According to a five-year study by California-based security firm Imperva Inc., 46 percent of all global on-premises databases have existing flaws that can be leveraged by outside attackers.
A Microsoft data platform MVP on the state of SQL Server today -- how it's evolved in Microsoft's Azure-first word, the best features to emerge in recent years and troubleshooting gotchas.
Microsoft warned thousands of Azure Cosmos DB users last week that their data may have been exposed through a recently discovered security flaw in Jupyter Notebook.
- By John K. Waters
- 08/30/2021
As Joey explains, Activity Monitor consumes a lot of resources and yields little usable data. Here are some third-party alternatives.
- By Joey D'Antoni
- 08/25/2021
As of July 13, SQL Server 2016 no longer has mainstream support. Your next steps as a DBA include understanding Microsoft's support model, knowing the risks of upgrading and then biting the upgrade bullet.
- By Joey D'Antoni
- 07/20/2021
Microsoft plans to release a "General Purpose" version of its Azure Arc-enabled SQL Managed Instance (MI) at the "general availability" (GA) commercial-release stage, "starting July 30, 2021."
Microsoft has just added support for query hints to Azure SQL Database, giving database administrators a powerful tool to manage the performance of ISV application code. Here's how it works.
- By Joey D'Antoni
- 06/15/2021
Elaborate backups might seem like a good idea at first, but they add unnecessary complexity to your recovery process. Here are some things to keep in mind to make backup and recovery as smooth as possible.
- By Joey D'Antoni
- 05/19/2021
Microsoft has commercially released its Data Loss Prevention Alerts Dashboard, which is used for viewing data loss prevention (DLP) policy violations in organizations, per a Monday announcement.
Microsoft announced a lot of Azure SQL news at Ignite this month, but few as critical to application development security than the public preview of Always Encrypted with secure enclaves. Here's how to get started with this new feature.
- By Joey D'Antoni
- 03/15/2021
Knowing how to automate tasks in the cloud will make you a more productive DBA. Here are the key concepts to understand about cloud scripting and a rundown of the best tools for automating code in Azure.
- By Joey D'Antoni
- 01/22/2021
Database protection goes far beyond backups; ensuring the quality and consistency of those backups is equally important. Here are the maintenance tasks that will make sure your databases stay in top shape.
- By Joey D'Antoni
- 11/16/2020
One of the most useful features in Microsoft System Center Operations Manager is its reporting engine. Installing it can get a little tricky, though. Here's a step-by-step guide.
Ignite 2020 saw the public preview of Azure Arc enabled data services, the latest step in Microsoft's bid to demystify multicloud. Principal program manager Travis Wright explains how it works.
- By Joey D'Antoni
- 09/29/2020
In the second part of this series, Joey describes the methods that Microsoft uses to manage code rollouts, and how it detects hardware and software problems on Azure SQL.
- By Joey D'Antoni
- 09/10/2020