Data or Experience
Is it more imortant to use the data or your experience? Does one have more weight than the other?
SQL for 8-year-old Math…But Be Careful of Implicit Type Conversion
How we can use SQL to solve a math problem published in The Guardian...but with a caution about implicit type conversion.
How to Get NULLs Horribly Wrong in SQL Server
NULLs in SQL are a mixed blessing. The Three-Valued Logic of SQL has its uses but can cause difficulties to anyone who assumes that NULL has a 'value'. It can make reports go horribly wrong in a number of alarming ways, as Robert Sheldon explains.
Automating SSIS Design Pattern - Stage Delimited Flat File
How long does it take to create to 100 staging packages? The answer will shock you!
Trust People
Steve Jones thinks that we are not doing a great job of harnessing the brain power of our entire teams.
Knee-Jerk Wait Statistics : CXPACKET
With another entry in his knee-jerk series on wait statistics, Paul Randal (@PaulRandal) explains CXPACKET and why it may or may not be a problem.
A simple trick for “Block Comment” syntax in SSMS
Make your comment blocks much more useful, in a surprising number of ways
Data Loss or Downtime
This Friday Steve Jones has a DR poll. He asks what might be more important to you in a disaster and why.
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?
See possible answers