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!

It’s Not Your Emergency!

December 17, 2020December 16, 2020 by Mike Walsh

The best EMTs and Medics are the ones who realize, “This isn’t my emergency,” early enough. You’ll be a better DBA or technologist the quicker you learn the freedom that comes from that line of thought. (Also, a warning – in this post, I talk about – in vague terms and no medical specificity about … Read more

SQL Server Patching – A Primer

December 10, 2020December 10, 2020 by Mike Walsh

With some of the CU and SP misses that happen, what’s a good schedule for patching a SQL Server? What are some things to do before applying a CU to a SQL Server? How can we verify our SP or CU didn’t break anything? And what CU should I apply? The latest? The even number … Read more

Presenting – What I’ve Learned

December 10, 2020December 9, 2020 by Mike Walsh

So I totally missed the boat on a GREAT T-SQL Tuesday topic – “What’s something you’ve learned while presenting?” But with a twist – something technical, you’ve learned that you didn’t learn. Well, mine is a bit embarrassing… I’ll share that. Also – I totally skimmed the topic and some of the post titles. I … Read more

The Sound of Silence

December 10, 2020December 6, 2020 by Mike Walsh

Oops. I missed a blog post yesterday (Saturday). In fairness, I spent the night running around in the first snowstorm of the season trying to get ready for it (somehow caught off guard – again – by the first storm.) We had to move our cows around and deal with some limbs down and a … Read more

On Intentionality and Making Paths

December 10, 2020December 4, 2020 by Mike Walsh

Yes. I’m writing a short blog post about a simple topic. At least simple at first glance. There’s a certain irony in this being the post topic I’m writing about tonight. You see, I set out a goal for myself in December – write a blog post every day. At some point, try and write … Read more

“Are you Overpaying for SQL Server Licensing” Webinar Recap

December 10, 2020December 3, 2020 by Mike Walsh

Earlier this week, SIOS invited me to join them in a webinar over at MSSQL tips. You can watch the webinar recording if you register for it in “OnDemand” mode on their site here. Dave Bermingham joined me on the webinar – he’s a great technologist and a long time Microsoft MVP in cloud and … Read more

VMware and SQL Server Best Practices.

March 6, 2021December 2, 2020 by Mike Walsh

I wish you knew a few things about VMware and SQL Server best practices. If you’ve ever asked yourself “Why does my storage seem slower on my SQL Server VMs?!”, this post may help. We love VMware in our SQL Server consulting practice. But there are some things you should know and do first. These … Read more