SQL Data Partners Podcast

Thanks for the memories

25 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Companeros, all good things must come to an end.  While the details of what is next is uncertain, my time with the podcast is coming to an end.  A q...

Episode 286: Data Governance and Security In Microsoft Fabric

28 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of the SQL Data Partners Podcast, host Carlos L. Chacón is joined by Kevin Feasel and Eugene Meidinger for a deep dive into data gove...

Episode 285: Who Is Using Microsoft Fabric

29 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Fabric personas were originally designed to break down the various functional roles within Microsoft Fabric—such as Power BI, Data Factory, Data Act...

Episode 284: The Four-Letter Word ETL - Data Movement

04 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Once you have your data stored in OneLake, you'll be ready to start transforming it to improve it's usability, accuracy, and efficiency.    In this ...

Episode 283: Data Lakehouse vs Data Warehouse vs My House

02 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Microsoft Fabric offers two enterprise-scale, open-standard format workloads for data storage: Warehouse and Lakehouse. Which service should you choos...

Episode 282: OneLake - A Deep Dive

26 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In Episode 281, we introduced Microsoft OneLake with a high-level overview. Now we're going deeper with a discussion on the Parquet format, why Micros...

Episode 281: OneLake - The OneDrive for Data

22 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As you start using Fabric, having a central location for your data is crucial. OneLake acts as this unified destination, offering a single, consolidat...

Episode 280: A Focus on Microsoft Fabric

08 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

At the Microsoft Build Conference in May 2023, Microsoft announced the new Fabric, where you could slice and dice all your data harmoniously within th...

Episode 279: SQL Server Migrations Demystified

20 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

If you use SQL Server, you will eventually have to migrate that instance somewhere – to a new version, a new server, the cloud . . . somewhere. Or p...

Episode 278: Running SQL Server on Azure VMs

30 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Can you run SQL Server on Azure VM? Which VM is best? Is running SQL Server on a VM in Azure the right choice? Find out in this insightful episode wit...

Episode 277: PostgreSQL for the SQL Server Crowd

15 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Is testing out pgAdmin on your to-do list? In this episode of the podcast, we chat with Ryan Booz, a PostgreSQL advocate at Redgate, about how a SQL S...

Episode 276: Dynamic SQL and Testing in Isolation

21 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Listener beware! This episode is full of danger as we tackle an interesting use case for Dynamic SQL. Dynamic SQL generally has a bad reputation in SQ...

Episode 275: Machine Learning and Power BI

16 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What kinds of problems are organizations solving with Machine Learning? In this episode, we explore a situation where a public works department was lo...

Episode 274: A CMM Case Study

22 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After discussing the Capabilities Maturity Model in our last episode, it was fate when Andy Levy reached out and suggested a topic which sounds like a...

Episode 273: The Capability Maturity Model for Data Professionals

02 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Have you ever felt stuck in a rut, repeating the same tasks, while knowing there is room for improvement? The Capability Maturity Model may be a way f...

Episode 272: Performance Tuning Scripts

10 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Do you find yourself repeating the same actions when pulling SQL Server performance metrics?  Performance tuning a troublesome SQL Server can be a ch...

Episode 271: Pass Summit 2023 Wrap-Up

29 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This past November, Eugene and I attended the 2023 PASS Data Community Summit (aka PASS Summit) in Seattle, while Kevin headed down to Orlando for the...

Episode 270: Medallion Architecture

21 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Moving up the ranks in the holy technology wars is the medallion architecture, and boy are we interested in getting your thoughts. Not since the 2008 ...

Episode 269: Why Do I Need a Managed Service Provider?

19 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this Episode, Carlos talks about managed services and shares some of the benefits of working with an MSP, as well as potential cons.  The term man...

Episode 268: AI and the Future of the Database

28 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We love hearing from our listeners!!! In this episode, a long-time listener asked about the future of AI in the data platform space. We thought this w...

Episode 267: Microsoft Fabric

12 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

All your data, all your teams—in one place. What am I? If you said Microsoft Fabric, you win! When I interned with Cisco Systems in 2000, I supporte...

Episode 266: Working with Containers

29 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We're kicking off Season 7 with containers! Spinning up a VM may not be such a big deal anymore; however, most of us still have to request from anothe...

Episode 265: WHY and What's Next

28 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Compañeros! In May, SQL Data Partners was acquired by Marathon Consulting.  There were many moving parts to get this done and we are excited to fin...

Episode 264: Verified Backups

12 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A backup is only helpful when you can restore the backup. This should not prove to be overly shocking; however, normally we get the satisfaction of t...

Episode 263: SQL Server This 'n That

29 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When we couldn't confirm a guest speaker by recording time, Eugene, Kevin, Amanda, and I decided the show must go on, so we went into the ideas vault...

Episode 262: Learning Azure Synapse Pt 1

15 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Learning new technology can be difficult—especially when it's a technology in an area you are not familiar with.  In this episode, Eugene walks us ...

Episode 261: The Data Lakehouse

01 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It would appear Microsoft has run out of words to use for new features/products, so they are just going to recycle existing words for a bit of fun at ...

Episode 260: Contained Availability Groups

15 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We're back with another SQL Server 2022 feature—Contained Availability Groups.  Have you ever failed over to a secondary node and then found a job ...

Episode 259: T-SQL Snapshot Backups

17 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We kick off the new year discussing a new feature in SQL Server 2022 called Transact-SQL snapshot backups. Good luck with the Google search on this fe...

Episode 258: Leave 2022 Enter 2023

27 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

As we close out the year, we take a look back and think about all those SQL Server 2022 episodes we didn't record this year—and then make the goal t...

Episode 257: The Business of Working for Yourself

30 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Have you ever thought about working for yourself? It can be very enticing for some, and in this episode, we talk with John Sterrett about the pros and...

Episode 256: The Community Episode

03 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Seven years ago, I started the SQL Data Partners Podcast. We have now arrived at Episode 256, and we dedicate this episode to you, the community. Than...

Episode 255: Automate Complex CRUD with sp_CRUDGen

05 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

One of the biggest challenges with developers using object-relational mapping (ORM) tools is the bad queries or procedures they create. Sure, most too...

Episode 254: Code Smell Checks with sp_Develop

21 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Would you be interested in a tool to help you do code review checks and provide developers guidance on best practices? In this episode of the SQL Data...

Episode 253: Go Mobile with Power Apps

07 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, we dive into the Power Apps offering and discuss the pros and cons of using this latest Microsoft offering. Some definitions are give...

Episode 252: The Cumulative Update Dilemma

24 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Knowing your SQL Server is patched when an issue occurs is worth the effort of keeping it patched. While I don't suggest a zero-day install for most f...

Episode 251: Azure Cognitive Services

10 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How can you begin to integrate AI models into your environment without spending months building everything out? As we continue our march to Episode 25...

Episode 250: What happens before... "COMPANEROS!"

27 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This episode we are doing a bit of a look back and are going to air some previously buried content.  Some of the bloopers are pre-video and some of t...

Episode 249: Data Marts in Power BI

13 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Data marts in Power BI have arrived and the words "data mart" mean something to data professionals.  In this episode of the SQL Data Partners Podcast...

Episode 248: Inventory Documentation

29 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How do you keep records of your SQL Server environments?  Patching levels, security accounts, configuration options, maintenance jobs and the like ar...

Episode 247: Pushing the Boundaries or Pushing Your Luck

15 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

IT workers will generally claim they like learning new technology—it is almost a required attribute.  Why then is bringing in new technology so har...

Episode 246: Microsoft Build 2022 Announcements

08 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

While we continue to review the new features of the CTP preview of SQL Server 2022, we turn our attention to the recent Microsoft Build conference and...

Episode 245: Tooling Updates

20 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) version 18 was introduced to support SQL Server 2019 and in this episode of the podcast, we discuss some of the ne...

Episode 244: Extended Events vs SQL Server Audit

30 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Who made that change?  It is one of those questions that can send chills down the spine of those responsible for databases.  In this episode, Joseph...

Episode 243: Choosing What Content To Focus On

16 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Conferences are on the uptick as COVID restrictions lift and we are excited for the upcoming year. After Eugene's return from SQLBits my thoughts revo...

Episode 242: Upgrading Your SQL Server

02 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

SQL Server 2012 is end of life later this year.  I feel too young for this to be happening—it seems like only last year SQL Server 2005 came out. ...

Episode 241: Replicating Data with Azure SQL Data Sync

20 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Do you find you need to keep SQL Server tables in sync across multiple systems?  After several projects involving syncing data, we return to the topi...

Episode 240: Azure Synapse Link

05 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Azure Synapse Link is a feature coming to SQL Server in the next release. While there are few details on what the new feature will look like, we discu...

Episode 239: Bi-directional HA/DR to Azure SQL

15 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

SQL Server 2022 has been announced and we are excited to start unpacking the new features. For this episode, we start with a very interesting feature-...

Episode 238: Getting Started with Power BI - Part 2

08 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Part 2 Power BI has been described as a "self-service" BI platform. While that may bring to mind an image of easy-peasy, plug-and-play, there are a fe...

Episode 237: Getting Started with Power BI - Part 1

01 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Part 1 Power BI has been described as a "self-service" BI platform. While that may bring to mind an image of easy-peasy, plug-and-play, there are a fe...

Episode 236: Database Monitoring with SQL Sentry

17 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Building your own scripts to monitor SQL Server seems like a very reasonable thing to do. We're smart folks and SQL Server is what we do for a living—...

Episode 235: SQL Trail 2021 In-person Q&A

03 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Live Podcast! We decided it was time to try and get together in person and reconnect. As we did, we pulled out the microphone and started recording. A...

Episode 234: Communication Tips for the IT Pro

07 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As a data pro, you are negotiating and problem-solving all the time, often without knowing it. Your success as a professional as your company evolves ...

Episode 233: ScriptDOM

15 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Never heard of ScriptDOM? Neither had we…okay, except Kevin, who obviously knows all. Apparently, the documentation is scarce. Mala Mahadevan uses i...

