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 threat is still real and this is something everyone has to go through.  Robert presents us with some interesting details on how he goes about patching and we think you will find the episode compelling. The shownotes for today’s episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/10/04/episode-112-keeping-up-with-patching/ and have fun on the SQL trail.

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 suggestion was made.  The expectation was the suggestion would be well received; however, this was not the case.  The idea was still met with hostile resistance. Have you faced a situation like this before?  Why wasn't there an trust built because of the first recommendation? Our conversation for today's episode centers around the idea of building trust on the teams you work with.  As most our listeners are in the data platform space, we thought it would be a good idea to reach outside our community to folks we might receive the most pushback from--developers.  We are happy to have Richard Campbell on the show with us today.  Richard is the co-host of the .NET rocks podcast and you might recognize him from one of his many Channel9 videos. We chat with Richard about how we can build trust and some common ways we attempt to show authority can backfire on us and actually cause more problems.  We talk about some of the ways those we trust have gone about earning our trust.  I know you enjoy this episode. The shownotes for today’s episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/09/20/episode-110-how-do-i-build-trust-with-my-team/ and have fun on the SQL trail.

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 this episode, I didn't want to get someone tied to a product.  They, like me, would be biased and I wanted to get someone a bit removed from the situation. Our guest today is Andrew Snodgrass, the research vice president at Directions and we chat about the future of the relational database and what the future of the data environment we manage might look like.  I hope you will find his insights valuable as an outsider.  While we don't get into the specifics of what databases are mostly like to be around, Andrew does give us administrator some idea's on what technologies we should start exploring. What are your thoughts around the future of the relational database?  Join the conversation and let us know!

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 for the little guy--smaller organizations that need to take advantage of analytics and how the ecosystem is changing to support them. We are happy to introduce César to you and know you will enjoy hearing from in this episode and future episodes. The shownotes for today’s episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/08/02/bi-for-the-little-guy/ and have fun on the SQL trail.

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 tracking.  While you won't want to use this on every table, when there are tables with sensitive data you want to audit from time to time, this feature will come in handy.  We are happy to have Randolph back on the program with us to talk about this new feature. The shownotes for today’s episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/07/25/episode-106-temporal-tables/ and have fun on the SQL trail.

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-up-with-technology/ and we hope to see you on the SQL trail.

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 touch on the concept of parameter sniffing--a technique SQL Server uses to try and figure out the best values to use for the execution plan with the hopes the plan will help the most queries. Special thanks to James Youkhanis for the suggestion. The shownotes for today’s episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/07/04/episode-103-plan-reuse/ and have fun on the SQL trail.

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 how they go about monitoring their availability groups and the pros and cons of the out of the box tools.  Our discussion touches on process of  the availability group process and Tracy has posted her scripts on her bog for you use as you look at reviewing your environments.  I think you will enjoy this discussion. The shownotes for today’s episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/06/29/episode-102-monitoring-availability-groups/ and have fun on the SQL trail.

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.com/2017/06/07/inspect-new-database/ ‎and have fun on the SQL trail.

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

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 out on.  Today's guest is Mindy Curnutt, a 3x MVP and a real chance taker as she recently decided to become independently employed. In this episode we talk through the idea of imposter syndrome and give some examples of how it affects us, but we also try and tackle ways we can identify it and steps to help us overcome.  I think you are going to find this episode very interesting and we hope you enjoy it. The shownotes for today’s episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/06/07/episode-99-imposter-syndrome/ and have fun on the SQL trail.

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 Meidinger, Raymond Kim, Tracy Boggiano, Mindy Curnutt, Thomas Grohser, and Vladimir Oselsky for their suggestions.   The shownotes can be found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/06/01/episode-98-the-first-change/

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 feature. We cover all the basics including an overview of Transactional Replication, Merge Replication, Peer-to-Peer replication and Snapshot Replication, the concept of publisher, distributor and subscriber in relation to replication.  The most important piece is Chuck gives us some good business cases for why we might use replication and I think you will find the discussion interesting.  Thanks for joining us on the SQL trail! The shownotes for today’s episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/05/24/episode-97-sql-server-replication/ and have fun on the SQL trail.

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 Chrissy LeMarie about how they got started and what it takes to put together a good community project. The shownotes for today’s episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/05/10/community-tools/ and have fun on the SQL trail.

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 the technologies that will be supported in the future. For those looking at implementing both structured and unstructured data stores, PolyBase will be a way to help bring these environments together. Kevin gives us a great overview and we think you will enjoy this episode. The shownotes for today’s episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/05/03/episode-95-polybase/ and have fun on the SQL trail. 

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 model, in-memory, compression and sharing among others. Also we will hear from Michael the difference between QlikView and QlikSense, and some of the “competitors”. Michael share some of his thoughts on using the technology and how it is different from the traditional Microsoft stack.  We think you will find it interesting. The shownotes for today’s episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/04/27/qlik/ and have fun on the SQL trail.

