Azure Data & AI Consultant
Wow, five years. I can still remember the early days like they were yesterday. Jan 2026 marked my fifth year at Microsoft.
It feels like time has just flown by. One minute I was honored to receive the Microsoft MVP award in 2020 for my work with Big Data Clusters and the next, I was signing my Microsoft offer letter and stepping into a new chapter of my life.
Continue reading “5 Years at Microsoft – Unboxing My Service Crystal (Video)”
This guide provides detailed instructions for installing dbatools on a machine without internet access. dbatools is a comprehensive suite of PowerShell tools designed to help SQL Server professionals efficiently manage SQL Server instances.
Continue reading “Install DBATOOLS offline”
As part of my employment at Microsoft, I have to get a higher-level technical certificate. So, I decided to go for the DP-203: Data Engineering on Microsoft Azure certificate. I’m super happy to say I passed the exam, and I want to share how I did it and the resources I used to help others who might want to try it too.
Continue reading “How I Studied and Passed Exam DP-203: Data Engineering on Microsoft Azure”
Wow, has it really been 2 years since I joined Microsoft? Time flies by so fast! It has been an incredible experience working at this company, and I am grateful for every opportunity I have had.
Continue reading “2 Years at Microsoft: A Journey of Learning and Adventure”
I am thrilled to announce that I have finally earned my Bachelor’s Science in Information Technology from the University of Arizona Global Campus at the age of 44 with Magna Cum Laude honors. This long journey would not have been possible without the help of my supportive employer, Microsoft, and the love and motivation from my wife.
I wanted to publish a quick note about something a little near and dear to me. As of today, Feb 25th, 2022, Microsoft made the official announcement that they are retiring SQL Server Big Data Clusters. You can read the full statement here.
“Support for SQL Server 2019 Big Data Clusters will end on January 14, 2025.”
Quite frankly, to me, this is sad news. I was awarded my Microsoft MVP because of the work I did with Big Data Clusters. From speaking to blogging and creating videos on the topic.
On the bright side, during my time speaking and talking about BDCs, I met some amazing people and made some great friendships.
Remember, technologies come and go but networking, meeting new people and making friends are forever.
Bye Bye BDC.
I am wrapping up my 4th week at Microsoft and part of my “ramp up training” is becoming familiar with Power BI. (Apparently it’s in high demand :) The only experience I have with BI / Reporting tool is setting up SSRS (SQL Server Reporting Services) and creating a couple basic reports using Report Builder.
Continue reading “Power BI – Free Dashboard in a Day Workshop”
In July of 2020 I was awarded Microsoft MVP in the Data Platform category for my community contributions on SQL Server Big Data Clusters. This was a huge accomplishment for me and I am truly honored. The rest of 2020 was spent studying and passing Kubernetes certifications and dedicating time for introspection. I dug a little deep and tackled the good’ol question, “where do I see myself in 5-10 years?” After some time pondering certain paths and outcomes, I came to a pretty solid answer which involved giving up my MVP award.
Happy New Year!! Even though the year 2020 was full of surprises, I managed to accomplish a few things:
I can’t believe it’s already been a year since BDCs went GA (general availability). Time sure does fly by!
I don’t recall how I came across this Kubernetes IDE called Lens, but all I know is it’s cool as hec! It connects to a Kubernetes cluster (using the kube config file) and gives you an in depth view of all the different Kubernetes objects, their associated yaml files, health/metrics, etc. In this blog post I will show you how we can look into a Big Data Cluster’s Kubernetes infrastructure using Lens.
First let’s install Lens.
Continue reading “A Look Inside Big Data Cluster Infrastructure Using a Kubernetes IDE”
I remember when I first started deploying Big Data Clusters, they were on Azure Kubernetes Service utilizing the $200 credit for first time sign ups. By the time I got around to figuring out how to deploy the BDC, not only was my $200 credit gone, but I started to incur cost out of pocket.
If only there was a feature that would allow me to stop the VMs in AKS whenever I wasn’t using them. Well, I’m excited to share that Microsoft AKS (Azure Kubernetes Service) came out with a neat feature (currently in preview at the time of the publishing of this post) that allows you to stop and start your AKS cluster by running a simple command. Of course I had to try it out on BDCs and to my surprise it worked. Well, sort of. Let me explain…
Continue reading “Stop and Start your AKS Big Data Cluster and Save $$$”
Are you a data professional and curious about Kubernetes but not quite sure what type of opportunities are available? Maybe you’re hesitant because you think Kubernetes is a “fad”? Or perhaps you’re just starting out in IT and don’t know what path to take?
Whether you are new to IT, or a seasoned IT professional, pondering these questions can be exhausting. In this blog post I will go over the importance of learning Kubernetes and how it can massively level up your career!
First, a little primer.
About 2 years ago I started coming across a lot of online chatter on “containers” and “Kubernetes”. This was back in 2018 and around that time I had no interest of learning about it because it had no direct connection to SQL Server and my daily job duties as a DBA. Up until that point I had been working with SQL Server for about ten years. So like most people, “containers and Kubernetes” went in one ear and out the other.
That all changed with the hype, and eventual release, of SQL Server 2019. In SQL Server 2019 comes a feature called “Big Data Clusters”. This new feature in SQL Server really intrigued me because it was something completely different. I started to hear those terms again (containers and Kubernetes) because those are technologies behind Big Data Clusters. Over the next year, I heavily blogged, spoke, and created video content on Big Data Clusters. As a result of my deep passion and promotion of the product, I was awarded Microsoft MVP. My journey didn’t stop there as I have a natural “thirst for knowledge” and had to learn more about the underlying technology that makes Big Data Clusters feasible in the first place: Kubernetes.
So I started to study for the Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) exam.
Continue reading “From DBA to CKA – How I Passed the CKA Exam”