Document, then Install
Should we declare what we want installed and then have every instance configure itself? Steve Jones talks about the need to ensure we know what is running before we install rather than documenting it afterwards.
Fine Products for the Modern Drudge
As working hours in tech trend upwards, we look at some ways to make life easier.
Linked server creation to MySQL Server
Here is a step by step procedure to create a linked server to MySQL from SQL Server.
PASS Summit, Seattle, WA
Join the world's largest gathering of SQL Server and BI professionals in Seattle on November 4-7. PASS Summit is your conference – planned by and for the SQL Server community. Red Gate will be exhibiting, so drop by their booth and say hello. Register while space is available.
Understanding How to Use the UPDATE Statement to Change Your Data
Greg Larsen shows you a number of different ways to use the UPDATE statement to modify the data in your SQL Server tables.
Fun Data Analysis
This week Steve wants to know if you'd have some issues when analyzing data and you've mistaken correlation for causation.
Using the Konesans File Watcher Task in SSIS to Process Data Files
With the Konesans File Watcher Task for SSIS we can import files as soon as they arrive.
Compare SQL Server Performance of In-Memory vs Disk Tables
With the release of SQL Server 2014 there came a lot of new features, including “In-Memory OLTP”. One would assume that storing a table in memory would most definitely be faster than using the conventional disk-based table storage engine. But just how much faster is it?
Continuous Delivery for Windows?
It seems as though Microsoft might be moving to a Continuous Delivery process for Windows 10. Steve Jones isn't sure that's a good thing, but it is interesting.
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
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Backing Up a DMK
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The Quiet Part
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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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