The Chief Data Officer
The idea of a Chief Data Officer is growing in many companies. Steve thinks this is a good thing.
Summit 2022 Call for Speakers Now Open
Share your knowledge and insights at the world's largest gathering of data platform professionals! The PASS Data Community Summit conference is going hybrid this year, and whether you're planning to attend in-person in Seattle or online, this is your chance to reach a global audience and advance your career as a speaker. If you're an expert in a data-related topic, we want to hear from you. Speakers of all experience levels are welcome to submit a proposal and the Call for Speakers is open until March 31. Registration also opens on March 24, so don't miss your chance to register for Summit's homecoming in Seattle at early bird pricing.
The basic T-SQL SELECT statement
The SQL language is used across many relational database platforms. Greg Larsen explains the basics of the SELECT statement for SQL Server.
Query History and Server Reports in Azure Data Studio
Introduction to Query history and server reports i...
The Challenges of Changing Software Tools
The way different generations use computers could affect how we built software tools.
DBAs and DevOps: A match made in heaven?
DevOps is a buzzword thrown around a lot. But what does it mean for you as a DBA? And how can the whole team work together to achieve peak performance across multiple projects? Join Kathi for the discussion.
What’s new in SQL Monitor? Tagging and Current Activity Page (minor release v12.1)
We've released a minor version of SQL Monitor, v12.1, that includes two exciting new features: ‘Tagging’ and a ‘Current Activity’ page. In a nutshell: tags allow you to record aspects of a server so that you have information at your fingertips, and the Current Activity page directly queries the monitored server when you open it to get the most up-to-date information possible. It’s all part of our commitment to making SQL Monitor the best monitoring tool out there!
Exploring Knowledge Center in Azure Synapse Analytics
Introduction Azure Synapse Analytics is an enterprise analytics service that brings together popular data warehouse technologies and big data systems together. It provides SQL for enterprise data warehousing, Spark technologies for big data, Data explorer for analytics, Pipeline for data integration and ETL and ELT, and other popular Azure services including Power BI, CosmosDB, and […]
Populate a SQL Server column with a sequential number not using an identity
I have a database table that has a lot of data already in the table and I need to add a new column to this table to include a new sequential number. In addition to adding the column I also need to populate the existing records with an incremental counter what options are there to do this?
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