Introduction to GitHub Actions Part 2: GitHub-hosted runners
In this article, you’ll learn about the many options for using a GitHub-hosted runner, including Docker.
Does Version Control Scare You
Steve finds a lot of people don't use version control and don't want to learn how to use it.
SQL STRING_AGG Function Use and Examples
The STRING_AGG function concatenates strings separated by a specified separator. This was introduced with SQL Server 2017.
Helpful Management Studio Settings and Features
Learn a few tips and tricks to make your work with SSMS much more efficient and helpful.
Securing the DevOps Pipeline Part 2: Hardening Kubernetes and Cloud Security
In Part 2, we shift our focus to securing containerized deployments and cloud infrastructure. We will cover Kubernetes security hardening, real-time monitoring, infrastructure as code (IaC) security, and shifting security left to catch misconfigurations early. These strategies will help your team secure workloads in production and respond to potential threats before they lead to a security breach.
Shining a Light on Shadow AI - Responsible Data Protection When AI is Everywhere
As someone who has had the honor of delivering keynotes at both Oracle and SQL Saturday data events, I’ve spent time with professionals on both sides of the database world. I’ve held the title of database administrator, developer, engineer and architect for structured, transactional giants and the analytics-heavy ecosystems of eight different database platforms, (not […]
Are Data Breaches Inevitable?
Steve examines the idea that we might all have a data breach at some point.
How to Safely Remove a SQL Server Data File Without Downtime
Learn how to safely remove a SQL Server .ndf data file without any downtime using DBCC SHRINKFILE (EMPTYFILE). This hands-on tutorial walks through real-world Azure-based setup, data redistribution, and storage cleanup — ideal for DBAs managing enterprise SQL Server environments.
SQL ASCII Function Use and Examples
The ASCII function is used to return the ASCII value for the first character in a string.
Blogs
2025 Wrapped for Steve
By Steve Jones
I’ve often done some analysis of my year in different ways. Last year I...
The Book of Redgate: Spread across the world
By Steve Jones
This was Redgate in 2010, spread across the globe. First the EU/US Here’s Asia...
Merry Christmas
By John
Today is Christmas and while I do not expect anybody to actual be reading...
Forums
SQL Server 2019 - Agent job PowerShell step issue
I have a couple of SQL Agent job steps which run PowerShell commands of...
Database security permissions save script
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Database security permissions save script
Database backup job steps
I have a SQL Agent job for backing up a set of Analysis Services...
Question of the Day
The Large Encoded Value
I want to use the new BASE64_ENCODE() function in SQL Server 2025, but return a string that isn't large type. What is the longest varbinary string I can pass in and still get a varchar(8000) returned?
See possible answers