Rolling back transactions with cursors and local variables.
I’ve been doing some work on a credit card payment system lately. Obviously this needs to be robust and consistent...
2014-04-10
802 reads
Ctrl-alt-geek
Quick Tip: Migrating a SQL Server Mirroring Witness server.
If you’re like me, you might be thinking “I want some more things to think about when I migrate between...
2014-03-27
653 reads
Quick tip: Querying AD with xp_logininfo
We all have blind spots in our knowledge. We don’t know they are there and when we are thinking through...
2014-03-13
739 reads
Issue with sys.dm_db_index_usage_stats in SQL Server 2012
I’d be struggling to remember a week where I hadn’t run a query against the dmv sys.dm_db_index_usage_stats to find unused...
2014-03-10 (first published: 2014-02-27)
3,238 reads
SQL Server configuration files
Problem: You require the ability to perform a repeatable standardised installation of multiple instances of SQL Server or the ability...
2014-02-13
45,433 reads
Conditional Aggregates
The Problem: A legacy table contains amounts and a char column indicating whether the amount is a credit or a...
2014-02-11 (first published: 2014-02-04)
3,091 reads
My Favourite SSMS productivity tips
It’s a well known fact that any sitcom that runs for a certain length of time will release a clip...
2014-01-13
1,691 reads
Apply SP1 to SQL Server 2012 on active/active Windows Server 2012 cluster.
A while ago I blogged my about my approach to service packing a SQL Server 2008R2 active active cluster. Time...
2014-01-08
1,588 reads
Quick tip: Could not load package “xxx” because of error 0xC0014062
I struck this error in one of my SSIS packages, I found lots of tips and suggestions online for the...
2014-01-08 (first published: 2014-01-06)
2,003 reads
Duplicate Statistics
The Setup:
Standard best practise is to have auto create and auto update statistics set for SQL Server databases. But there...
2013-09-03 (first published: 2013-08-28)
3,524 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
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Managing Incidents and Fighting Fires
Backing Up a DMK
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Backing Up a DMK
The Quiet Part
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Quiet Part
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?
See possible answers