TDE, EKM and the Asymmetric Key
A look at how you might recover from a disaster using encryption and an HSM module in SQL Server 2008.
Built-In SQL Server Agent Performance Reports in SQL Server 2005
SQL Server 2005 includes a number of built-in reports to assist you in troubleshooting and measuring performance. In this tip I will cover the Built in SQL Server Performance Reports related to SQL Server Agent within SQL Server 2005.
Kalen Delaney at the Denver SQL Users Group
Sponsored by Dell, Kalen Delaney is coming to the Denver Marriot Tech Center on June 9.
Sins of SQL: The Time Table
Steve Gray discusses one of the oldest OLAP techiques for representing the time dimension - and shows why it's a lot easier to stick to DATETIME values.
TCA
SQL Server has a lower TCA, total cost of administration, than Oracle. Steve Jones comments today on a few of the reasons.
Statistical Sampling for Verifying Database Backups
A DBA's huge workload can start to threaten best practices for data backup and recovery, but ingenuity, and an eye for a good tactic, can usually find a way. For Tom, the revelation about a solution came from eating crabs. Statistical sampling can be brought to bear to minimize the risk of failure of an emergency database restore.
A Google-like Full Text Search
Implementing searching in your database is always a challenge and MVP Michael Coles brings us a method of building a Google-like search for SQL Server.
Getting the Message
Regardless of the speed of your SQL routines there comes a time, for any server-based system, when you need to think "parallel" and "asynchronous". So why, Phil Factor wonders, does there seem to be so little interest in Service Broker?
Free e-book: Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2
For a limited time, you can download this 10-chapter e-book: Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, by Ross Mistry and Stacia Misner.
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