My event schedule for Fall 2013

As I was browsing my calendar of upcoming events for the remainder of the summer and the fall, I realized...

Boorish Behavior? No, Worse. Death Threats Against Developers/Designers.

I know DBAs and developers have a rocky relationship. However, I don't believe we go as far as some of...

Cannot find NT Service\MSSQL$SQL2012?

If you cannot find the virtual account used by the default settings installation of your SQL 2012 instance (in this...

SQL Server 2014: AlwaysOn

AlwaysOn was introduced in SQL Server 2012, and there are some enhancements in SQL Server 2014:
Now support up to 8 secondary...

Azure and Your MSDN Account

I’ve heard over and over again that the reason people don’t want to learn Azure, to explore it, to understand...

Distribution setup SQL Server Agent error: "RegCreateKeyEx() returned error 5, 'Access is denied.'"

In the Configure Distribution Wizard, the step "Configuring SQL Server Agent to start automatically" errors with the following text:

TITLE: Configure...

Interview Candidates for Skills, Aptitude, Maybe Both

Over the years I’ve been primary a skills interviewer. In theory I know what skills are needed and in theory...

Schneier's Thoughts on the Future of IT Security and the Impact of the Internet on Power

If you've got an hour to spare, you might want to check out this presentation by Bruce Schneier where he...

Quick tip: WMI alerts and SQL Server Agent permissions.

I came across an issue today while trying to create a WMI alert for a mirroring state change. The error...

Join me for the 2013 Biml Workshop

Of the many emerging technologies I’m currently using, there’s nothing that excites me more than Biml.  If you’re not familiar...