Recovering from Bad Deployments
When you deploy software, what do you do if things don't go well? Steve Jones talks about a few options you might have.
Add a linear trendline to a graph in SQL Server Reporting Services
In this article, Koen Verbeeck illustrates how to add a linear trendline to a graph in SSRS, similar to the way it would appear if done Excel.
SQL Monitor Custom Metric: Identity Columns Near Limit
If your application relies on identity columns, this metric is a useful measure of the number of identity columns that are near to the limit per database. You can then avoid logical problems in your application and SQL Server errors.
Adding an Article Without a Full Snapshot
Have you got transactional replication in your SQL environment? Do you need to add a new table to your publication, but can't afford the time necessary to create a full new snapshot? Here is a step-by-step guide. Thankfully, adding a single table is easier than I thought.
DBA of the World
Conference travel enhances our minds with more than just SQL. It exposes us to new cultures, people and possibilities.
Staying Successful
What helps people be successful in a company? Perhaps a little analytic work can help employers determine this.
Salesforce: A Very Straightforward Cloud Development Platform
Force.com is an enigma; a Platform-as-a-Service that is designed to appeal to a broad church of developers, to make it quick and easy to write simple cloud-based applications. Robert Sheldon explains, as simply as possible, why this unusual data-centric, and metadata-driven platform is attracting so much interest in the industry.
Creating a heat map in Reporting Services
Use custom assemblies to generate a heat map matrix in SQL Server Reporting Services
Growing Your SQL Server Skills without Breaking the Bank
Learning more about SQL Server doesn't have to cost a small fortune. If you're willing to invest the time, you can learn.
What's Coming True?
Steve Jones looks forward to the new year and asks in this poll what you think will happen.
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