Using AzCopy with Batch Files and Task Scheduler
As regular readers of this blog will know, I’m a big fan of AzCopy, especially now that it has a sync option to keep local data synchronized with blob storage. In a recent release of…
Accelerated Database Recovery in SQL Server 2019: Choose your own filegroup for the version store
An exciting new feature in SQL Server 2019 is Accelerated Database Recovery (ADR). Resulting from a combination of magic beans and smart software developers (I might be wrong about the beans), there is a good…
How to really store a password in a database
Recently I wrote: Don’t store passwords in a database. I stand by this statement. I expected a lot of flak because I didn’t explain myself. This post goes into a bit of an explanation of…
Gatekeeping and why language matters
This is the second in a series of posts about gatekeeping in Information Technology and other fields. Negative terminology The language we use matters. In the first post I wrote that a number of words…
How to store a password in a database
Hello, and welcome to today’s class on storing passwords in a database. Don’t store passwords in a database. Thanks for attending. Photo by James Sutton on Unsplash.
The importance of backups
I have been selected to present a second session for the PASS Summit in November this year. I wrote a few weeks ago about the Linux Learning Path and being a part of that, so…
All the signs were there, but we didn’t understand them: an essay on gatekeeping in IT
This is the first in a series of posts about gatekeeping in Information Technology and other fields. I am not the first — nor will I be the last — to say that the terminology…
Better SQL Server memory defaults in 2019
In 2016 I created the Max Server Memory Matrix as a guide for configuring the maximum amount of memory that should be assigned to SQL Server, using an algorithm developed by Jonathan Kehayias. SQL Server 2019…
Better SQL Server CPU defaults in 2019
SQL Server 2019 is still in preview as I write this, but I wanted to point out a new feature that Microsoft has added to SQL Server Setup, on the Windows version. On the Database…
The third time’s the charm
Thank you to Microsoft for awarding me a Microsoft Data Platform MVP for the third time in a row. Unlike previous posts on this topic, I have very little to say except “thank you.” It’s…
SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2 is end of life on 9 July 2019
Next month, Microsoft is ending five years of extended support on SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 R2. This follows five years of mainstream support before that. You really should be upgrading to SQL…
What is a container anyway?
Recently there was a thread on Twitter which established that a lot of IT people didn’t know the difference between virtual machines and containers. https://twitter.com/IanColdwater/status/1137737702227550208 I felt like this was a question I’d already answered,…
Containers and data: you gotta keep ’em separated
There was an interesting conversation on Twitter recently, between Grant Fritchey (blog | twitter), Kenneth Fisher (blog | twitter), Anthony E. Nocentino (blog | twitter), Vicky Harp (twitter), and me about containers and SQL Server.…
My IT department installed an antivirus with SQL Server
Time for another short blog post, and this one combines two topics I am very passionate about: security, and SQL Server performance. Let’s start by talking about “antivirus” and what that means in today’s world.…
SQL Server containers no longer being updated in the Docker registry
In October 2018, Microsoft announced a change to the source of their Docker containers. You should be using the new Microsoft Container Registry (MCR) as the source for official Docker container images for Microsoft products.…