T-SQL Tuesday #199: Back to on-prem?

This month, Koen Verbeeck invites the blogging community to write about their thoughts on returning to on-premises. What could be struggles, things we have to re-learn, etcetera. When I read the invite, it immediately sparked inspiration, because there are increasing rumours around cloud exits. People musing about 'what if'. Some clients reference these questions, but … Continue reading T-SQL Tuesday #199: Back to on-prem? →

DP-800: First Microsoft Learn experiences

The DP-800 training is new and was released to GA a few weeks ago. It now sits in the same family as DP-600 (Data Analytics using Microsoft Fabric), 700 (Data Engineering using Microsoft Fabric) and 750 (Data Engineering using Databricks). The full name of this training is "Develop AI-Enabled Database Solutions". This one sparked my … Continue reading DP-800: First Microsoft Learn experiences →

Remember your Redundancy

Let me start this blog post by asking you a question. Q. When was the last time you looked at your redundancy? Yes, this is a very vague question because there's a lot of interpretation you can put into it. Even though it's very valid to think about your personal redundancy (who can fill in … Continue reading Remember your Redundancy →

Chocolatey, and how to quickly set up your new laptop

Last month, my company got me a new laptop. I have very little choice in which one I get, and I have to reinstall a lot of software. So, what to do next? Option one: download and install This is something I see a lot of people do: make a list of the software they … Continue reading Chocolatey, and how to quickly set up your new laptop →

Loadtesting Microsoft Fabric, part II

This blog can also be known as 'The Sequel', not to be confused with SQL, even though Fabric SQL will be mentioned in this blog. Anyway, I digress and don't call me Shirley. For those of you who have been following this blog for a long time, you may have read the posts on Fabric … Continue reading Loadtesting Microsoft Fabric, part II →

DP-700 training: Orchestration

"tap tap tap". Your attention please, we're going to orchestrate our ETL/ELT process! Yes, it's time to unleash your inner Herbert von Karajan and make sure your BI orchestra performs at its best. Why? Well, unless you enjoy waking up every night to start your Extract-Transform-Load (ETL) process and manually running each process to do … Continue reading DP-700 training: Orchestration →

Ignite announced SQL Server 2025 and Fabric SQL GA

I'm guessing you've seen posts, blogs and social media activity in the last year on both Fabric SQL databases and rumours around SQL Server 2025. Today, Microsoft announced that both of these are Generally Available (GA). This means it's now fully supported by Microsoft. You can read all about this, and more, in the Ignite … Continue reading Ignite announced SQL Server 2025 and Fabric SQL GA →

DP-700 training: implement database projects

Some of you might recognise database projects from either Synapse Analytics or SQL Server. Yay for the latter ;). A long story, very short, database projects are a way to develop and deploy your databases using a CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Development) approach. For each database, the code you've written is saved in a specific project … Continue reading DP-700 training: implement database projects →

SQL Server 2025: time-bound Extended Events explained

In a previous blog post, I discussed my initial impressions of SQL Server and the key features that are relevant to my work in Business Intelligence. This time, I want to focus on a specific and improved feature of SQL Server, namely extended events. What are they? To provide some context, let's begin by defining … Continue reading SQL Server 2025: time-bound Extended Events explained →

Mastering Real-Time Analytics with Microsoft Fabric

When Microsoft Fabric was introduced in May 2023, one of its major promoted components was the Real-time Analytics part. We (that is, my coworkers and I from Axians) focused mainly on the batch processing of data. With the introduction of the DP-700 exam, I started to focus more on the real-time part of Microsoft Fabric. … Continue reading Mastering Real-Time Analytics with Microsoft Fabric →