Blog posts I've been reading.

The greatest part of being a SQL professional is being part of a vibrant and buzzing community of like minded people and blogs are very much a important part of it.

I read blogs in different ways. There are several that I follow and make an effort to read regularly. Others I find when I am actively searching for information on a particular topic and then there are posts that I happen to come across via social media feeds.

I decided that a big part of my blog this year would be to share the posts that I have been reading so from time to time I will put up a post like this one with some links that I think you'll find useful. 

So top of the list and a very relevant post to start us off is Getting Started Blogging #SQLNewBlogger from Steve Jones (twitter). Steve is quite literally the voice of the DBA and I'm a huge, HUGE fan of his reads. This article contains some great advice on how to start your blogging and how to get your blog out there. Great advice and seriously encouraging too so well worth a read if you're starting out: https://voiceofthedba.com/2017/01/09/getting-started-blogging-sqlnewblogger/ 

Next up, Should you back up system databases on an Azure VM? Well should you? I'm not going to tell you, but Denny Cherry (twitter) from Denny Cherry & Associates Consulting will if you follow the link: http://www.dcac.co/syndication/should-i-back-up-system-databases-on-an-azure-vm

SQL Server Extended Event Handling via Powershell comes via Dave Mason (twitter). It's a post in what has come to be a fantastic little series on event handling and I thoroughly recommend checking the posts out: http://itsalljustelectrons.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/SQL-Server-Extended-Event-Handling-Via-Powershell.html

Speaking of Powershell, if you're wondering how to setup Always Encrypted with it then the SQL Server Security Blog has it covered here: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/sqlsecurity/2017/01/04/getting-started-with-always-encrypted-using-powershell/

Now some of these posts aren't red hot off the press; that's because this week (yesterday even) was T-SQL Tuesday hosted by none other than Brent Ozar (twitter). For those who don't know T-SQL Tuesday is the brainchild of Adam Machanic (twitter) and basically means that each month a blogger "hosts" the party and will put forward a blogging subject. Other bloggers will then write articles on said subject and the host will then round up the blogs so they can be read in one place. 

Here is this months subject: https://www.brentozar.com/archive/2017/01/announcing-t-sql-tuesday-87-sql-server-bugs-enhancement-requests/ and some info about T-SQL Tuesday too here. There are loads of posts to get stuck into and its always great to see such a variety of posts and ideas about one particular item.

So that is all for now, happy reading and if you want to suggest a post of your own or indeed anyone's for that matter then drop me a line and I will gladly feature it!!