How can you tell when a change is enough of a change? How do you know you didn’t make too big of a change? Steve and I discuss some thoughts around what you might look for when you make certain changes. Some of the components we cover include Max degree of parallelism, cxpackets, virtual log files, the number of log files for a database, backup retention and memory. The shownotes for today’s episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/07/18/enough/ and have fun on the SQL trail....
Jul 19, 2017•43 min•Season 2Ep. 105
Do you have any experience with [Insert random technology]? Your heart starts to race and your palms get a little sweaty. You don’t want to say no–we’re tech folks–we know stuff, but there are so many new things to learn! How are you supposed to keep up with it all? In this episode, we chat with Eugene Meidinger about his thoughts on keeping up and his ideas on the most important learning components. The show notes for today's episode can be found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/07/07/keeping...
Jul 13, 2017•1 hr
When we write our queries to the database, SQL Server has to go and figure out the best way to go and bring back the data you asked for. A query plan is created to help SQL Server remember how to get the data for this query. It takes time to make these queries, so the database wants to limit the number of times it has to create the plans so it will try to reuse the plan as much as possible. Our topic for today's episode is query plan reuse and the pros and cons with this concept. We will also to...
Jul 05, 2017•42 min
One of the newer features in SQL Server is availability groups, which can help solve a number of business problems. As administrators, availability groups introduce some complexity as we are tasked to make sure the Recovery Point Objective (RPO) and Recovery Time Objective (RTO) can be meet for these servers. The complexity comes because we have different instances that must work together, but they don't always see eye to eye. In this episode, we chat with Tracy Boggiano of channeladvisor about ...
Jun 29, 2017•35 min
Listener Cody Ford wrote in and asked if we could share some thoughts on getting familiar with an unfamiliar database. While we have done episodes in the past on best practices, this episode takes the approach of what we should look for on a server that is new to us--the components we should document and then review for potential updates. Do you agree with our list? Let us know on by leaving a comment on the show notes page. The shownotes for today’s episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.co...
Jun 21, 2017•37 min
Something a bit strange happened in episode 100--almost like something out of the twilight zone, but don't take our word for it. Check out our latest episode as tell some of the stories that led up today. The shownotes for today’s episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/06/14/episode-100-listener-qa-c144/ and have fun on the SQL trail
Jun 14, 2017•55 min
Impostor syndrome (also known as impostor phenomenon or fraud syndrome) is a term coined in 1978 by clinical psychologists Dr. Pauline R. Clance and Suzanne A. Imes referring to high-achieving individuals marked by an inability to internalize their accomplishments and a persistent fear of being exposed as a "fraud". In this episode of the SQL Data Partners podcast, we take on a topic that is not technical; however, might play a very important role in some of the opportunities we take--or miss ou...
Jun 07, 2017•53 min
In a recent SQLSaturday conference, I walked into the speakers room and asked the question--What is the first thing you change after you install SQL Server? It was interesting to get their take on the server setup and I think you will enjoy the conversation. There are various answers on this one but some of the speakers have mentioned stuffs like set auto grow files, SQL Prompt, SQL parameter class and max memory among others. I would like to thank Kevin Feasel, Jonathan Stewart, Eugene Meidinge...
Jun 01, 2017•33 min
If you have ever been responsible for a replication environment, you know what a pain that can be. Many of the guests of the show will point out their frustration with replication and many are loathe to use it--myself included; however, there are a few brave souls out in the world who do use replication regularly--and even use it well. Chuck Lathrope is our guest today and he talks us through some of the components of replication and why we might not need to be so skittish about this long time f...
May 24, 2017•52 min
Have you ever created something and wanted to share it with others with the hope they will contribute and make it better? Sites like the new defunct codeplex and GitHub are full of functionality people want to share and work with others on; however, many projects remain dormant. What are the characteristics that create an environment where people want to contribute to your project? Steve and I discuss a few ideas and we interview two very successful community project leaders in Brent Ozar and Ch...
