SQL Server 2025
Accelerated database recovery was introduced in SQL Server 2019 and provides fast recovery, instantaneous...
Measuring What Matters: Operationalizing Data Trust for CDOs
By Chris Yates
Trust is the currency of the data economy. Without it, even the most advanced...
Forums
Create an HTML Report on the Status of SQL Server Agent Jobs
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Create an HTML Report on...
ETL Framework In Production
Hello, I am leveraging Python within SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) packages, primarily through...
SQL Server Ghosts
Comments posted to this topic are about the item SQL Server Ghosts