Scaling SQL Server 2025 Vector Search with Load-Balanced Ollama Embeddings

SQL Server 2025 introduces native support for vector data types and external AI models. This opens up new scenarios for semantic search and AI-driven experiences directly in the database....

Speaking at PASS Summit 2025

In less than one month, I will be speaking not once but twice at PASS Data Community Summit 2025.
Thursday, November 20th at 1 PM I will be in the...

The End of Year Vacation Burn

It’s been a good year for me. With my sabbatical, I felt like I’ve gotten away from work quite a bit this year. I’ve had a few vacations around...

Announcements from the Microsoft Fabric Community Conference

A bunch of new features for Microsoft Fabric were announced at the Microsoft Fabric Community Conference (FabCon Vienna) recently. Here are all the new features that I found most interesting, with...

The Book of Redgate: Don’t be an a**hole

This was one of the original values: The facing page has this text: No matter how smart you are, or how good you are at narrowly defined tasks, there...

The Challenge of Implicit Transactions: #SQLNewBlogger

I saw an article recently about implicit transactions and coincidentally, I had a friend get caught by this. A quick post to show the impact of this setting. Another...

A Broken Copilot Query

I was testing the new SSMS (v22 Preview 3) with Copilot and ran into an interesting issue. This is part of a series of experiments with AI systems. My...

Set Theory vs. Batch Mode in SQL Server

Set Theory vs. Batch Mode in SQL Server

Not long ago, a colleague of mine was completely shocked when he first heard about SQL Server’s Batch Mode feature. His immediate...

The Mystery of the Locked-Up Database -Scooby Dooing Episode 6

No Scooby-Doo story is complete without footprints leading to a hidden passage. In SQL Server 2025, those footprints point us straight toward the next big feature: optimized locking. And...

From Data Custodian to Innovation Catalyst: The Evolving Role of the CDO

There was a time when the Chief Data Officer lived in the shadows of the enterprise. Their office lights burned late into the night as they combed through spreadsheets...