2020 Advent of Code–Day 4
This series looks at the Advent of Code challenges. As one of my goals, I’m working through challenges. This post looks at day 4. I’m going to do this...
2021-04-28
20 reads
Ambling through undocumented DBCC commands may result in boredom
There comes a time when we heed a certain call. The call is to avoid dangerous undocumented DBCC commands in SQL Server, especially those that bypass built-in protections. I’m...
2021-04-28
17 reads
Daily Coping 28 Apr 2021
I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m...
2021-04-28
7 reads
Geek Sync: Meeting Security Benchmarks and Compliance with Microsoft SQL Server
Tomorrow, April 28, 2021, 12 PM EDT, I will be talking about meeting security benchmarks and compliance requirements with Microsoft SQL Server. Here is the registration link: Geek Sync...
2021-04-27
43 reads
Modern Data Warehouse explained
I created a short YouTube video (20 minutes) that is a whiteboarding session that describes the five stages (ingest, store, transform, model, visualize) that make up a modern data...
2021-04-27
11 reads
Modern Data Warehouse explained
I created a short YouTube video (20 minutes) that is a whiteboarding session that describes the five stages (ingest, store, transform, model, visualize) that make up a modern data...
2021-05-12 (first published: 2021-04-27)
1,003 reads
Daily Coping 27 Apr 2021
I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m...
2021-04-27
15 reads
#PowershellBasics: Setting a variable vs a comparison.
In SQL Server both the set and equality functions are handled by the equals sign (=). For example: Set Equality ... Continue reading
2021-05-10 (first published: 2021-04-27)
412 reads
Expanding Inclusion and Diversity – Better Linking
I’m a native English writer/speaker. Some might debate how well I really know the language, but I am a native. I wasn’t a good student of languages. I struggled...
2021-05-10 (first published: 2021-04-26)
168 reads
Using Extended Events Live Data With Azure
In my last post I showed some shortcomings of Extended Events, however, it is possible to use Live Data with Azure. Let’s explore exactly how that works. To get...
2021-04-26
34 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...
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Backing Up a DMK
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BIT_COUNT in SQL Server
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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?
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