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
SQL Macros make so many things easier
Addenda Feb 20: I had one colleague point out a mistake, then another colleague point out something else, then I thought about it a little and found other problems…sigh. ...
2026-02-19
5 reads
RANK() vs DENSE_RANK(): #SQLNewBlogger
I haven’t done one of these in awhile, but I saw an article recently about this and decided to explain it to myself, but in a slightly different way....
2026-03-02 (first published: 2026-02-18)
551 reads
Using CAT for Testing of Data Agents
In last months one of the scenarios where you can use AI has been to build an agent which would answer your questions by looking into your data. It...
2026-02-25 (first published: 2026-02-15)
236 reads
Are you getting value from your reporting?
Do you spend so long manipulating your data into something vaguely useful that you don’t have the time to focus on analysing the what the data is telling you?...
2026-02-25 (first published: 2026-02-14)
215 reads
The Book of Redgate: SQL Server Central
It was neat to stumble on this in the book, a piece by me, just a few years after Redgate acquired SQL Server Central. I’ll let the words speak...
2026-02-20 (first published: 2026-02-13)
304 reads
Making Sense of Microsoft’s AI Strategy: Work IQ, Fabric IQ, Foundry IQ
A few weeks ago, I found myself staring at a slide full of new Microsoft AI names and thinking… wait a second. Work IQ. Fabric IQ. Foundry IQ. Agent...
2026-02-12
26 reads
Git forked
Forgive me for the title. Mentally I’m 12. When I started my current day job, I certainly didn’t expect to write this many blog posts about Git. I don’t...
2026-02-23 (first published: 2026-02-12)
424 reads
Setting FK Constraints in Data Modeler
One of the things a customer asked recently about Redgate Data Modeler was how to set a FK constraint between two tables. The tool seemed to make it easy,...
2026-02-27 (first published: 2026-02-11)
319 reads
DBCC CHECKDB: Why It Matters and What It Means for Your Azure SQL Environments
Hey everyone, Tim Radney here. Over the years I’ve seen far too many organizations learn the hard way what happens when you ignore database integrity checks. In traditional SQL...
2026-02-11
10 reads
Blogs
How to Provision an Azure SQL Database
Aside from spinning up a SQL Server instance container, the free Azure SQL Database...
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...
Forums
Symmetric Key Encryption
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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