Looking Back at 2016

Steve Jones looks back at 2016 and the data events that were important.

Getting Started with R Services in SQL Server 2016 – Part 1

SQL Server 2016 brings native support to advanced analytics in the database itself, using R Services. In this article, Arshad Ali explains what R is, what the on-premise advanced analytics options from Microsoft are, and shows how to get started using R Services with SQL Server 2016.

Azure DWH part 1:Common questions about Azure SQL Data Warehouse

This article compiles some common questions and answers about Azure SQL Data Warehouse.

Byte Me: Specific Wishlist

Importing Excel Data into Power BI Desktop

In any commercial setting, Excel Spreadsheets remain the preferred way of collecting and analysing data, and it makes sense that it should be easy to get the data into PowerBI so it can be made more generally available for sharing and further analysis. As well as the data, we'd probably need the other analysis components such as the Power Pivot tables, Power View visualizations, Power Query queries. It is all possible, and Robert Sheldon demonstrates how.

SQL Server v.Next - Linux Installation Step by Step

An introduction to SQL Server for Red Hat Linux Administrators with a step by step installation.

Syntactic Sugar

Syntactic sugar doesn't necessarily help a platform, but makes it easier or more fun to work on.

Reading, Writing, and Creating SQL Server Extended Properties

There is a great gulf between wanting to document your database properly with extended properties and actually doing it. Extended Properties have many uses but they aren't easy to use. Phil Factor is on a mission to make it easier for ordinary mortals to use extended properties as intended, to aid the database development process.

Data Preservation

Today Steve Jones talks about the challenges of preserving data across long periods of time, decades perhaps.

Extended Events for Tracking Backup and Restore Progress

Microsoft has introduced new extended events in SQL server 2016 which will give us detailed information about restore and backup process.