Have you ever created a report in a visualization tool, spent all this time and energy creating something that looked really cool, went through more edits than you could remember only to deliver the report and have the recipient go “What am I looking at?” I don’t think I am the only one and, in this episode, we explore some of the rookie mistakes IT pros make when creating visualizations. The show notes and video for this episode can be found at https://sqldatapartners.com/2021/05/26/episode-225...
May 26, 2021•57 min•Season 5Ep. 225
Carlos, Kevin, and Eugene reconnect after some time away with a new streaming time. Long form conversation on a single topic is also the place we want to get back to in our podcast. The show notes and video for today's episode can be found at https://sqldatapartners.com/2021/04/28/episode-224-the-standup-meeting/. Have fun on the SQL Trail!
Apr 28, 2021•24 min•Season 5Ep. 224
With both Kevin and Eugene busy this week, Carlos went solo to share a few changes to the podcast, including the Twitch livestream moving to Tuesday, how you can support the podcast, and podcast episodes going back to being published every other Wednesday. If you have a subject that you’d like to chat about on the podcast with us, we’d love to schedule a time with you…go to sqldatapartners.com/podcast to sign up. We invite you to submit to our Call for Speakers for SQL Trail June 2021, starting ...
Apr 14, 2021•9 min•Season 5Ep. 223
Azure Arc-enabled data services provide powerful capabilities to deploy and manage local, on-premises, and hybrid cloud data resources using the same centralized management and tooling you get from the Azure cloud. Since Eugene suggested our previous attempt at Azure Arc was insufficient, we invited Ben Weissman and Anthony Nocentino, authors of the book Azure Arc-Enabled Data Services Revealed, to the podcast to discuss how this technology came about and why the future looks very exciting. The ...
Mar 24, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Season 5Ep. 222
Virtual conferences are just not the same as the conferences we are used to, but we’re still determined to provide a good learning and networking environment for our friends. We very much miss having conferences in person and look forward to that happening again. In the meantime, we have discovered Airmeet and we had a great event: our first of the year. We are doing another data platform conference in June similar to this one and a bigger event in October. Carlos and Kevin sit down and dissect ...
Mar 22, 2021•39 min•Season 5Ep. 221
As we prepare for SQL Trail on March 18th, we peek back at Microsoft Ignite and review the announcements made there—filtering out the pieces our compañeros will enjoy hearing about. Did we miss something you think we should talk about? Let us know! The show notes and video for today's episode can be found at https://sqldatapartners.com/2021/03/10/episode-220-microsoft-ignite-recap. Have fun on the SQL Trail!
Mar 10, 2021•45 min•Season 5Ep. 220
How do you document your SQL Server environments? I can remember walking through Brent Ozar’s takeover script back in the day and how cumbersome it was to put all that information together. We have a few more options available to us now. In this episode, we discuss a listener question along with some options for doing server inventories. SQL Trail is coming on March 18th. Will we see you there? The show notes (and video) for today's episode can be found at https://sqldatapartners.com/2021/02/24/...
Feb 24, 2021•48 min•Season 5Ep. 219
In this episode of the SQL Data Partners Podcast, Eugene and I go back to our DBA beginnings and talk about database file growth, how to manage files and how to tell when a file has grown. The show notes for today's episode (including the video with the demonstration) can be found at https://sqldatapartners.com/2021/02/17/episode-218-file-growths . Have fun on the SQL Trail!
Feb 17, 2021•31 min•Season 5Ep. 218
The story begins with a process that has been running forever and suddenly decides to cause grief by filling up tempdb. We talk about patching, and we talk about mental health. We talk a little about various topics. The show notes for today's episode can be found at https://sqldatapartners.com/2021/02/10/episode-217-a-little-something-about-a-few-things . Have fun on the SQL Trail!...
Feb 10, 2021•34 min•Season 5Ep. 217
When working on a customer on an import process, she made the comment—if we were doing true EDI, we’d [Do X]. The comment got me thinking—Aren’t we working on an EDI process? As someone who frequently has multiple roles on projects, I perhaps had lumped all the various 3 letter acronyms into the same spaghetti salad. In this episode of the podcast, Eugene and I chat about the differences—and how thy might impact your team. Data projects can get complex with lots of moving pieces and understandin...
