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 loves the architecture talks about the cloud - and he's enjoying building a Managed SQL Server DBA practice that is growing while maintaining values and culture. 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, and father to four great children and lives in the middle of nowhere NH.

Inspect Early. Inspect Often.

April 16, 2020 by Mike Walsh

I almost didn’t get to write this post tonight about a lesson from my farm life for us DBAs. I could have been dealing with a massive headache or a hurt daughter – or worse. But. I get to write it so that you can learn from our near incident… First A Question How are … Read more

SQL Server In Place Upgrades: Too Expensive?

April 9, 2020 by Mike Walsh

About eight years ago, I wrote a (kind of long) answer to a DBA. Stackexchange question, “Are SQL Server In-Place upgrades as ill-advised as they used to be?” My summary answer on the top of my tome was: Short Answer – In Place is okay. You can review your configuration afterward and implement the best practices … Read more

Welcome, Sandra Delany!

March 27, 2020 by Mike Walsh

But First… A Quick Note… “In Times Like These!” Hey There! What a weird time to be announcing a change on the roster. But here I am – announcing a change on the roster!! Straight Path is doing well so far with the shifting economy in these times, and we’ve been working closely with our … Read more

We’re Going to be Okay – The CoVid19 Party Continues…

April 3, 2020March 17, 2020 by Mike Walsh

UPDATE – New Link – https://zoom.us/j/253747327 Please email or DM me on twitter (@mike_walsh on twitter – mike@straightpathsql.com ) for the invite! We are doing a few things to secure this – and Zoom has updated their software also. So last Friday (3/13) we had a webinar and zoom meeting with our SQL Family – … Read more

We’re Gonna Be Okay – Let’s Have a #SQLFamily/#CoVid19 Party!

March 13, 2020March 12, 2020 by Mike Walsh

Yoda would say “There’s a disturbance in the force.” right about now. Things are being canceled. Airlines are being slammed. Schools are closing. States of emergency are being declared. The healthcare system in Italy is under serious stress. We don’t know what the coming weeks will look like in the USA or Europe. Maybe it’s … Read more

#FlattenTheCurve – SeacoastSQL Canceled Next Week.

March 11, 2020 by Mike Walsh

This may be a step of paranoia. But I’m a Database Administrator. We make paranoid decisions and “gamble” for the good of an organization. We’ve decided to cancel the Seacoast SQL Server Users Group meeting this coming Monday. Normally, we’d just post this on the meetup and be done with it. But I wanted one … Read more

PASS Summit 2019 Session Evaluation and Tips

January 28, 2020November 30, 2019 by Mike Walsh

I received my PASS Summit 2019 session feedback the other day, and I wanted to share a few thoughts on it. I gave two sessions this year; each one drew a smaller crowd – about 125 for each. I can’t find my evaluations for past years, but I think my scores were a bit better … Read more