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.

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 database tooling. The shownotes for today’s episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/04/18/episode-92-ssdt/ and have fun on the SQL trail.

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. In this episode, Chrissy will be talking about how DBA Tools started from just being a simple migration tool until it became a useful tool solving various SQL related issues.  The team will discuss the other various situations where DBA Tools can really be helpful and how they manage contributions from over 30 people which leads us to talk about GitHub, the open source community, and their experiences in updating versions of DBA Tools and how they encourage contributors in the project. Chrissy, Rob, Constantine, and Aaron were super excited to talk with us and we loved their energy and think you will enjoy this episode. The shownotes for today’s episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/04/12/episode-91-dba-tools/ and have fun on the SQL trail.

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 issues we have with maintenance like we often we should run CheckDB on our databases or what happens when I can only check one database during my window. While we don't end up discussing the command as much, we definitely review all aspects of making sure it can run in ALL environments. The shownotes for today’s episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/04/05/dbcc-checkdb/ and have fun on the SQL trail.

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 Monica Rathbun to chat with us about some of the challenges she’s faced. Besides the challenges, Monica shares tactics and techniques to juggle many tasks while being a lone DBA. This includes using social media as a way of building connections with different experts, getting the right tools for the organization’s needs and making your boss your supporter. Have your own perspective on this?  Let us know in the show notes for the episode. The shownotes for today’s episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/03/28/episode-89-lone-dba/ and have fun on the SQL trail.

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 should understand each other a little better”, we will try to tackle some of the obstacles the teams face so you can be better armed to support your SharePoint team. The shownotes for today’s episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/02/08/episode-88-sharepoint/ and have fun on the SQL trail.

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 use it to manage SQL resources and workloads. One interesting story is how their team won the query challenge last PASS summit using Resource Governor so it is pretty powerful. Mark will also share his experiences using Resource Governor in different working environments. He will also be discussing the basics and tips about building the classifier function of Resource Governor. Furthermore, we will go through setting up I/O caps, resource pools and workloads, and the NUMA node affinity. The shownotes for today’s episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/02/08/episode-87-resource-governor/ and have fun on the SQL trail.

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 framework. Sebastian makes the case for why you should take the time to create unit tests and we discuss the challenges culture might play into the use of the framework. The shownotes for today’s episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/03/03/episode-86-tsqlt/ and have fun on the SQL trail.  

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 reminder that testing has not been deprecated. The shownotes for today’s episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/01/25/speedbumps/ and have fun on the SQL trail.

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 posts do MVPs have on forums, helping others? How do they keep track of all the SQL Saturdays, User Groups, conferences they have been to? Kathi will be sharing her story, the process that she went through until she became an MVP, how you get nominated, and how to get renewed! The shownotes for today’s episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/02/22/episode-84-mvp/ and have fun on the SQL trail. 

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 to discuss some ways you can go about improving the data visualization of your reports, without adding additional burden on process. Psychology plays a big role in data visualization. To make a good report, before even starting your tool, you should be able to summarize what the report presents. One of the major aspects of psychology is color and how we perceive it. Jonathan explains how we can use this while visualizing data.  We discuss color blindness and I haven't heard this discussed too much elsewhere and I was curious to know how we can solve this problem with an easy button. The shownotes for today’s episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/02/15/episode-83-data-visualizations/ and have fun on the SQL trail.

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 well maintained over time. There is an option to use default maintenance plans and to do fragmentation and updating statistics, but should you use them? What are the alternatives?  We didn’t forget to consider strategies for deciding which indexes to keep and which can be dropped. The shownotes for today’s episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/02/08/episode-82-indexes-part-2/ and have fun on the SQL trail.

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 practices to use them when creating new tables. We didn’t forget to cover the problems you might run into. For example, you might not think about indexes until your data grows very large. Sure, you can attempt to resolve the problem by moving to SSD’s and increasing memory, but this will push the issue further in the future. In this episode, we will discuss considerations for indexes and why database architecture is so important. We would like to hear your opinions. What are your strategies when using indexes? Use the hashtag #sqlpodcast and let us know! The shownotes for today’s episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/02/01/episode-81/ and have fun on the SQL trail.

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 environment?  Our guest today is Andrew Pruski and he talks to us about how he is using containers to support his environments and the flexibility it provides to his and his co-workers. While the Linux containers seem to get lots of love, one unique thing about Andrew's setup is he is running Windows containers with older versions of SQL Server.  What is cool to me is there are tools out there that can help us folks running windows get up and running without having to wait on our infrastructure to upgrade to Windows server 2016.  If you are using containers, I would love to hear about it.  Use the hastag #sqlpodcast and let us know! The shownotes for today’s episode is found at  http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/01/24/sql-server-containers/ and have fun on the SQL trail.   

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/episode-79-ssis-catalog/ and have fun on the SQL trail.

