Normally we have one specific topic we focus on each episode. This episode is a little different. The show notes for today's episode can be found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2018/05/16/episode-135-seinfeld-episode/. Have fun on the SQL Trail!
It is not very often the internal codename is used when a product is launched; however, when you think about a database designed with global distribution in mind, CosmosDB makes sense. I was a bit shocked to hear Microsoft was releasing another database technology in 2017; however, the team leading the charge was very impressive and it looked like it was solving problems other database engines could not. In this episode, we talk with Sidney Andrews about the Cosmos platform, what we can expect f...
While the ability to shrink data files is available in SSMS, the conventional wisdom is don't do it. I was extremely curious when I read an email from our guest suggesting the opposite. In this episode we explain the 'real world' and discuss why you might consider shrinking files and the how it will affect you. Nigel has a great sense of humor and I know you will enjoy today's episode. The show notes for today's episode can be found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2018/05/02/episode-133-shrinking-...
Bang! Pow! Crash! Besides just awesome fighting techniques, are there things we can learn from superheroes? My guest, Will Fehringer, gave that very question some thought and came up with some very interesting ideas I thought were worth passing along. Wonder Woman and the Amazonians give us something to thing about preparing for our ultimate goal. Drax, from the Guardians of the Galaxy, gives a great example of the Fool's Choice in conversation. Every good superhero has a value system. What is y...
Big Data. Do you have big data? What does that even mean? In this episode I explore some of the concepts of how organizations can manage their data and what questions you might need to ask before you implement the latest and greatest tool. I am joined by James Serra, Microsoft Cloud Architect, to get his thoughts on implementing cloud solutions, where they can contribute, and why you might not be able to go all cloud. I am interested to see if more traditional DBAs move toward architecture roles...
Heroes in a half shell, PowerShell! Well, maybe that wasn't the original line, but you know from this program and other places on the internet, PowerShell is all the rage. In this episode, we wanted to chat about other ways people are using PowerShell and we are happy to have Warren Estes talk with us about some of his experiences. Warren shares some ways he has used PowerShell to push the easy button and how it lead to a contribution on the Microsoft SSRS toolkit. We are joined this week by spe...
Books online state: “There is nothing a graph database can achieve, which cannot be achieved using a relational database.” Why then are we putting graph technology in SQL Server? To help me answer this question, I invite my friend AZ to chat about the Graph feature in SQL Server 2017 and introduce how graph differs from a relational model. If you have every tried to implement complicated hierarchies in SQL Server, you know what a pain this can be. I, for one, am hopeful this new feature will all...
To Devops or not to Devops, that is the question. We've talked before about how the developers have all the cool new tools, but this is slowly changing. For those in development or dare I say agile (gasp!) environments there is more need for automation, but getting there can be a real challenge. In this episode, we chat with John Morehouse about how he actually put into practice automated deployments for the database, some of his challenges, and how long it took to get there. Are you trying to i...
There has been a remarkable shift introduced in the new features of SQL Server--programming languages have been embedded into the database. This has led to a few "What are you thinking" questions from myself and others. It also opens new opportunities for those working with SQL Server and in this episode, I chat with Andy Roberts and Chris Hyde and discuss the new features of R and Python--why they are included, how data teams are changing, and what this means for the rest of us. As someone who ...
Have you attended a SQLSaturday? They are great events and in this episode we chat with a few organizers about what goes into putting on an event and what they think the future of these events looks like. The show notes from today's episode can be found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2018/03/08/episode-126-sqlsaturday-edition. Have fun on the SQL Trail!
Have you ever found it difficult to explain how something works to a co-worker? What about reading documentation? We have all been there before and in this episode we chat with Ray Kim about his thoughts on how we can be better at communicating technically. What is interesting is the number of tools that are now available to help us with communicating ideas; however, we all still struggle with communication. The show notes from today's episode can be found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2018/02/2...
Perhaps you have heard about a runbook--the documented instructions you should follow in the event of a disaster or some situation where an outage occurs. Instructions are great for IT folks as they give a reference to follow--and they don't freak out even if we might. They don't, however, include instructions for everyone--what about the folks that aren't tapping away on the keyboard? In this episode, we chat with Greg Moore about his experience in emergency situations outside of IT and how we ...
Listener Eduardo Cervantes wanted to get our take on what developers should do when they get admin access to a database. We take on this challenge and I give 5 points you might consider if you are a developer with admin access to the SQL Server. As Uncle Ben in Spiderman quotes, "With great power comes great responsibility." We hope you use yours wisely. The show notes from today's episode can be found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2018/02/14/episode-123-top-5-things-to-know-when-getting-admin-a...
Does not play well with others. Is this description appropriate for some of the queries in your database? In this episode, we explore the role behind isolation levels--why they are important, what they help prevent, and why so many people try to get around the rules they try to enforce. The show notes from today's episode can be found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/12/20/episode-122-isolation-levels. Have fun on the SQL Trail!
I have heard it said "People don't quit jobs--they quit managers". At a recent event, I decided to ask people what they thought the qualities of a good manager are. Perhaps you aren't thinking of getting into management; however, at some point in your career you will have the opportunity to lead. We share your thoughts and comment on the challenges of having the qualities of a good manager. The show notes from today's episode can be found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/12/14/episode-121-what...
