Column master key rotation is a process that changes which master key is protecting a set of column encryption keys. This ...

Column master key rotation is a process that changes which master key is protecting a set of column encryption keys. This occurs in two steps: rotation and clean-up. During the first phase, the encryption key values are downloaded to the client, decrypted to their plaintext form, re-encrypted with the target master key, then uploaded back to the server in the form of new values underneath the same column encryption keys. At the end of this step, each column encryption key has two values to ensure your apps continue working while the new column master key is deployed to all necessary computers.