Bob Ward is a Principal Architect for the Microsoft Azure Data team, which owns the development for Microsoft SQL Edge to Cloud. Bob has worked for Microsoft for 30-plus years on every version of SQL Server shipped from OS/2 1.1 to SQL Server 2022, including Azure SQL. Bob is a well-known speaker on SQL Server, Azure SQL, AI, and Microsoft Fabric, often presenting talks on new releases, internals, and specialized topics at events such as SQLBits, Microsoft Build, Microsoft Ignite, PASS Summit, DevIntersection, and VS Live. You can also learn Azure SQL from him on the popular series aka.ms/azuresql4beginners. You can follow him at @bobwardms or linkedin.com/in/bobwardms. Bob is the author of the books Pro SQL Server on Linux, SQL Server 2019 Revealed, Azure SQL Revealed, and SQL Server 2022 Revealed, available from Apress Media.

Topics of Discussion:

[4:22] Bob’s long history with Microsoft and the evolution of SQL Server.

[6:41] What are the big use cases that SQL Server can now do?

[7:38] Beyond RDBMS framework.

[9:34] Building innovation off an already trusted brand.

[9:50] What’s the vision of AI on SQL Server?

[10:51] It’s all about smarter searching.

[14:26] AI assistance features in SQL Server, such as the SQL Copilot and natural language to SQL query generation.

[16:02] Hybrid searching.

[19:41] Challenges and opportunities in AI Integration.

[20:43] Content moderation is now being added to the loop.

[22:39] The categories of different models.

[23:16] The potential for industry-specific models to enhance AI capabilities in fields like insurance underwriting.

[28:19] Knowing which model to use.

[33:17] The trend towards industry-specific training of AI models to better suit specific business needs.

[34:07] The current vision for SQL Server.

[35:22] Innovating in the cloud.

[38:30] The potential for SQL Server to handle AI workloads on small form factors, such as edge devices and standalone boards.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Clear Measure Way

Architect Forum

Software Engineer Forum

Programming with Palermo — New Video Podcast! Email us at programming@palermo.net.

Clear Measure, Inc. (Sponsor)

.NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer’s Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo — Available on Amazon!

Jeffrey Palermo’s Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events!

Ep 162 with Bob Ward

Bob on LinkedIn

Azure SQL Revealed: The Next-Generation Cloud Database with AI and Microsoft Fabric

SQL-AI-Samples

Samples

Intelligent Applications with Azure SQL Database

LangChain

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Jeff was born and raised in The Netherlands and is an IT geek with a passion for automation. At the young age of 6, he had his very first computer and started developing his own Pacman to learn Batch programming. Looking back, the performance was terrible, but it worked. Over the years, he has always kept in touch with some sort of scripting or programming languages, such as Batch, (Turbo) Pascal, PHP, Delphi, Kixtart, Visual Basic Scripting (VBS), VB .NET, PowerShell, and C# .NET (Core). He is the owner of Methos, a consultancy and managed services company from The Netherlands focused on Microsoft Modern Workplace (Windows + Intune + Office365) and Azure through automation and Infrastructure-as-Code.

Topics of Discussion:

[4:19] Jeff’s passion and the three turning points in his career.

[8:47] The architecture and intention behind PowerShell being built on .NET.

[12:33] What are the biggest mistakes Jeff sees people making when it comes to PowerShell?

[11:50] Best practices for using PowerShell in DevOps environments, and common mistakes to avoid.

[16:04] Differences between binary and PowerShell-based modules, and the benefits of exploring module code.

[18:18] Leveraging .NET code in PowerShell scripts and the advantages of this approach.

[20:00] Preferred methods for writing automated tests for PowerShell code.

[23:39] Jeff’s current focus areas, including certifications and his upcoming “script portal” project.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Clear Measure Way

Architect Forum

Software Engineer Forum

Programming with Palermo — New Video Podcast! Email us at programming@palermo.net.

Clear Measure, Inc. (Sponsor)

.NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer’s Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo — Available on Amazon!

Jeffrey Palermo’s Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events!

Jeff on Twitter

Jeff on LinkedIn

Jeff Wouters

Methos

jeff@methos.nl

Want to Learn More?

Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

Grant Fritchey has over thirty years of experience in IT, specializing in development and database administration. He works for Red Gate Software as a Product Advocate and writes articles for SQL Server Central and Simple-Talk. He is the author of “SQL Server Execution Plans” and “SQL Server Query Performance Tuning.” He also co-authored “Query Store for SQL Server 2019,” “Expert Performance Indexing,” “SQL Server MVP Deep Dives 2,” “Beginning SQL Server 2012 Administration,” and “Pro SQL Server 2012 Practices.”

He presents at conferences and user groups worldwide and is available for part-time, short-term consulting contracts.Since 2009, he has been recognized as a Microsoft SQL Server MVP. He has received the AWS Community Builder award for the past five years. In 2014, he was honored as a Dunn & Bradstreet MVP, and in 2011, he received the Tech10 Award in Rhode Island.

Topics of Discussion:

[:35] Introduction of Grant Fritchey and his career in IT and database administration.
[3:23] Grant’s journey from software development to becoming a DBA.
[5:13] The importance of database selection and how different types of databases serve different needs.
[11:27] Grant’s view on the addition of document support to major database platforms.
[13:29] Database hygiene basics and the importance of regular backups and restore practices.
[19:26] The business side of database recovery and balancing cost with recovery objectives (RPO/RTO).
[25:03] Grant’s recommendations for testing database restores.
[28:08] Automation in DevOps and the importance of human training in recovery processes.
[31:53] Managing data warehouses and recovery strategies for large databases.
[35:12] Resources for developers without dedicated DBAs to ensure good database hygiene.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Clear Measure Way

Architect Forum

Software Engineer Forum

Programming with Palermo — New Video Podcast! Email us at programming@palermo.net.

Clear Measure, Inc. (Sponsor)

.NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer’s Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo — Available on Amazon!

Jeffrey Palermo’s Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events!

SimpleTalk by Redgate

ScaryDBA.com

Grant Fritchey on X

Want to Learn More?

Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.