The Bit Bucket

Once again, I had the great pleasure to record a Fabric Down Under podcast. This time it was with a fellow “Down Under” guest Philip Seamark, from across the “ditch” (as we both call it) in New Zealand.

Phil is a member of the Fabric Customer Advisory Team and works as a DAX and Data modelling specialist.

He gets involved when enterprise customers need deeper technical support.

In this show, I discuss Phil’s thoughts on Direct Lake which is one of the very new options that came with Microsoft Fabric. It adds another mode to Power BI, in addition to Import and Direct Query modes that have been there previously.

2024-03-06

One of my more surprisingly popular blog posts in the past talked about Machine Learning: Testing your installation of R and Python in SQL Server 2017. The problem is that SQL Server 2022 changed things.

Now the SQL Server team has published an article on how to make it work.  What I’ve been finding though, is that people are struggling to follow that article. And more concerning, people using named instances of SQL Server (like SQLEXPRESS) couldn’t get it to work at all, no matter how much they tried.

2024-03-04

I was doing work for a client that uses Azure Data Factory (ADF), and noticed an unexpected Error code 2011 from a Get Metadata activity.

The pipeline was using a Get Metadata activity to read a list of files in a folder in Azure Storage, so that it could use a ForEach activity to process each of the files. Eventually it became clear that the error occurred when the folder was empty.

2024-02-07

This is the final part of a series on using Change Data Capture with Azure SQL Database, and looks at accessing the data from change data capture from another database.

Scenario

I often use Azure SQL Database as a data warehouse. It’s a perfectly fine database for that. But the challenge with Azure SQL Database is always about how to access data in other databases.

Many people don’t seem to realize that you can use External Tables (and External Data Sources) to read data in one Azure SQL Database, in another Azure SQL Database.

2024-01-22

I’ve been writing a series on Power BI Implementation Models for Enterprises for Tekki Gurus.

Part 2 that covers what I consider Cloud Native Clients is now published:

Note: Sorry but Tekki Gurus have closed down.

Enjoy !

2024-01-18

Once again, I had the great pleasure to record a Fabric Down Under podcast with a fellow long-term Microsoft Data Platform MVP. This time it was someone I have known for a long time: Paul Turley.

Paul is a director at 3Cloud and a Microsoft MVP. Paul has an amazing level of experience with business intelligence projects and has also worked with Microsoft Fabric since it was just a twinkle in Microsoft’s eye.

2024-01-15

The latest online on-demand course that I’ve been working on is now out the door. SQL Server Locking, Blocking, and Deadlocks for Developers and DBAs is available at our site: SQL Server Locking, Blocking and Deadlocks for Developers and DBAs (sqldownunder.com)

It’s designed to let you learn to find and fix locking issues, and to avoid them in the first place.

To celebrate the release, use coupon code LOCKINGRELEASE until January 20th to get 25% off the price.

2023-12-31

I had the great pleasure to record a Fabric Down Under podcast with Microsoft MVP Reid Havens the other day.

Reid is the founder of Havens Consulting Inc. and a Microsoft MVP, and a seasoned professional with a wealth of experience in technology, organizational management, and business analytics. Reid teaches Business Intelligence, reporting, and data visualization, and that’s what I wanted to talk to him about.

Reid is the founder of Havens Consulting Inc. and a Microsoft MVP. Reid is  a seasoned professional with a wealth of experience in technology, organizational management, and business analytics. Reid has a Master’s Degree in Organizational Development and a background in consulting for Fortune 10, 50, and 500 companies.

2023-12-19

I had the great pleasure to get to also record another new Cosmos Down Under podcast last night. It’s now edited and released.

Show 9 features Microsoft MVP Hugo Barona discussing his experiences in migrating clients to Azure Cosmos DB, and the lessons he’s learned along the way.

I hope you enjoy it.

You’ll find it here, along with previous episodes: https://cosmosdownunder.com

2023-11-12

I know it’s been a while, but there’s a new SQL Down Under show published!

While I’ve been busy with https://cosmosdownunder.com and https://fabricdownunder.com , I haven’t forgotten the SQL Down Under shows. It’s time for some more SQL Server love.

I had the great pleasure yesterday to record a podcast with one of my UK based friends Rob Sewell. Rob’s one of the rare breed that is both a Data Platform MVP and an Azure MVP.

2023-11-11