Proof of Concepts: Making Hard Things Easy with Azure

PROOF OF CONCEPTS: MAKING HARD THINGS EASY WITH AZURE Back when I managed my employer's enterprise architecture, prior to the days of virtualization and cloud computing, one of my most difficult projects was to build out a sandbox environment for a major proof of concept (POC). Locally hosted servers and all of the required licenses were expensive and scarce. If you're still struggling with scarcity when conducting research and performing POCs, I've got to tell you you're doing it wrong. READ MORE... Posted November 02, 2016 … [Read more...]

SQL Server 2016 – The Cool is in the Tool (SSMS That is)

SQL SERVER 2016 – THE COOL IS IN THE TOOL (SSMS THAT IS) As a heavy user of other RDBMS data platforms, I have long appreciated the extra effort that Microsoft put into their data management and administration tool, the SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS). While SSMS is an outstanding administration and T-SQL programming tool, it does have its minor qualms and quibbles. READ MORE... Originally Posted September 02, 2016 … [Read more...]

SQL Server 2016 is Simply Faster… A Lot Faster

SQL SERVER 2016 IS SIMPLY FASTER…A LOT FASTER I had the pleasure to spend some time with my old friend Mark Souza, a general manager in the Data Platform team at Microsoft, while speaking at the SQL Saturday event in Dublin, Ireland in the summer of 2016. Now keep in mind that Mark and I have known each other since the 1990s when SQL Server was just being ported to a brand new operating system called Windows NT. Mark and I were having a laugh and more than a twinge of nostalgia about how much SQL Server has improved over the decades and now sits atop the heap on most analysts' "best database" … [Read more...]

U-SQL and the Azure Data Lake

U-SQL AND THE AZURE DATA LAKE There's a new buzzword on the loose, the data lake. At first glance, a data lake could be easily mistaken for a data warehouse. The two big data concepts have a common focus on analytics and they may, in certain situations, produce roughly equivalent output. But that's about where their similarities end. READ MORE... Originally Posted July 12, 2016 … [Read more...]

Announcing SQL Server 2017 Release Candidate

ANNOUNCING SQL SERVER 2017 RELEASE CANDIDATE 1 Microsoft announced the first release candidate (a.k.a. RC1) for SQL Server 2017 on Monday, July 17th. Release candidates are not a final and finished product, but they are feature complete. No new features are expected after Microsoft moves into the RC phase, only adding polish (for example, brushing up the documentation and UI) and performance to the existing feature set. The full product release is planned for some time in the second half of 2017. READ MORE... Originally Posted August 09, 2017 … [Read more...]

Adaptive Query Processing in SQL Server 2017

ADAPTIVE QUERY PROCESSING IN SQL SERVER 2017 The next release of Microsoft SQL Server, announced as SQL Server 2017, is available for download in CTP2 at http://tinyurl.com/SQLvNextLinux and offers many cool new features. One set of features that I really like to focus on is adaptive query processing. These new features speed processing of workloads, especially those that have historically been the hardest to tune. READ MORE... Originally Posted July 05, 2017 … [Read more...]

They Did it Again – The Release of SQL Server 2017

THEY DID IT AGAIN – THE RELEASE OF SQL SERVER 2017 Not only has the Microsoft SQL Server engineering team added more and stronger leadership, outstanding individual engineers and staff members, but it is also radically moving its entire development process into a "cloud-first" ethos. Now, I'd like to show one of the most salient results of this new development process-accelerated product releases. It was only a few years ago (and is still the case for other data management platforms) that a major new release takes at least 2, but more likely 3 years. With the "production-ready" release of SQL … [Read more...]

Surprising but True: the Basics are Still Difficult

SURPRISING BUT TRUE: THE BASICS ARE STILL DIFFICULT I always look forward to new research from Unisphere Research, a division of Information Today, Inc., publishers of this magazine and other great products for data professionals. The latest report which you should read is "SQL Server Transformation: Toward Agility & Resiliency 2017; PASS Database Management Survey." READ MORE... Originally Posted April 07, 2017 … [Read more...]

Tomorrow: Learn about SQL Server on Vmware

SQL Server Running on Vmware. A Common Scenario. I have the honor of presenting a webinar, tomorrow, on Thursday, October 12th, 2017 2:00 pm - 3 pm EDT, with Mr. Charles Kim. We'll be talking about SQL Server running on Vmware, with me taking the SQL Server part and Charles taking the Vmware part. Charles is the Founder of Viscosity North America and his accolades are many and manifold: Oracle ACE Director, Oracle Certified DBA, a Certified RAC Expert, Certified Exadata Implementation Specialist, VMware vExpert, and a VMware Certified Professional. Charles specializes in RAC, Exadata, … [Read more...]

Revisiting PASS Summit 2015

PASS SUMMIT 2015: THE AGE OF THE DATA PROFESSIONAL IS NOW The PASS Summit 2015, the largest conference in the Microsoft SQL Server world, was held in October in Seattl, WA. The event provided a look at key initiatives that Microsoft's SQL Server group has been working on and a glimpse of what's ahead for the future. READ MORE... Originally Posted November 09, 2015 … [Read more...]