Opening a Twitch Channel, Data Wisdom

Misc
I want to let you know that I'm starting a channel on Twitch. You'll be able to see it here. I'm going to start doing regular live events on Fridays, probably around 10AM. Topics will range from query tuning, to GDPR, to Redgate, to Azure Data Studio, pretty much the same as the blog. I'll also take requests on topics and will host live Q&A periods during the sessions so you can ask about anything, whether it's part of that day's topic or not. Additionally, I intend to host live videos at events. I have two coming up in a few weeks, SQL Konferenz and SQLBits. I'll do live sessions at these events so that you can, even if you're not there, take part in them. I'll have interviews with…
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What Is Happening, Right Now, At the PASS Summit?

PASS, Redgate Software
Honestly, that's a very hard question to answer. I mean, first of all, you can look at the schedule. There will be all day pre-conference seminars going on today (when this is published) and tomorrow. The rest of the week has all the breakout sessions. During the event this week, if you're not there, you can take part in some of the event by visiting the PASSTV web site. Other than that, you can follow me on Twitter (@gfritchey). It really is one of those "you need to be there" kind of events. If you're not there this year, start planning for next year. However, Redgate is here to help. What We Learned at PASS Summit Redgate is going to hold a webinar on Tuesday, November 20th. The title of…
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Back to University, Redgate University

Redgate Software
Let's be really clear, Redgate makes ingeniously simple tools. That's a fact. Nothing has changed. However, if you really want to get the full range of capability out of the tools, you need to understand how best to put them to work. Enter Redgate University. Redgate University The concept is very simple, one might even say ingeniously so; have a course on how to get more out of the tool. So, for example, I can demo SQL Clone and SQL Data Masker in about 3 minutes each. You'll understand what they are, how they work and how they'll help you in your company. Done. You can even install them and have them working within your environment within about 15 minutes or so on each. Cool. However, you won't be taking…
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YouTube Channel Update: 27 April 2018

Professional Development
Despite a hiccup recently on Twitter where I managed to spam all my followers with links to my YouTube videos (so sorry about that), I am still posting videos. Please subscribe to the channel. Video Lists I created video lists. Here they are, in no particular order: SQL Server and Microsoft Data Platform GDPR and How It Relates to Your Data SQL Server Query Performance Tuning Redgate Software Videos DevOps and Databases I hope it helps to have them grouped up. Videos Here are the videos I've posted over the last few weeks. First, too many people take a "poke it and see what happens" approach to query tuning. I try to talk to that issue here: [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHxOrPEyPb8[/embedyt] Want to know where I go to learn about the GDPR?…
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YouTube Channel Update

Misc
Hey! Here's the latest on my YouTube Channel. Click on through and subscribe. I'll be doing lots of stuff on the Microsoft Data Platform, GDPR, DevOps, Redgate, and all sorts of IT related information. Here are the last couple of weeks worth of videos: Very popular was my discussion of the idea that the reason DBAs don't adopt the latest and greatest piece of shiny is because we're all beholden to vendors instead of trying to make good decisions for our the organizations that pay us (as if the "best" decision is to always grab the new shiny). OK, I'm giving away my thoughts, here's the video: [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TVeRSc3gLg[/embedyt] Next most popular was my question, so, if we're not resisting change because of vendor lock (and we're not) why are…
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SQL in the City 2017

Redgate Software
Redgate is once again hosting a live, virtual event for SQL in the City. We're going to give you a lot of educational content on DevOps, SQL Server, Monitoring, GDPR and compliance. We'll also be doing all this with Redgate tools. Here's my promotional video for the event: [video width="1280" height="720" mp4="https://www.scarydba.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/SitC.mp4"][/video] I hope you'll join us for this event. It's live, so you can ask questions and we'll all try to help out. Go here to register.
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Automating T-SQL Code Analysis

Redgate Software
With all the options available within T-SQL these days, it's more and more imperative that our code be clear and consistent. For example, there are clustered indexes and nonclustered indexes. Oh, but those are rowstore indexes. You also have clustered columnstore and nonclustered columnstore indexes. When you write T-SQL that says "CREATE INDEX MakeMyQueriesFast ON dbo.MySlowTable" which one do you mean? Well, the default there will be a nonclustered rowstore index. How do I know that? I checked the documentation. Oh, same thing will work with a columnstore index. You don't have to specify that it's nonclustered, but doesn't that seem unclear to you? It does to me. Clarity and Understanding You can write T-SQL a bunch of ways. Further, you can do some pretty crazy stuff with it that…
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Redgate Hub LiveStream

Redgate Software
Over at Redgate, we've been working on a new way to get information to you. It's called the Redgate Hub. Check it out. To help you understand this new resource, and to show off some cool new material, we've decided to host a livestream event, Redgate Hub Launch on September 6th. Redgate Hub Launch Livestream If you've attended a Redgate event before, you'll have some idea of what we're about. If you haven't, this is your chance to see exactly what we do and how we do it. If you follow the link above to the Launch event you can check out the agenda. We're covering a bunch of topics. It's going to be fun. I'm even doing a presentation based on my new article that just got published. It's…
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SQL Clone and a Little Competition

Database Lifecycle Management, DevOps, Redgate Software
Redgate has released a new product, SQL Clone. I've already talked about how excited I am about it. Now, it's your turn to get excited. Our developers evidently had too much time on their hands after building SQL Clone. They created a skill in Alexa that lets you clone a database using voice commands. In fact, I was recently visiting Redgate HQ and was able to try it out and you can watch here. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zI2Oj9EZM8&feature=youtu.be[/embed] Now, in celebration of the launch of SQL Clone, we want to enable you to do some voice commands of your own. We're giving away five Amazon Echo Dots and one copy of SQL Clone to an overall winner. To enter, go into the comments and let us know what skill you would like to build for Alexa…
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SQL Clone

Tools
Today is the launch of SQL Clone, a great new tool that helps you quickly and easily provision SQL Server databases for development and testing. Oh god, that sounds like marketing speak. To heck with that. Let me tell you why I'm so excited about SQL Clone and why I think you're going to be excited too. Once Upon a Time... Almost two years ago one of the developers here at Redgate called me over. He wanted to show off this neat trick he'd figured out. What I saw was a good-sized database, about 200gb, created on his local instance of SQL Server in about 10 seconds. Now, that's fast. Further, he showed me the files and disk space on his machine, and it was only taking up a few…
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