Feb 03, 2021•33 min•Season 5Ep. 216
We have been moving data for years with technologies like DTS and SSIS; however, these were very much designed for on-premises moves in mind. As more cloud services were being offered Microsoft needed a service to help customers using those services move data around. Azure Data Factory was born with the initial premise of moving data between cloud services; however, it has added the ability to connect with on-premises systems and continues to add a variety of connectors it can now natively suppo...
Jan 27, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Season 5Ep. 215
We open this year with a few updates on the podcast, a change to SQL Trail, and we invite you to give us some feedback on writing a book for 2021. The show notes for today's episode can be found at https://sqldatapartners.com/2021/01/13/episode-213-new-goals-for-2021/. Have fun on the SQL Trail!
Jan 13, 2021•32 min•Season 5Ep. 213
20 years ago, the objection to implementing security on the basis of performance had validity—especially for smaller organizations. Security was a pain in the neck; however, how many of us are still hanging on to some of those old biases. Even worse, some of us IT pros seem to put up objections to doing the most basic security procedures—sending usernames and passwords in unencrypted emails for example. In this episode we hear from Karen Lopez, a long time speaker on data architecture and securi...
Dec 31, 2020•1 hr•Season 5Ep. 212
Microsoft released a lengthy white paper on the SolarWinds hack affecting thousands of computers. This is scary stuff, and the details continue to come out slowly and you wonder how it all will play out. Many IT pros rely on SolarWinds for monitoring and in this episode, we discuss the exploit, how mere mortals like us might feel a bit overwhelmed at the prospect, and what our due diligence is in a scenario like this. The show notes for today's episode can be found at https://sqldatapartners.com...
Dec 23, 2020•46 min•Season 5Ep. 211
It was sad news to hear PASS plans to dissolve in January of 2021. So much good has come of the community and it is sad to see it go. In this episode, we explore the why behind the collapse and what we think may emerge in the aftermath. The show notes for today's episode can be found at https://sqldatapartners.com/2020/12/18/episode-210-the-elephant-in-the-room/. Have fun on the SQL Trail!
Dec 18, 2020•53 min•Season 5Ep. 210
Finding your first full time job is incredibly difficult—and that was before we were in a worldwide pandemic. In this episode, we discuss some strategies and share some experiences about how we got our first jobs and hopefully give you some inspiration as you try to find your first experience. The show notes for today's episode can be found at https://sqldatapartners.com/2020/12/14/episode-209-career-ready-advice-to-new-graduates/. Have fun on the SQL Trail!
Dec 14, 2020•51 min•Season 5Ep. 209
There is a growing list of formats to store data and Graph is one of the newer trends. It is becoming so popular SQL Server has created ways to implement graph structures. Mala Mahadevan joins us in this episode, and we revisit some of the origins of Graph, what it is good at, and why you may not want to rush to move all your data to Graph storage. The show notes for today's episode can be found at https://sqldatapartners.com/2020/10/28/episode-208-sql-server-and-graph-data/. Have fun on the SQL...
Oct 28, 2020•33 min•Season 4Ep. 208
SQL Trail 2020 was a success! There was a time I was unconvinced this would be the case. This is not to say we didn't have issues; however, talking with others helped us avoid some common pitfalls and make our event unique. Although we were virtual, I sent all the attendees a conference t-shirt, some swag, and cookies! I wanted everyone to feel some excitement and a connection that I was not sure would be possible in a virtual setting. The show notes for today's episode can be found at https://s...
Oct 15, 2020•25 min•Season 4Ep. 207
There are many programming languages available to the modern developer and there are even more options for connecting to the database. In this episode, we talk with Taurius Litvinavicius about his Manning course on connecting .NET Core to SQL Server. The show notes for today's episode can be found at https://sqldatapartners.com/2020/09/16/episode-206-net-core-interactions-with-sql-server. Have fun on the SQL Trail!
Sep 17, 2020•39 min•Season 4Ep. 206
Power BI is founded on the idea of self-service BI and Excel is the most common data source in the world. While Power BI can import that information with ease, the data may not be in the best format. In this episode, we discuss areas report creators should consider when building Power BI reports so their reports can perform to their satisfaction and maintenance of the reports will be easier over the long run. The show notes for today's episode can be found at https://sqldatapartners.com/2020/09/...
