SQL Saturday #48 - Columbia
SQL Saturday Columbia, SC gives you a chance to get a full day of free SQL Server information, lectures, and seminars from the experts on the East Coast.
Enjoy Your Job
A reminder today that there are people that enjoy their jobs. Steve Jones reminds us that we should take jobs based on that criteria.
Inside the Optimizer: Constructing a Plan - Part 2
How does the query optimizer build an execution plan for your queries? Paul White shows is in part two of a four-part series exploring the internals of query optimization.
Webinar: Turn your backups into live databases with SQL Virtual Restore
Find out in this webinar how easy it is with Red Gate's SQL Virtual Restore to mount live, fully functional databases direct from backups – without performing a physical restore. Learn how you can use SQL Virtual Restore to save storage space and time across a wide range of database administration activities.
AdvanceTimePolicy and Point Event Streams In StreamInsight.
There are a number of ways to issues CTIs (Current Time Increments) into your StreamInsight streams but a quite useful way is to do it declaratively on your source factory like this
An Informal Look at Database Performance
A review on the basic steps to correct a poorly performing query
The DIS-Information Principle: A Splitting Headache
You can easily re-factor bad DML code, but if a database design is wrong, you can do little to rescue the problem, even with expert queries. So what constitutes 'wrong RDBMS design? What are these errors that continually crop up? How can you recognise them and fix them? Joe embarks on a new series of articles by identifying a series of bad practices based on the habit of 'splitting' that which shouldn't be split.
Early September Free Training from PASS VCs
Hope you got plenty of rest over your Labor Day holiday because the PASS Virtual Chapters have some great free training lined up for you.
Inside the Optimizer: Constructing a Plan - Part 1
Part one of a four-part series exploring the internals of query optimization from T-SQL guru, Paul White.
Talking To You Makes Me Smarter
There's a lot of value in the interactions that professionals have with each other. A guest editorial from Andy Warren talks about the benefits of meeting new people.
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...
Forums
Managing Incidents and Fighting Fires
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Backing Up a DMK
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Backing Up a DMK
The Quiet Part
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Quiet Part
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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