Using DMVs to Find the Ports that SQL Server is Listening On
The other day I was asked to provide the port number that a SQL Server instance was listening on. As...
2010-11-29
3,369 reads
Blog Posts
Determining An Enterprise Execution Policy Setting
Windows PowerShell has the concept of execution policy that determines in which cases script and configuration files are able to...
2010-11-28
2,368 reads
New Domain - My blog has a new domain name gethynellis.com
About a year ago I started to write a blog, previously to that, for about three years I had been...
2010-11-28
620 reads
SQL Server 2008 R2 Best Practices Analyzer
A big part of my DBA career has centered around identifying and sharing SQL Server DBA best practices. There are...
2010-11-27
2,654 reads
Book Review - The Checklist Manifesto
Andy Warren recommended The Checklist Manifesto to me and after seeing his review, I decided to grab it. It’s written...
2010-11-26
1,851 reads
Do You Protect Your Passwords?
Protect Your Password! As a consultant, I am frequently receiving new passwords at clients and becoming aware of the password...
2010-11-26
679 reads
What Am I Thankful For
Earlier this week, I suggested that we share a message of thanks on our blogs. Since I suggested we put...
2010-11-26
978 reads
Leading the Albanian PASS Chapter
Yesterday, I have received the official email from the PASS HQ, and the confirmation that now I'm the leader of...
2010-11-25
820 reads
Are You Ready to Move to SharePoint for Microsoft BI?
I’m interested in hearing your response to this question. Microsoft is investing
aggressively in delivering Business Intelligence as a holistic platform...
2010-11-24
533 reads
Column Based Indexing in Denali
Recently, I was asked to install Denali for a client because one of the employees attended PASS 2010 and had...
2010-11-24
928 reads
Blogs
Narrow Task Decomposition in AI Pipeline Agents
A nightly load into sales_fact fails. Ask an orchestrating agent to break down the...
Car Update: August 2026
By Steve Jones
It’s been some time since I provided a car update, so I decided to...
Microsoft Fabric OneLake Shortcuts: When to Use Them and When Not To
By James Serra
An architecture scenario Imagine separate Sales, Finance, Shared Data, and Executive Analytics workspaces. Sales...
Forums
Managing Incidents and Fighting Fires
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Backing Up a DMK
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Backing Up a DMK
The Quiet Part
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Question of the Day
Backing Up a DMK
In SQL Server 2025, I have a database with a Database Masker Key (DMK). I want to back up this key and keep a copy offline. When do I have to open this key before running the backup?
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