May 17, 2017•43 min
Big data is term we have been hearing frequently as of late and this might cause some concern for us in the SQL Server space. Micrsoft has introduced some new functionality to help connect different data stores with PolyBase. We are happy to have Kevin Feasel from ChannelAdvisor back with us and Kevin will discuss some of the basics around what PolyBase does. We’ll be discussing a lot about integrations using PolyBase specifically on Hadoop and Azure SQL Blob Storage. We also touch on some of th...
May 10, 2017•52 min
There are lots of reporting options and I watch SQL Server move up the Gartner magic quantrant, I saw another reporting tool moving up as well--Qlik. In this episode we will start by sharing information about Qlik, what it is and some background in the event it gets adopted at your company. Today we are delighted to have Michael Armentrout as our guest. Michael is a Microsoft SQL Server DBA as well as the developer of QlikView and we discuss the fundamentals of QlikView such as the associative m...
May 03, 2017•48 min
We all make them and sometimes it can be painful. Making and sharing mistakes is one of the most powerful tools for learning; However, most of us do all they can to avoid and hide those mistakes. In this episode, Steve and I talk about making mistakes and share some thoughts around how we might improve how to respond when we don't do something quite right. The shownotes for today’s episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/04/25/episode-93-making-mistakes/ and have fun on the SQL trail...
Apr 26, 2017•32 min
At one time there were two different products named SSDT and that was confusing for lots of folks. and we’re pleased to have Kevin Cunnane, the program manager for SSDT, as our guest. We wanted to ask him about some of the new database features in Visual Studio and what kind of problems they are looking to solve. We think it is awesome the Microsoft folks will take some time our there their schedules to talk with us and we think you will this episode an interesting discussion on the future of da...
Apr 19, 2017•43 min
We all want an easy button. It is human nature. We heard quite a bit about how easy PowerShell will make everything, but for those of us who aren't programmers, it can be a bit intimidating to get started. Luckily for us, we have what is shaping up to be the closest thing to an easy button for DBAs I have found for PowerShell tools from the folks at dbatools.io. We invite some of the team to chat with us about their tool, how they got started and the types of problems they are looking to solve. ...
Apr 12, 2017•50 min
DBCC CheckDB. It is a simple command, but one that can cause database contention, dba stress, confusing results, dba elation, and everything in between. At one time we will all have to face the results of having a corruption issue and we’re delighted to have Sean McCown with us again to discuss the ins and outs of the issues of this command. If you can remember, Sean was our guest in Episode 41. He is an SQL Server MVP with more than 15 years experience. We talk with Sean about how frequent issu...
Apr 05, 2017•1 hr 12 min
One of the neat benefits of putting the podcast together is talking to a wide spectrum of folks with varied backgrounds. As we get more feedback from listeners, the idea of the Lone DBA emerged. The Lone DBA is someone who is the only person responsible for database administration at their company. These tasks may have been assigned or they may have simply been required to help support an application. Steve and I thought we should explore this a bit and to help give us some context, we invited M...
Mar 30, 2017•52 min
Why can't we just get along? There can be a real love/hate relationship between those of us with data responsibilities and those who are responsible for SharePoint environments. We want to provide good service to those environments, but there are SO MANY things we can't do on a SharePoint database. To see how the other half lives, we invited Todd Klindt onto the program to give us his thoughts on how we can all get along a bit better. Because Todd suggests the “SQL and SharePoint communities sho...
Mar 22, 2017•1 hr
Why do some features get all the fun? I would like to be a fly on the wall at some of the Microsoft feature development meetings. There are many very cool features that didn't get quite enough love to get the adoption they deserve. In this episode we are talking about Resource Governor and before you roll your eyes, you may be interested to know some of the side benefits of using the feature. We are joined by Mark Wilkinson from channeladvisor to give us an overview of the feature and how they u...
Mar 15, 2017•50 min
Based on listener feedback we got from episode 72, a request was made to have a conversation about testing frameworks and in this episode we are going to focus on tSQLt. We are pleased to have Sebastian Meine, the creator of the tSQLt unit testing framework, on the podcast with us. We talk about the basic principles of tSQLt Framework when it comes to unit testing. Sebastian will also be discussing about the do’s and don’ts as well as the different aspects to be considered when using the framewo...