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 shares with us some of the struggles they were having along with how the 2016 version helped address these issues. Brian invites everyone to upvote his connect item which you can find on the shownotes The show notes are available at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/01/11/conversionto2016/ and have fun on the SQL trail!

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 about the pick list items of new features, Paul gives some guidance and why you should choose certain products and what makes good use case scenarios for some of the new features. With the new analytics features now available in SQL Server 2016 via SP1, I think there is going to be additional requirements for data professionals to provide better analytics features and this episode is a good starter for how to frame those conversations.  Show notes for today's episode can be found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/01/03/reporting-improvements/ and have fun on the SQL trail!

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.  Show notes are available at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/12/31/availability-group-improvements/ and have fun on the SQL trail!

Storage testing and validation is something what we to add under roles and responsibilities as DBAs. Every database we ever manage is going to need one, but how often do we kick the tires? Many times we’re basically told to go verify that array or we’re doing this POC, we’re testing this new storage, but are we really only testing connectivity?  In this episode of the podcast, we chat with Argenis Fernandez about how he goes about testing a SAN array and the important metrics you should consider for your storage.  If you are still using SQLIO or even Diskspeed to test the IO for your SQL Server, don't miss today's episode. The shownotes for today's episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/12/21/episode-75-testing-storage-devices/ and have fun on the SQL trail.

As the year 2016 comes to a close, Steve and I share our thoughts on our accomplishments for the year and what lies in store for 2017.

At some point all data administrators will have to tune their environments and there are may ways you might go about that.  In this episode, we talk with Pinal Dave about how he does performance tuning and the thought process behind the approach.

In the data space we're hearing a lot about dev ops, continuous integration and the programmers are getting a lot of love there with lots of tools to help them; however, if you're on the data side--not so much.  If you're running Agile in your environment and then you're trying to do data warehousing or other data development we're not quite getting the same love. Sure, there are a couple of unit testing software offerings out there, but it's a little bit cumbersome.  This episode our conversation focuses on testing automation in a business intelligence or data warehouse environment--even in an Agile system.  Our guest is Lynn Winterboer and she has some interesting thoughts at the intersection of business users, data professionals and tools.      Show notes for today's episode can be found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/12/03/episode-72-testing-automation-for-business-intelligence/

It is easy to feel like the odd man (or gal) out in the SQL Community.  We are constantly hearing about new features, products, and architectures and our companies may not always have the same enthusiasm when we describe what could be. This is probably even more true in the Analytics space as much of the marketing has been pointed in that direction.  Even PASS tried to create a conference just for Analytics.  While there are some amazing new technologies out there--we might--GASP--not need them in every scenario.  Our guest today is Kevin Wilkie, a BI architect with Innovative Architects and he talks to us about some of the tools he uses and spoiler--they aren't all that fancy.  He also talks with us about how he manages the tech and business users so each feels comfortable and each can get their work done.  The show notes for today's episode are at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/11/23/BI-Tools/ and we'll see you on the SQL trail!

In the keynote of PASS summit 2016 Rohan Kumar, the program manager for SQL Server proudly displayed a database restore to a SQL Server instance installed on Linux.  What makes this all even more interesting is the database was sourced from a Windows server.  While it might not sound like much, the number of operating systems SQL Server runs on has now doubled.  This is no small feat and our guest today Travis Wright is the program manager for the SQL Server on Linux migration.  While I have to admit I was not super excited about the news when it came out last year, I am definitely more interested and think there is a huge opportunity for SQL Server administrators to get access to jobs they wouldn’t have before.  I know you will enjoy this interview with Travis. Get the Linux for the preview and other items on the show notes page http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/11/16/sql-server-on-linux/ and have fun on the SQL trail!

We have all been there–next, next, next–let’s just get this install done.  While there are many ways to get SQL Server installed on a server, the real impact is in the way we administer the database and when we want to get good performance.  Listener James Youkhanis asked us about our install checklist and Steve and I realized we hadn’t made one public before.  In this episode of the SQL Data Partners podcast, we talk about some of the settings we are looking for when we set up a server.  We don’t have time to reference every single item, but hit some highlights.  Your list might differ slightly, but our list has been built from the experiences we have seen over time from various installations.  We love to other opinions, so give us your thoughts! The show notes for today's episode and the install checklist are available at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/11/09/sql-server-install-checklist/.  Have fun on the SQL trail compañeros!

For all of us working with data, we know that we work no only with SQL Server but the suite of tools around the SQL Server engine.  In this episode, we share some thoughts around SSIS administration, which is the most popular ETL tool in the Microsoft stack.  Just like the SQL Server engine, many times the defaults are taken and in this episode we give some thoughts around logging, package execution, and notification with our guest Ravi Kumar.  With the every expanding functionality of SSIS, Steve and I found this discussion insightful as we think about supporting an SSIS environment and ways we can educate package developers. The show notes for today's episode can be found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/10/15/ssis-administration/ Have fun on the SQL trail!

