Azure SQL Championship
There is no doubt that this is a time when we all have to be extra aware and work towards keeping our skills aligned with market needs. During this...
2020-10-13 (first published: 2020-10-07)
343 reads
Checking your dumps!!!
No, No, not those dumps: SQL Server Memory dumps!! Recently, I was on Slack and wondered into the #firstresponderkit channel. I am a big fan of all the First...
2020-10-13 (first published: 2020-10-06)
686 reads
Azure Databricks Overview
I have spent many long weekends getting stuck into Azure Databricks, plenty of time to understand the core functionality from mounting storage, streaming data, knowing the delta lake and...
2020-10-06
175 reads
Daily Coping 6 Oct 2020
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...
2020-10-06
23 reads
Exporting Environment Variables out of the SSIS Catalog
Sometimes when you’ve created a SSIS catalog, along with folders, environments and environment variables, you want this content on another server. Unfortunately, you can only script out these objects...
2020-10-14 (first published: 2020-10-06)
501 reads
New Presentation - The SQLFamily
A couple months ago I delivered a short (15 minute) presentation at work about the importance of having a good professional network and how I’d found mine. As I...
2020-10-06
13 reads
Getting Your Employer to Pay for the PASS Summit
It’s just over 30 days to the 2020 PASS Summit and that is plenty of time to get the boss to say yes, but you have to ask! I...
2020-10-14 (first published: 2020-10-05)
185 reads
A Database Playlist for Your Mom
Recently someone asked me if I had a video explaining what a database was. I didn’t, but was curious. Apparently, this person wanted to learn a bit about databases...
2020-10-05
40 reads
Row Numbers in Azure Data Factory Data Flows
(2020-Oct-05) Adding a row number to your dataset could a trivial task. Both ANSI and Spark SQL have the row_number() window function that can enrich your data with a unique...
2020-10-12 (first published: 2020-10-05)
8,431 reads
Assuming Good Intentions
With all the stuff going on around the world over the last year, maintaining some degree of mental stability can be quite a challenge. Speaking only for myself, while...
2020-10-09 (first published: 2020-10-05)
360 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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Managing Incidents and Fighting Fires
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Backing Up a DMK
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The Quiet Part
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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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