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!

Do you have a TAM?

April 30, 2009 by Mike Walsh

Disclaimer: I mean what I am going to post. This is not a Microsoft fan boy post. That would include a conversation about my Zune, the Xbox 360 I don’t have or something… I think this is a great resource for a Microsoft shop. A TAM? Technical Account Manager. When your company pays for a … Read more

SQL Quiz 4 – Leadership

April 20, 2009 by Mike Walsh

Chris Shaw (Blog, Twitter) has started SQL Quiz #4 which asks for you to talk about a great example of leadership or a great leader. Many people have been tagged and responded, including Jeremiah Peschka (Blog, Twitter) who jokingly offered to tag me in a twitter conversation. I told him not to bother but I … Read more

Embrace the Mundane, Appreciate the Simple

April 16, 2009 by Mike Walsh

I just finished doing a simple deployment on a busy day during a busy week of a busy month of a busy career. I had to run a few SQL Scripts that were reviewed (I also reviewed them quickly), had to run them in order based on a simple note checked in with the scripts. … Read more

Manage Your Transactions (So They Don’t Manage You – Part 2)

April 16, 2009 by Mike Walsh

This is the final in a series on shrinking and transactions. You can see them all in the Shrinking & Transactions category. In part 1, we talked about factors that affect transaction log growth. We talked about what a SQL Server transaction is and the various modes SQL interacts with a transaction (Autocommit, Implicit Transactions and … Read more

Tetelestai – It is Finished

July 26, 2010April 11, 2009 by Mike Walsh

I recently read a post by Michael Deputy that talked about his Blog Direction. He brought a good point up: Focus on what’s important. Well today I am doing just that. I am a Christian as I say plainly in many locations and in my about us page. I am thinking I may periodically post … Read more

Manage Your Transactions (So they don’t manage you – Part 1)

April 9, 2009 by Mike Walsh

This is part 3 in a series on shrinking and transaction management. Click here for part 4. You can see them all in the Shrinking & Transactions category. If you are one of the people who have been reading this blog, you know where I stand on shrinking databases/log files. I don’t like the practice (Post 1, … Read more

Alphabet Blocks and a Solid Foundation

March 22, 2009 by Mike Walsh

Continuing in the theme from last week’s post correlating the DBAs role to aspects of various careers (Pilots, Chefs and Doctors) an illustration came to me this past weekend. I was playing blocks with my 1 year old son. The game with him consists of me trying to hold him back for as long as … Read more