Compañeros! The good organizers SQLSaturday in Pittsburgh allowed me to take a slot on the schedule and opened up the podcast for a little Q&A session and I was super happy with the results.  We had several SQL Server pros come and our conversation was around one central issue--testing in your development environment.  We came at from a setup perspective, but also from a how to compare apples and oranges when your hardware is different.  Because we had a developer ask the question, I opted to call this episode  “Dear Developer”. Hear from Microsoft MVPs and SQL Server consultants such as Allen White, Kevin Feasel, Jonathan Stewart, Tim McAliley and others give their thoughts on this subject.  At the very least you will have a few more ideas on where to start looking for potential options to your testing after listening to this episode. The show notes for todays episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/10/15/deardeveloper/ 

After talking with Patrick Thomas in episode 64, I was introduced to Microsoft's newest learning curriculum, the Microsoft academy, and their first offering in data science.  In this episode, I talk with one of the lead course writers Graeme Malcolm about the new program.  Microsoft consulted data scientists along with several companies to identify the core skills they need to be successful. A curriculum was developed to teach these functional and technical skills, combining highly rated online courses with hands-on labs, concluding in a final capstone project. This episode talks about the new program and what is next for Microsoft learning. The show notes for today's episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/10/18/professional-program/ and we'll see you on the SQL trail!

This week on the SQL Trail, Steve and I chat with Jason Horner about building a good data architecture. When talking about a data warehouse architecture, or even just a data architecture, people often think about building the data warehouse and specifying the server hardware, building the ETL, things like that--they tend to lose sight of the larger picture of data architecture.  Jason gives us his “four pillars of data warehouse architecture” and how each of them impacts what you are able to do from a reporting prospective. We are super excited to have Jason on the show with us this week.  You can catch the show notes at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/10/03/data-architecture/ and we'll see you on the SQL trail.

Have you ever thought that Microsoft certifications were a waste of time? Depending on where you are on the experience scale, certifications still play a large role in hiring and career development.  In Episode 64 of the SQL Data Partners Podcast I talk to Patrick Thomas the program manager for the MCT and MCP programs and the role they play at Microsoft and in what way they continue to provide value, including what’s in store for data science learners and what he thinks of the Microsoft purchase of LinkedIn. The show notes are available at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/10/03/microsoft-mcp/ and we'll see you on the SQL trail!

Availability groups provide both high availability features and disaster recovery options, but they also have several areas you must be aware so you don't introduce more risk into your environment.  The major advantage is availability groups allow for you to fail over more than one database at a time.  In Episode 59 we talked about general data availability options and in this episode we focus on the new features of Availability Groups in 2016 and how data availability options have changed with our guest John Sterrett.  John shares his experience getting a large database to a highly available situation along with some other ways to use availability groups. Show notes for today's episode are available at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/09/21/episode-63-high-availability/ Have fun on the SQL trail. 

Have you heard the buzz around the Cortana Intelligence Suite? It seems like it is all the rage these days and Microsoft is coming out with lots of new features in this space. In Episode 62, Steve and I interview Melissa Coates, AKA “SQLChick”. We chat about the history of Cortana, about the tools it encompasses, and why you might implement parts of the suite in your organization. Show notes for today's episode are found at http://sqldatapartners.com/cortana If you are using Cortana, we would love to hear about it on the show notes for today's episode.

Do you dread the idea of going to the project post-mortem?  Is it because you have to spend tons of time prepping your defenses for the onslaught?  This week we chat with Russ Thomas and get his take on what makes a good debrief and where he got some of his ideas.  These concepts are intended to make the whole team better so if you like what you hear, pass this along to other in your group and perhaps your debriefs can help everyone. The show notes for today's episodes are at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/09/05/debrief/ where you can get links to information Russ points to in this episode.  Have fun on the SQL trail compañeros!

When Microsoft introduced the Azure Data Lake, they included a new language, U-SQL, for Big Data processing as part of the Cortana Intelligence Suite.  U-SQL plays a role in the streaming analytics space–primarily in the Azure environment.  We break down some of the basics of U-SQL, then we’ll discuss the use cases that might make it an effective addition to your database toolbox--especially if you know C#.   The show notes for today's episode can be found at http:\\sqldatapartners.com\usql  Have fun on the SQL trail, compañeros!

Have you ever wondered what the best option is for making your data available in your environment? Listener Chris Hendon asked us to talk about differences between Availability groups, mirroring, log shipping, and replication. Today on the SQL Trail Steve and I chat with Andy Mallon and Mariano Kovo about these topics. We cover each topic in detail and explain the positives and negatives of each one.  Join us, for another great episode. The show notes for today's episode are available at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/08/24/data-availability/

With all the changes in technology, how do you stay up to date with your technical learning?  This is a question we have been asking our guests the last several episodes and in this episode we, the hosts, attempt to answer this question and Carlos and Steve give some thoughts on how we stay up to date.  We discuss four ways to keep up.  If all else fails, you can follow this old adage.  "It's know WHAT you know, it's not WHO you know--it's WHAT you know about WHO you know."    The show notes for today's episode can be found at http://sqldatapartners.com/learning.

