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
100 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)
202 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)
411 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)
738 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)
546 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
108 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
146 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
686 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
60 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)
434 reads
Blogs
A New Word: los vidados
By Steve Jones
los vidados – n. the half-remembered acquaintances you knew years ago, who you might...
In-Person CISA Training – April 13-16, 2026
By Brian Kelley
I will be leading an in-person Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) exam prep class...
EightKB 2026
EightKB is back again for 2026! The biggest online SQL Server internals conference is...
Forums
query to track time spent on individual tasks in SSIS
Hi everyone I am looking at building a query to determine how much time...
SQL Server Transactional Replication from Always On Availability Groups to Azure SQL Database
Comments posted to this topic are about the item SQL Server Transactional Replication from...
Hidden Heroes
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Hidden Heroes
Question of the Day
Identities and Sequences I
When thinking of the Identity property for auto incrementing columns and sequences for the same action, which are explicitly linked to increment a number in a table when a new row is added?
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