• Azure - Microsoft - Oracle

    Azure VMs with Oracle- Next Steps

    August 13, 2019 - By 

    Microsoft has done a great job of documenting how to create a VM with the appropriate VM image and Oracle version, then how to log in, startup the listener and create the database.  I just have some enhancements I’d like to make to it, hoping to help it move up one level. I Bequeath to You All instructions provided by the Microsoft documentation show how to connect to the database using a bequeath, (BEQ) connection.  This is done by the following command, using SQL Plus, (or similar): sqlplus / as sysdba It bypasses the need for a connection string, only…

  • Azure - Linux - Microsoft

    Linux Scripting, Part IV- Scripting for Longevity

    July 31, 2019 - By 

    We’ve learned a lot about commands, utilities and how to create a script, but we need to discuss the importance of scripting for longevity. What is Scripting for Longevity?  We have a tendency to focus on scripting to automate something WE might not want to perform manually, but avoid what we think might void our value.  We may try to ensure there is necessity for our role or our knowledge as we create scripts.  This can be built into the execution process, scheduling, arguments, pre-run or post-run steps.  This doesn’t make us an asset, but a liability and against what…

  • Azure - Microsoft - Oracle

    Create an Oracle VM on Azure in Less than 5 Minutes

    July 17, 2019 - By 

    If there’s one thing I’ve been able to prove this week, it’s that even with the sweet 4G LTE, Wi-Fi setup in my RV, Montana still has the worst Wi-Fi coverage in the US.  Lucky for me, I work in the cloud and automate everything, because if there’s one thing I love about automating with scripts, is that I can build out a deployment faster and less resource intensive than anyone can from the portal. Oracle Virtual Machines in Azure When you build out an Azure VM, with Oracle, you’ll also need to have the supporting structure and a sufficiently…

  • Azure - Microsoft - Oracle

    Best Practices for Oracle Data Guard on Azure

    July 15, 2019 - By 

    I keep saying I’m going to start sharing what I’m doing in the Analytics space soon, but heck, there’s too much I need to keep adding to on the Oracle in Azure arena! So, as most people know, I’m not a big fan of Oracle RAC, (Real Application Cluster).  My opinion was that it was often sold for use cases that it doesn’t serve, (such as HA) and the resource demands between the nodes, as well as what happens when a node is evicted to those that are left are not in the best interest for most use cases.  On…

  • Azure - Microsoft - Oracle

    Oracle and Microsoft’s Cross-Cloud Partnership

    July 10, 2019 - By 

    A couple weeks back, Oracle and Microsoft announced their cross-cloud partnership.  This was wonderful news to me, as I’ve been working on numerous Oracle projects at Microsoft with Azure. The Gist To know that there is now a partnership between the two clouds and that there’s also a large amount of documentation about working between the two clouds is very helpful vs. the amount I’ve been working on based off just my knowledge.  Just as anyone appreciates a second set of eyes, I now have two company’s worth! If you missed the announcement and curious what it’s about, Oracle has…

  • Azure - Linux - Microsoft - SQLServer

    Linux Scripting, Part III

    May 28, 2019 - By 

    In the previous blog posts, we learned how to set up the first part of a standard shell script- how to interactively set variables, including how to pass them as part of the script execution. In this next step, we’ll use those to build out Azure resources. If you’re working on-premises, you can use this type of scripting with SQL Server 2019 Linux but will need to use CLI commands and SQLCMD. I will cover this in later posts, but honestly, the cloud makes deployment quicker for any business to get what they need deployed and with the amount of…

  • Azure - Linux - Microsoft

    Linux Scripting, Part II

    May 16, 2019 - By 

    In Part I, we started with some scripting basics, as in, how to write a script. This included the concepts of breaking a script into sections, (introduction, body and conclusion) For Part II, we’ll start with the BASH script “introduction”. The introduction in a BASH script should begin the same in all scripts. Set the shell to be used for the script Set the response to failure on any steps, (exit or ignore) Add in a step for testing, but comment out or remove when in production For our scripts, we’ll keep to the BASH format that is used by…

  • Azure - Oracle - SQLServer

    Oracle RAC vs. SQL Server AG

    March 28, 2019 - By 

    As I have seen the benefit for having a post on Oracle database vs. SQL Server architecture, let’s move onto the next frontier- High Availability…or what people think is high availability architecture in the two platforms. To RAC or Not to RAC There is a constant rumble among Oracle DBAs- either all-in for Oracle Real Application Cluster, (RAC) or a desire to use it for the tool it was technically intended for. Oracle RAC can be very enticing- complex and feature rich, its the standard for engineered systems, such as Oracle Exadata and even the Oracle Data Appliance, (ODA). Newer…

  • Azure - Microsoft - Oracle - SQLServer

    Oracle vs. SQL Server Architecture

    March 20, 2019 - By 

    There are a lot of DBAs that are expected to manage both Oracle and MSSQL environments. This is only going to become more common as database platforms variations with the introduction of the cloud continue. A database is a database in our management’s world and we’re expected to understand it all. Its not an easy topic, but I’m going to post on it, taking it step by step and hopefully the diagrams will help. Its also not an apple to apple comparison, so hopefully, but starting at the base and working my way into it with as similar as comparisons…

