Securing Your Databases in 2026: Best Practices for the Evolving Threat Landscape
In 2026, your approach to both applications and databases must be focused on practical and technical real-world operations and use cases rather than just hype.
Microsoft Security Changes and SQL Server
Windows is changing its security, which will affect SQL Server.
Expanding into Print
This is part of a few memories from the founders of SQL Server Central, celebrating 25 years of operation this month. When we started SQL Server Central, our goal was to build a great resource that helped other people advance in their careers and also made some money. Our decisions in building the site were […]
Exploiting SQL Server Date Correlation Optimization: How Tampered Backups Enable Cross-Database Data Leaks
This article reveals a critical SQL Server flaw: attackers can weaponize Date Correlation Optimization (DCO) views in restored backups
The Power of Data and Privacy
Steve discusses privacy and data that is publicly available on the Internet.
Two New Shortcuts for Fabric Lakehouse Developers: The Fabric Modern Data Platform
This next articles gives you a few quick ways to access data in remote storage.
Using REGEXP_COUNT to Count Strings in SQL Server 2025
We need to find out how many times certain strings appear in a column. We’ve used the LEN and REPLACE functions for years, but recently heard about REGEXP_COUNT and want to evaluate it, since we plan to upgrade to SQL Server 2025. How can we test this new feature?
GPX distance and time analysis in SQL Server
In this article we do a comparative analysis of the distance covered by two athletes during a race using the data of their GPX files.
The DBA is Dead; Long Live the DBA
There have many many times when a company or individual has thought that DBAs aren't needed. Steve doesn't think that has ever been true, nor will it be anytime soon.
Blogs
Advice I Like: Responsibility
By Steve Jones
“The foundation of maturity: Just because it’s not your fault doesn’t mean it’s not...
Power BI Performance in 2026: A Practical Guide to Faster Semantic Models and Reports
By James Serra
Originally published April 2022; substantially updated July 2026. This post is a complete replacement...
Getting Started with Azure SQL Developer on Macbook
The idea behind Azure SQL Developer is for anyone to build, iterate, and test...
Forums
Migration Challenge: Excessive FULLSCAN Statistics Update Duration Blocking SQL
Hello everyone , I am planning to migrate a database from SQL Server 2014...
SQL Agent Job Automated Change Capture Process
Comments posted to this topic are about the item SQL Agent Job Automated Change...
Another Model, More Data Loss
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Another Model, More Data Loss
Question of the Day
Finding a Database Master Key
Where do I check for the existence of a Database Master Key (DMK) in SQL Server 2025?
See possible answers