Shouldn't they have fixed that instead of putting out all these new features? That might be what you are thought when you saw the title for today's episode. SQL Injection is still a big deal in today's databases and we are pleased to have Bert Wagner on the program to talk with us about how it can affect you and the applications you protect. One of the most difficult aspects to deal with SQL Injection is to decide who is responsible for dealing with it? Bert does a great job giving us some insig...
At first glance you might think our podcast topic is from way out in left field; however, as you think about it there are a number of reasons we should be talking about GitHub. Even if you don't need a public source control repository for creating code, GitHub is becoming the preferred place for creators to publish their content and the ability to interact with other is extremely value. In this episode we give some of our thoughts around getting started with GitHub and how it might differ from s...
After having attended PASS Summit and seeing all the new features coming it out, it can be very easy to overlook the basics--they are boring. These features have been around forever. This may be true, but they still play an important role and ignoring them won't help get you those fancy new features any time soon. In this episode, our topic is index maintenance, with an emphasis on what has changed or what might change. Is the query store feature going to impact the way we maintain our indexes? ...
Have you ever had a week without a Wednesday? Me neither, so for this episode, we recap our experience at PASS Summit and talk about all the amazing compañeros we met and give some thoughts around our very first meetup. It was so much fun to meet everyone and both Steve and I gave sessions, which was a great experience--and a first for me. One, we both realized after the fact is, we are not good at social media or taking pictures! We apologize we don't have a bit more to share on that front, but...
If you have ever worked with Microsoft support, you probably came across the PssDiag tool they use to collect information about your environment. My experience with the tool is it always seemed, well--a bit clunky. Now, it does collect lots of information and seemed to be a bit overwhelming when I was first a DBA. Fast forward a few years and PssDiag was not a tool I use anymore and was not sure if anyone outside of Microsoft was using it. I run into Jared Poche in Raleigh and he mentions he rea...
It was a beautiful idea. Gather together with a group of our podcast listeners in a conference type format and find ways for us to connect and help each grow. I had seen it down in other events; however, I wanted to add my own flavor. I wanted this to be different. While the event turned out great and we got good marks from the attendees, we didn't have the response we were hoping for. In this episode of the podcast, we have our companero conference retrospective. We try to give our honest feedb...
One of the advantages to a small conference is the ability to take attendee feedback and put it in place during the conference. We actually made time for the attendees to pick topics they wanted to discuss and this episodes comes from one of our attendees Aaron Hayes. It can be very tempting to think of the good life of consulting. I almost liken it to playing the lottery--what am I going to do with all that time and money? While the odds on successful consulting are a bit higher than the lotter...
"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Those words are attributed to Issac Newton and they are fitting for the way I was feeling recently as I thought back to those who have helped me in my career. While we might always want things to be better, as technologies we have it pretty good. There are unnumbered people who have dedicated untold amounts of time so we can have the tech available to us. We take a moment to think about those who have paved the way for us to...
When listener Mel Vargas first suggested the topic of patching, I was not sure this would work as a topic; however, the Equifax story had just developed and there are many other security related issues that could be prevented with patching. Match that with our guest, Robert Davis, who just happened to publish some articles on patching and I decided we needed to do this episode. I should never have doubted this as topic. While we are a bit more protected in SQL Server than others, the security th...
Sometimes just getting approval to attend a conference is a challenge, but getting the green light isn't the only thing you should plan for. Sure, you want to learn some things--but a google search can teach you too. In fact this week we are hearing about new features and functionality from the Ignite event--and I am catching all of it in my bunny slippers. Why attend a conference then? Conference season is upon us and Steve and I share some thoughts on why we attend conferences and some of the ...
As you work with other people, you will experience resistance when you suggest changes and want to implement something new. Why is this? One podcast listener shared an experience where a problem was occurring. The suggested a solution. The idea was rejected. No solution presented itself and the idea was submitted various times. When nothing else was working, the idea was finally implemented. The suggested change successfully helped the situation. Victory! Later, another issue arose and a similar...
In episode 64 we interviewed Patrick Thomas , the program manager for the MCP program which includes certifications. There continues to be quite a bit of discussion around certifications, so it only makes sense that we give our take on the matter. Both Steve and I are certified, so this may give away some of our thoughts. Certification is a tricky thing. Much of the value you get out of a certification is dependent on where you on in your career and what your next step is going to be. This is go...
After a brief hiatus, we are back on the air to continue the conversation and let me tell you--we have a great conversation lined up for this episode. The discussion around what will happen to the relational database, and by extension us as administrators continues to get quite a bit of traction. Even within SQL Server, we are starting to see more features that don't fit the traditional relational mode and a podcast listener inquired about getting our thoughts. As I thought about a guest for thi...
Data analytics is all anyone seems to talk about anymore. We've even caught the bug at SQL Data Partners and have started working with data platform MVP César Oviedo from Costa Rica. César has been helping us on some projects and we thought it was time we introduced him to everyone. On the Spanish front, he has been very busy putting out YouTube videos and publishing content for BI LATAM (Latin America). We invite him on the show to introduce himself and our conversation turns to the idea of BI ...
User: What was that record before it was updated? Me: I don't know. Maybe I could restore a backup? User: Really? You have to do all that? It is just one record. Me: (under my breath) Yes, a record YOU updated. If you have ever had a conversation like this you know how difficult it can be to implement auditing of records as they change. With temporal tables, a new feature, we have the ability to track point in time information about a record without the huge expense of setting up auditing and tr...
