Microsoft are retiring role-based certifications. Here’s why they shouldn’t

In this Simple Talk opinion piece, Microsoft certification veteran Dr Greg Low considers – and shares his thoughts on – the recent announcement that many role-based Microsoft certifications are being retired.

Pro Encryption in SQL Server 2022: Provide the Highest Level of Protection for Your Data

This in-depth look at the encryption tools available in SQL Server shows you how to protect data by encrypting it at rest with Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) and in transit with Transport Level Security (TLS). You will know how to add the highest levels of protection for sensitive data using Always Encrypted to encrypt data also in memory and be protected even from users with the highest levels of access to the database. The book demonstrates actions you can take today to start protecting your data without changing any code in your applications, and the steps you can subsequently take to modify your applications to support implementing a gold standard in data protection.

• Printed book:
  • US
• Kindle book:
  • US

Vibe coding and databases: the hidden risks of AI-generated database code

Explore how Andrej Karpathy’s “vibe coding” trend reached databases. Uncover risks, real incidents, and 5 critical failure patterns

What should you move first in a cloud migration? 5 key guidelines

Learn how to choose which application to move first in a cloud migration with five practical guidelines

How to run SQL Server on Amazon Elastic Container Service

Learn how to efficiently run SQL Server using Amazon Elastic Container Service for a hassle-free Docker container experience.

Local vs remote MCP servers – which should you choose?

Should you choose a local or remote MCP server? The best option depends on your security needs, performance goals, and deployment model. This guide explains the differences between local and remote Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, including privacy, scalability, latency, and integration trade-offs.

You Can’t Trust “Edit Query Text” in SSMS’s Execution Plans.

When there are IF branches or conditional logic, “Edit Query Text” only shows you the branches that actually executed. It’s easy to miss whole swaths of code that didn’t happen to execute one particular time.

Improve Query Performance in the Fabric Warehouse with Clustering

Learn how to improve performance issues in Microsoft Fabric Warehouse and leverage cloud-based data analytics effectively.

When, and when not, to use LLMs in your data pipeline

LLMs should be used in data pipelines for unstructured text, semantic search, and natural language queries – but avoided for deterministic, high-volume, or regulated tasks. Drawing on my real-world experience building large-scale ML systems, in this guide I’ll explain exactly where LLMs belong in your data pipeline and, just as importantly, where they don’t.

There Are Days When I Feel Like Giving Up on the Plan Cache and Query Store.

In theory, SQL Server performance monitoring is pretty simple: 1. Review the server’s top wait types, 2. Find the queries causing those wait types, 3. Fix those queries, or improve the way the server reacts to them (indexes, settings, etc.). But in practice, step 2 is awful because: