SQL Data Partners Podcast
Episodes
Episode 186: Analytics & Security: Find Pain Points, Make a Plan
27 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
2020 dawns a first for our podcast. This episode is dedicated entirely to a listener question. We've had questions before; however, this episode the t...
Episode 185: DBATools in a Month of Lunches
19 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Why write a book, when you already have a site full of documentation? In this episode we chat with Rob Sewell about his project to write a book, DBAT...
Episode 184: Where do people get stuck with Power BI?
12 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
You've seen the visualizations and want to dive in--perhaps you were assigned the task. However you started with Power BI, chances are you might ge...
Episode 183: SQL Server Big Data Clusters
04 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
SQL Server 2019 is out and one of the most interesting additions is SQL Server 2019 Big Data Clusters. In this episode, Kevin Feasel covers the marria...
Episode 182: XEvents
21 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The very first podcast episode I recorded was about Extended Events. We've had several new versions of SQL Server since that time, so I thought it was...
Episode 181: Paginated Reports in Power BI
13 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In the second quarter of 2019, it was announced that Power BI would support paginated reports--at first this was assumed to be connected to an announc...
Episode 180: PolyBase in SQL Server 2019
06 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week we heard the news of the release for SQL Server 2019 and a major focus of this release is data virtualization. In this episode, we discuss P...
Episode 179: SQL Trail Recap & Buying Power BI
24 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
SQL Trail continues to be an experiment in the making and year three proved no different. Eugene joined us this year and we discuss some of the change...
Episode 178: Database Design
17 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
After 170 episodes, we bring back Louis Davidson to talk about database design and get his thoughts on how we can get better at planning for our data....
Episode 177: Lock Pages in Memory
09 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The Lock Pages in Memory policy came up in our internal discussions. I wanted to chat about it a bit more and I couldn't think of a better person than...
Episode 176: Power BI Storage Options
25 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Creating reports in Power BI is awesome, but once you are ready to publish the reports--where are you going to store all the data? In this episode, we...
Episode 175: Migrating to the Cloud
18 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Are you in the cloud? Lots of folks are talking about moving to the cloud; however, as we find in today's episode this can be tricky to quantify what ...
Episode NULL: Summer Break
24 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 174: Power BI Report Server
27 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
What do you do when you want to use the Visualizations of Power BI but management doesn't want to send company data to the cloud? Well, you can implem...
Episode 173: New Data Certifications
12 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
As the data platform continues to evolve, so do certifications. In this episode we chat with Rick Heiges about the new role-based certifications and h...
Episode 172: Power BI Monitoring
05 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
From a SQL Server perspective we have many ways to identify problem areas. In this episode, we discuss ways to diagnose performance issues in Power BI...
Episode 171: SQL Server Encryption
22 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
You've got first name, last name, full name, birth date, address, email, phone, tax ID or Social Security Number, driver's license number, medical eva...
Episode 170: Devops with Power BI
15 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Two years ago blogger Jay Killeen observed, "And with modern languages and modern applications such as PowerBI and Power Query you should be safe to a...
Episode 169: Should you learn to code?
08 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
These are dark times. Drastic measures must be taken. In this episode, we talk about--coding. *Queue scary music* Last year I bumped into Sean McCown ...
Episode 168: Data Privacy Settings
01 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
One of the great abilities we have with Power BI is connecting to multiple data sources. Authors can actually publish data sources for others to use i...
Episode 167: Azure SQL Data Sync
25 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Azure SQL Data Sync has been generally available for almost a year now. Have you heard of it? Are you using it? Microsoft's page tell us that "Data Sy...
Episode 166: Custom Visuals
17 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The number one reason organizations choose Power BI is the ability to visualize data; however, even with all the immediate choices, many report develo...
Episode 165: Artificial Intelligence
28 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Why should I care about this episode? I know many of you are going to ask that question. Artificial Intelligence is getting lots of buzz and in this e...
Episode 164: The DAX Episode
21 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
DAX is the acronym for Data Analysis Expressions, and it is the formula language used throughout Power BI. In this episode we talk about DAX concepts ...
Episode 163: Very Large Databases
13 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Are you experiencing challenges managing Very Large Databases (VLDBs), or anticipate challenges with future growth? In this episode, we are joined by ...
Episode 162: Power Query vs DAX
28 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In this corner, coming in with all its Excel glory we have Power Query! And in this corner we have a new programming language, DAX! Have you ever felt...
Episode 161: Migrating/Upgrading 8000 databases
21 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
How do you migrate 8,000 databases on a single instance in an environment that doesn't tolerate downtime? Today's episode focuses on migration strateg...
Episode 160: Power BI Embedded
13 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The traditional model for Power BI is to pay per user, but what if you want to use the reports in your web app and don't know who all the users would ...
Episode 159: Power BI Dataflows
06 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
So what happens when you want to use data from two different sources, manipulate it (transform it) and then present the data in Power BI -- and you do...
Episode 158: Gateways
24 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
For only 10 bucks a month you can start visualizing your data and finally get the dashboard your executives have been waiting for!! What's that? You n...
Episode 157: Windows Server Core
10 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
I can still remember working in high school when you had to 'dial in' to the internet and Microsoft bought the rights to the Rolling Stones song 'Star...
Episode 156: Social Intelligence
02 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
How well do you connect with others? We generally think pretty good of ourselves and at first glance you may give yourself a pretty high score. Whil...
Episode 155: Data Science
13 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Do you want to be a data scientist? Do you even know what data science is? In this episode, we tackle the idea of being a data scientist and discuss t...
Episode 154: Test Driven Development
21 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Who hasn't had a deployment go a bit sideways? For all the talk of DevOps these days, the ability to push out code can still be challenging. When ...
Episode 153: SQL Trail 2018 Retrospective
07 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Year Two of our beautiful idea--gather together with a group of podcast listeners in a conference type format and find ways for us to connect and he...
Episode 152: Do you use Analysis Services?
01 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Those trained in SSAS may cringe a bit, but a curious thought entered my mind. Many organizations start using data warehouse structure with fact and...
Episode 151: Azure SQL Database Managed Instance
24 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Platform as a service has finally arrived to Microsoft's Azure offering. With the release of Azure SQL Database Managed Instances--quite the mouthfu...
Episode 150: The SQL Data Partners Team
19 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Today we, the SQL Data Partners team, celebrate our 150th podcast episode! We introduce ourselves, talk about what we're doing, our goals for the comi...
Episode 149: Managing lots of databases
11 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Do you ever feel like you have too many databases to manage? Managing lot of databases can get tricky and in this episode we explore some of the tec...
Episode 148: High Performance SSRS
03 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
SSRS is great -- it comes with SQL Server, provides quite a bit of functionality, but sometimes doesn't always perform well. In this episode we welcom...
Episode 147: Always Encrypted
19 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Security is always important to data folks and when a new feature like Always Encrypted comes along, it gets your attention. In this episode, we discu...
Episode 146: SQL Trail Speakers
12 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
So what is SQL Trail all about? In this episode we invite our MVPs to discuss some of the topics they are ready to share on SQL Trail. We know the...
Episode 145: Is SSIS still relevant? Part 2
05 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we finish up our conversation with Jason and Cathrine and talk about how they keep up with all the changes in data conversions. The ...
Episode 144: Is SSIS still relevant? Part 1
29 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Moving data with SSIS is a forgone conclusion for most of us -- it is part of SQL Server, it has a interface we are somewhat familiar with, and connec...
Episode 143: Transitioning from DBA to Data Warehouse Architect
09 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
We frequently talk about how many DBAs are concerned our job may be phased out in the future. This episode discusses one common career path in going f...
Episode 142: Do You Have a HEAP of Hurting?
26 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Are you giving yourself a HEAP of trouble by using tables with no clustered indexes? But it is faster you say . . . because you don't have to worry ...
Episode 141: Wait, Wait, What?
04 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we chat with David Maxwell about wait stats, what they are and why we should care about them. There are so many different directions ...
Episode 140: Why data types matter
20 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
They're just numbers, right? A date's a date. It's just string data, who cares? I admit I have posed those questions before and only much later ...
Episode 139: Getting Started with SQL Server in Azure
13 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
"The move to the cloud is inevitable." Listening to Microsoft marketing and all the MVPs out there, it can certainly seem like we are getting furthe...
Episode 138: Meeting of the Minds
06 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
I invited our fearless panelists Kevin Feasel and Eugene Meidinger to join me for a podcast discussion. We couldn't agree on a topic so we'll just c...
Episode 137: You want to work with Analytics?
31 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by Any Other Name would smell as sweet. We could say the same for analytics -- there are plenty of simi...
Episode 136: Devops with Visual Studio
23 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Everybody does things a little differently and this is one of the things I LOVE about the podcast--chatting with others about how they get work done. ...
Episode 135: Seinfeld Episode
16 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Normally we have one specific topic we focus on each episode. This episode is a little different. The show notes for today's episode can be found at...
Episode 134: CosmosDB
09 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
It is not very often the internal codename is used when a product is launched; however, when you think about a database designed with global distribut...
Episode 133: Shrinking Files
03 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
While the ability to shrink data files is available in SSMS, the conventional wisdom is don't do it. I was extremely curious when I read an email fr...
Episode 132: What technologists can learn from superheroes
19 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Bang! Pow! Crash! Besides just awesome fighting techniques, are there things we can learn from superheroes? My guest, Will Fehringer, gave that ve...
Episode 131: Big Data Solutions in the Cloud
11 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Big Data. Do you have big data? What does that even mean? In this episode I explore some of the concepts of how organizations can manage their d...
