Write It Down!

Andy Levy
Recently I set up a new process to pull data out of a MySQL database and into SQL Server. Pretty standard ETL stuff, but it’s the organization’s first time moving data in this direction, so we had some extra work to do. After installing the SSIS package and the MySQL .NET connector in the development environment, we went through a few rounds of “why isn’t this working? why isn’t that working?

New Presentation - The SQLFamily

Andy Levy
A couple months ago I delivered a short (15 minute) presentation at work about the importance of having a good professional network and how I’d found mine. As I was developing it, I had to keep redirecting myself as the theme would start trending towards how great the #SQLFamily is. To be fair, that’s what inspired the topic in the first place, but 15 minutes of stories about my friends is not what my co-workers signed up for.

Recapping SQL Saturday Albany 2020 (virtual)

Andy Levy
This weekend was SQL Saturday Albany 2020. This was my third time attending the Albany event, my second time presenting, and my first virtual SQL Saturday. As always, Ed & his team did a terrific job with organizing it. Communication for both attendees and speakers was excellent, and as far as I can tell, everything ran very smoothly. My Presentation I presented Keys to a Healthy Relationship with SQL Server in the 3:30 PM session block.

Finding & Downloading Required SQL Server Updates

Andy Levy
A little while back, I offered up a one-liner to scan your SQL Server instances and report which ones are out of date. But what if you need to take the next step, determining which updates need to be downloaded? That’s exactly what Josh asked on the SQL Community Slack recently. Can Test-DbaBuild also bring back the KB number? From reading the docs it looks possible as it does return the compliant version form the .

Virtual SQLRun for PASS Summit 2020

Andy Levy
Just because we aren’t all together in Houston doesn’t mean we can’t have a #SQLRun at this year’s Summit. It might even be easier for some folks as there’s no luggage space/weight limits, jet lag or a late night out on Tuesday. So here’s the deal. A while back, I created a SQLFamily group on Strava. If you’re not already a member of the group, no problem - anyone can join!

Three Ways to Create a Temp Table

Andy Levy
Taking it back to SQL 101 today because I recently saw something that floored me. I’m a big fan of temp tables. I use ’em all over the place to stash intermediate results, break a dataset down into more manageable chunks, or even share them between procedures. And as it turns out, there’s more than one way to create them. The Traditional Way If you’re planning out your temp table usage, you’re probably creating them just like any other table, then populating them.

Speaking at SQL Saturday Albany

Andy Levy
For the second consecutive year, I will be speaking at SQL Saturday Albany 2020 on July 25th, 2020. I will be presenting “Keys to a Healthy Relationship with SQL Server” at 3:30 PM. Abstract Developers and DBAs have had a long, sometimes strained relationship. Some developers see DBAs as roadblocks standing in the way of getting their work shipped; some DBAs see developers as agents of chaos bent on ruining their perfect database environments.

T-SQL Tuesday #127 - Non-SQL Tips & Tricks

Andy Levy
T-SQL Tuesday is a monthly blog party hosted by a different community blogger each month, and this month Kenneth Fisher (blog | twitter) asks us for non-SQL tips & tricks. How about for this months TSQL Tuesday let’s do another month of tips and tricks. But just to be a bit different, nothing to do with SQL Server (in fact let’s say nothing related to a DBMS). No SSMS tricks, no T-SQL tips, something completely unrelated.

Home Office Desk Evolution

Andy Levy
Setting up a home office can be a daunting task. Doubly so when you don’t get an opportunity to plan it out and you have to set things up with no warning and items on hand. Since starting to work from home on March 17th, my desk has been through 3 major versions. A word of warning: I struggle to keep a tidy desk, and I didn’t clean up before taking the pictures seen here.

Checking for SQL Server Updates with dbatools

Andy Levy
It turns out I was doing this all wrong for months. For the longest time, I’ve been checking my SQL Server instances to see what needs patching with Test-DbaBuild from the dbatools PowerShell module. But the result was always the same - it never returned a Service Pack or Cumulative Update target. I glossed over it because I knew what the right answer was already, but recently I decided that wasn’t good enough.