SQL Data Partners Podcast

In this episode of the SQL Data Partners podcast I sit with Patrick LeBlanc during SQL Saturday RVA . We chat about Microsoft PowerBI. PowerBI is a business intelligence tool that easily connects disparate data sources to create dashboards and I was interested to get his thoughts on how this would affect the data professional. Patrick answers my questions about the application and also explains wh...

You can host SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines in a variety of configurations, ranging from a single database server to a multi-machine configuration.  In this episode of the SQL Data Partners Podcast I chat with Luis Vargas, program manager for virtual machines, about why organization might consider a virtual machine with SQL Server already provisioned and other virtual machine considerations....

On Episode 35 of The SQL Data Partners Podcast, I talk with Philip Morgan of The Positioning Manual for Technical Firms. Philip’s book has influenced my work at SQL Data Partners, so I wanted to bring him on and share his insights with the rest of you on the SQL Trail.  Philip and I talk about positioning as a tool to  create more value through a narrowed focus. Philip discusses how to apply posit...

Hello, compañeros!   You’ve heard of Hekaton and in-memory tables before, but what does in memory really mean for your database? Perhaps you have questions like I did, like how does in memory OLTP differ from disk-based tables? What data types aren’t allowed in in-memory tables? Is in-memory only an “on premises” feature or does Hekaton work in Azure too? Is there a minimum amount of memory requir...

Many developers will make the transition to the DBA role and in this episode I chat with Amy Herold about making that very move.  Amy started as a C#/.NET developer and moved into the database world as an “accidental” DBA. Amy shares her tips and stories from the trenches, including: The move from row-based thinking to set-based thinking How to manage developer access in production The database pe...

  PowerShell, isn't that a Windows Administration tool?  This is certainly how it is positioned by Microsoft, but why should the DBA community give it more than a passing glance?  My guest is Mike Fal and we chat about ways data pros can use PowerShell. Mike says there are two reasons why PowerShell is valuable for SQL Server folks.  I hope you will join us for the conversation.  We promise not to...

  As database administrators, we have to live with virtualization.  As a consultant, I can't think of a single environment I have been in that didn't have some of the SQL Servers virtualized.  Troubleshooting issues in a virtual environment can be a bit tricky and in today's episode I chat with David Klee about his experience and how you might learn from his experience.  What has been your experie...

Think of one big investment that will be made this year.  How will it affect you?  Perhaps there is a large server migration project or move to Azure on the books this year.  Maybe you have been given the ok to try some new feature or have been promoted and have different responsibilities.  You will make many decisions and purchase different things, but the biggest investment you should be involve...

We each have our way of going about things–this is what makes us unique.  When it comes to getting data out of the database, many times we might think that SQL Server would go about getting data the same way we would.  If you think about scanning a Microsoft Excel document, how would you find the record you are looking for?  How does that differ from SQL Server? My guest for this episode is Brent...

Have you ever had a situation where performance got worse and you were sure why?  Do you keep records of when changes happen to your system?  How do we know there's a problem?  Baselines can help us out.  More often than not, tribal knowledge rules the day and if you weren't part of the tribe when the on-call pager goes off, things can be tough to figure out. My guest this episode is Erin Stellato...

Have you ever wanted a feature to help you assess the impact of future SQL Server upgrades, the impact of hardware or operating system upgrades, and for SQL Server tuning?  Well that tool has been around since 2012, but I have found that not many people have used Distributed Replay.  The level of difficulty to get this feature set up lends to the small adoption rate, but I chat with Melody Zachari...

DevOps for the database--you have probably heard the term if you work in an organization that is deploying code on a regular basis.  The developers have this down to a science, and now it is the database's turn.  The idea of deploying code and having a certainty it will run correctly instead of crossing your fingers and hoping you don't see the red error messages has a certain appeal.  There are l...

SQL Server 2016 has several new features and this episode explores the stretch database feature.  One of the unique attributes of this feature is that it uses both the on premise instance and the Azure platform. I chat with Anthony van Gemert, one of the product managers for stretch, about how the features works and under what scenarios organizations might use stretch technology. Are you planning...