Episode 130: Use Case for PowerShell
04 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Heroes in a half shell, PowerShell! Well, maybe that wasn't the original line, but you know from this program and other places on the internet, Powe...
Episode 129: Graph Databases
28 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Books online state: "There is nothing a graph database can achieve, which cannot be achieved using a relational database." Why then are we putting gr...
Episode 128: Database Doing DevOps
21 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
To Devops or not to Devops, that is the question. We've talked before about how the developers have all the cool new tools, but this is slowly chang...
Episode 127: Developing in the database
15 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
There has been a remarkable shift introduced in the new features of SQL Server--programming languages have been embedded into the database. This has...
Episode 126: SQLSaturday Edition
08 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Have you attended a SQLSaturday? They are great events and in this episode we chat with a few organizers about what goes into putting on an event and ...
Episode 125: You must be an engineer
28 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever found it difficult to explain how something works to a co-worker? What about reading documentation? We have all been there before an...
Episode 124: Beyond the runbook; DR Organization
21 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Perhaps you have heard about a runbook--the documented instructions you should follow in the event of a disaster or some situation where an outage occ...
Episode 123: Top 5 things to know when getting admin access
14 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Listener Eduardo Cervantes wanted to get our take on what developers should do when they get admin access to a database. We take on this challenge a...
Episode 122: Isolation Levels
21 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Does not play well with others. Is this description appropriate for some of the queries in your database? In this episode, we explore the role b...
Episode 121: What makes a good manager?
14 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
I have heard it said "People don't quit jobs--they quit managers". At a recent event, I decided to ask people what they thought the qualities of a g...
Episode 120: SQL Injection
07 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Shouldn't they have fixed that instead of putting out all these new features? That might be what you are thought when you saw the title for today...
Episode 119: Getting started with GitHub
30 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
At first glance you might think our podcast topic is from way out in left field; however, as you think about it there are a number of reasons we shou...
Episode 118: How has index maintenance changed?
24 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
After having attended PASS Summit and seeing all the new features coming it out, it can be very easy to overlook the basics--they are boring. These ...
Episode 117: PASS Summit Retrospective
15 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever had a week without a Wednesday? Me neither, so for this episode, we recap our experience at PASS Summit and talk about all the amazing...
Episode 116: Are people still using PSSDiag?
08 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
If you have ever worked with Microsoft support, you probably came across the PssDiag tool they use to collect information about your environment. My...
Episode 115: The Companero Conference Retrospective
01 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
It was a beautiful idea. Gather together with a group of our podcast listeners in a conference type format and find ways for us to connect and hel...
Episode 114: How do you start consulting?
25 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
One of the advantages to a small conference is the ability to take attendee feedback and put it in place during the conference. We actually made tim...
Episode 113: Standing on the shoulders of giants
11 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Those words are attributed to Issac Newton and they are fitting for the way ...
Episode 112: Keeping up with patching
04 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 devel...
Episode 111: How do you prepare for conferences?
27 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Sometimes just getting approval to attend a conference is a challenge, but getting the green light isn't the only thing you should plan for. Sure, y...
Episode 110 How do I build trust with my team
20 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Episode 109: To certify or not to certify?
13 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In episode 64 we interviewed Patrick Thomas, the program manager for the MCP program which includes certifications. There continues to be quite a bi...
Episode 108: The Future of the Relational Database
06 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Episode 107 BI for the Little Guy
03 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 platfor...
Episode 106 Temporal Tables
26 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 ju...
Episode 105 When is enough, enough?
19 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
How can you tell when a change is enough of a change? How do you know you didn't make too big of a change? Steve and I discuss some thoughts aroun...
Episode 104: Keeping up with technology
13 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Episode 103 Plan Reuse
05 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Episode 102 Monitoring Availability Groups
29 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
One of the newer features in SQL Server is availability groups, which can help solve a number of business problems. As administrators, availability...
Episode 101 Inspecting a new Database
21 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 i...
Episode 100 Role Reversal
14 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 lates...
Episode 99 Imposter Syndrome
07 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Impostor syndrome (also known as impostor phenomenon or fraud syndrome) is a term coined in 1978 by clinical psychologists Dr. Pauline R. Clance an...
Episode 98: The first change you make
01 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 S...
Episode 97 Transactional Replication
24 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 the...
Epsiode 96 Building Community Tools
17 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 c...
Episode 95 Polybase
10 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 introduce...
Episode 94 Qlik Technologies
03 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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. ...
Episode 93 Making Mistakes
26 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Episode 92 SSDT
19 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 progr...
Episode 91 DBA Tools
12 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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'...
Episode 90 Check DBCC
05 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
DBCC CheckDB. It is a simple command, but one that can cause database contention, dba stress, confusing results, dba elation, and everything in betw...
Episode 89 Lone DBA
30 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 fro...
Episode 88 SharePoint
22 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 f...