Compañeros, in Episode 57 of the SQL Data Partners Podcast we take a page from the SQL Server Radio podcast where they list the 50 worst feature and discuss SQLFamily question 2 about what SQL Server features we think could improve. We talk about the redundancy of default maintenance plans, the pain of autogrowth and autoshrink, why NO LOCK hints shouldn't be used, what's so bad about Activity Monitor, and more.  It should be noted here, that we LOVE SQL Server, we just being a bit picky with some of the tools.  :) What feature do you want to change? Do you disagree with our list?  Let us know on the show notes page or using the hastag #SQLPodcast The show notes for today's episode are at http://sqldatapartners.com/worstfeatures

I found myself in Columbus Ohio at the SQLSaturday event and thought I'd do a live panel discussion about our Favorite SQL Server 2016 Features--what we are most excited about.   We also discuss the "Microsoft paradigm shift" and how the hybrid model is likely to stick around for a long time.  Oh, and Scott Klein from Channel 9 shows up and gives us his two cents.  You just never know what is going to come out of the wood work.

SQL Server reporting services hasn't changed in what seems like 10 years.  The rest of the reporting environment at Microsoft has seen some MEGA changes and it seems like we could use a few updates to the environment.  Our guest this episode is Jessica Moss, a data architect and Microsoft MVP.  She gets us up to speed on what we can expect in the new version and how this ties into the other changes Microsoft is making.  The show notes for today's show can be found at http://sqldatapartners.com/jessica and we'll see you on the SQL trail.

What is the leadership of your company thinking about the future of data and the role you will play?  To help give some insight into that question we have and executive pane on episode 54.  Andrew Rose is the CEO of compare.com and Jim McCullen is the VP of IT for Century Distribution. We ask them about what they're looking for in IT staff, how they go about hiring, what they think of social media, and moving to the cloud.  They give their thoughts on what makes a great member of the team and so I hope you will give today's episode a listen. You can check out more about them and get the show notes for today's episodes at http://sqldatapartners.com/executive.

In Episode 53 Steve Stedman and I chat with THE Argenis Fernandez, storage guru and PASS Director-at-Large about what else? Storage.  Steve and I learn something new from Argenis every time we talk to him and this time is no exception. We are talking  LUNs, IOPs, and why he thinks we all need to approach storage a lot differently.   Check out the show notes at http://sqldatapartners.com/argenis

Since Microsoft purchases the R language they have been baking it into their products and SQL Server is on the list.  SQL Server 2016 now has support for R and I know I have had people approach me about this and I thought it might be interesting to get Ginger Grant on the show and talk about the implications and what we poor database administrators need to do to get ready or at least be armed with questions when approached about the subject. Are you using R? What is your experience like?  Let us know on our show notes for today's episode at http://sqldatapartners.com/r

I am always amazed at how people can use technology to solve different problems and in today's episode, my friend Jana shares with us a problem he solved with PowerShell.  The setup of this is different from previous episodes and I am interested to know if you like this format.  While we do talk about some uses of PowerShell, the interesting part is how Jana learned PowerShell, got comfortable with it, and then used it to solve a difficult problem.  Steve and I also share some thoughts about when, if ever, you should shrink a database and the impact it can have on your system.  Show notes for today's episode can be found at http://sqldatapartners.com/jana

As database administrators, we want to get as much performance as we can out of our SQL Servers.  Microsoft has provided a few knobs for us to tweak in the Operating System, the local security policy, and in the engine itself and in episode 50 of the SQL Data Partners Podcast, we review some of these SQL Server settings and how you might take advantage of some and avoid others. Join me as I chat with Justin Randall about some of these settings and get introduced to my new co-host Steve Stedman! Show notes for today are available at http://sqldatapartners.com/justin

When you code and you need to use a temporary object what do you use in SQL Server--temp tables or a table variable?  There is plenty of conventional wisdom out there and my guest Wayne Sheffield and I talk about the differences between these two objects.  Whether it around performance or coding standards, it seems everyone has an opinion about these objects.  Check out the show notes for today's episode at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/06/21/sql-server-temp-tables/ and I will see you on the SQL Trail compañeros!

Over the last few years we have seen an explosion of new technologies and processes to manage data.  Episode 48 asks the question--Is the Data Warehouse dead?  I chat with MVP Tim Mitchell about the subject and how things are changing . . . and how they are staying the same. 

The expansion of data sets and increased expectations of businesses for analysis and modeling of data has led developers to create a number of database products to meet those needs. As data professionals, it is incumbent upon us to understand how these tools work and put them to their best use--before somebody else puts them to sub-optimal use.  I am joined by Kevin Feasel who walks us through some of the technologies available and sorts out under what circumstances we want to consider using each one.

