Technical Article

Common Vulnerabilities in Database Security

Creating an enterprise security plan is a complex endeavour. It involves evaluating multiple threats that gain access through many network paths to a hodgepodge of different applications and systems. With the focus on systems and paths, databases are frequently overlooked. Securing the database should be a fundamental tenet for any security practitioner when developing his or her security plan. The database is the source of data, the "crown jewels" in the information economy. Any security effort must start with this in mind and end with the strongest level of controls applied at the database layer.

Technical Article

Building a 24 x 7 Database

Over the last few years, corporations have invested billions of dollars to integrate the automations of core business systems in large ERP applications. This paper looks at the risk of downtime and solutions for building an around-the-clock database.

SQLServerCentral Article

SQL MAIL Using POP3 and SMTP

SQL Server has a great build in messaging system with SQLMail. Unfortunately it requires Outlook and Exchange to work properly. Some people don't like this or do not run Exchange and have issues getting it to work. Gregory Larsen takes a look at how you can use SMTP to send email from SQL Server.

Technical Article

Updating Data in Linked Servers, Information Schema Views, and More

E
very day a developer somewhere needs to write code to iterate through SQL Server™ system objects, query and update tables in linked servers, handle optimistic concurrency, and retrieve column and stored procedure metadata. In this month's column, I will address these and other T-SQL development scenarios based on some of the questions I most frequently receive from readers.

SQLServerCentral Article

Two Minute SQL Server Stumpers

How prepared are you for your next interview? How prepared are you to give one? SQLServerCentral.com has compiled a number of questions from our ever popular Question of the Day into a book. Read about the project and show your support today by picking up a copy.

Technical Article

Writing Secure Transact-SQL

There are plenty of good sources of information about how to deploy SQL Server in a secure fashion. However, these resources are often targeted at database administrators tasked with securing already developed applications. In addition, there is a rich body of information that discusses writing secure .NET and ASP.NET code, including .NET code that accesses SQL Server. However, many of these resources focus on the data access code that runs on the application servers rather than the Transact-SQL (T-SQL) code that executes within SQL Server. Developing T-SQL code that runs securely on SQL Server is the primary focus of this column.

SQLServerCentral Article

Bowling Challenge - The Results

Andy started a contest this summer to see who could develop a T-SQL method of keeping a bowling score. He's finally gotten around to the results after the damage from the hurricanes was cleaned up. See who won and see the code that does the trick.

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Forums

Transactional Replication setup issue

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Hi! I've been banging my head against the wall for 2 days now trying...

The Power of Data and Privacy

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Power of Data and...

What's the Date?

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item What's the Date?

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Question of the Day

What's the Date?

In SQL Server 2025, there is a new function that returns the current date without the time. What is it?

See possible answers