What I actually do at Microsoft
I started working at Microsoft in January 2022. I enjoy it. I even wrote a stream-of-consciousness post about it last year. A significant part of our job in the...
2024-06-28 (first published: 2024-06-10)
355 reads
Born SQL with Randolph West
I can no longer recommend Liquid Web for hosting
I’ve had a really disappointing experience with the Liquid Web sales team, regarding the web server that hosts this blog post you’re reading right now. My disappointment is compounded...
2024-01-26
44 reads
Hello Microsoft Entra ID, good bye Azure Active Directory
A couple of months ago where I work, a major product started undergoing a rebrand. I don’t pretend to understand marketing folks, but a change this big needed to...
2023-12-19
462 reads
You should be running on SQL Server 2022
It’s me again with my apparently semi-annual blog post. This time we’re going to talk about which version of SQL Server you should be on, now that we’re at...
2023-12-20 (first published: 2023-12-05)
662 reads
I don’t blog anymore, but not because I work at Microsoft
Last year I had a health scare that got my blood pressure at 200-and-something over 100-and-something, soon to be wired up to an IV drip, put through a CT...
2023-09-08
52 reads
Connecting to SQL Server Database Engine, simplified
One of the advantages of being on the Database Docs team at Microsoft is that I get to work with amazing people, which means we can respond quickly to...
2023-09-05
121 reads
On being a woman and a data professional
This is a list of links, in no particular order, that you should read in no particular order. But read all of the words at the end of these...
2023-04-24
150 reads
Patch your SQL Server instance today
On 14 February 2023, Microsoft released updates for all supported versions of SQL Server in the form of a General Distribution Release (GDR). A GDR is an out-of-band update...
2023-02-24 (first published: 2023-02-15)
1,281 reads
Deadline for Microsoft MVP contributions is 20 March 2023
Since changing to the new MVP renewal model, Microsoft MVPs have had until 31 March each year to provide the list of their annual contributions. For 2023, the deadline...
2023-02-20 (first published: 2023-02-01)
144 reads
You can run a SQL Server Docker container on Apple M1 and M2 Silicon
Previously the only way to run SQL Server on Apple Silicon was via QEMU emulation or Colima (hat tip to Anthony Nocentino). Docker released beta support today for Apple’s...
2023-01-25 (first published: 2023-01-12)
198 reads
Blogs
A Career of Memories
By Steve Jones
Annabel retired from Redgate Software this week. Across most of my career at Redgate,...
Rethinking Index Maintenance: Why avg_fragmentation_in_percent Is Outdated and What You Should Do Instead
By Tim Radney
As a SQL Server DBA with years of experience tuning production environments, I’ve seen...
Microsoft Build 2026 announcements
By James Serra
Once again there were a number of Microsoft Build announcements related to data and...
Forums
Changes, Happiness, and a Few Tears
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Changes, Happiness, and a Few...
BCP on Linux
Comments posted to this topic are about the item BCP on Linux
You Probably Don't Need a Vector Database
Comments posted to this topic are about the item You Probably Don't Need a...
Question of the Day
BCP on Linux
When running bcp on Linux, what is the field terminator?
See possible answers