Welcome to part 3 of my in-depth series on SQL Server security. In this post, we explore auditing and logging strategies, secure development practices, and encryption best practices—essential topics for protecting your SQL Server infrastructure. As a DBA, effective auditing and logging are key pillars of any serious SQL Server security strategy. When done right,… … Read more
If you’re dealing with SQL Server slow application troubleshooting, you’re not alone. Slow applications aren’t just frustrating – they can seriously affect productivity and business outcomes. But before you start tweaking performance settings blindly, it’s essential to follow a structured troubleshooting process. In this article, I’ll walk you through three effective techniques to identify and… … Read more
If you’re working with a table where data is constantly being inserted, updated, or deleted, you’ve probably encountered the problem: performance degradation due to index fragmentation and inefficient execution plans. I often see indexes in place but not used optimally. In this post, I’ll show you what to look out for when indexing frequently changed… … Read more
Introduction Date functions in SQL are powerful tools, but they are also one of the most common sources of errors in database queries and applications. Database administrators (DBAs) and developers frequently encounter issues with processing, storing, and converting date values. These problems often lead to inconsistent results, performance issues, or even data loss. In this… … Read more
In case you missed it: As of February 28, 2025, SQL Server 2019 is no longer in mainstream support. That means no more functional updates or performance improvements – just security patches. If you’re still running SQL Server 2019, here’s what you need to keep in mind. What does this mean for you? No need… … Read more
There’s exciting news from Microsoft that specifically affects data management and provisioning. The SQLPackage tool, already indispensable to many of us, has received an impressive update. With preview support for extracting and publishing data stored in Parquet files in Azure Blob Storage, it opens up a new world of possibilities for managing data in Azure… … Read more
At times, specific topics come together simultaneously. In this case, several emails were received from the Data Platform MVP distribution list, and various customer reports and suitable posts in other blogs were found on “how DatabaseMailUserRole stops your patching,” so a German contribution was made to this. It’s about a bug that has appeared in… … Read more
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to speak at the Cloud Summit, an international community event, about Azure Arc-enabled Data Services. Specifically, I focused on operating an Azure SQL Managed Instance in your data center. As I previously did at DataSaturday #14 in Oslo, I began my presentation by discussing the various options of Azure Arc…. … Read more
Today the time had come – I was finally able to speak at Data Saturday (formerly SQLSaturday) in Oslo … that was finally not due to the organizers but rather to me or the pandemic, since I hadn’t dared to give lectures until 2020 Keeping English, I hadn’t submitted any sessions for Oslo either. I… … Read more
Actually, I should have written this post years ago 😉 to shed light on the history or the genesis of this blog. But as the saying goes … it’s never too late. At that time, I took my first initiatives and activities with the German SQL Server community, attended the first events, and made the… … Read more