I attended DataOpticon yesterday in London. It was excellent. Massive credit to Steph Locke (b|t) for organising and gracious thanks to Microsoft and all the sponsors for hosting. Between sessions, Steph introduced me to a pair of folks who had a technical question. Steph thought I might be able to help. This is amazing.#DataOpticon pic.twitter.com/MqHAQrUtLU — Alex Yates (@_AlexYates_) September…
Author Archive for Alex Yates
A new chapter
I wasn’t kidding when I tweeted this a few days ago: Yesterday marked three years since my life changing decision to start DLM Consultants. It’s been a good three years. And I suspect the next three years will be even better. https://t.co/TYyz8lXvox — Alex Yates (@_AlexYates_) May 10, 2019 Every syllable of that tweet had been considered very carefully. The…
How to call the Azure DevOps Services API with PowerShell on hosted build agents
The problem My customer has a data warehouse solution. It consists of nine databases with a well defined architecture. They need to be deployed in a specific order – the source database first, followed by various dependant databases in sequence. Due to the tight coupling of the databases, they all exist in the same git repo in Azure DevOps Services, with…
Feedback on the new DLM Workshops
Just a quick note to share my excitement about how well the first iteration of our new and improved DLM Workshops went! The first workshop ran on UK hours earlier this month. It was the first time we hosted the VMs ourselves and the first time we ran a public course using TFS/VSTS and it went really well. We now…
Traditional database security doesn’t protect data
In the context of the GDPR and data breach epidemic, I spent about 50% of my time from Nov 2017 until May 2018 supporting Redgate customers to manage their data privacy concerns. It was a great learning experience for me and I’m looking forward to doing plenty more “compliant DevOps” work during the rest of 2018 and 2019. I’ve also…
DLM Workshops are evolving
When I started DLM Consultants I went to market with three packaged services as well as an option for bespoke consultancy. It went very well and we are still here two years later. The team has grown (more on that in an upcoming blog post) and through that growth we have developed the ability to take on bigger and more…
Simple query to return columns that have been classified as sensitive in SQL Server
A few months back, in response to new regulations like the GDPR and a growing concern about data breaches and other data privacy issues, Microsoft released a new data privacy feature in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS). Since SSMS 17.5, users have been able to use new classification functionality that sniffs out any of the columns on your database with…
Show me your Code of Conduct or I don’t go
A quick declaration: I’ve been thinking about which events I should and should not be attending this year. There are so many, it’s hard to choose. One of the issues that I’ve been becoming increasingly aware of is the importance of a code of conduct to so many people in our industry. Many folks feel uncomfortable attending events if there…
Speaking Mentors
I’m one of the organisers of SQL Relay and I’m always looking for new speakers. There aren’t enough new people speaking at community events and that’s sad. It doesn’t promote fresh ideas and thinking. On Wednesday evening last week I was thinking about this and I was feeling generous so I casually made an offer on Twitter as I left…
RIP Swag Bags (and some other changes for SQL Relay 2018)
In 2016 I wrote about how I was stepping in to some pretty big shoes, taking the baton from Steph Locke to manage the sponsorship for SQL Relay 2017. Joining the SQL Relay organising committee was my first experience as a conference organiser. Queue clichés… No, I didn’t realise quite how much work it would be. No, I didn’t realise…