Sep 03, 2020•36 min•Season 4Ep. 205
A variety of devices now have the ability to report metrics about status, performance, or other sensor information. Collecting this information and making it useful in business operations can be difficult and the Internet of Things (IoT) provides options for consuming, processing, and reporting. Microsoft has introduced a number of different offerings, and in this episode, we touch on a couple of them and discuss scenarios where one may serve you better than another. The show notes for today's e...
Aug 19, 2020•26 min•Season 4Ep. 204
As we stretch the technology stack in this episode, I rely on my trusty co-hosts to get us through. Kevin and Jean-Georges Perrin do a great job giving us their thoughts on Spark. I hope you will enjoy the episode. The show notes for today's episode can be found at https://sqldatapartners.com/2020/08/06/episode-203-spark-in-action. Have fun on the SQL Trail!
Aug 07, 2020•46 min•Season 4Ep. 203
As COVID-19 prevents us from gathering in the same place, how do organizers continue to put on compelling events? This strikes home as SQL Data Partners consider whether to have our SQL Trail event this fall. Matt Gordon put on an event in April and I was interested to get his take on how things went and how he accomplished his goals for the event. I have also participated in several online events and in the episode we discuss the pros and cons of virtual events and we give our take on how to ma...
Jul 23, 2020•51 min•Season 4Ep. 202
After we recorded Episode 189, we knew we lacked some of the business reasons behind the Common Data Model. Luckily, we reached out Tricia Wilcox-Almas and she has helped us fill in some of the gaps and also present how the Common Data Model is implemented in the new versions of Azure Data Lake. The show notes for today's episode can be found at https://sqldatapartners.com/2020/07/08/episode-201-common-data-model . Have fun on the SQL Trail!...
Jul 09, 2020•37 min•Season 4Ep. 201
To celebrate our 200th episode, we reached out to Bob Ward to come and celebrate this milestone with us. I have to plead the 5th on why it took us 200 episodes to finally invite him; however, we finally wised up and Bob walks us through some of the changes SQL Server has experienced over the years and what is in store (Spoiler—no big scoops) for the relational engine. We also have a several copies of Bob’s SQL Server 2019 Revealed book to give away and he was gracious enough to sign them. We app...
Jun 25, 2020•53 min•Season 4Ep. 200
We can incur technical debt in several ways—aging technology, choosing delivery speed over scale architecture, or implementing new technology the entire team cannot yet support. I don’t know that I’ve ever worked at a place that hasn’t talked about technical debt. It wasn’t until I stumbled on a talk by Adam Lenda that make me think about the ways I might contribute to technical debt. He also gave some ideas of how I can help pay it off. In this episode, we talk with Adam about what technical de...
Apr 30, 2020•51 min•Season 3Ep. 199
In a previous episode (175) we discussed migrating to the cloud, and we had a few comments from our compañeros which mentioned we should include more details around cloud infrastructure—the pieces or processes you want or DON’T want to administer. In this episode, we dive into cloud infrastructure and discuss some scenarios on when you might choose one over the other. The show notes for today's episode can be found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2020/04/22/episode-198-cloud-infrastructure. Have f...
Apr 23, 2020•37 min•Season 3Ep. 198
In 1990, the group Snap! release a song called "The Power". It would take Microsoft more than 20 years, but they eventually came up with a series of 'power' tools they built into Excel. Those tools later grew into Power BI--which is kinda like Voltron if you are old enough to remember. In this episode we discuss one of the first data manipulation tools in the set: Power Query. Before you start manipulating all those fun visualizations, you might need to get your data in shape. If you have a data...
Apr 15, 2020•23 min•Season 3Ep. 197
This is a topic I have been interested in covering for some time and as our world faces a crisis dictating that we stay home, it seems like a good time to talk about teleworking. Everyone will have a different situation of course, but we thought we share some of our experiences. I continue to suggest a need to stay connected to your team and while we have lots of technology available to help us, there are a couple of things you can do to help avoid getting knocked out of the loop. The show notes...
Apr 02, 2020•35 min•Season 3Ep. 196
The number of new programming languages never ceases to amaze me. Technology advances continue to require new ways of allowing users to customize the way they use tools and Power BI is no different. In this episode, Ginger Grant joins us as we continue the conversation about DAX and some considerations you need to make should you want to pick up another language for the toolbelt. The show notes for today's episode can be found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2020/03/26/episode-195-understanding-da...
Mar 26, 2020•40 min•Season 3Ep. 195
