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Understanding Containers with Jennelle Crothers Apr 11, 2018

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Why should you care about containers? Richard chats with Jennelle Crothers about what container technology does for operations. Like virtualization before it, containers allow you to densify your infrastructure into fewer machines and VMs - and all container tech focuses on configuration-as-code. Containers make sense when you have services that are regularly updated or need to scale elastically. And they work on-premises as well as in the cloud. There are some tricky bits to containers, but if you're looking to provide more services to your customers in less time and at a lower cost, they are certainly worth the look!

Exploring Microsoft Graph with Sahil Malik Apr 04, 2018

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What can Microsoft Graph do for you? Richard talks to Sahil Malik about his experiences working with Microsoft Graph - starting with rationalizing all the different versions of Graph that have come along in recent years. While largely they're back to a single version, there still are aspects that are more Active Directory oriented as opposed to broader mobile mindsets. But the issues of identity with users, devices that users use and the rights that applications have with those users and devices is the key - can you keep track of what rights are out there, what is appropriate and contain them? The tools are getting better, but there's still a lot to do!

The Practice of System and Network Administration with Tom Limoncelli Mar 28, 2018

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What does it mean to be a System or Network Administrator? Richard talks to Tom Limoncelli about his experiences and book around the subject. Tom talks about how networking and sysadmin roles have evolved recently, where all the roles are being impacted by automation and DevOps practices - nobody is immune, nor should they want to be! The conversation dives into providing value to the organization, both in the form of keeping the employees productive, as well as safe and secure. It's not just about plugging cables and spinning screwdrivers, today, more than ever, the role of the sysadmin is understanding the needs of the organization and helping to achieve those needs!

Be the Master with Don Jones Mar 21, 2018

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The challenge of hiring new people into the world of IT is getting harder every day - what does it take to grow your skilled staff? Richard talks with Don Jones about his book Be the Master, where Don focuses on the fact that there are plenty of apprentices out there, but not enough masters to teach them well. And the masters exist - it's just easy to forget that you know things that others don't know, and need to know. The conversation spans around where learning responsibilities lie - it's not going to be the tools vendors like Microsoft, and while organizations that need skilled people need to support learning, ultimately it comes down to us - we need to want to learn and grow!

Debugging PowerShell with Josh Duffney Mar 14, 2018

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If you're writing PowerShell, you're writing code - now debug it! Richard chats with Josh Duffney about tools and techniques for debugging your PowerShell code. The conversation starts out with the admission that as PowerShell coders, you really are doing development work, just for sysadmin tasks. That means you need source control, testing, coding practices and hopefully, a continuous integration pipeline - DevOps all the things! Josh talks about how VSCode has made his life of debugging PowerShell easier with color coding, breakpoints, code formatting and more. It's all code in the end!

Cloud Security with Paul Keely Mar 07, 2018

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Modern security is complex - how can the cloud help? Richard chats with Paul Keely about his work with organizations helping to secure workstations and using the cloud to get insight into the kind of attacks going on and how to mitigate them. Paul talks about security starting with administrators, who are now the key vector to exploits in the modern cybersecurity age. Just Enough Administration, where there are individual accounts for each service that an admin uses and the accounts are logged, emailed and meant for short-term use only. There is a large array of tools provided by Microsoft both on-premises and in Azure - it takes awhile to sort them out, but they are powerful!

Azure Data Factory with Tom Kerkhove Feb 28, 2018

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How do you ETL? Richard chats with Tom Kerkhove about Azure Data Factory, now previewing V2 features. We've had Extract-Transform-Load workflows since databases were first invented, but the concept was really formalized back in the data warehouse days. With the cloud, there are more tools, more data sources and more compute to enhance your ETL experiences. Tom talks about how V2 of Data Factory adds SQL Server Integration Service functionality so that you can put your SSIS packages directly into Azure. Data Factory is tied in with Logic Apps, including supporting features like Azure Key Vault. This leads to a great conversation about data-centric vs. application-centric workflows. Your company is sure to have both!

Managing SQL Server using dbatools with Rob Sewell Feb 21, 2018

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Ready to manage SQL Server with PowerShell? Richard chats with Rob Sewell about dbatools, an open source effort to build an amazing set of PowerShell commands for SQL Server. Yes, Microsoft has a few PowerShell commands implemented, but when you see the dbatools set, you'll see what PowerShell can really do for you! Rob talks about the focus on migration for continuous integration purposes, upgrading from one version of SQL Server to another, even into the cloud. If you wanted to get to a place where you can experiment with SQL Server configurations, settings and performance, you need dbatools!

The Intranet in 2018 with Susan Hanley Feb 14, 2018

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What's a company intranet look like in 2018? Richard chats with Susan Hanley about her work helping companies find value in their internal information management systems - after all, it's where you keep a lot of company value! The conversation starts out with a discussion around search, the bane of most intranet implementations. Sure people want Google, but do they really? The indexing system that Google relies on doesn't make sense in an internal website. Susan points out that today's modern intranet is typically in the cloud, taking advantage of great tools like Office 365. That helps with search, but it starts with culture - does your organization value finding existing things? Without culture, the tech can't save you!

Query Store and Automatic Tuning in SQL 2017 with Erin Stellato Feb 07, 2018

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SQL Server keeps getting smarter! Richard talks to Erin Stellato about Query Store and Automatic Tuning. First introduced in SQL Azure, these features showed up in SQL Server 2016 and improved substantially in 2017. Erin describes Query Store as a kind of black box for databases, similar to an aircraft, but you don't need to wait for a crash to value the data stored in it. Query Store is a real-time record of the queries happening in your database, along with the query plan and what caused the query to wait. This leads to a ton of tuning opportunities, including automated tuning, where SQL Server will recommend indexes and other performance features for itself!

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