Mar 08, 2017•43 min
Have you done your migration to SQL Server 2016 yet? Don’t worry—you aren’t alone. With all the glory of new features and improved performance, not all upgrades are equal. In this episode we talk with Javier Villegas who returns from episode 2 to talk about some of the issues he ran into on the upgrade to 2016. He stumbled on a process that normally runs for 7 minutes prior to the upgrade and then 26 hours after the upgrade. While it all worked out, he shares the issues he had and gives us a rem...
Mar 01, 2017•39 min
The Microsoft Most Valued Professional or MVP award--while it’s hard work and dedication to be called an MVP, what are the benefits? Well, Kathi Kellenberger is a great member of the SQL community, traveling to many SQL Saturdays, speaking at conferences about SQL server, and this time she is here with us to tell us what it really means to be an MVP and the great journey it has been to becoming one. Do you actually know the percentage between men and women MVPs in the world and US? How many post...
Feb 22, 2017•43 min
We’ve all been there – you have some data and you need to make it pretty for the report. With the all the new reporting options you have probably been tempted to find a new way to visually present information. In this episode of the podcast, we are talking about data visualizations and our guest, Jonathan Stewart, has some issues with the way we currently go about it. Jonathan has been on the show as a panelist and I have really enjoyed his perspective on things so we invited him on the program ...
Feb 15, 2017•50 min
In the previous episode we discussed the basics of using indexes, what they are, how to use them, along with some common problems and solutions. One of the problems you will certainly face as time passes is index fragmentation. While indexes will certainly help your database perform well, they do require care and feeding--meaning there is some administrative overhead. In this episode, we continue our conversation with Randolph West and discuss what we can do to take care of indexes and keep them...
Feb 08, 2017•44 min
Part of what we like to do on podcast is to present topics and discuss different ways you might use features. In this episode, we go back to basics and discuss indexes. Like most topics, we made sure to explain all the important aspects. Because this is a such broad topic, we decided to carry this over into our next episode as well. Using the phone book as an example, we chat with our guest Randolph West and explain heaps, non-clustered indexes, and clustered indexes. We also explain best practi...
Feb 01, 2017•45 min
When was the last time you deployed code and then found an issue with the version of a stored procedure, a setting, or even a service pack? While we data folk don't generally have as much trouble with environment issues are our developer counterparts, it can still be a big deal. Spinning up a VM may not be such a big deal anymore; however, most of us still have to request one and wait. What if you could take care of the OS and the SQL Server and not worry about setting up another development env...
Jan 25, 2017•31 min
Although the SSIS Catalog DB is created with management studio, it does not behave like other databases. Our conversation in this episode revolves around the catalog, SSIS packages, and some of the complexities of migrating packages. Steve and I are excited to chat with our guest Andy Leonard about his thoughts on the catalog and how this feature provides some really interesting benefits for ETL architecture. The shownotes for today’s episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/01/17/epi...
Jan 18, 2017•49 min
As database administrators, we will all upgrade our environments at some point; however, we don't normally have the opportunity to upgrade to the next version of SQL Server before it becomes available to everyone else. In this weeks episode of the podcast, Steve and I chat with Brian Carrig about the journey channeladvisor took to implement SQL Server 2016 in their environment, that it was like working with the SQLCAT team, and how they go about making use of some of the new features. Brian shar...
Jan 11, 2017•37 min
We invited Paul Turley on the show to chat with us about some of the new features in SQL Server reporting services, but were pleasantly surprised to have the conversation take a different direction. Paul talks about some of the new training available for those interested in visualizations and why this community can be hard to define--and connect with. There are so many visualization options and even within Microsoft we have many products that overlap in functionality. In addition to talking abou...
Jan 04, 2017•46 min
Availability groups provide some exciting features in mixing high availability and disaster recovery; however, from a performance consideration, there are a few drawbacks. With the advances in SQL Server 2016, our guest Jimmy May from SanDisk, set out to test the features and see if they could get some really high performance out of an availability group with two synchronous replicas. In this episode he talks with us about some of his findings and some of the pains associated with getting there....
Dec 31, 2016•53 min
