Azure SQL Database has some great built-in features that are included in the price like automatic backups, high availability, auditing and threat detection, transparent data encryption. No matter how excited people are when I talk to them about Azure SQL DB there is one topic that causes confusion. Every. Single. Time. That topic is sizing. “What the heck is that DTU thing and how many of...
April 12, 2018
New Azure SQL Database Pricing Model
12April
April 12, 2018
New Azure SQL Database Pricing Model
Azure SQL Database has some great built-in features that are included in the price like automatic backups, high availability, auditing and threat detection, transparent data encryption. No matter how excited people are when I talk to them about Azure SQL DB there is one topic that causes confusion. Every. Single. Time. That topic is sizing. “What the heck is that DTU thing and how many of...
August 18, 2017
Fixing You’ll need a new app to open this ms-word
18August
It should come as no surprise that we rely heavily on SharePoint for sharing documents at Microsoft. For the most part it is a great solution with few issues. We can subscribe to documents and libraries and get updates when items are modified or added then go view those documents in a web browser while on the go without needing to constantly be pulling down the latest version and wondering if it...
August 15, 2017
Always Encrypted with Azure Key Vault
15August
I recently wrote a post about using Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) with Azure Key Vault as an alternative to managing certificates. Today’s post will explore using SQL Server’s Always Encrypted functionality with Azure Key Vault. Always Encrypted, as with TDE, can use Windows certificates or what an external storage location such as a Hardware Security Module (HSM) or Azure Key...
August 8, 2017
Transparent Data Encryption with Azure Key Vault
08August
Microsoft introduced Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) to SQL Server with the 2008 release providing a simple, easy way to add an extra layer of protection to our data. TDE is not unique to SQL Server and hasn’t changed much since being introduced into the product. With Azure becoming more and more popular I get requests from customers fairly frequently asking to talk about storing the...
May 9, 2017
Webinar Followup: End to End Security with SQL Server 2016
09May
I recently presented a free webinar for Pragmatic Works where I discussed new security features in SQL Server 2016. You can click here to watch the recording of the webinar if you missed it. In this follow up I wanted to post the scripts I used and link to a few resources. Here is a link to the scripts/deck from my presentation: End to End Security with SQL Server 2016 Here is a link to the...
April 11, 2017
Upcoming Presentation: End to End Security with SQL Server 2016
11April
Each week Pragmatic Works hosts a free training session. The topics include SQL Server internals, Business Intelligence, cloud services and even big data. On Tuesday May 2nd, 2017 I will be presenting the free training session on SQL Server 2016 security. Check out the details below. Hope to see you there. Topic: End-to-End Security with SQL Server 2016 Abstract: It only takes one data breach to...
March 24, 2017
SQL Saturday Jacksonville 2017
24March
This post will be updated with new information as we make announcements. Each year I help organize the SQL Saturday in Jacksonville, FL. We have an awesome group that helps organize and put the event on each year. There are a few changes to the date and location compared to past years, so if you are in the area and plan on attending pay close attention. If you are interested in speaking at the...
September 13, 2016
Importing a BACPAC to SQL Server
13September
We previously looked at Archiving Azure SQL Database to a BACPAC and in today’s post we are going to address how to look at that data by restoring or importing it to a local SQL Server. As discussed in the previous post this discussion arose in a conversation with a customer who needed to keep monthly archives of their data for a 10 year time period to comply with industry regulations and...
September 6, 2016
Archiving Azure SQL Database to a BACPAC
06September
UPDATE: The other half of this scenario has been posted. Check out Importing a BACPAC to SQL Server. Azure SQL Database is a managed database platform as a service (Paas) offering available from Microsoft in the Azure cloud. One of the advantages to Azure SQL Database is all the file management, server maintenance and backups are taken care of automatically. Point in time recovery is built...
