Microsoft Data Professional | Speaker | Blogger
There are few features in SQL Server that are disabled, or turned OFF, by default that, in my opinion, should be turned on/enabled. One of those features is something called “Instant File Initialization” (You can read about the other one here).
Continue reading “How to Enable Instant File Initialization SQL Server”
Understanding how SQL Server indexing works is crucial for diving deeper into SQL Server internals and overall becoming a SQL Server “badass” :) Having said that, it’s definitely not an easy topic to pickup and comprehend.
I’ve seen many videos online on Indexing and none of them really sunk in with me. Either the teacher was boring (monotone voice) which would put me to sleep, or the pace and material flat out was confusing.
I recently finished, in my opinion, the best course out there on SQL Server Indexes.
One of my goals for 2018 was to start speaking at events (i.e. User groups, SQL Saturdays).
A handful of people (including attendees) have asked how I picked the locations to speak at (i.e. OC, Albuquerque, Dallas and Pensacola). Below is the logic (or lack there of) that went into picking the locations:
As I sit in my hotel room after giving my 4th (and most likely last SQL Saturday event for 2018), I was wondering how I overcome my fear of public speaking?
Continue reading “How I Overcame My Fear of Public Speaking”
Back in 2015, I attended IEPTO1 by SQLSkills. It was there that I met Tim Radney. I remember asking him for advice on the best way to get out there in the community, etc. He said, “start a blog, then start speaking at user groups and SQL Saturdays…”
I remember flying back home from the training event, immediately registering this blog URL, and posting my very first blog.
Fast forward a couple years…now I have over 120+ blogs posted. I just started speaking at SQL Saturdays this year. My first time speaking was at SQL Saturday Orange County, then Albuquerque, Dallas, and finally…
Pensacola.
Continue reading “SQL Saturday Pensacola 2018 – Full Circle”
There is a great comprehensive training video series by Paul Randal called, “SQL Server Logging, Recovery and the Transaction Log.” This is a Pluralsight 7.5 hour brain dump of everything Paul Randal knows about logging, recovery and transaction log.
If you are a SQL Server DBA, or a tech geek that loves how SQL Server internals work, then you must check out this video training series (see link below).
https://www.pluralsight.com/courses/sqlserver-logging
I personally went through this course twice and still feel like I need to go through it again. It’s definitely the best course material on the topic by one of the best in the industry.
My advice for anyone starting out: take your time, take notes, take breaks, relax….enjoy!
This past weekend I was honored to speak at SQL Saturday Dallas.
I had the chance to meet some awesome #SQLFamily, a few of them I have interviewed for my blog. Mindy Curnutt (organizer), Tim Mitchell, and Kellyn Pot’Vin-Gorman.
I initially picked Dallas because my cousin lives there and thought it would be a great reason drag him along with me to attend his very first SQL Saturday event. Continue reading “A Rickshaw and SQL Saturday Dallas 2018”
I decided to start a series of blogs where I interview key people in the SQL Server community. Instead of me asking technical questions, I plan on asking about their outlook on the future, books they read (non-fiction and/or technical), and their overall thoughts on where technology (mainly SQL Server) is headed. You can find more interviews here.
Mohammad: Do you think people who dismiss the cloud as a “fad” or just don’t take it serious enough to learn about it (i.e. Azure, AWS, etc), will be in a tough spot to find a job 5 years from now?
Rob: I think you can compare it to something like COBAL where a 60 year old language is still in force today or Fortran where there are still plenty of job openings. There will be jobs for longer than 5 years but I think there will be less and less opportunities that are solely on-premises. I believe that it is really important that any person who is working in IT gains knowledge and experience in cloud technologies and their capabilities to be able to have a long and fulfilling career.
Continue reading “Interview – Rob Sewell”
I decided to start a series of blogs where I interview key people in the SQL Server community. Instead of me asking technical questions, I plan on asking about their outlook on the future, books they read (non-fiction and/or technical), and their overall thoughts on where technology (mainly SQL Server) is headed. You can find more interviews here.
Next up: Randolph West (b | t):
Mohammad: Do you think people who dismiss the cloud as a “fad” or just don’t take it serious enough to learn about it (i.e. Azure, AWS, etc), will be in a tough spot to find a job 5 years from now?
Randolph: You’ll need to have at least a passing knowledge of one or more cloud vendors to remain competitive in the future. It’s taken a while to get to this point, but as I predicted in 2009, the excuses to avoid cloud are less compelling than they’ve ever been (excluding legacy and legal restrictions of course).
