The Cost of Rework
Steve notes that we're always better doing things better the first time. That takes some effort.
Concepts and Issues in Test Data Generation
Data generation is the science and art of providing data for database development work that is as realistic and controllable as possible. The skills of generating realistic data are an essential part of being a database developer. It is important: you need plenty of data of exactly the right type, size and verisimilitude
Shout Your Successes
I was at a customer this week (sorry, can't share who). I spent the day talking about Redgate Monitor and how it can help with query tuning, server management, and estate management. Through the day, the data pros at the company were sharing how they were managing hundreds of servers and several thousand databases. They […]
Set up a Windows Server Fail-over Clusters (As a Precursor to High Availability in Standard Edition)
Setting up High Availability in SQL server has some prerequisites. One of these is that the database servers must be members of the same Windows Server Failover Cluster. In this article I show how to succesfully set up WSFC and activate Cluster Aware Updating
What Metrics Do You Collect?
Monitoring and observability are becoming more important in today's 24x7x365 environment for applications. Steve asks what data helps you solve problems today. Tell us what's important to you.
Build Chatbot with Large Language Model (LLM) and Azure SQL Database
In this article, we look at how to enable a large language model (LLM) to answer questions based on data stored in Azure SQL Database.
Configure Extensible Key Management Using Azure Key Vault - Level 3 of the Stairway to TDE
In this third level of the Stairway, we examine how to store your encryption certificate in the Azure Key Vault.
Control OneLake with Storage Explorer – Data Engineering with Fabric
In this new article, we examine how to work with OneLake storage.
Restore a Backup of a TDE Database to Another Server: Level 2 of the Stairway to TDE
In the second level of the stairway to TDE, we examine how you can restore your databases on another instance after moving the encryption certificate.
Transparent Data Encryption Using Certificates and EKM - Level 1 of the Stairway to TDE
The first level of the Stairway to TDE will explain how the feature works and how to set this up on one of your instances and databases.
Blogs
Advice I Like: Pyramid Schemes
By Steve Jones
If someone is trying to convince you it’s not a pyramid scheme, it’s a...
Using Prompt AI for a Travel Data Analysis
By Steve Jones
I was looking back at my year and decided to see if SQL Prompt...
FinOps for Kubernetes: Leveraging OpenCost, KubeGreen, and Kubecost for Cost Efficiency
In the era of cloud-native applications, Kubernetes has become the default standard platform for...
Forums
Database file shrink issue.
Hi experts, I have a 3+ TB database on a 2019 sql server which...
The North Star for the Year
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The North Star for the...
Multiple Escape Characters
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Multiple Escape Characters
Question of the Day
Multiple Escape Characters
In SQL Server 2025, I run this code (in a database with the appropriate collation):
SELECT UNISTR('%*3041%*308A%*304C%*3068 and good night', '%*') AS 'A Classic';
What is returned? See possible answers