INSERT-VALUES – Bigger is NOT always Better!
One of the super cool features in 26ai is the ability to extend the VALUES clause in your INSERT statements to allow multiple rows per execution. If you’re unfamiliar...
2026-02-27
3 reads
Ramblings about data communities and your contributions, no excuses
I have been active in the data community throughout my career. I have met people and made friends in the process. As I look back on it, I am...
2026-02-26
22 reads
SQL Server Journey till 2025 (brief)
Quick Summary for Microsoft SQL Server till 2025, I am fortunate to be part of all the Versions!! 7 (70)– Foundation, OLAP Services, Query Analyzer 2000 (80) – SSAS,...
2026-02-27 (first published: 2026-02-26)
23 reads
Building Power BI Reports: Desktop vs Fabric
Why this comparison feels confusing If you’re a Power BI report author who’s just getting into Microsoft Fabric, you’ve probably asked the same question I hear over and over:...
2026-03-09 (first published: 2026-02-26)
570 reads
Identity Columns Can’t Be Updated: #SQLNewBlogger
I’m not sure I knew identity column values could not be updated. I ran into this while trying to solve a problem recently and had to check the error...
2026-02-25
41 reads
Rolling Back a Broken Release
We had an interesting discussion about deployments in databases and how you go forward or back from the point when you discover a problem. You can watch the episode...
2026-03-13 (first published: 2026-02-23)
281 reads
A bespoke reporting solution doesn’t have to cost the earth
You could be tolerating limited reporting because there isn’t an off the shelf solution that meets your needs and you’re scared about the costs of a fully bespoke reporting...
2026-03-04 (first published: 2026-02-22)
364 reads
Presenting with Visual Studio Code
A while back I wrote a quick post on setting up key mappings in Visual Studio Code…they make presenting (and generally working) in Visual Studio Code really smooth. But...
2026-02-27 (first published: 2026-02-20)
638 reads
Advice I Like: In 100 Years
In 100 years a lot of what we take to be true now will be proved to be wrong, maybe even embarrassingly wrong. A good question to ask yourself...
2026-03-06 (first published: 2026-02-20)
597 reads
dataMinds Saturday 2026 – Slides
At Saturday the 21st of February I’m presenting an introduction to dimensional modelling at dataMinds Saturday. It’s a topic close to my heart, and I’ve always wanted to present...
2026-02-20
26 reads
Blogs
Claude finds two cryptographic weaknesses (but the sky isn’t falling)
By Brian Kelley
If you haven't seen the announcement, Anthropic was able to utilize Claude (Mythos Preview)...
Generate Embeddings in SQL with Aurora and Bedrock
Most embedding pipelines on AWS have the same shape: a job reads rows out...
Resolving SQL Server Transaction Log Issues Efficiently
By Arun Sirpal
Transaction log issues are one of the quietest ways a healthy database turns into...
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