Mike Walsh

Mike loves mentoring clients on the right Systems or High Availability architectures because he enjoys those lightbulb moments and loves watching the right design and setup come together for a client. He started Straight Path in 2010 when he decided that after over a decade working with SQL Server in various roles, it was time to try and take his experience, passion, and knowledge to help clients of all shapes and sizes. Mike is a husband, father to four great children, and a Christian. He’s a volunteer Firefighter and EMT in his small town in New Hampshire, and when he isn’t playing with his family, solving SQL Server issues, or talking shop, it seems like he has plenty to do with his family running a small farm in NH raising Beef Cattle, Chickens, Pigs, Sheep, Goats, Honeybees and who knows what other animals have been added!

One Man’s Trash…

December 13, 2009December 7, 2009 by Mike Walsh

Do you live in a town with a dump? I do (well, transfer station). On any given weekend you can find people looking for treasure in the scrap metal or electronics bins. I never thought I’d say it, but over the past couple weeks of visiting the dump, I have found an amazing treasure that … Read more

How do -you- (I) use SQL Server?

December 17, 2009December 4, 2009 by Mike Walsh

I was recently tagged in an interesting blog post by A Misplaced New Englander, David Taylor. (dyfhid on twitter). The question sounds simple enough, “How do you use SQL Server where you work?” Of course the answer is not simple. I echo Grant Fritchey’s response in his blog post that it would be easier to … Read more

What’s Your Point?

December 2, 2009 by Mike Walsh

As a DBA you are getting pinched between developers, project managers, budget conscious managers and server teams. When a critical issue with no one easy answer for those people pops up, what do you do? You can panic or try and point the blame someplace else or you can rise to the situation and help … Read more

How do -you- install SQL Server? (Part 3)

December 18, 2009November 30, 2009 by Mike Walsh

Welcome to part 3 in this series on a thought process around SQL Server Installation. In Part 1, we started talking about some basic steps and a thought process for a repeatable success story with your SQL Server installations. Part 2 discussed security, playing around before doing a first install and smoke testing afterwards. Today … Read more

Happy Thanksgiving

November 24, 2009 by Mike Walsh

Thanksgiving – a great holiday with a 4 day weekend. Time to finish up some last minute winter preparations for those who live in the area of snow and freeze (that aren’t already frozen or under snow, of course). A time to hang out with family you don’t see much and a time to eat … Read more

How do -you- install SQL Server? (Part 2)

November 23, 2009 by Mike Walsh

Welcome to this series on a thought process around SQL Server Installation. In Part 1, we started talking about some basic steps and a thought process for a repeatable success story with your SQL Server installations. Today let’s continue that story and talk some more about installation planning and success. We’ll finish up talking about … Read more

How do -you- install SQL Server (Part 1)

December 12, 2009November 17, 2009 by Mike Walsh

No, this is not an installation guide There is documentation for that found in many places. First good place to look is Books Online (2005/2008) but there are plenty of other community resources found at sites like SQL Server Central and SQLServerPedia as well as blogs. What I mean by this post is to ask, … Read more