Reduce Aggravating Aggregation: Improve the Performance of History or
Optimize the performance of a database which includes history or status tables.
SQL Server 2005 Express vs. Desktop Engine (MSDE)
SQL Server 2005 Express Edition and the SQL Server Desktop Engine (MSDE) are both free and redistributable. Each product provides a medium where database administrators can work between MS Access and the full version of SQL Server. But there are key differences to consider.
Why Data Models Do Not Work: The Role of Reference Data
There is an urgent need to acknowledge the limitations of data models and find a way to bridge the logical-physical divide between models and actual databases so that database designs can be fully understood.
The Cloud
I was interested to hear about Microsoft providing some services and storage in the "Cloud." I remember hearing about Amazon making disk space and computing services available to users.
What Could Go Wrong?
It's the law of unintended consequences: things happening that you don't expect from a seemingly unrelated area. This article talks about a data center having leaks from carpet cleaning above. The concrete floor had aged and the carpet cleaners dumped water on the carpet to soak it through and it leaked. I'm not sure how people have data centers below office floors, but I know I've had a number of them at different companies where I've worked.
How to troubleshoot Service Broker problems
In this one I'll discuss some of the problems that can arise and how to troubleshoot them.
Script Task Breakpoints in SQL Server 2008
One of the things coming from our look at SQL Server 2008 Integration Services is that you are not going to see a lot of change visually. What you are going to see is things going on underneath the covers that makes SSIS perform better, and improved informational messages from the components. Just such a change is seen in the Script task.
SQL Server 2008 - The Power of Merge
We have a first look at one of the features in SQL Server 2008 that was cut from SQL Server 2005, but which has been highly anticipated. How many times have you written an "insert new, update match" routine? Jacob Sebastion shows us easy this becomes with the new MERGE keyword in SQL Server 2008.
Making the Most of Operational Analytics with Enterprise Decision Mana
EDM solutions are a logical and often necessary complement to operational analytics.
Setting Up Delegation for Linked Servers
Learn how to set up delegation on your SQL Server instances, so you can use the impersonate options when setting up the security properties of linked server definitions.
Blogs
Microsoft announces new cybersecurity AI multi-model
By Brian Kelley
Yesterday, July 27, 2026, Microsoft announced a new cybersecurity effort called Project Perception. Included...
Getting the SQL Server MCP Server Running
By Steve Jones
If you’ve wanted a SQL Server MCP server for your databases, it’s available. The...
Introducing azsql-migration-test: Test and Validate Azure SQL Database Migrations
Introducing azsql-migration-test, a small open-source CLI that validates your Azure SQL Database migrations against...
Forums
Symmetric Key Encryption
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Symmetric Key Encryption
The “Successful Login” Dilemma: Why Your Login Auditing Strategy Might Be Hurting Your Server
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The “Successful Login” Dilemma: Why...
Building Your Own Software
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Building Your Own Software
Question of the Day
Symmetric Key Encryption
If I run this statement in SQL Server 2025, how is the password encrypted?
CREATE SYMMETRIC KEY MySymmetricKey WITH ALGORITHM = AES_256, KEY_SOURCE = 'My secret key source passphrase', IDENTITY_VALUE = 'My secret identity value' ENCRYPTION BY PASSWORD = 'S&perS#cretP@ssword7'; GOSee possible answers