SQL Data Partners Podcast

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.