  • Azure - Microsoft

    Migrating DB2 Databases to Azure

    March 14, 2019 - By 

    Yep, still doing a lot of database migrations. Just too many people wanting to migrate their other database platforms over to Azure… I have two customers that have DB2 databases and I know how overwhelming it can be to take on a project like this, so I thought I would go over the high level steps to this project to demonstrate it’s a lot easier than many first may believe. The SQL Server Migration Assistant is your friend and can take a lot of the hardship out of migration projects. The overall steps to the migration are as follows: Questions…

  • Azure - Azure CLI - Microsoft

    No Pause on the Azure Data Factory

    February 11, 2019 - By 

    Using only what you need in Azure is a crucial part of optimizing your environment in the cloud. You find that as attractive as Azure is for the masses, making this change to make sure what you do use is optimal will make it downright irresistible. Many customers, as they are ramping up with Azure Data Factory, (ADF) didn’t worry too much as they built out pipelines, as they could always pause the service at the resource level. In recent weeks this feature has been deprecated and customers may be at a loss as to how to proceed. The best…

  • Azure - Azure CLI - devops - Microsoft

    Azure Automation of A-to-Z, Part I

    January 29, 2019 - By 

    DevOps deployments and automation have numerous tools at their disposal, but most often, scripting is required. Although I’m a Microsoft Azure fanatic, I am also a strong advocate of Linux and with my two decades on Unix, I strongly prefer BASH over PoSH. I find the maturity of BASH and KSH highly attractive over PoSH and with my experience, I’m simply more skilled with shells native to the Linux OS. Before we get too far in, I know some of the text can be difficult to read and/or you want to copy and paste or you want some of the…

  • Azure - Database - Microsoft - Oracle

    Migrating Oracle Databases to Azure

    January 16, 2019 - By 

    Cloud is a still a huge buzz word because people are still moving to embrace it. As many companies that are in the cloud, there are still a large percentage of real estate that’s on-premises. As much as I’m now Analytics and AI with Azure, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that I’ve been adopted by a number of those inside Microsoft to assist in the migration of Oracle databases to Azure. There are three primary goals: Move to the cloud and Azure is their cloud choice, so they plan on staying with the Oracle database platform. Migrate current Oracle databases to…

  • Azure - Microsoft

    Visual Studio 2017 Incompatibility on *PROJ/SLN Files

    December 7, 2018 - By 

    Upon joining the Analytics and AI Team at Microsoft to support education, it became quickly apparent that my automation skills were needed more than getting me up to speed on Power BI.  My predecessor had built some great solutions, but to be more scalable, it would pay forward in the end for me to do the automation work, knowing I’d be granted a greater understanding of the products in the long run. The task of building out the automation, along with doing it in a way that is sustainable and easily supportable requires extensive research and one of the pieces…

  • Azure - Microsoft - performance

    Extended Events with Azure Analysis Services

    December 3, 2018 - By 

    Its almost standard fare to be using Azure Analysis Services with our customer deployments these days.  As our customers evolve the value of their data.  SSIS integration runtimes were pivotal to this and now that there is Azure Analysis Services, it’s even easier to get started with just a few clicks in the portal interface, (or for me, a simple step in a script… :)) and migrate runtimes to the cloud. One of the biggest challenges for any cloud migration project is performance issues, not due to cloud, but due to technologists attempting to perform tasks as they have on-premises…

  • Azure - devops - Microsoft - SQLServer

    Dynamic Firewall Creation for Azure Cloud Shell

    October 25, 2018 - By 

    I’ve been hesitant to post too much on my blog until since the hack, as there were some residual issues after the restoration of the site that took a bit to correct.  I’m finally feeling confident enough to start posting on everything I’m doing currently working with Azure and the education customers for Microsoft. One of the powerful tools I’ve been taking advantage of is the Azure Cloud Shell.  This cloud tool has the offering option of setting to PowerShell or Bash and I think you know which I chose. Although everything I do will require a PowerShell version in…

  • Azure - Azure CLI - devops - Microsoft

    Simple Template Pull In Azure

    October 23, 2018 - By 

      The I’ve been busy automating a solution we provide many of our Education customers that I discovered, due to a variety of technical skills, was hindered on using the solution while spending significant time deploying it.  New to Azure, I wanted to use templates with a bash script as my first deep dive into auto deployment, but was frustrated with the auto deployment templates “JSon’ing me to death”. I wanted to quickly post about a few tips working with templates and parameter files. JSon Format Checker If you’re like me, you have enough varying syntax formats in your brain…

  • Azure - Azure CLI - devops

    Use Azure CLI…I Beg You.

    October 15, 2018 - By 

    FYI-  this was the one post I had to restore manually after my blog was hacked a week back.  Its intact, but the post may appear a bit different than before, as I copied and pasted from the emailed version that occurs as part of my RSS feed.  Enjoy! Azure CLI made me feel right at home after working at Oracle in the Enterprise Manager CLI, (EMCLI)  The syntax is simple, powerful and allows an interface to manage Azure infrastructure from the command line, scripting out complex processing that would involve a lot of time in the user interface. I’d…