
Blue Monday: Not for Your SQL Servers!
Monday morning: you’re back at work, but your SQL Server estate had a weekend from hell. Some companies find that out the hard way—every single Monday.It’s almost like SQL Server is taunting you, “How does it feel to treat me like you do?” I See a Ship in the Harbor (Do you watch for SQL … Read more

Regret (SQL Server Edition)
Maybe I’ve forgotten the name and the address of every patient I’ve helped throughout my years in EMS back when I was still involved, but there’s one thing I know: quite a few would say hindsight is 20/20. The older I get, the more I see how often this pattern repeats. Whether it was the … Read more

On Mentoring: A T-SQL Tuesday post
Deborah Melkin is hosting the community T-SQL Tuesday #184 carnival of blog posts. Her topic is one that is near and dear to her – and also near and dear to us here at Straight Path – Mentoring and Sponsorships. I am really looking forward to reading all of the posts this topic generates. Deb … Read more

Evaluating SQL Server Managed Service Providers.
For full disclosure – this is the business we are in here at Straight Path IT Solutions. We know something about running a SQL Server Managed Services practice. While we’d love to talk to you and work with us, there are a lot of excellent firms out there like our friends at Dallas DBAs, Procure … Read more

Managing Orphaned Users in SQL Server with sp_FindOrphanedUser
Addressing orphaned users is an important piece of SQL Server security management. When left unchecked, you can accumulate an overwhelming number of users that exist in a database but do not have a correlating login in the master database, thus preventing access to the server or the database at all. There are dbatools PowerShell modules … Read more

Introducing sp_CheckBackup: Check Your SQL Server Backups for Recoverability Issues
Whether you are backing up your SQL Server databases with Ola Hallengren’s scripts, Maintenance Plans, or some third-party software, your backups are your lifeline for recovering your data in case of a disaster. So…are your databases recoverable? Do you know WHERE your most recent backups were written? Do you know WHEN they were written? Did … Read more

SQL Server Security: 3 Homework Assignments to Start Today
This post is part of our SQL Server security blog series, 30 SQL Server Security Checks in 30 Days. We’re publishing a new security check every day in the month of June. Visit our sp_CheckSecurity page to learn about our free SQL Server tool you can download and run to check your own server. Thanks … Read more

SQL Injection: Deconstructing an Attack
This post is part of our SQL Server security blog series, 30 SQL Server Security Checks in 30 Days. We’re publishing a new security check every day in the month of June. Visit our sp_CheckSecurity page to learn about our free SQL Server tool you can download and run to check your own server. As … Read more

Enhancing SQL Server Security: Reviewing and Optimizing Audits
This post is part of our SQL Server security blog series, 30 SQL Server Security Checks in 30 Days. We’re publishing a new security check every day in the month of June. Visit our sp_CheckSecurity page to learn about our free SQL Server tool you can download and run to check your own server. Audits … Read more

Your SQL Server Database Owner Might be Causing Privilege Escalation
This post is part of our SQL Server security blog series, 30 SQL Server Security Checks in 30 Days. We’re publishing a new security check every day in the month of June. Visit our sp_CheckSecurity page to learn about our free SQL Server tool you can download and run to check your own server. SQL … Read more