A C# toolkit for writing SSIS Script Tasks
This article demonstrates basic C# code that will enable SSIS package developers to write useful custom SSIS script tasks.
Does the Role of the DBA Need to Evolve?
With the amount of data being stored expanding exponentially, does the role of the DBA need to change from caretaker to interpreter?
Encryption Works
Encryption is supposed to protect data, and it appears to be working as police and authorities are often stymied by encrypted disks. Steve Jones recommends you encrypt your disks on all your machines.
TSQL Challenge 71 - Play mangled words game in TSQL
Your task is to process the input table that contains several mangled words and try to 'un-mangle' them and validate them against a 'dictionary' table.
Backup Verification: Tips for Database Backup Testing
A Backup system is merely part of a recovery system. If your backups can't be used to recover the database, then they're useless. Do you regularly make sure that you can restore a database from your backups?
Vote for the DBA in Space Finalists
There are 15 finalists in the DBA in Space competition. Cast your vote today, and every day, for the next 5 days to decide who is going into space.
A brief explanation and solution for the Double Hop problem
What on earth does “Login failed for user ‘(null)’, Reason: Not associated with a trusted SQL Server conn” mean?
The Employment Contract
This Friday Steve Jones wants to know if you'd like to have an employment contract of some sort. Do you want your duties, or maybe exlcusions, explicitly spelled out in an agreement?
How to Build a Resume (that doesn’t suck)
Resumes are like opinions, which are like something else: everybody’s got one. And if you don’t have one, then certain key functions are very hard to perform. In this case, not having a resume makes the job-getting difficult.
Restoring a SQL Server Database – A Practical Example
Performing a Database Restore is a part of a DBA's daily life. A DBA may need to perform a Restore due to various reasons such as recovery, refreshing a database for testing purpose etc. Many times it can be difficult to perform a Restore due to corrupted media, low disk space on the server and so on. This articlel outlines one approach which can be used to Restore the backup of the Production Database a test environment.
Blogs
A New Word: los vidados
By Steve Jones
los vidados – n. the half-remembered acquaintances you knew years ago, who you might...
In-Person CISA Training – April 13-16, 2026
By Brian Kelley
I will be leading an in-person Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) exam prep class...
EightKB 2026
EightKB is back again for 2026! The biggest online SQL Server internals conference is...
Forums
query to track time spent on individual tasks in SSIS
Hi everyone I am looking at building a query to determine how much time...
SQL Server Transactional Replication from Always On Availability Groups to Azure SQL Database
Comments posted to this topic are about the item SQL Server Transactional Replication from...
Hidden Heroes
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Hidden Heroes
Question of the Day
Identities and Sequences I
When thinking of the Identity property for auto incrementing columns and sequences for the same action, which are explicitly linked to increment a number in a table when a new row is added?
See possible answers