I got a new laptop this week, and one of my default steps is installing SQL Server. This has always gone without issue until yesterday. I ran into an error message when my Bing skills (for some reason, my company defaults to Bing instead of Google) failed me. The error message When I started installing … Continue reading SQL Server 2025 and disk sector size
In the previous blog posts, I've written about installing MCP and how it works, followed by how to use it with an Azure SQL Database through an Azure Container Instance and Microsoft Foundry. But, you can also use your favourite local database (SQL Server ;)) and Visual Studio Code. The reason Visual Studio Code is … Continue reading SQL and MCP, the local edition
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
Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the Microsoft Fabric Community Conference (FabCon) in Vienna. Four days of learning, networking, meeting new people, speaking, announcements, Power Hour, volunteering and charity. I'll cover all these aspects in this post. The updates part won't cover all of them, as there are many. I'll pick my favourites … Continue reading Microsoft Fabric Community Conference: announcements and experiences
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
Some time ago, Microsoft announced the release of a new version of SQL Server. This made me happy, mainly because in the storm of everything Fabric, Copilot, and cloud, sturdy technology still has a place, and Microsoft hasn't forgotten that. Companies still rely on on-premises systems that require databases. And running everything on-premises is still … Continue reading My top features of SQL Server 2025 for Business Intelligence
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?
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
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
The best place to store your data is in a SQL Server database that no living being can ever access. The end. No, I'm kidding, of course. But there's an atom of truth in this joke. Because for years we, in the structured data industry, have always been convinced that a database is the best … Continue reading DP-700 Training: Choose an appropriate data store
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