The two biggest players are Amazon and Microsoft, and they have made storage offerings attractive and cost-effective. In my opinion, storage is the gateway drug to the cloud.
Hybrid licensing and easier pricing models also help convert capital expenses into operational ones. The subscription model is predictable for vendor and customer. The future is cloudy.
Even Oracle is embracing it, which is remarkable given Larry Ellison’s comments a few short years ago.
Continue reading “Interview – Randolph West”
I decided to start a series of blogs where I interview key people in the SQL Server community. Instead of me asking technical questions, I plan on asking about their outlook on the future, books they read (non-fiction and/or technical), and their overall thoughts on where technology (mainly SQL Server) is headed. You can find more interviews here.
Next up: Andreas Wolter (b | t):
Mohammad: Do you think people who dismiss the cloud as a “fad” or just don’t take it serious enough to learn about it (i.e. Azure, AWS, etc), will be in a tough spot to find a job 5 years from now?
Andreas: Fair question. First of all, from what I see that number of people is declining a lot. Even in Germany ;-)
And then it depends on the person and their specific job. I guess from a certain age on, it really doesn’t matter a lot, because those jobs will not disappear overnight. The shift towards cloud is already happening since a couple of years and will continue to do so.
Then there are highly focused experts, and they will always find work in the traditional server landscape. But if you are just an average IT guy with a long time till pension, you really need to get cloud on your skillset.
Newcomers really should learn to design for the cloud.
Continue reading “Interview – Andreas Wolter”
In this blog I will show you how to install the STIG viewer. I have gone through the STIG Viewer User Guide (Version 1, Release 3) and only included the useful information below. If you would like to read the entire User Guide, you can do so here. Continue reading “How To Install The STIG Viewer”
[I would like to ask a favor from those who attended my session; If you haven’t already, please go here to evaluate my session. I truly appreciate it!]
One of my goals for 2018 was to finally take the leap and jump into the world of public speaking.
So I went to the PASS website, navigated (myPASS –> mySQLSaturday) to the “Session Submission” section and scrolled through all the cities holding a SQLSaturday event. Continue reading “How I Got High at SQLSaturday Orange County 2018”
To make it easier for people in charge of “STIG’ing” their SQL Server 2016 environment, this blog is aimed to go over the newest MS SQL Server 2016 STIG Overview document (Version 1, Release 1) that was released on 09 March 2018. If you want to read through the whole document you can download it here. Otherwise, below is my summation of the relevant sections. Continue reading “SQL Server 2016 STIG Overview”
I know there is a stigma about certifications. Pros and Cons.
Cons
Pros
I actually agree with both sides. It all comes down to your intentions. If you are okay with lying/cheating to get a certification, then that’s your prerogative. If you want to get a certification to move up in your career or just prove to yourself that you can get a certification…that’s cool. Continue reading “How I Studied For, and Passed, Exam: 70-764 Administering a Microsoft SQL Database Infrastructure”
[NO! This is NOT an April Fools joke]
On a recent episode of Office Hours (by Brent Ozar Unlimited) I couldn’t stop laughing at a comment Brent made. The team was talking about “DBA porn” and Brent said (paraphrasing), “going to DBA cubes and seeing the perfmon counter poster.” (Subscribe to Office Hours on iTunes) Continue reading “Free SQL Server Perfmon Counter Poster”
I decided to start a series of blogs where I interview key people in the SQL Server community. Instead of me asking technical questions, I plan on asking about their outlook on the future, books they read (non-fiction and/or technical), and their overall thoughts on where technology (mainly SQL Server) is headed. You can find more interviews here.
Next up: Robert L. Davis (b | t):
Mohammad: Do you think people who dismiss the cloud as a “fad” or just don’t take it serious enough to learn about it (i.e. Azure, AWS, etc), will be in a tough spot to find a job 5 years from now?
Robert: It already is harder to find a job if you have gained no cloud skills or experience. Even companies that are still operating on-premises only realize that the cloud may be something they can take advantage of are looking for employees that already have those skills to help them make the right decisions. Along similar lines, companies not already taking advantage of the cloud are bringing in consultants when in the past they would have hired a full time person for a position because they need someone with cloud knowledge and experience. Continue reading “Interview – Robert L. Davis”
I decided to start a series of blogs where I interview key people in the SQL Server community. Instead of me asking technical questions, I plan on asking about their outlook on the future, books they read (non-fiction and/or technical), and their overall thoughts on where technology (mainly SQL Server) is headed. You can find more interviews here.
