Is Microsoft SSMS Copilot the Future of Database Management?

Today, May 19th, 2025, is the keynote day of Microsoft Build, where Microsoft announces its big new tech innovations. You won't be surprised; there's a lot of Copilot in the announcements. You can't get around it if you have any toolset in the cloud; there will be AI waiting for you to help you. Bad … Continue reading Is Microsoft SSMS Copilot the Future of Database Management?

DP-700 training: create and manage shortcuts to data

Storage is cheap, so we don't have to worry about data storage costs. Though this might be true, at some point, a lot of data will start to cost a lot of money. And, like many of you, dear readers who are in business intelligence, we like to duplicate data. A lot. We ingest it, … Continue reading DP-700 training: create and manage shortcuts to data

Speaking experiences at Seaql Saturday

Picture of a sunset over sea

April 12th marked the first edition of Seaql Saturday in the Netherlands, the inaugural event situated in the southern part of the country. The event focused on SQL Server only; as advertised, it was a Fabric-free event. This blog post will discuss my experiences and why you should attend the next edition. Before the event … Continue reading Speaking experiences at Seaql Saturday

DP-700 Training: Monitor hub

When we create a data solution for our company or clients, we create the best, right? Sure, we do. But still, monitoring the solution is something you should never forget. Your solution can be stable, but the data usually isn't. And it just feels good to know all the data has been processed correctly. So, … Continue reading DP-700 Training: Monitor hub

Azure Synapse Analytics performance, an analysis

Some time ago, a client came up with a very intriguing question. As I love a challenge, especially when you get to dig deep into a toolset, I jumped at the occasion and went for it. The following is a write up about the steps taken to analyse. Both for future me when I run … Continue reading Azure Synapse Analytics performance, an analysis

DP-700 training: Item Level Access

In the previous blog post, I wrote about workspace-level Access. With the four levels of access that can be defined, this wasn't too hard. Let's make it a little harder and see if we can prevent mishaps in the different items within our workspace. In other words, let's regulate access to the different items because … Continue reading DP-700 training: Item Level Access

DP-700 training: Workspace access level controls

When you're working with Microsoft Fabric, some people are allowed to do everything in your workspace, other people are less privileged and should have less permissions. There are a lot of ways to make sure people don't ruin your weekend, the best one being no access at all. But that also means that you're always … Continue reading DP-700 training: Workspace access level controls

T-SQL Tuesday #184: Mentoring

This months invitation is from Deborah Melkin, she invites us to write about mentoring experiences and being a mentor. How it all started My first real mentoring experience was when I signed up for New stars of Data. If you don't know this conference, you should. It's aimed at new speakers who haven't gone beyond … Continue reading T-SQL Tuesday #184: Mentoring

Loadtesting SQL, the sequel

Some time ago, I wrote a number of blogposts comparing the different Azure SQL options to give you some idea about performance, differences between tiers and differences between the Stock Keeping Units (SKU's). This was done by creating data in the database itself and review the metrics. This works fine and gave a good overview … Continue reading Loadtesting SQL, the sequel

DP-700 training: data masking

Data security is the most important part of our job as data engineers and data architects. There are very few use cases where people need to see all the data in full detail. I know, customers take a different view on this but in reality, do they really need every single detail? No, they do … Continue reading DP-700 training: data masking