When Do We Ask for Help?
When do we ask for help? It's a tough balance to strike between asking too soon or waiting too long.
Power BI Smart Narrative
A new feature in Power BI is the Smart Narrative that allows you to add a textual narrative to your reports to help provide additional information to the user.
Why is my SQL Server Query Suddenly Slow?
A SQL Server query is suddenly running slowly, for no obvious reason. Grant Fritchey shares a 5-point plan to help you track down the cause and fix the problem.
Hacking the DTSX (SSIS XML file) to Change Defaults
Introduction According to Microsoft, DTSX is an XML-based file format that stores the instructions for the processing of a data flow from its points of origin to its points of destination, including transformations and optional processing steps between the origin and destination points. In a nutshell, when you are creating your SSIS package, the SQL […]
Checking for Missing Module References in a SQL Server Database Using Flyway
There are certain checks that need to be done after a database migration is complete. One good example of this is the check that a migration script, such as one that merges changes from a branch into main, doesn't cause 'invalid objects' (a.k.a. 'missing references') in your databases. I'll show you how to run this check, using sp_RefreshSQLModule, and incorporate it into a Flyway "after" migration script.
Exploring the Capabilities of Azure Synapse Spark External Tables
In this article we explore additional capabilities of Azure Synapse Spark and SQL Serverless External Tables.
Key findings from the 2021 State of Database DevOps report
Redgate has just published the 5th annual State of Database DevOps report, In this blogpost, Andrea Giardina explores key insights across four trends: DevOps adoption, performance & DevOps, the rise of cloud & cross-database, and the impact of the pandemic.
Scripts to Automate Creating and Loading a SQL Server Table
Use these T-SQL strategies for dropping, creating, and populating tables in custom schemas across different SQL Server versions from SQL Server 2019 back to SQL Server 2005.
Comparing Two Geospatial Series with Python
Learn how to use Python and pandas to compare two series of geospatial data and find the matches.
Blogs
How to Provision an Azure SQL Database
Aside from spinning up a SQL Server instance container, the free Azure SQL Database...
Claude finds two cryptographic weaknesses (but the sky isn’t falling)
By Brian Kelley
If you haven't seen the announcement, Anthropic was able to utilize Claude (Mythos Preview)...
Generate Embeddings in SQL with Aurora and Bedrock
Most embedding pipelines on AWS have the same shape: a job reads rows out...
Forums
Symmetric Key Encryption
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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