Transparent Data Encryption Using Certificates and EKM - Level 1 of the Stairway to TDE
The first level of the Stairway to TDE will explain how the feature works and how to set this up on one of your instances and databases.
Updating a Cryptographic Provider for EKM with Azure Key Vault - Level 5 of the Stairway to TDE
This next level of the Stairway to TDE shows how to upgrade your EKM cryptographic provider.
Who is Irresponsible?
It can be irresponsible to use AI, but is it in many cases? Steve has a few thoughts.
How to Draw Line Graphs in SSMS
Ever just need a quick visualization of some numbers to get a rough idea of the trend, like this
The day-to-day pressures of a DBA team, and how we can work smarter with automation and AI
What a DBA team actually deals with There are many issues a DBA team faces, from servers going down to login access not being requested on time. These are not glamorous problems, but they are the problems that stop everyone else doing their jobs. In a modern environment you would expect a lot of the […]
Everything you should know about the SQL Server Resource database
Every SQL Server instance contains a database that most people never query, never back up, and never even see in Object Explorer. Yet, without it, SQL Server would not start. Enter the SQL Server Resource database.
Don't Panic
And bring a towel. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you have homework. You know with that lead in I'm going to talk about AI. Sorry, can't help it. It's on my mind quite a lot. It's in the news, oh, a whole lot. The majority of those stories can be summed up […]
Acting with Confidence
Acting with confidence is great, but how do you decide when there are potential impacts and concerns about your actions? Steve has a few thoughts today.
Creating a Simple and Flexible Random Password Generator in SQL Server
Generating temporary passwords is a common requirement in many applications. Users may need to reset a forgotten password, new accounts may require an initial password, or developers may generate test credentials. While password generation is often implemented in application code, doing it directly in SQL Server provides clear advantages. It centralizes the logic, ensures consistency […]
Blogs
AI Helps Me with My Sloppiness
By Steve Jones
I type fairly well. Well, I type fast, but I do wear out a...
Automatic Index Compaction
By ReviewMyDB
Index maintenance has always meant nightly jobs and a window you have to defend....
The Goldilocks problem – Materialized Views
I’m sure you’ve all heard the tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, but...
Forums
SQL Art, Part 4: Happy 4th of July — A British DBA's Guide to Celebrating a War We Don't Talk About
Comments posted to this topic are about the item SQL Art, Part 4: Happy...
How We Handled a Vendor Retry That Loaded Twice in Snowflake
Comments posted to this topic are about the item How We Handled a Vendor...
Cognitive Coverage
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Cognitive Coverage
Question of the Day
Getting the Average
I have this data in the dbo.Commission table in a SQL Server 2022 database.
salesperson commission Brian 12 Brian 16 Andy 7 Andy 14 Andy 21 Steve 20 Steve NULLAll the data is a varchar, and I decide to run this query to get the totals for each salesperson.
SELECT SalesPerson
, AVG(TRY_PARSE(Commission AS int)) AS TotalCommission
FROM commission
GROUP BY SalesPerson
GO
What average commission is calculated for Steve? See possible answers