Episode 232: Giving Technical Presentations

01 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Public speaking is not fun for most; however, it can be very rewarding. Chris Seferlis chats with us about a few tips he has on being a speaker. Most ...

Episode 231: Mental Health and Wellness in IT

11 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Everyone has bad days; however, how those bad days develop are unique to each of us. In a special episode, we chat with Tracy Boggiano about her exper...

Episode 230: RTO & RPO

04 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

No one wants to lose data when disaster strikes; however, we need to plan for some data loss and putting all the pieces in place can be tricky. There ...

Episode 229: Data Migration Assistant

21 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The scary part of upgrading SQL Server is finding out you have a problem AFTER the fact. In this episode, Mariano Kovo joins us to discuss the Data Mi...

Episode 228: Predicting Application Problems with Database Metrics

14 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As data practitioners, we want to get ahead of any problems that might come up and share those insights with others on our team. In this episode, Edwa...

Episode 227: SSDT Methodologies for DB DevOps

23 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Organizations look to constantly improve and offer better services and the application tooling has been built to accommodate the process. Database too...

Episode 226: SQL Server IaaS Agent Extension

09 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Let's say you have completed a lift and shift VM hosting to the cloud.  Great—you now use Iaas services.  While you don't have to worry about the ...

Episode 225: Dashboard Design Principles

26 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 e...

Episode 224: The Standup Meeting

28 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 wa...

Episode 223: Podcast Update

14 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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, ...

Episode 222: Azure Arc-enabled Data Services

24 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Azure Arc-enabled data services provide powerful capabilities to deploy and manage local, on-premises, and hybrid cloud data resources using the same ...

Episode 221: SQL Trail March 2021 Retrospective

22 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 en...

Episode 220: Microsoft Ignite Recap

10 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 com...

Episode 219: SQL Server Inventory

24 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 wa...

Episode 218: File Growths

17 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Episode 217: A Little Something About A Few Things

10 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Episode 216: EDI vs ETL

03 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Episode 215: Azure Data Factory

27 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Episode 213: New Goals for 2021

13 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Episode 212: 10 Things You Need to Know About Data Security

31 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

20 years ago, the objection to implementing security on the basis of performance had validity—especially for smaller organizations. Security was a p...

Episode 211: Solorigate

23 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Microsoft released a lengthy white paper on the SolarWinds hack affecting thousands of computers. This is scary stuff, and the details continue to com...

Episode 210: The Elephant in the Room

18 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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,...

Episode 209: Career Ready: Advice to New Graduates

14 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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 strat...

Episode 208: SQL Server and Graph Data

28 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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 implem...

Episode 207: SQL Trail 2020 Retrospective

15 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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 wi...

Episode 206: .NET Core Interactions with SQL Server

17 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

There are many programming languages available to the modern developer and there are even more options for connecting to the database. In this episode...

Episode 205: Data Modeling for Power BI

03 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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 w...

Episode 204: IoT in Azure

19 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A variety of devices now have the ability to report metrics about status, performance, or other sensor information. Collecting this information and ma...

Episode 203: Spark in Action

07 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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 givin...

Episode 202: Virtual Conferences

23 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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 Partne...

Episode 201: Common Data Model

09 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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-Alma...

Episode 200: Anything but the Cowboys . . .

25 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Episode 199: Technical Debt

30 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We can incur technical debt in several ways—aging technology, choosing delivery speed over scale architecture, or implementing new technology the en...

Episode 198: Cloud Infrastructure

23 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Episode 197: Power Query in Power BI

15 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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 '...

Episode 196: Teleworking

02 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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 tim...

Episode 195: Understanding DAX

26 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The number of new programming languages never ceases to amaze me. Technology advances continue to require new ways of allowing users to customize the ...

Episode 194: PolyBase Use Cases

19 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

After Episode 180 on PolyBase came out, we received a few questions on use cases for PolyBase. Compañeros, when you ask, we reply! This episode...

Episode 193: Power BI Premium

12 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Our regular host is down for the count with the flu; however, the podcast must go on! In this episode, we answer a listener-submitted question about P...

Episode 192: The DBA is Dead! Long Live the DBA!

04 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

What is the future of the DBA and what technologies should I be focused on? In this episode, we attempt to look into the crystal ball and give our tak...

Episode 191: Power BI Row-Level Security

12 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Wouldn't it be nice if you could filter the rows a user sees in Power BI? What's that? You've already implemented Row-Level Security at the database l...

Episode 190: SQL Server 2019

05 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Getting released just before the end of the year, SQL Server 2019 is now available in general release. While at first glance, it appeared this release...

Episode 189: Power BI Common Data Model

23 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Moving data is fairly straightforward; however, mapping data from one source to another can be extremely challenging. In an attempt to help self-servi...

Episode 188: Databricks

16 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A couple of years ago, Netflix offered a reward for anyone who could improve the algorithm for choosing a movie. The team that came in second took wh...

Episode 187: Power BI Performance Tuning

08 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Make it go faster! Visualizations are great, but when users start complaining about the load times on reports, it can be a tough exercise to figure ou...