The Sound of Silence
December 7, 2020
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
On Intentionality and Making Paths
December 5, 2020
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
“Are you Overpaying for SQL Server Licensing” Webinar Recap
December 4, 2020
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
VMware and SQL Server Best Practices.
December 3, 2020
Update Note (October 2025): This post was originally written in December 2020 and remains technically sound. I’ve updated it with current context about the VMware landscape, refreshed the monitoring tool references, and expanded the snapshot guidance based on what we continue to see in the field. If you’re evaluating alternatives to VMware, check out our
Should You Move from SQL Server Enterprise to Standard Edition? Here’s How to Know
December 2, 2020
Do you need SQL Server Enterprise Edition? In 2026, the answer is ‘probably not’ for more companies than you’d think. Since SQL Server 2019 — and even more so with SQL Server 205 increasing RAM and CPU limits for Standard, SQL Server Standard Edition has dramatically closed the gap. We’ve helped scores of clients save
Cluster Validation – BEWARE!!!
June 27, 2020
Subtitle: SHAME ON YOU MICROSOFT! This is not a new behavior. It’s not a new risk. It’s the same old risk that’s been in Windows Failover Clustering for quite some time. But it’s worse for SQL Server environments that use a Windows failover cluster for an Availability Group – since you are not sharing storage
Inspect Early. Inspect Often.
April 17, 2020
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
SQL Server In Place Upgrades: Too Expensive?
April 10, 2020
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
Welcome, Sandra Delany!
March 27, 2020
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
We’re Going to be Okay – The CoVid19 Party Continues…
March 17, 2020
UPDATE – New Link – https://zoom.us/j/253747327 Please email or DM me on twitter (@mike_walsh on twitter – [email protected] ) 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 –