SQL DBA Blog

Tag: Database Admin

  • Create a Superuser in RedShift

    Superusers in RedShift hold the permissions to perform any action in the cluster, the same access as ‘master’ or whatever you named the superuser during creation. Giving Superuser power should only really happen in local test environments, or if it’s a throw-away infrastructure as code (IaC) environment. You need to have control over the database…

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  • Create a Test AWS RedShift Cluster

    Here’s a simple guide on creating a new AWS RedShift Cluster within a personal AWS test environment. Warning, if you’re testing this AWS Service you have to be rigorous with managing the cluster for billing reasons. I delete my cluster right after I’m done with it as you’ll still be charged for storage if you…

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  • Show Last Backup Times in SQL Server

    If you’re running a SQL Server and you care about the data held in it, you should already be backing up the databases. But it’s always surprising the number of times you encounter business-critical databases not being backed up as a DBA! When given the opportunity to look at a new SQL Server instance one…

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  • Creating a Linked Server with a MySQL Database

    This is my 3rd Linked Server demo post, and this time it’s to a MySQL database. Noteworthy weblinks: # My Linked Server Blog Posts.# Microsoft Docs – Linked Servers. Here is a simple diagram of the setup in this post. The above was setup similar to what’s included in some of my previous posts:# Install…

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  • Testing Connectivity to Remote Server Ports with PowerShell

    All admins need a tool to test connectivity to remote servers on TCP ports. In Windows, this is commonly done using PuTTy or PowerShell. This post is a note on my favourite way of testing remote TCP connections in Windows, which is using PowerShell:# Check a Port is Open (Pre Win08/Svr2012)# Check a Port is…

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  • Forcing Encryption in SQL Server

    If you’re ever planning to allow external connections to a SQL Server, one of the first things to ensure is that the data is encrypted at rest and in transit. SQL Server has an option where we can force all connections on a SQL Server to be encrypted, which ensures us that we’re achieving encryption…

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  • Include Execution Trace Messages in SQL Server Error Logs

    Logs are always important if you’re supporting systems. The SQL Server Agent has always been a heavily used tool in my experience, so writing execution trace messages to the logs might help investigate an issue one day. This guide follows the Microsoft Docs page – Write Execution Trace Messages to the SQL Server Agent Error…

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  • Backing up a SQL Server Database with Encryption

    To backup a database in SQL Server with Encryption, run the BACKUP DATABASE command with the ENCRYPTION option added to the SQL statement, and specify the valid encryption certificate name. Backing up a SQL Server Database with Encryption is the secure way of performing your SQL Server backups. If your MSSQL database backups are off-site…

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  • Backing up a SQL Server Certificate

    It’s important to backup SQL Server Certificates, but only if you’re using them really. If for example, your SQL Server database backups are encrypted and you need to restore it on another server, then you will need both the certificate and private key that was used. This post is a guide on backing up a…

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  • How to Check What Features are Installed in SQL Server

    This is a quick guide on how to check which features are installed on a SQL Server. Open your SQL Server installation files. You may find them within the Setup Bootstrap folder (“C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\150\Setup Bootstrap\SQL2019”) or you might already have the ISO handy. We can open cmd.exe from the top navigation bar. Then…

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