Microsoft Data Platform MVP | CKA & CKAD | Speaker | Blogger
Instead of boring you with content that you can easily find on Amazon, I will do something different this review post. I will give you the three reasons why I recommend this book for SQL DBAs and data professionals. It doesn’t matter if you are a beginner or an expert. This book will be a great addition to your library regardless of your level of SQL Server knowledge.
Continue reading “Book Review – SQL Server 2019 Revealed by Bob Ward”
A few months ago I posted a blog on deploying a BDC using the built-in ADS notebook. This blog post will go a bit deeper into deploying a Big Data Cluster on AKS (Azure Kubernetes Service) using Azure Data Studio (version 1.13.0). In addition, I’ll go over the pros and cons and dive deeper into the reasons why I recommend going with AKS for your Big Data Cluster deployments.
Continue reading “Deploy a Big Data Cluster on AKS Using Azure Data Studio (Video)”
One of the biggest questions I had when I first started diving into Big Data Clusters was, “What about licensing….how will that work?” With so many different instances running on the storage pool, data pool and compute pool nodes will licensing cost too much? The answer I got from Microsoft was that it will “be competitive”.
Continue reading “SQL Server Licensing for Big Data Clusters (Video)”
Before you deploy big data clusters, you must configure the tools below on a Windows or Linux machine that will act like a “base machine” from which you will be able to deploy, manage, and monitor a SQL Server Big Data Cluster. For the example in this blog I will use a virtual machine running Windows Server 2016 running 4 cores and 8 GB RAM. (This can also work on a Windows 10 Pro machine as well).
Continue reading “How to Set Up a Base Machine to Deploy Big Data Clusters (Video)”
A few months ago I posted a blog on deploying a BDC using the built-in ADS notebook. This blog post will talk about the deployment options available for Big Data Clusters and benefits of going with Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).
Continue reading “Why You Should Go with AKS when Deploying a Big Data Cluster”
I love to share real-life stories when I give talks. I usually start out my sessions with a story on how I got interested in Big Data Clusters. It all starts with my neighbor Tom (not his real name) last year (2018). I was at the bus stop with my 5 yr old son on his first day of Kindergarten. As I am waiting patiently for the bus to arrive I hear a voice say,
“Are you in IT?”
Continue reading “Industry Use Cases for SQL Server Big Data Clusters”
I finally presented my first tech at SQL Saturday Sioux Falls and Baton Rouge. I decided to name my session, “Big Data Clusters for the Absolute Beginner” because beginning of 2019 I *was* the absolute beginner (and I’m learning every day!) So in a way, my session is “based on a true story” :) I’m super-excited because I think it’s the future of SQL Server. Big Data Clusters are new and cutting-edge technology.
Thoughts by Mo! #BigDataClusters @ #SQLSATBR pic.twitter.com/8wJJk0WBHO
— Anthony E. Nocentino (@nocentino) August 17, 2019
Art by Mo! #SQLSATBR great visualization of the layers of tech. pic.twitter.com/ZSvLdsTaY0
— Anthony E. Nocentino (@nocentino) August 17, 2019
Continue reading “Big Data Clusters for the Absolute Beginner”
I’m super excited to share some information regarding my upcoming SQL Saturday sessions at Sioux Falls and Baton Rouge.
Yesterday was the release of SQL Server 2019 CTP 3.2. The biggest change in CTP 3.2 is that Big Data Clusters is now in public preview. That means anyone can go download and deploy it. Prior to CTP 3.2, you had to sign up for the “Early Adoption Program”, wait until you received an email with your Docker credentials, etc. With CTP 3.2, Microsoft has actually done away with Docker credentials. You no longer need that to create your Big Data Cluster as the images needed are on Microsoft’s public repo.
Continue reading “Deploy SQL Server Big Data Cluster Using Azure Data Studio Notebook”
Yay!! SQL Server on Windows Containers! Hey wait a minute, I thought you could already install Docker Desktop on Windows? Yes, but behind the scenes, Docker uses HyperV to create a Linux VM (called MobyLinuxVM). So even though it was on a Windows machine, it still used a Linux VM on the backend.
Continue reading “How To Install SQL Server On Windows Containers”
This is part 4 of the “BDC series.” You can read part 1 here, part 2 here, and part 3 here. This blog post will go into the available monitoring tools available to monitor the health of your Big Data Cluster. If you’d like to stay updated, without doing the heavy work, feel free to register for my newsletter. I will email out blog posts of my journey down the wonderful road of BDCs.
[Updated for CTP 3.2] – There are kubectl commands and azdata commands to check the health of your cluster but I will focus on the Kubernetes Dashboard for this series. I will blog about some of the useful kubectl and mssqlctl commands in later posts.Continue reading “How to Setup SQL Server Big Data Cluster in Azure (AKS) – Part 4”
This is part 3 of the “BDC series.” You can read part 1 here and part 2 here. This blog post will go into creating the Big Data Cluster on top of the Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) cluster we created in Part 2. If you’d like to stay updated, without doing the heavy work, feel free to register for my newsletter. I will email out blog posts of my journey down the wonderful road of BDCs.
Before I get started I want to say that there are many ways to deploy a Big Data Cluster. There is a “Default configuration” way and a “Custom configuration” way. You can read more about the custom config way here. I will be posting blogs on the other ways to deploy a BDC but for the sake of this series I will be deploying the BDC via the default way. The BDC team at Microsoft is constantly revamping and tweaking the BDC deployment process in order to make it more streamline and easier.
Continue reading “How to Setup SQL Server Big Data Cluster in Azure (AKS) – Part 3”
This is part 2 of the “BDC series.” You can read part 1 here. This blog post will go into creating the Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) cluster. If you’d like to stay updated, without doing the heavy work, feel free to register for my newsletter. I will email out blog posts of my journey down the wonderful road of BDCs.
Continue reading “How to Setup SQL Server Big Data Cluster in Azure (AKS) – Part 2”
If you’d like to stay updated, without doing the heavy work, feel free to register for my newsletter. I will email out blog posts of my journey down the wonderful road of BDCs.
So far, Microsoft does not have a simple way to create a Big Data Cluster. It’s a bit cumbersome of a process and the learning curve is a bit steep. However, Microsoft is currently working on making it easier to deploy a Big Data Cluster via Notebook in Azure Data Studio and eventually some type of “deployment wizard.” But for now, the only option is to do it the long way.
Continue reading “How to Setup SQL Server Big Data Cluster in Azure (AKS) – Part 1”