One of the new features being added to SQL Server 2016 is the Query Store which will allow for greater access to the performance history of your databases.  This is going to be extremely helpful when you are approached about 'What happened this morning?'  With the Query Store feature, you will now be able to provide some insight into that question. I chat with Borko Novakovic, the program manager...

If I were a betting man, I would wager your disk IO system is probably the biggest bottleneck in your SQL Server right now.  Sure, there are lots of moving pieces, but if you can tame the IO situation, you are putting yourself in the drivers seat.  So how do you go about putting together the pieces you need identify your IO constraints? I chat with Theresa Iserman, a premier support engineer at Mi...

In what has to be one of the most downloaded SQL Server scripts on the planet with over 73,000 downloads, sp_whoisactive has been providing active session information to data professionals for eight years.  I catch up with Adam Machanic to talk a bit about how the procedure came to be, how he uses it and what is in store down the road. If you are using SQL Server and haven’t used sp_whoisactive be...

As one of the newest Azure offerings, Azure Data Factory can at first thought be compared to SSIS.  I don't think we are quite there yet with the comparisons; however, I talk with MVP Reza Rad and discuss some of the similarities and differences between the two. A consultant now living in New Zealand, Reza has lots of experience with the data management and gives us the scoop on the initial offeri...

We all start somewhere and if you can find a mentor who will help you on your way by pointing you in a direction you had not considered, you are a lucky person indeed.  This episode I chat some fellow podcasters about their experience with mentors and the characteristics we think good mentors have. Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes. -Oscar Wilde Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can s...

A hard drive is a hard drive, right?  Storage has come a long way, but is probably still the biggest bottleneck in your system.  Solid State Drives (ssd) have changed the rules in terms of performance and there is new technology on the horizon to allow us to access our data even faster. I talk with Justin Strong and Ananda Sankaran from Micron Technologies about their experiences with SSD and how...

I learn stuff every day.  In this episode I tackle a new subject for me and one I am hearing a lot about--BIML.  BIML is a markup language you can use to build your SSIS packages.  I met up with Bill Fellows and Cathrine Wilhelmsen in Portland and they shared with me some insights on BIML, what they use if for, and some tips on getting started.  If you find your self doing more SSIS packages and h...

Do you find you have tables and indexes that have grown really large? Are you moving around a lot more data than you used to? Are your windows for jobs and maintenance getting tighter? If you answered yes to any of these questions, partitioning may be for you! Partitioning allows us to break a table or index down into smaller more manageable chunks.  Partitioning can enable us to perform maintenan...

I learn things every day.  One of the great things about the SQL community is the willingness to share their learning experiences and today's episode is an example of this.  I chat with Mark Wilkinson about the SQL Server Agent--some best practices and MSX--a feature I have not used in the past.  If you are interested in expanding your SQL Server agent horizon, this episode is for you.  Check out...

Corporate culture is a BIG deal when it comes to job satisfaction, and it is interesting to see how different sectors can be.  Today we talk with Doug Purnell, DBA at Elon College in North Carolina and Jamie Wick, DBA at William and Mary in Virginia about their experiences working in the university system. Check it out compañeros, and have fun on the SQL trail.  As always, the shownotes are availa...

Clustering is a now tried and true technology to help increase the availability of your SQL Server environment.  I talk with Paul Popovich about his experiences with clustering and how his approach has changed as the technology has evolved.  If you are looking for a good introduction to some concepts of clustering, this episode is for you!  It should be noted this episode does not include the new...

I attended Kevin Feasel's SQLSaturday session entitled Apply Yourself and thought it was pretty funny.  While not close friends, I have know Kevin for a while and knew he had good stuff.  He there shared this quote in his session.  "If you don't understand the APPLY operator, your skills are somewhere around the 50th percentile at best." -- Adam Machanic.  I knew immediately I wanted to have him o...