Have you ever looked at some tsql code and thought--How does even run? I know I have and it can be daunting to take a piece of code and review it for performance or to make a change to it.  I enlist the help of Jen McCown from the MidnightDBA team to discuss approaches to unraveling code.  We tackle the issues of nested views, documentation, formatting, Hungarian Notation, and visualizing how all the code pieces fit together. At the end of the day, we just want our code to be understandable and usable for the next person who has to review it, because that next person just might be you.  :) Get the show notes for today's episode at  http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/05/31/unraveling-code/ and I'll see you on the SQL trail!

Compañeros, we are going to get back into the engine this episode and go back to a feature that has been available since 2005--Service Broker.  I chat with Wolf about how he uses it, the major components, and scenarios that might work for you.   Are you using service broker?  Let us know on the website sqldatapartners.com/podcast

Episode 44 takes us into a new service in the Microsoft cloud--Azure SQL Data Warehouse.  While still in preview, the Azure SQL Data Warehouse looks to help level the playing field for organizations that want to analyze their data without the expense of creating a data warehouse.  Sound a bit counter intuitive?  Check out this episode to find what the service is all about and what the future of data processing might look like. Show notes for today's episode are at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/05/17/azuresqldatawarehouse/.  Have fun on the SQL trail, compañeros!

Why is ETL so hard?  All we want to do is move data from system A to system B.  Perhaps that is the problem, says my guest Rafael Salas, and more time should be given to thinking about the architecture of the system.  With our thoughts turned to SSIS, we discuss this idea in today's episode.  The show notes for today's episode can be found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/05/10/etl/ and I'll see you on the SQL trail!

How did that get changed--do you ever get that question?  In this episode I talk with Brad McKuhen about how you would answer that and how you might need more than just enabling the auditing feature in SQL Server.  If you are willing to be a bit proactive and do some testing, you might be able to give an answer to that question instead of the same old shoulder shrug. Check out the shownotes for today's episode at  http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/05/03/auditing/.  See you on the SQL trail!

Compañeros, you know good care and feeding of your indexes is VITAL to a healthy database.  In this episode of the SQL Data Partners Podcast, I talk to Sean McCown about the best practices for index maintenance and how those guidelines are now part of his Minionware software. The show notes for today's episode are available at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/04/26/indexmaintenance

In this episode of the SQL Data Partners Podcast I chat with Jason Brimhall, about SQL Server compression and his experience with it. He also answers your compression questions: Why is it a bad idea to compress everything in your database and how does compression work? You can check out the show notes for today's episode at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/04/20/compression/. Have a good week and I'll see you on the SQL trail.

 Today on the SQL Trail I talk with Richie Rump, the podcaster, blogger, and now new hire at Brent Ozar. He and I discuss measuring query performance, using SET STATISTICS, and the story behind his Statistics Parser application.  He also talks about navigating the space between developer and DBA. The show notes for today's episode are at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/04/02/statisticsparser/

Compañeros! You heard rumblings about how awesome SQL Server 2016 is, right?  I talk with Rick Heiges about the wins he's seen for his clients using SQL Server 2016, including how one client's move from a large Oracle rack to SQL Server garnered them huge improvements in query performance. Show notes for today's episode are available at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/04/02/sqlserver2016/

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 why he thinks that PowerBI has grown in popularity so quickly. The shownotes for today's episode are found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/03/29/powerbi/

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. The show notes are available at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/03/23/virtualservers/

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 positioning to your SQL Career, even if you’re a W2 employee. Philip and I go over three ways to narrow your focus and how it affects the direction of your career. I also ask him about how to turn unwanted work assignments to your advantage using the leverage grained from positioning. Get the shownotes at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/03/14/positionyourself/ and I'll see you on the SQL trail.

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 required for in-memory tables? In Episode 34 of the SQL Data Partners Podcast, we’re going to talk about in-memory OLTP and in-memory tables with Jos De Bruijn. Jos is a Program Manager at Microsoft for SQL Server In-memory OLTP. We sit with Jos and we explore how in-memory tables work and why they’re just as durable as traditional disk-bound tables. He lays out the whole process. Jos also answers common DBA concerns about them and discusses how to make them efficient. Jos reveals the SQL Server 2016 features that affect in-memory OLTP. As always, you can catch the show notes for today's episode at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/03/08/inmemorytables/

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 performance activities new DBAs need to master The importance of getting code reviews outside the developer team The tool Amy relies on as a DBA, and the one event you shouldn’t miss Why Amy believes that moving around frequently can be good for your career You can get the links and show notes at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/03/01/developer2dba/.  Have fun on the SQL trail.

  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 bore you with syntax.  Are you using PowerShell?  I would love to hear your stories in the comments at the bottom of the show notes page at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/02/23/powershell/

  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 experience with virtualization?  I would love to hear from you in the comments on the show notes page http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/02/16/virtualization/.