Next up: John Morehouse (b | t):
Mohammad: Do you think people who dismiss the cloud as a “fad” or just don’t take it serious enough to learn about it (i.e. Azure, AWS, etc), will be in a tough spot to find a job 5 years from now?
John: I don’t believe so, no. While the cloud is definitely changing the landscape of the traditional database administrator I think that on premises installations of SQL Server will be around for many years to come. The cloud is slow to being adopted in several sectors, namely financial and health care. Both of those sectors have strict guidelines around data security (as they should) so I think organizations are weary of it. However, with that said, I do think that individuals will be missing out of future career opportunities by not having some level of understanding of various cloud technologies. I myself recognized the shift in this landscape and recently took a new job with a new company in part to explicitly gain more exposure to Microsoft Azure. Continue reading “Interview – John Morehouse”
I decided to start a series of blogs where I interview key people in the SQL Server community. Instead of me asking technical questions, I plan on asking about their outlook on the future, books they read (non-fiction and/or technical), and their overall thoughts on where technology (mainly SQL Server) is headed. You can find more interviews here.
Next up: Kellyn Pot’Vin-Gorman (b | t):
Mohammad: Do you think people who dismiss the cloud as a “fad” or just don’t take it serious enough to learn about it (i.e. Azure, AWS, etc), will be in a tough spot to find a job 5 years from now?
Kellyn: As I’m very multi-platform, I think the answer depends on the platform, the technology and the business you work for. Continue reading “Interview – Kellyn Pot’Vin-Gorman”
I decided to start a series of blogs where I interview key people in the SQL Server community. Instead of me asking technical questions, I plan on asking about their outlook on the future, books they read (non-fiction and/or technical), and their overall thoughts on where technology (mainly SQL Server) is headed. You can find more interviews here.
Mohammad: Do you think people who dismiss the cloud as a “fad” or just don’t take it serious enough to learn about it (i.e. Azure, AWS, etc), will be in a tough spot to find a job 5 years from now?
Rie: I don’t think so. They might not be able to get a flashy job at a fast-moving software company, but there will always be companies or industries that move more slowly than technology. The banking & hospital administration industries are a prime example of those that don’t respond quickly to leaps forward in technology and are far more likely to have reservations on the security of the cloud. My advice here would be to become familiar with the technologies. If you aren’t pursuing a job in that realm or your current job isn’t likely to need it, then a working knowledge is enough to keep you “in touch.” Then, when it becomes necessary, you’ll have a bit of a head start on where you need to be. Continue reading “Interview – Rie Irish”
I decided to start a series of blogs where I interview key people in the SQL Server community. Instead of me asking technical questions, I plan on asking about their outlook on the future, books they read (non-fiction and/or technical), and their overall thoughts on where technology (mainly SQL Server) is headed. You can find more interviews here.
Next up: Amit Banerjee (b | t):
Mohammad: Do you think people who dismiss the cloud as a “fad” or just don’t take it serious enough to learn about it (i.e. Azure, AWS, etc), will be in a tough spot to find a job 5 years from now?
Amit: The world even today is about hybrid cloud. There are aspects of a public cloud which are very appealing like elastic compute and storage that open up a vast variety of opportunities for businesses around the world. This allows companies to leverage PaaS services built on top of a virtually infinite compute and storage and allows them to monetize their data assets and gather critical insights for their business. This wouldn’t have been possible traditionally without expensive investments in hardware. “Not enough hardware” is not a valid reason for the inability to solve a technology problem anymore. As we know the world today, it is hybrid and the lines between on-premise and public clouds are being blurred day-by-day! They are probably not going to be in a tough spot in about 5 years but will definitely have an advantage if they know about on-premise environments and the cloud. Disclaimer: I work Microsoft who is one of the major public cloud players in the world today. Continue reading “Interview – Amit Banerjee”
I decided to start a series of blogs where I interview key people in the SQL Server community. Instead of me asking technical questions, I plan on asking about their outlook on the future, books they read (non-fiction and/or technical), and their overall thoughts on where technology (mainly SQL Server) is headed. You can find more interviews here.
Mohammad: Do you think people who dismiss the cloud as a “fad” or just don’t take it serious enough to learn about it (i.e. Azure, AWS, etc), will be in a tough spot to find a job 5 years from now?
Andy: Yes and no. Do I see cloud adoption growing tremendously? Absolutely. Do I see it completely replacing on-prem infrastructure? No. As such, I don’t think one who chooses to dismiss the cloud will definitely be in a tough spot, but they may be more challenged. Continue reading “Interview – Andy Yun”
