This past week I finally completed the 70-458 exam to upgrade my certification to MSCA: SQL Server 2012. I never thought it would take me over a year to pass two upgrade exams, but sometimes life just gets in the way. I will say this is probably the hardest SQL Server exam I’ve taken so far. The format of the upgrade exam is to combine questions from the three standard MCSA SQL Server 2012 exams, 70-461, 70-462, and 70-463. My hardest problem was dealing with the data warehouse questions; mainly the ones around Data Quality Services, Master Data Services, and...
Continue reading...Patrick Keisler
Use PsPing When Working in Azure IaaS
Recently I’ve been learning more about how Azure functions and how it can help my customers. One of the best ways for me to learn about Azure was to build out my own environment using VMs, or Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). All of that was easy; however, once the VMs were built I soon learned that Azure functions differently than an On-Premise solution. The most basic network connectivity test that administrator use is the PING command. It is part of the ICMP protocol, but it’s disabled by default on each VM that I deployed. While it was easy enough...
Continue reading...SQL Nexus Might Just Save Your Bacon
The year is 2015, and I’m still surprised by how many people have never heard of SQL Nexus; although it has been available since approximately 2008. SQL Nexus is a tool that that is designed to collect and analyze data to help you troubleshoot SQL Server performance issues. There are plenty of tools on the market that can easily do this, but this one is free and it can be used to monitor SQL Server 2005 through SQL Server 2014. The tool was originally created by the SQL Server product support team, and is still used today as the primary...
Continue reading...SQL Cruise Caribbean 2015 Recap
UPDATED: Don’t just take my word. Read the feedback from others. SQL Cruise Caribbean 2015: More Than A Cruise With Classes. Much More. – Jes Borland SQL Cruise Caribbean 2015 Wrap Up – David Klee Caribbean: The Final Sql Frontier – Mickey Stuewe I wish I could just re-post my article from last year about SQL Cruise and change the dates and pictures.The event is just that good. I still believe this is one of the more premier training events offered for SQL Server. The amount of 1-on-1 time you get with the technical leads is absurd. You can get...
Continue reading...Get Out There and Challenge Yourself
It’s been almost five months since I posted my last article, and so much has changed since then. I have a new job, a new house, a new address, and of course a new mortgage. I had been working as a DBA for Wells Fargo Securities for nearly 15 years when I decided that I could no longer grow in that role. I had a lot of good years at the bank, and I will definitely miss all of my friends. But in order for me to be happy, I really needed a change. My decision to move was more...
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