Stairway to T-SQL: Beyond The Basics Level 1: The TOP Clause
The first topic in this stairway will be discussing the TOP clause. The TOP clause allows you to control the number of rows to be returned or affected by a query.
Using SQL Prompt to Accelerate the Top 10 Most Common Database Scripts
There may be some people who enjoy repetitive typing, but Grant Fritchey doesn't. He's always preferred SQL Prompt. The standard snippets suit developers fine but aren't so DBA-oriented, so he set about asking the SQLServerCentral community what they typed in the most, and set about producing a set of DBA snippets with the results.
Shrinking the Budget
Most DBAs don't get involved with budgets at work, but we are affected by them. Steve notes you might want to understand how budgets work.
Installing SQL Server 2016
Greg Larson walks through the GUI installation process for SQL Server 2016 and explore these new installation options.
Webinar: Unit Testing in SQL Server with tSQLt
Join tSQLt developer, Sebastian Meine, and Steve Jones as they answer your questions and show you how to unit test T-SQL code.
Relational By Default
Should we consider the relational model the default and only after having a good reason look at a NoSQL platform? Steve Jones has a few comments.
SQL Prompt Tips #6 - Insert Semicolons
A quick SQL Prompt tip to automatically add semicolons to your code.
Is SQL Server killing your application’s performance?
When an application suffers from performance problems, it’s common to assume the database is at fault. Ben Emmett examines why this often isn’t the case, and shows how you can dig into a .NET application’s use of SQL Server.
Private Data
The laws and morals regarding privacy aren't well defined, but Microsoft is making a stand.
Database Lifecycle Management Webinar
Join Steve Jones for a Database Lifecycle Management webinar on Nov 17 at 11am EDT. Watch to see how smooth a database development pipeline can be.
Blogs
Narrow Task Decomposition in AI Pipeline Agents
A nightly load into sales_fact fails. Ask an orchestrating agent to break down the...
Car Update: August 2026
By Steve Jones
It’s been some time since I provided a car update, so I decided to...
Microsoft Fabric OneLake Shortcuts: When to Use Them and When Not To
By James Serra
An architecture scenario Imagine separate Sales, Finance, Shared Data, and Executive Analytics workspaces. Sales...
Forums
Managing Incidents and Fighting Fires
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Managing Incidents and Fighting Fires
Backing Up a DMK
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Backing Up a DMK
The Quiet Part
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Quiet Part
Question of the Day
Backing Up a DMK
In SQL Server 2025, I have a database with a Database Masker Key (DMK). I want to back up this key and keep a copy offline. When do I have to open this key before running the backup?
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