The secret life of database keys
There’s not much to database keys, right? When you build a new table, you add a column […]
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March Madness: $699 Blackbelt Bundle!
Spring is already in the air here in Redmond so time for March Madness! Hundreds of dollars lower-than-ever […]
The Tech Consulting Market Isn’t Looking Good.
After hearing the same dire news from several of my consulting friends, I put a poll up on […]
[Video] Office Hours in the Vegas Home Office
Let’s hang out in my home office in Vegas and go through your top-voted questions from https://pollgab.com/room/brento. The […]
Why disabling the SQL Server sa account still matters in ...
Every few years, someone asks a familiar question: do we really still need to disable the sa account in […]
I Don’t Take Private Questions at Pre-Conference Classes.
When I first started teaching database sessions at conferences, I noticed a pattern. When I finished the session, […]
The Curious Case of… finding long IAM chains
In the previous Curious Case I described an issue Jonathan had at a client with very long IAM […]
10 Signs It Was Time to Hire Me
You’ve been reading my blog, watching my videos, and maybe even taking some of my training classes. You’ve […]
Learning PostgreSQL with Grant: Data Storage
If you’re hosting your databases within a Virtual Machine (VM) or on some big iron, one of […]
SQL101: Introduction to SQL Server Transactions
(The original version of this post first appeared on the now-deleted SentryOne blog at the start of 2022.) […]
How to optimize planned availability group failovers in SQL Server
We often perform planned availability group failovers in SQL Server for maintenance, patching, upgrades, and even hardware […]
The SQL Server Transaction Log, Part 2: Log Architecture
(This post first appeared on SQLperformance.com four years ago as part of a blog series, before that website […]
[Video] Office Hours: Ask Me Anything About Microsoft SQL Server ...
Want to ask your own questions or pick the ones I discuss? Head over to https://pollgab.com/room/brento to get […]
How to safely use MySQL 8.0 post end-of-life (and alternatives ...
Regardless of how popular a specific software appliance is, particular versions of it are inevitably phased out […]
Achievement Unlocked: One Year Sober
(This is from the Insider Newsletter that I sent out earlier today…) Back in early 2023 I wrote […]
How to Help Copilot Encourage Good Database Standards
I know a lot of y’all lag behind on upgrading SSMS, but v22.3 just introduced something that you […]
The Curious Case of… occasional query failure on a tiny ...
This is a case that happened on a client system last year: occasionally a common query on a […]
How to Find and Monitor Slow/Long-Running Queries in SQL Server
Monitoring and alerting can be overwhelming tasks, especially for those new to the world of managing production […]
SQL Server Long-Running Query Detection: How to Find and Monitor ...
Monitoring and alerting can be overwhelming tasks, especially for those new to the world of managing production […]
New course and bundle: SQL Server 2025 Vector Search in ...
(TL;DR; Video trailer for the new course is here.) Joe’s next course, AIVSP: Vector Search in Practice, is now […]
[Video] Office Hours at Atlantis, Bahamas
It’s an overcast afternoon at Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas, so since I can’t go into the […]
Python is good, but not perfect – here are 10 ...
Four years ago I wrote a blog on this site explaining why Python is better than C# […]
Updated First Responder Kit and Consultant Toolkit for February 2026
Two big sets of news this month! The Consultant Toolkit now supports imports to a database so you […]
SQL Server 2025 CREATE EXTERNAL MODEL and AI_GENERATE_EMBEDDINGS Commands Explained
When SQL Server 2025 was announced, Bob Ward mentioned that there would be some new commands for […]
[Video] Office Hours Aboard the Groove Cruise
On the world’s largest floating electronic dance music festival, I took your top-voted database questions from https://pollgab.com/room/brento. Here’s […]
Who’s Hiring Database People? February 2026 Edition
Is your company hiring for a database position as of February 2026? Do you wanna work with the […]
The SQL Server Transaction Log, Part 1: Logging Basics
(This post first appeared on SQLperformance.com four years ago as part of a blog series, before that website […]
I’m Coming to #SQLBits! Here are My Sessions.
The annual SQLBits conference is April 22-25, and they just announced the session and speaker lineup. This year’s […]
[Video] Home Office Hours, Under Construction Edition
While in the midst of moving my home office into a new room in the house, I stopped […]
Automatic Stats Updates Don’t Always Invalidate Cached Plans
Normally, when SQL Server updates statistics on an object, it invalidates the cached plans that rely on that […]
Securing Your Databases in 2026: Best Practices for the Evolving ...
In 2026, your approach to both applications and databases must be focused on practical and technical real-world […]
Maybe You Shouldn’t Even Be Using Clustering or AGs.
Sandra Delany (LinkedIn) wrote a well-thought-out blog post called, “Should a SQL Server DBA Know Windows Clustering?” She’s […]
SQL Server 2025 CU1 is Off to a Rough Start
SQL Server 2025 Cumulative Update 1 came out last week, and I was kinda confused by the release […]
Thoughts on PASS’s Bankruptcy, Redgate’s Acquisition, and Private Equity
A private equity (PE) company recently acquired the majority of Redgate Software, the current owners of the PASS Data […]
SQL ConstantCare® Population Report: Winter 2026
It’s time for our quarterly update of our SQL ConstantCare® population report, showing how quickly (or slowly) folks […]
Announcing the 2026 Data Professional Salary Survey Results, And They’re ...
The results are in! You can download the raw data in Excel for all 10 years and do […]
Common SQL Server Problems: Invalid Length
This is another part in my series designed to offer guidance around common issues in SQL Server. […]
SQLBits Session Voting is Open Now! Wanna See My Sessions ...
I’d love to come over and speak at SQLBits this April, but for that to happen, the organizers […]
Vibe Optimizing Power BI
Derrière ce titre accrocheur, cet article rapide explore comment optimiser Power BI à la fois en termes […]
Exploiting SQL Server Date Correlation Optimization: How Tampered Backups Enable ...
This article is a follow-up to SQL Server DBaaS Vulnerability: Decrypting System Code & Exfiltrating User Data, […]
New Year’s Task: Quick, Easy Prep for a Raise
You’re busy, so I’ll keep this short. Several months from now, you’re gonna have a salary review. Your […]
Database Development with AI in 2026
This seems like the appropriate first BrentOzar.com blog post in the year 2026, eh? In the PollGab question […]
How to Create a SQL Server Linked Server to Oracle ...
Easily move data from SQL Server to Oracle 26ai Free with this step-by-step guide. Learn how to […]
SQL Server Regular Expression Performance and Guidelines
SQL Server 2025 introduces regular expression (regex) functions to the TSQL language. You could do this in […]
Are You Looking for Work? Underpaid? Overpaid? Let’s Find Out.
Every year, I run a salary survey to help folks have better discussions with their managers about salaries, […]
Your Favorite Posts From This Year
Reading is fundamental, and fundamentally, here are the 2025 blog posts that y’all read the most this year. […]
How to View SQL Server Object Code Easily with sp_showcode
sp_helptext has served SQL Server DBAs for years, but it has its very obvious – and many […]
Known Issues So Far in SQL Server 2025
Whenever a brand spankin’ new version of any software comes out, there are bugs, and SQL Server is […]
SQL Server Privilege Escalation via Replication Jobs
Privilege escalation in SQL Server isn’t just theory – it can happen through everyday maintenance jobs. This […]
Common SQL Server Problems: Invalid Object Name
This post is part of a series on common issues encountered in SQL Server. This time, we’ll […]