How to do Accurate Address Masking using Data Masker

Grant Fritchey shows how to adapt a data masking process, for address data, so that it incorporates knowledge of the data distribution in the real data. The result is fake address data, with an accurate distribution, for use in development and testing work. Read more

SQL Prompt Code Analysis: A Hint is Used (PE004-7)

Phil Factor suggests a philosophy of "the SQL query optimizer knows best" when it comes to choosing the right execution plan. Use hints as a last resort, and evaluate them carefully whenever SQL Prompt warns you of their presence in your SQL code. Read more

Retrospective Database Source Control with SQL Compare

You've found a database that is not in source control. What do you do? Phil Factor shows how to use SQL Compare to generate all the missing object scripts, in Git, and then keep them up-to-date automatically, in response to any further database changes, during development. Read more

SQL Prompt Code Analysis: Table does not have clustered index (BP021)

If SQL Prompt alerts you to a table without a clustered index, investigate the reason for its absence carefully. It is rare indeed to find a table where data retrieval is faster without one. Read more

A Basic Technique for Masking Address Data using Data Masker

Grant Fritchey provides a simple way to create fake address information that still looks real. The compromise is that it uses random data distributions and doesn't maintain any correlation between postal codes, states and cities, so won’t accurately reflect the real address data. Read more

Monitoring Changes in Permissions, Users, Roles and Logins

Phil Factor uses the default trace and a SQL Monitor custom metric to alert you to unauthorized changes in security membership or permissions in any of your monitored databases. Read more

How to reset your development database in seconds using SQL Clone

Owen Hall describes the new "clone reset" feature, how it works and the database development and testing processes it enables, or makes simpler and quicker. Read more

SQL Prompt as a Layout Tool: A Survival Guide

Phil Factor's guide to taming SQL Prompt code layout options, and getting it to format code exactly the way you like it. Read more

Checking for Database Drift using Extended Events and SQL Monitor

Phil Factor uses Extended Events and a SQL Monitor custom metric to detect when the metadata of a database has 'drifted', meaning that a database object has been created, deleted or modified outside of the official change management process. Read more

Spotting Unauthorized Configuration Settings in SQL Server

If someone makes unauthorized changes to SQL Server configuration settings, it could compromise the availability, performance or security of your servers. Using using Extended Events, and a custom metric, in SQL Monitor, Phil Factor offers a way to get an immediate notification of such changes, and investigate their cause. Read more

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