Getting Started with Data Masker for SQL Server: I Want to Mask A Database

Grant Fritchey explains what's involved in masking a SQL Server database. It can seem a daunting task, but it all becomes a lot more logical if you start from a plan, based on agreed data classifications, and then use a tool like Data Masker to implement the masking, and track progress. Read more

Allowing for manual checks and changes during database deployments

SQL Change Automation enables users to make database changes to production safely and efficiently using PowerShell cmdlets, which can be integrated easily into any release management tool. This article will show you how to automate database deployments safely, by using SQL Change Automation from within PowerShell scripts, and how a deployment script for a release can be checked and amended as part of the process. Read more

How SQL Clone and SQL Change Automation enable seamless Database Branch Switching

Learn how SQL Clone and SQL Change Automation, used together, now allow you to branch your database in Git as quickly and simply as your code. Read more

Getting Started with SQL Data Masker: I Need to Mask some Columns

Grant Fritchey explains the core rules and features of Data Masker, and how you go about using them to mask columns, so that when the data is used outside the production system it could not identify an individual or reveal sensitive information. Read more

Evaluating SQL Data Catalog using Docker Containers

Richard Macaskill shows how to use Docker Compose to get SQL Data Catalog up and running in a container, in your SQL Server test lab, and then use it to evaluate its data discovery and categorization capabilities on a containerized SQL Server instance. Read more

Using SQL Monitor Groups in PowerShell

Not only are SQL Monitor Groups probably the neatest and most maintainable way of ensuring that all your SQL Servers have the best possible configuration of alerts, but they represent a powerful way of categorizing your SQL Server estate. In this article, I'll show how to use the SQL Monitor PowerShell API to export these groups, save their settings onto a configuration management system, or compare groups of settings to see the differences between them. Read more

Tagging SQL Server Changes in SQL Monitor

How to use RAISERROR() in T-SQL to send annotations to SQL Monitor, so you can observe the direct impact of application tasks, or server changes, on the SQL Server metrics. Read more

Build and fill a SQL Server Database using SQL Compare CLI and a Batch Script

Phil Factor provides a powerful DOS batch script which, when coupled with SQL Compare CLI, allows you to build databases from source, during development, and fill them with the specific datasets required for testing. Read more

Never Create Columns with ANSI_PADDING set to OFF

There is no good reason for having ANSI_PADDING set to OFF when you create tables in SQL Server. It was provided purely for legacy databases that had code that assumed the old CHAR behavior for dealing with padding, and its use has now been deprecated. Read more

Avoid using constants in an ORDER BY clause

Phil Factor explains why an ORDER BY clause should always specify the sort columns using their names, or aliases, rather than using an integer to specify the position of a column in the SELECT list. Read more

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