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

Microsoft Fabric Realtime Intelligence: Processing XML, or are you?

I've been working for quite some time on a fun solution in Fabric Realtime Intelligence. We're processing XML files into a structured table. As you're probably aware, XML has its own... well, let's be nice and call them challenges. One thing I ran into was that an element contained several other elements. Usually, you'll see … Continue reading Microsoft Fabric Realtime Intelligence: Processing XML, or are you?

SQL MCP: Local to Fabric Lakehouse

Let's be honest, you thought of doing this yourself. Connecting two tools that seem to serve very different purposes. But, as I had a day to fool around, I thought to myself, let's see if I can make this work. In the previous blog post on MCP Local, I described how to run your MCP … Continue reading SQL MCP: Local to Fabric Lakehouse

SQL Server 2025 and disk sector size

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

SQL and MCP, the local edition

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

Exploring SSMS 22 Preview 3: New GitHub Copilot Features

A few minutes ago, I came across a post on LinkedIn by Erin Stellato, highlighting the post from Makena Barickman on the release of SSMS 22, preview 3. If you've been following my blogs, you've read that I'm a keen follower of the latest editions of SSMS, especially now that Copilot is integrated. From very … Continue reading Exploring SSMS 22 Preview 3: New GitHub Copilot Features

SSMS 22 preview 1 first impressions

We're almost used to SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) 21, and now 22 is already in preview. So, let's see where it's available for download, install it and see what's different. Download and release notes. The most important part, of course, is the download of the binaries. Click here for the download. Click here for … Continue reading SSMS 22 preview 1 first impressions

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

DP-700 training: Workspace logging

Let's dig into something that's quite simple to implement: workspace monitoring. Whenever someone calls out that "something is simple to implement", your first response should be "Oh really?". Because simplicity is always in the eyes of the beholder. And sometimes the easiest solutions carry the most consequences. Or cost. Or both. Wording can be complicated, … Continue reading DP-700 training: Workspace logging