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What Are SQL Server Big Data Clusters?

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.

When I think of SQL Server 2019, I think of BIG DATA CLUSTERS. I remember first hearing the term and immediately thinking, “eh, what does that have to do with a Windows SQL DBA?” But the more I thought about it, the more I fell in love with it. And here’s why:

First: the entire market is shifting more and more towards the cloud. Whether you personally believe it or not, or like it or not, it is happening. In 3-5 years from now, majority of jobs on the market will require some level of cloud knowledge (Azure, AWS, etc.)

Second: over the past few version of SQL Server (2016+) it’s apparent that Microsoft is pushing SQL Server down the path of becoming “OS agnostic.” By that I mean it will no longer matter what the underlying OS is. Windows? Linux? Who cares? SQL Server will run on it all!

Third: Microsoft has a game plan and I want to play a part!

Continue reading “What Are SQL Server Big Data Clusters?”

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T-SQL Tuesday #115 – Dear 20 Year Old Self – Round Up

It was an absolute honor to host this month’s TSQL Tuesday. I decided on doing the “Dear 20 year old self” as a way for us to reflect on life. It seemed like this topic hit home with a lot of people. I enjoyed reading each one of the posts.

If you don’t find your post in this Round Up, please email me your link and I will update this post!

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T-SQL Tuesday #115 – Dear 20 Year Old Self

Yesterday was my 41st birthday. Twenty years ago, I remember my best friend asking me, “Where do you see yourself when you’re 40?” My reply was something like, “I can’t see myself as a 40 year old.” For some weird reason my mind went blank at 40. It wasn’t like I thought I’d be dead by 40, but I remember thinking of 30 or 35, but not 40. Maybe because 40 was twice my age and just too “far into the future” to think about?! But in a “blink of an eye” here I am twenty-one years later. Funny enough, now I can see myself as an 80 year old. Weird.

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What is Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)

Installing and deploying a Kubernetes cluster on-prem can be a pain in the arse. Especially if you are new to Kubernetes. That’s where a cloud provider like Microsoft’s Azure comes in handy. Instead of having to go through the arduous task of installing, setting up, configuring and deploying Kubernetes clusters, you can just use Microsoft’s AKS, or Azure Kubernetes Service, to quickly deploy clusters. That way you can focus on your organization’s mission critical issues, rather than worring about ongoing operations and maintenance of your Kubernetes cluster.

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Book Review – “The Kubernetes Book” by Nigel Poulton

As a SQL Server professional, I find it extremely exciting when new features come out. For example, when Microsoft launched SQL Server 2017, you could install it on Linux. SQL Server 2019 supports availability groups on containers in a Kubernetes cluster. Also in SQL Server 2019, there is the new Big Data Clusters feature, and guess what it uses for container orchestration? You guessed it, Kubernetes.

The average SQL Server DBA might not have much experience with setting up HA/DR solution utilizing Availability Groups, let alone installing it on Linux or figuring out the ins and outs of containers and Kubernetes. But for those who like to push themselves by learning new things and securing their future, this blog post is a review of a book by my friend Nigel Poulton (b | t), titled, “The Kubernetes Book.” Continue reading “Book Review – “The Kubernetes Book” by Nigel Poulton”

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Interview – Melody Zacharias

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: Melody Zacharias (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?

Melody Zacharias
Melody Zacharias

Melody: Will people who do not embrace the cloud be in a tough spot to find a job in 5 years. I don’t have a crystal ball, but, I would be surprised if they would be happy with their decision. 😊 Our industry is constantly changing and if we do not change with it we will be unhappy. That is not a cloud vs non cloud issue but just a general, we as professionals should try to continue to learn to ensure we can stay relevant.

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Interview – Derik Hammer

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: Derik Hammer (b | t):

Derik Hammer
Derik Hammer

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?

Derik: I believe that there are three categories of IT professionals.

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How To Install SQL Server 2019 on Linux (CentOS)

Everyone is talking about Linux. SQL on Linux? Wow! I think it’s about time I start to dive into it. If you’re like me, then the only thing you know about Linux is that you know it’s an OS. That’s it. I have never installed/configured it let alone installing/configuring an app on it.

Then came along SQL Server 2017 (and now 2019), and the ability to run it on Linux. That was really eye-opening to me. Microsoft definitely loves Linux!

Microsoft and Linux

This post will go into how to install Linux (CentOS) and SQL Server 2019.

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Could Not Locate Statistics In The System Catalogs of Secondary Replica

Recently I encountered an error that I have never seen before:

DBCC execution completed. If DBCC printed error messages, contact your system administrator.

Msg 2767, Level 16, State 1, Procedure sys.sp_table_statistics2_rowset, Line 105
Could not locate statistics ‘_WA_Sys_00000058_XXXXXXXX’ in the system catalogs.

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applicationintent=readonly in Azure Data Studio

Recently, I had to use Azure Data Studio to access a application intent read only secondary replica. I had to use Azure Data Studio because I was using a Mac. I usually use SSMS on my Windows machines. If you want to connect with the “applicationintent=readonly” property via SQL Server Management Studio, you do so by typing it out in the “Additional Connection Parameters” as shown in the screenshot below:

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