https://blog.jqmartin.co.uk/ Recent content in John's little blog on John's Blog Hugo -- gohugo.io en Tue, 23 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jqmartin.co.uk/blog/2024/tfdeployadf/ Tue, 23 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jqmartin.co.uk/blog/2024/tfdeployadf/ In this post we will have a quick look at how we can use Terraform to deploy Azure Data Factory into our Azure subscription and setup GitHub integration for source control. One of the main reasons that I tend to select Terraform over Bicep for much of my platform engineering is that there is a vibrant provider ecosystem which means I can interact with additional technology. In this case we will be using the GitHub provider to spin up the repo as part of the deployment without needing to provision it manually ahead of time, or write custom code to use the API to include it in the automated process. https://blog.jqmartin.co.uk/blog/2024/tsqltuesday003-relationships/ Tue, 16 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jqmartin.co.uk/blog/2024/tsqltuesday003-relationships/ In this trip down memory lane we are going all the way back to February 2010 and Rob Farley (l|b) proposing the topic of relationships. There were several things that came to mind when I was looking at this topic. These included building collaborative teams that crossed the traditional Dev/DBA/Infra boundaries, or managing external suppliers. However, the one that really stuck in my mind was related to a mistake that I made when managing a database system which resulted in a lot of data being inadvertently deleted. https://blog.jqmartin.co.uk/blog/2024/tfaznamingprefixpython/ Tue, 09 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jqmartin.co.uk/blog/2024/tfaznamingprefixpython/ In my recent post Automating Resource Naming with Terraform Locals I referred to the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF) naming convention and how I used Terraform locals and expressions to build the names. Part of that was establishing a locals map of resource keys and values which are then used in the expression. Given the number of resources which exist this can be a bit of a task to create and then maintain, so I have looked to do a little bit of scripting to automate this task. https://blog.jqmartin.co.uk/blog/2024/tf-namingautomation/ Tue, 02 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jqmartin.co.uk/blog/2024/tf-namingautomation/ I have been working with Terraform again recently and one of the things that I have to deal with on a regular basis is making sure that resources are named appropriately. When I say appropriately I mean that they all follow the same standard pattern, with prefixes etc. My default is to go for the suggested structure from the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF) documentation. Unless you have a custom resource naming convention already this is a really good place to start. https://blog.jqmartin.co.uk/blog/2024/sqlbits2024/ Tue, 26 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jqmartin.co.uk/blog/2024/sqlbits2024/ Back on StageToday I will be looking back at SQL Bits 2024 which I was lucky enough to present at and attend last week in Farnborough. My Main SessionIt’s been a long time since I have presented a full-length session due to the pandemic and various other things which have kept me out of the conference scene largely since PASS Summit 2022. So, it was nice to have the opportunity to get back on stage to share my knowledge with members of the data platform community at SQL Bits 2024 in Farnborough. https://blog.jqmartin.co.uk/blog/2024/deployazuredbwithterraform/ Tue, 19 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jqmartin.co.uk/blog/2024/deployazuredbwithterraform/ I have been using Terraform for a few years now, and I have to say that I am a big fan. It is versatile and can be extended using PowerShell, Bash, Command line, and ARM where needed to fill gaps in its coverage. Here we are going to have a quick look at how to deploy an Azure SQL Database using Terraform. AssumptionsI’m going to make the following assumptions about the setup of your client workstation before we start writing any HCL and deploying resources. https://blog.jqmartin.co.uk/blog/2024/tsqltuesday046-disasterrecovery/ Tue, 12 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jqmartin.co.uk/blog/2024/tsqltuesday046-disasterrecovery/ Another post from the T-SQL Tuesday archives finds me thinking about disaster recovery and how far things have come. Back in June of 2011 Allan Kinsel talked about how the onset of hurricane season inspired the topic. All the way back then I was in my first proper DBA role and managing an environment which was split between the south of the UK and also had two co-location sites in the US. https://blog.jqmartin.co.uk/blog/2024/tsqltuesday031-io/ Tue, 05 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jqmartin.co.uk/blog/2024/tsqltuesday031-io/ Another trip into the T-SQL Tuesday archive today, this time taking a look at the topic of IO which was originally posted by Mike Walsh back in March 2010. Thinking back over my history of working with database systems, and SQL Server in particular, there have been numerous IO related things to tinker with and solve. However, the topic that I will cover in this post is running SQL Server data files on Azure blob storage. https://blog.jqmartin.co.uk/blog/2024/tsqltuesday012-whydbaskills/ Tue, 27 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jqmartin.co.uk/blog/2024/tsqltuesday012-whydbaskills/ For this post I’m diving into the T-SQL Tuesday archives for inspiration, and I’m going to be discussing Paul Randal’s topic of Why DBA Skills are Necessary. Originally, this topic was posted for discussion back in October 2010 and you can find Paul’s summary post with the contributions from the original posters here. Given that there has been over a decade since the original topic was discussed I thought it would be interesting to look back on how my views have evolved over the years. https://blog.jqmartin.co.uk/events/sqlbits2024/ Sun, 25 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jqmartin.co.uk/events/sqlbits2024/ SQL Bits 2024 - March 22nd, Farnborough, UKI’m going to be presenting my session “The Swiss Cheese Security Pattern” on the Friday at SQL Bits in Farnborough at 13:40 in Room 9. This session will look at how to create a security strategy for the real world. We will start by covering the mindsets to adopt and some of the important elements to consider when building a security strategy. Then explore the detail of how to build a strategy using a risk-based technique, before looking at how that would then apply to a common technical scenario. https://blog.jqmartin.co.uk/blog/2024/welcome-post/ Sun, 11 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jqmartin.co.uk/blog/2024/welcome-post/ Welcome to the new blog, better than the last blog.It has been a while since I worked on the blog and with the new year abound I have decided to give the blog a revamp. I have been building up a list of posts and things that I want to cover in the blog and look forward to sharing these with all of you as we go through the year.