Rob Sewell

Rob was a SQL Server DBA with a passion for Powershell, Azure, Automation, and SQL (PaaS geddit?). Now he just helps people. He is a Cloud and Data Center MVP and a Data Platform MVP, an officer for the PASS DevOps Virtual Chapter, co-leader of Data South West and PSConf EU organiser and has spoken at and volunteered at many Data and PowerShell events all over the world. He is a proud supporter of the Data and Powershell communities.

He relishes sharing and learning and can be found doing both via Twitter and his blog. He spends most of his time looking at a screen and loves to solve problems. He knows that looking at a screen so much is bad for him because his wife tells him so. Thus, you can find him on the cricket field in the summer and flying a drone in the winter.

He has a fabulous beard

Twitter: @@SQLDbaWithBeard
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/robsewellsqldba

Pester 4.2.0 has a Because…… because :-)

by Rob Sewell

SQL DBA With A Beard

I was going through my demo for the South Coast User Group meeting tonight and decided to add some details...

2018-01-18

369 reads

Using the AST in Pester for dbachecks

by Rob Sewell

SQL DBA With A Beard

TagLine – My goal – Chrissy will appreciate Unit Tests one day
Chrissy has written about dbachecks the new up and coming...

2018-01-15

331 reads

Converting a Datarow to a JSON object with PowerShell

by Rob Sewell

SQL DBA With A Beard

This is just a quick post. As is frequent with these they are as much for me to refer to...

2018-01-05 (first published: 2017-12-18)

1,607 reads

Handling Missing Instances when Looping with Pester

by Rob Sewell

SQL DBA With A Beard

In my previous posts about writing your first Pester Test and looping through instances I described how you can start...

2017-11-30

673 reads

2 Ways to Loop through collections in Pester

by Rob Sewell

SQL DBA With A Beard

In my last post I showed you how to write your first Pester test to validate something. Here’s a recap
Decide...

2017-11-28

373 reads

Comparing Agent Jobs across Availability Group Replicas with PowerShell

by Rob Sewell

SQL DBA With A Beard

On the plane home from PAS Summit I was sat next to someone who had also attended and when he...

2017-11-27 (first published: 2017-11-10)

1,501 reads

Using Plaster To Create a New PowerShell Module

by Rob Sewell

SQL DBA With A Beard

Chrissy, CK and I presented a pre-con at PASS Summit in Seattle last week

Tracey Boggiano T | B came along to our...

2017-11-22 (first published: 2017-11-09)

1,441 reads

Write Your first Pester Test Today

by Rob Sewell

SQL DBA With A Beard

I was in Glasgow this Friday enjoying the fantastic hospitality of the Glasgow SQL User Group@SQLGlasgow and presenting sessions with Andre...

2017-11-16

438 reads

TSQL2sDay – Folks Who Have Made a Difference

by Rob Sewell

SQL DBA With A Beard

This months TSQL2sDay is an absolute brilliant one hosted by Ewald Cress
the opportunity to give a shout-out to people (well-known...

2017-11-14

263 reads

dbatools with SQL on Docker and running SQL queries

by Rob Sewell

SQL DBA With A Beard

I had a question from my good friend Andrew Pruski dbafromthecold on twitter or SQL Container Man as I call...

2017-11-07

544 reads

Blogs

Day 2 at PASS Data Community Summit 2024

I missed blogging yesterday as I was on stage/backstage for quite a bit of...

PASS Summit 2024 – Wednesday

By Brian Kelley

A common theme in the PASS Summits I've attended is community and that's definitely...

Taming Database Challenges: Insights from Redgate Keynote

I am excited to cover the Microsoft Keynote on Day 2: Redgate Keynote: Simplifying...

Read the latest Blogs

Forums

Step by step guide to setup PostgreSQL on Docker

By Arvind Toorpu

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Step by step guide to...

Backing up the Database Encryption Key

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Backing up the Database Encryption...

Technology Fears

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Technology Fears

Visit the forum

Question of the Day

Backing up the Database Encryption Key

In my SQL Server 2022 database, I run this:

USE Sales;  
GO  
CREATE DATABASE ENCRYPTION KEY  
WITH ALGORITHM = AES_256  
ENCRYPTION BY SERVER CERTIFICATE MyServerCert;  
GO

This works, but I want to prepare for the future and potential issues. How do I back up my DEK?

See possible answers