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 involved in is the investment in yourself. I am joined by Bruce Van Horn, host of the Life is a marathon podcast and the person that introduced me to the E to E ratio.  The Entertainment to Education ratio is a gauge for how much of your time is spent entertaining yourself versus how much you education yourself.  We discuss how this affects your future opportunities but also how it affects your happiness. How do you keep yourself educated?  I would love to hear about it.  You can leave your comments and see the show notes for today's episode at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/02/09/e2eratio/.

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 Ozar and we chat about internals and how SQL Server processes your request and what you need to consider as SQL Server returns your result. Our show notes for today's episode are available at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/02/03/sqlserverthinks/

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 of SQLskills and we discuss what your baseline should consist of and how you might go about capturing some of that data.  I am always interested to see how people monitor their servers and I know this episode will give you a few things to think about in your baselines. Get the show notes for today's episode at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/01/27/baselines and I'll see you on the SQL trail.

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 Zacharias about her experience with the tools and I think it is time to give this feature a spin. You can see the show notes from today's episode at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/01/19/distributedreplay/.  You can also let me know if you are you using Distribute Replay  What do you think the best feature is?  What is the worst thing about it?  Leave your thoughts in the comments below the show notes.  I look forward to hearing from you.

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 lots of tools out there now to help with this, but it seems like we still drag our feet. I know I did.  When I chatted with Cindy Bean from DBMaestro, I didn't have much database change automation experience.  I had exposure to source control, but DevOps seemed more than that.  After speaking with Cindy I created my first database project in Visual Studio.  I definitely get the idea and hope to implement it fully in my environment.  This episode is an introduction to the idea of database change automation and how you might get started.  You can see the shownotes from today's episode at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/01/12/devops/

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 to use stretch database?  Let me know via twitter.  I am @CarlosLChacon.  You can check out the show notes at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/01/06/episode-25/

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 for Query Store feature, and he shares with you, Compañeros, details about the new feature and how those interested in performance monitoring will be able to use this for their benefit.  Even if you aren't going to run SQL Server 2016 as soon as it comes out, you will find this information interesting and I hope it helps you along the SQL trail.  Have fun out there. You can find the show notes for today's episode at http://sqldatapartners.com/2015/12/29/query-store/

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 Microsoft about some of her thoughts and why IO in general is an issue.  She gives us some guidelines and even some metrics to check out.  Join us in the conversation, and I'll see you on the SQL trail . . . As always you can check out the show notes at http://sqldatapartners.com/2015/12/22/iotuning/ 

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 before, I invite you go and download it right now, then come back and listen to the program.  We will wait for you.  Ready?  Let's do this. Have fun on the SQL trail compañeros. You can see the show notes for today's episode at http://sqldatapartners.com/2015/12/15/sp_whoisactive/

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 offering of this new Azure tool.  I hope you enjoy the episode.  If you have some feedback or comments, feel free to reach out on Twitter--I am @CarlosLChacon   You can see the show notes at http://sqldatapartners.com/2015/12/08/azure-data-factory/

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 substitute experience.  -Paulo Coelho Experience is what you got by not having it when you need it. -Author Unknown [A mentor and mentee] is the third most powerful relationship for influencing human behavior (after the family and couple relationships ) if it is working. -Richard E. Caruso, PhD  Part of the reason I have the podcast is to help bring to light some thoughts and ideas you may not have considered.  I hope this continues with today's episode.  I hope you check it out. You can see the links to the other podcasts at http://sqldatapartners.com/2015/12/01/role-of-mentors/

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 organizations are using in their environments.  We also chat about some of the new technologies on the horizon for Micron. Check out the shownotes at http://sqldatapartners.com/2015/11/25/ssd/ for links to topics discussed in today's episode.

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 haven't yet tackled BIML, this episode is for you! Check out the shownotes at http://sqldatapartners.com/2015/11/17/biml/

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 maintenance on just part of a table or index. We can even move data in and out of tables with quick and easy metadata only operations. In this episode, we’ll go over basic partitioning concepts such as horizontal vs. vertical partitioning, how to identify if a table is ready for partitioning, and what you need to know about your applications before you implement partitioning. Check out the show notes at http://sqldatapartners.com/2015/11/10/partitioning/

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 the show notes for today's information at http://sqldatapartners.com/2015/11/03/sql-server-agent

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 available at http://sqldatapartners.com/2015/10/28/working-at-a-university/.

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 feature of Availability Groups. You can view the show notes for this episode at http://sqldatapartners.com/2015/10/03/clustering/

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 on the show. This episode will introduce some concepts, but you will have to do a bit a leg work if you want to start 'Applying' this into your code--I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. As always, you can check out http://sqldatapartners.com/2015/10/13/the-apply-operator/ for the show notes.  Have fun on the SQL trail!

