Build a Streaming Data Architecture with Apache Kafka and Zookeeper
In this article, we look at how to use Apache Kafka and Zookeeper to process and load streaming data.
Do As I Say, Not As I Do
Yesterday morning I sat down to start a new project. Before I got started, I knew I needed to put this in source control. Now, the project was going to be in AWS, but, AWS has shut down their flavor of Git, CodeCommit. I decided to use GitHub instead, no big deal. Well, until I […]
Getting Started with the Data API Builder
Earlier this year I had a PM at Microsoft reach out and ask me what I thought about the Data API Builder. I hadn't looked at it, so I made a note to check it out. I hadn't done that by the time SQL Saturday Denver 2024 occurred, where I saw Jerry Nixon from Microsoft […]
Hiring and Motivating Technical Polyglots in Data Analytics
In this article, I will discuss hiring and motivating technical polyglots. A polyglot is a person who speaks multiple languages
PASS Summit is going on tour in 2025!
Announced during Redgate's Keynote at PASS Summit in Seattle, PASS Summit On Tour will see smaller scale events hosted in New York, Dallas and the Netherlands in 2025. To be the first to know when tickets and dates are released, sign up to our mailing list.
Virtualizing GCP data by using Fabric Shortcuts: Data Engineering with Fabric
In the next installment of this series, learn how you can read data from the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and virtualize it into your Azure Data Lake Storage.
Aggregate Functions in Power BI including Running Total, Running Average and Max
This article explains how to aggregate data for Power BI reports and provides examples of running totals, running averages, min, max, and more.
The Paradox of NOLOCK: How Dirty Reads Can Sometimes Be Cleaner
Every SQL Server developer has heard it: "Don't use NOLOCK in production!" But this common rule isn't as simple as it seems. Sometimes, what seems like a bad practice can actually be the right choice. Let's explain what NOLOCK really does in simple terms. When you use NOLOCK, you're telling SQL Server "just show me […]
Blogs
Presenting with Visual Studio Code
A while back I wrote a quick post on setting up key mappings in...
Advice I Like: In 100 Years
By Steve Jones
In 100 years a lot of what we take to be true now will...
dataMinds Saturday 2026 – Slides
At Saturday the 21st of February I’m presenting an introduction to dimensional modelling at...
Forums
AllocationType as ROW_OVERFLOW_DATA
Hello, I inherited a number of tables with like 20-30 column using nvarchar(256) in...
is it true we cant debug c# scripts in ssis anymore under vs
Hi, i'm running vs2022. I'm trying out a c# script that i'd like to...
Question of the Day
Missing the Jaro Winkler Distance
I upgraded a SQL Server 2019 instance to SQL Server 2025. I wanted to test the fuzzy string search functions. I run this code:
SELECT JARO_WINKLER_DISTANCE('tim', 'tom')
I get this error message:Msg 195, Level 15, State 10, Line 1 'JARO_WINKLER_DISTANCE' is not a recognized built-in function name.What is wrong? See possible answers