Webinar: Navigating the Database Landscape in 2026
For a number of years, we’ve produced the State of the Database Landscape report, based on surveys and research we do every year. I have found it very interesting...
2026-02-10
78 reads
Claude AI Convinced Me Not to Build an iPad App
I coach volleyball and I do a lot of stat stuff on paper. I decided recently to see if I could find a way to more easily automate things....
2026-02-18 (first published: 2026-02-09)
566 reads
A New Word: Dolorblindness
dolorblindness – n. the frustration that you’ll never be able to understand another person’s pain, only ever searching their face for some faint evocation of it, then rifling through...
2026-02-06
33 reads
Claude Code Helps Analyze Test Data Manager Log Files
I had a customer ask about analyzing their Test Data Manager (TDM) usage to determine how many people were protecting data in dev databases and how often. TDM creates...
2026-02-16 (first published: 2026-02-04)
259 reads
PowerPoint to HTML with Claude AI
I had an idea for an animated view of a sales tool, and started to build this in PowerPoint. I decided to switch to Claude and ended up with...
2026-02-13 (first published: 2026-02-03)
379 reads
Don’t Miss Out – SQL Server Query Tuning Fundamentals Starts Next Monday!
Next Monday, February 9, 2026, my one-day live online training SQL Server Query Tuning Fundamentals will take place! This hands-on session is designed to help DBAs, developers, and consultants...
2026-02-02
31 reads
Monday Monitor Tips: SQL Auditing Preview
One of the features we advocates have been advocating for is a better way to track security changes in your SQL Server instances. The first slice of this work...
2026-02-03 (first published: 2026-02-02)
23 reads
SQL Server 2025 CU1 Fixes the Docker Desktop AVX Issue on macOS
Microsoft fixed the AVX instruction issue in SQL Server 2025 CU1. The container now runs successfully on Docker Desktop for macOS without needing OrbStack.
2026-02-11 (first published: 2026-02-02)
136 reads
Advice I Like: Ranch Rules
Leave a gate behind you the way you first found it. – from Excellent Advice for Living This is a ranch rule. Leave something as you found it. If...
2026-02-06 (first published: 2026-01-30)
280 reads
Fix Slow, Bloated MSDB: Purge Old History And Add Missing Indexes
Fix Slow, Bloated MSDB: Purge Old History And Add Missing Indexes
After tempdb, msdb is often the most abused system database, growing unchecked until it tanks...
2026-02-11 (first published: 2026-01-30)
564 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
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