Database corruption is something that will eventually come to all data professionals.  While I have been fortunate to only come across is a handful of times, I was glad that I was able to get back the corrupted data and get everyone back on track. In May of 2015, Steve Stedman set the data community ablaze with his database corruption challenge.  Some of the biggest names in the community jumped in with solutions to his challenge and I knew I wanted to have Steve on the show. If you are interested in hearing more about his experience and his suggestions for dealing with database corruption, this episode is for you!

So it turns out an old dog can learn new tricks--or at least that is what happened to me when I chatted with Grant Fritchey from Red Gate software about SQL Server Statistics.  Always taking an opportunity to teach, Grant talks about why statistics are important and we go over some fundamental items you may just want to know about.  As always compañeros, have fun on the SQL trail.   Be sure to check out the show notes at http://sqldatapartners.com/2015/09/29/statistics for information we chat about during the program.

We mix things up a bit as I chat with Thomas Frank from collegeinfogeek.com about test anxiety and test preparation.  Taking a test can be a big deal and it is always interesting to get other options on preparation.  As data professionals, of course we want a way to be able to advance our careers and a certification can play a role in that, but we might have a bit of anxiety around it.  The biggest take away for me from this session was Thomas's tool recommendation and how he was able to start better habits.  I took his advice and have seen some results I may share in a latter episode.  Have fun on the SQL trail compañeros! As always, you can check out links for the show on the website http://sqldatapartners.com/2015/09/23/episode-10-test-anxiety-and-test-preparation.

Joey D’Antoni has been doing quite a bit with database automation and I caught with him to discuss his experiences about how database automation has helped him be more efficient and have fewer support problems.  We discuss strategies for starting your automation techniques and he gives a few pie in the sky examples if you are running a large environment.  Compañeros, I hope you enjoy the program. Be sure to check out the show notes at http://sqldatapartners.com/2015/09/17/episode-09-database-automation

I chat will Louis Davidson about database design and get his thoughts on some strategies about how to go about making your design and what tools are available to help you.  It may surprise you that, according to Louis, the data type is not the most important component of database design.  I hope you enjoy the show. Be sure to check out http://sqldatapartners.com/2015/09/08/episode-08-database-design/for the show notes.

I chat with Microsoft MVP Chris Bell about database security and some seemingly cavelier attitudes some organziations have about keeping data safe.  We hit some of the methods SQL Server has to protect your data.  Chris also unveils his security analzyer you can use in your environment to see what areas might need to be addressed. You can check the full show notes at http://sqldatapartners.com/2015/09/01/episode-07-sql-server

Steve Jones, the editor from SQL Server central and I talk about the need to build your own brand and we share a few ideas on how to do that.  We talk about Steve's brand and how he built that over time and some options available to allow you the most opportunities possible.  This episode is a must have for those looking to kick it up a notch on the opportunity meter. Be sure to check out the show notes at http://sqldatapartners.com/2015/08/25/episode-06-build-your-personal-brand.

Robert Verell and I chat about good security practices and the principle of least privilege.  We discuss Robert's rule to never give anyone db_owner, other groups and Robert's home grown group to give instead of db_owner. Be sure to check out http://sqldatapartners.com/2015/08/19/principleofleastprivilege/ for the show notes.

We finish up our conversation with MVP Tim Radney on backup options with discussions on encryption and Azure.  Tim also shares his favorite tools and his super hero power of choice. Erik Véliz, the creator of SQL Server Booster is looking for folks to help with his lastest update.  Check out sqlserverbooster.com for more info. Also be sure to check out http://sqldatapartners.com/2015/08/11/episode04 for the shownotes and a chance to win Tim's book.

I chat with MVP Tim Radney about Backup and Recovery options in SQL Server.  We chatted for quite awhile and I ended up making two episodes out of our conversation.  This episode focuses on why we backup and some core ideas.  Advanced features will be in episode 04.  You can register to win a copy of Tim's book on Backup and Recovery by visiting sqldatapatners.com/podcast.  Also be sure to check out the very cool offer from SQL Skills at the end of the session. Be sure to check out http://sqldatapartners.com/2015/08/05/podcast-episode-03-backup-and-recovery/ for show notes

Today I am super happy to announce the launch of my podcast and I start with episode 00. In this episode I take some time to go through my journey in becoming a data professional and how I think the podcast will be of value to you. We talk about why I am making the podcast and what kind of person will find it useful. I also discuss how you I want to be your compañero on your journey as a data professional. We discuss the following in today's episode.SQL CruiseApexSQL Refactor

I was in Argentina for the SQLSaturday event in May of 2015 and made friends with Javier Villegas, a 20 year veteran in the DBA world.  While extended events have been around for some time, many are still getting used to this new feature and I talk with Javier about how he uses extended events and how we might get started.   Be sure to check out http://sqldatapartners.com/2015/08/05/podcast-episode-02-extended-events/ for show notes and links to content discussed in this episode.