Big Data Clusters

UPDATE: Big Data Clusters has been retired by Microsoft. You can read more about it here.

Welcome to the Big Data Cluster Resources section, a curated list of posts I have published to understand Big Data Clusters for the DBA or data professional. Please subscribe to my YouTube channel where I post videos on Big Data Clusters, its underlying tech and professional development.

Conference Attendees (Virtual Presentations, User Groups, etc.)

If you attended one of my conferences (virtual or in person) and looking to download the material, you can find them below:

Email Newsletter

Sign up for the newsletter here, or below, and receive updates directly to your inbox.

Big Data Cluster Resources

Let’s first talk about what they are – What Are SQL Server Big Data Clusters?


Four-part Big Data Cluster series (Deploying on AKS):

How To Setup SQL Server Big Data Clusters on Azure (AKS) – Part 1
How To Setup SQL Server Big Data Clusters on Azure (AKS) – Part 2
How To Setup SQL Server Big Data Clusters on Azure (AKS) – Part 3
How To Setup SQL Server Big Data Clusters on Azure (AKS) – Part 4


New in SQL Server 2019 CTP 3.2, you can deploy a Big Data Cluster on AKS directly from Azure Data Studio using Notebooks. Link is below:

Deploy SQL Server Big Data Cluster Using Azure Data Studio Notebook


Big Data Clusters for the Absolute Beginner (YouTube video below)


Industry Use Cases for SQL Server Big Data Clusters – I share a couple use case stories that sparked my interest in Big Data Clusters.


Why You Should Go with AKS when Deploying a Big Data Cluster – This blog post will talk about the deployment options available for Big Data Clusters and benefits of going with Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).


How to Setup a Base Machine to Deploy Big Data Clusters (Video) – Want to get your hands dirty with BDCs? First things first! A base machine! (YouTube video below)


With the general release of SQL Server 2019 it’s time to talk about SQL Server Licensing for Big Data Clusters Video is below:


Now that SQL Server 2019 is in General Availability, let me show you how to deploy a Big Data Cluster on AKS using Azure Data Studio (latest version 1.13.0). You can watch the video below as well:


Let’s take a deeper dive into the Data Pool

You can watch the video as well:


If you’re tight on budget and want to learn Big Data Clusters, then this is for you. I walk you through deploying a Big Data Cluster on a single node Kubernetes cluster

Got a video to go with it:


This blog post will walk you through deploying a Big Data Cluster on a multi node Kubernetes cluster


It’s quite easy to upgrade your Big Data Cluster.


If you have deployed a Big Data Cluster and wondered how to enable SQL Agent, no worries. I show you how below:


Time to save some money! Stop and Start your AKS Big Data Cluster and Save $$$


A Look Inside Big Data Cluster Infrastructure Using a Kubernetes IDE – Using Lens