The GO Barrier: Why SSMS Multi-Server Query Waits for the Slowest Connection

I deployed a schema change to 30 servers using multi-server query and deploy-at-low-priority. Small servers with zero activity showed no progress, and then all 30 finished at the same...

10 Things I Hate About Fabric Deployment Pipelines— And Some Alternatives

Fabric deployment pipelines look like they solve CI/CD for Fabric content, especially for people who prefer a GUI over writing code to handle deployments, but the implementation has enough...

The Book of Redgate: Evidence

We aren’t the only company that does this, but Redgate Software does try to be data driven. Across my 18 years, I’ve had plenty of people use evidence from...

When Your Microsoft Fabric Capacity Runs Out: Optimize, Scale Up, Scale Out, or Isolate?

Microsoft Fabric makes it wonderfully easy to put many analytics workloads on one platform. Power BI, data engineering, warehousing, data science, real-time analytics, Copilot, and other experiences can all...

Accessing the Data API Builder MCP Server from VS Code

I recently started playing with the MCP Server for SQL Server, which is a part of the Data API Builder (DAB). I’m not sure why there wasn’t a separate...

From DBA or Data Engineer to AI Engineer: A Realistic Path

If you spend your days tuning queries, managing pipelines, or keeping a production database alive, you already carry most of what an AI engineering role needs. What is missing...

Asynchronous Replication of Snapshots from an ActiveCluster Pod to a Third Array

I’ve been rebuilding my three-site SQL Server demo lab, and I ran into something I’ve wanted for a long time. If you’ve ever designed a SQL Server environment on...

SQL Server gMSA: Why So Many DBAs Still Aren't Using It in 2026

SQL Server gMSA: Why DBAs Still Aren't Using It in 2026

Group Managed Service Accounts (gMSAs) solve the classic service-account password problem - just look at...

Take Time to Gain Perspective

Probably the best piece of advice I ever received is to take time to gain perspective.

The Fringe Festival

I was lucky enough to take a vacation a decade ago in Edinburgh with my wife. She came over to the UK with me for a quick trip. We...