In the data space we're hearing a lot about dev ops, continuous integration and the programmers are getting a lot of love there with lots of tools to help them; however, if you're on the data side--not so much.  If you're running Agile in your environment and then you're trying to do data warehousing or other data development we're not quite getting the same love. Sure, there are a couple of unit testing software offerings out there, but it's a little bit cumbersome.  This episode our conversation focuses on testing automation in a business intelligence or data warehouse environment--even in an Agile system.  Our guest is Lynn Winterboer and she has some interesting thoughts at the intersection of business users, data professionals and tools.   

Show notes for today's episode can be found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/12/03/episode-72-testing-automation-for-business-intelligence/

It is easy to feel like the odd man (or gal) out in the SQL Community.  We are constantly hearing about new features, products, and architectures and our companies may not always have the same enthusiasm when we describe what could be.

This is probably even more true in the Analytics space as much of the marketing has been pointed in that direction.  Even PASS tried to create a conference just for Analytics.  While there are some amazing new technologies out there--we might--GASP--not need them in every scenario. 

Our guest today is Kevin Wilkie, a BI architect with Innovative Architects and he talks to us about some of the tools he uses and spoiler--they aren't all that fancy.  He also talks with us about how he manages the tech and business users so each feels comfortable and each can get their work done. 

The show notes for today's episode are at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/11/23/BI-Tools/ and we'll see you on the SQL trail!

In the keynote of PASS summit 2016 Rohan Kumar, the program manager for SQL Server proudly displayed a database restore to a SQL Server instance installed on Linux.  What makes this all even more interesting is the database was sourced from a Windows server.  While it might not sound like much, the number of operating systems SQL Server runs on has now doubled.  This is no small feat and our guest today Travis Wright is the program manager for the SQL Server on Linux migration.  While I have to admit I was not super excited about the news when it came out last year, I am definitely more interested and think there is a huge opportunity for SQL Server administrators to get access to jobs they wouldn’t have before.  I know you will enjoy this interview with Travis.

Get the Linux for the preview and other items on the show notes page http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/11/16/sql-server-on-linux/ and have fun on the SQL trail!

We have all been there–next, next, next–let’s just get this install done.  While there are many ways to get SQL Server installed on a server, the real impact is in the way we administer the database and when we want to get good performance.  Listener James Youkhanis asked us about our install checklist and Steve and I realized we hadn’t made one public before.  In this episode of the SQL Data Partners podcast, we talk about some of the settings we are looking for when we set up a server.  We don’t have time to reference every single item, but hit some highlights.  Your list might differ slightly, but our list has been built from the experiences we have seen over time from various installations.  We love to other opinions, so give us your thoughts!

The show notes for today's episode and the install checklist are available at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/11/09/sql-server-install-checklist/.  Have fun on the SQL trail compañeros!

For all of us working with data, we know that we work no only with SQL Server but the suite of tools around the SQL Server engine.  In this episode, we share some thoughts around SSIS administration, which is the most popular ETL tool in the Microsoft stack.  Just like the SQL Server engine, many times the defaults are taken and in this episode we give some thoughts around logging, package execution, and notification with our guest Ravi Kumar.  With the every expanding functionality of SSIS, Steve and I found this discussion insightful as we think about supporting an SSIS environment and ways we can educate package developers.

The show notes for today's episode can be found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/10/15/ssis-administration/ Have fun on the SQL trail!