A number of security-related features are built into Azure SQL Database, including Transparent Data Encryption, Row-Level Security, and Azure SQL Database Auditing. Their availability reflects the consistent effort by Microsoft to provide functional parity between Azure SQL Database and SQL Server instances running in Azure virtual machines as well as in your on-premises environment. Another example of this trend is support for Dynamic Data Masking, covered in this article.

SQL Server Temporal Tables: How-To Recipes

by Additional Articles

SimpleTalk

Temporal Tables

Tables that return the value of the data in the table at a particular point of time have been with us since the first relational database, but have always required special queries and constraints, and can be tricky to get right. System-versioned Temporal Tables, new in SQL Server 2016, make such tables behave like any other. How do you create one, or modify an existing table? How can you get an In-Memory Optimized OLTP table to be Temporal? Alex Grinberg shows how.

Combining R and SQL Server to diagnose performance bottlenecks

by Nick Burns

SQLServerCentral.com

Performance

Using clustering algorithms to analyse index usage data from SQL Server’s DMVs & simplify complex performance investigations.

Happy Memorial Day 2017

by Steve Jones

SQLServerCentral.com

Editorial

During this US holiday, Steve hopes you have a relaxing day.

The Rate of Change of Data

by Phil Factor

SQLServerCentral.com

Editorial

Phil Factor argues that the database should be the primary source not only of the current data values, but also of the volatility of the data, its rate of change. Surely, then, it makes sense for the database to control the caching strategy.

Generating Plots Automatically From PowerShell and SQL Server Using Gnuplot

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SimpleTalk

PowerShell

When you are automating a number of tasks, or performing a batch of tests, you want a way of automating the production of your plots and graphs. Nothing beats a good graphical plot for giving the indications of how the process went. If you are using PowerShell and maybe also SQL Server, it pays to use a command-line plotting tool such as Gnuplot to do all the hard work. It turns out to be handy for a range of data jobs, turning PowerShell into a handy data science tool.

Using striped backups with SQL Clone

by Additional Articles

Redgate

SQL Clone

If you’re a Redgate SQL Backup customer, occasionally you’ll need to convert your SQL Backup (.sqb) files to the native SQL Server backup format (.bak), perhaps to perform native database restores on a server where SQL Backup isn’t installed. This produces a striped backup, because each thread used when making the backup will produce a separate file. Can we use a striped backup produced in this way, or indeed any striped backup, as the source for a SQL Clone image? Short answer: we can! Let’s see how that works.

Do I Need to Learn Linux and R and Python?

by Steve Jones

SQLServerCentral.com

Editorial

The SQL Server platform is growing, but Steve Jones notes that this might not really affect our jobs.

How to deploy a database plus static data using SQL Compare and SQL Data Compare

by Tony Davis

Redgate

SQL Compare

This article from Tony Davis describes how to the use the Redgate SQL Compare and SQL Data Compare GUIs to get the current version of a database schema, and its static data, into version control, and then automate database deployments from the version control system using SQL Compare's command line and PowerShell.