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!

Before you Upgrade Your SQL Server – SQL Server Upgrade Webinar Episode 2

July 18, 2019February 20, 2019 by Mike Walsh

This article is part of our SQL Server Upgrades Made Easy series: Why Upgrade? Before You Upgrade During Your Upgrade After Your Upgrade Recap Chat Upgrading SQL Server – Week 2 “Before you Upgrade SQL Server” You can watch week one here on the blog or directly on youtube. Please consider subscribing to the channel … Read more

“Basic” Availability Groups – Some Rumors Persist

July 18, 2019February 19, 2019 by Mike Walsh

I was having a twitter interaction the other day. Since High Availability and Disaster Recovery topics are on my mind as I just wrapped up delivering an online class on SQL Server HA/DR last week and am preparing for my next free webinar series talking about HA/DR, that twitter thread piqued my interest. The short … Read more

DBAs Beware: “Hacker destroys VFEmail service, wipes backups”

July 18, 2019February 18, 2019 by Mike Walsh

My headline is borrowed from a headline on Malwarebytes blog post. In fact, many headlines like it are across the internet right now. This post is going to sound fairly similar to an earlier post I published, “Ex-Admin Deletes All Customer Data and Wipes Servers“. It’s from June of 2017, about a hosting provider who … Read more

Why Upgrade SQL Server? SQL Server Upgrade Webinar Episode 1

July 18, 2019February 16, 2019 by Mike Walsh

This article is part of our SQL Server Upgrades Made Easy series: Why Upgrade? Before You Upgrade During Your Upgrade After Your Upgrade Recap Chat Upgrading SQL Server – Week 1 “Why, Why, Why!” This is the first video from the series from two weeks ago. This is an introduction to the SQL Server upgrade … Read more

What do YOU want to learn about?

July 18, 2019February 13, 2019 by Mike Walsh

I just finished the first week of our SQL Server Upgrade webinar series webinars. It went well. In fact – I’m pumped up! Because the interactions were significant, the feedback was good, and I think my primary goal is going to be reached – help people out. It’s funny – just doing that 35/40 minutes of … Read more

SQL Server 2008 is Dead…

February 7, 2020February 4, 2019 by Mike Walsh

… Long live that other SQL Server version you should have upgraded from long ago … It’s January of 2019. 2019 and I’m writing a post reminding you that you it is time to upgrade from SQL Server 2008 or SQL Server 2008 R2!! Eleven years later.. That’s a testament to the amazing product that SQL … Read more

Hey DBAs: Be Prepared

February 7, 2020January 24, 2019 by Mike Walsh

I’m a big fan of bringing ideas and concept in from other industries to the world of technologists, particularly those of us in professions operating in and around data. I’ve written posts before about lessons from aviation, a string of failures at the Secret Service, some corollaries to farming or our gardens at home, some experiences … Read more