Reitse Eskens

Reitse Eskens

@2meterdba.bsky.social

MVP | MCT | Azure | Fabric | SQL Server | Photography | Learning | Teaching | Blogging | PowerShell | Speaker | He/Him | Mostly harmless

1.1K followers679 following1.3K posts

Reitse Eskens
@2meterdba.bsky.social

Thank you, Hugo This blog post responds to Hugo's latest post, titled Game Over. On Bluesky, an initiative was started to share how Hugo inspired, helped, or otherwise touched your work or community life. Add your response using the hashtag #ThankYouHugo. There's no specific date, format, or…

sqlreitse.comThank you, HugoThis blog post responds to Hugo's latest post, titled Game Over. On Bluesky, an initiative was started to share how Hugo inspired, helped, or otherwise touched your work or community life. Add your response using the hashtag #ThankYouHugo. There's no specific date, format, or length requirement.
Reitse Eskens
@2meterdba.bsky.social

Blog alert! This time on load testing the General Purpose, including the comparisons with Standard and Premium tiers. #Azure #AzureSql #AzureSqlDb #GeneralPurpose #Loadtesting

sqlreitse.comLoad Testing SQL: The sequel. General Purpose EditionMy previous post on load testing Azure SQL covered the Premium Edition; today I'm moving to the General Purpose Tier. The GP tier comes in two flavours: regular and serverless. Serverless has only one hardware tier: Gen5. With provisioned, you can also select memory-optimised or confidential compute. In earlier tests, I never found significant differences between serverless and provisioned, so I skipped testing both SKUs.
Reitse Eskens
@2meterdba.bsky.social

Blog Alert! This time on a silly issue, when my log files were in the wrong encoding, and I needed PowerShell to decode them. #Powershell #Encoding #Utf16 #Utf8 #Automation

sqlreitse.comOh No! My files are in the wrong encoding!The post discusses common issues with file encoding when using PowerShell, specifically when logs appear corrupted or unintelligible. It provides a solution by ensuring commands use UTF-8 encoding and includes a PowerShell script that repairs damaged files by converting UTF-16 data back to UTF-8, enabling proper data recovery.
Reitse Eskens
@2meterdba.bsky.social

Blog Alert! This time on load testing the Azure SQL Premium SKU. #Azure #AzureSql #AzureSqlDb #LoadTesting #Premium

sqlreitse.comLoadtesting SQL: The Sequel: Premium EditionMy previous post on load testing Azure SQL covered the Standard Edition; today I'm moving to the Premium Edition, which is Business Critical in DTU shape. Again, the calculation mixes CPU, Memory, and disk I/O. The main difference between Standard and Premium is cost. Premium is more expensive and aimed at mission-critical workloads. It has faster storage and built-in replication options.
Reitse Eskens
@2meterdba.bsky.social

Isn’t this what’s running Rayfin?

AT Protocol Developers@atproto.com

For those who run Node.js services—we are currently still waiting for a Node.js security release. In the meantime you can apply a runtime mitigation by adding `--import=@atproto-labs/fetch-node/emudhra-preload` to your service entrypoint. More details at: npmx.dev/package/@atp...

Reitse Eskens
@2meterdba.bsky.social

Today I learned that when you use a parameter in a pipeline, and bind that parameter to a Notebook, that parameter will be used. Which is fine, unless you meant to use the JSON array that actually contains the information it needs…

Reitse Eskens
@2meterdba.bsky.social

Blog alert! It's time to give Azure SQL a new run for it's DTU's. Let's see what the Standard Tier can do. #Azure #AzureSql #SqlServer #DBA #NoAI #AzureSqlDB

sqlreitse.comLoad testing SQL, the sequel. Standard EditionThis series of posts is much overdue, but with good reason. When I started hammering Azure SQL again, I had a set of scripts to run and tried to figure out what was happening. For most databases, I could explain the results, but some didn't make sense. I'll get back to that later in this series. A few years ago, I did a similar performance-testing series, where I created the data on the database itself using SqlStress to run a massive load of queries and see what happened.

Reitse Eskens reposted

ErikEJ
@erikej.bsky.social

Migrating SQL Server databases to Azure SQL just got a little easier 🎉 SqlPackage can now skip Windows users and other Azure-incompatible objects when exporting a .bacpac. buff.ly/Eyke1Gl

buff.lysqlpackage can now skip Windows users and other Azure incompatible objects when exporting a .bacpacIf you have ever tried to export a SQL Server database to a .bacpac file with sqlpackage, you have most likely run into the dreaded SQL71627 error, complaining about a Windows user or login. I ran…
Reitse Eskens
@2meterdba.bsky.social

We always thought AI wouldn't come for our jobs. We now have customers asking why they need a data platform, because AI can do all of that for them (Osmos, Rayfin). And I do not have a good answer. Yes, both toolsets still need to prove themselves, but I'm wondering what the future will hold.

Reitse Eskens
@2meterdba.bsky.social

Blog Alert! This time on Azure DevOps Pipeline authentication for Azure Key Vault and Microsoft Fabric using Workload Identity Federation (WIF) #DevOps #CICD #AzureDevOps #MicrosoftFabric #WorkloadIdentityFederation

sqlreitse.comDipping my toes into Azure DevOps DeploymentsThat's a lot of D's. It's also my rating; people like Kevin Chant rate at least an A. Anyway, Kevin has written a lot about working with CI/CD; I'm here to clarify what I ran into while building a solution to deploy Fabric code from the Dev environment (a set of workspaces) to production. What's the use case? Let me generalise first: you can essentially choose two options to promote your hand-crafted and superior code compared to anyone else from development to production.
Reitse Eskens
@2meterdba.bsky.social

Blog alert! There's anew Capacity Metrics App for you to try! #MicrosoftFabric #CapacityMetrics #PowerBI #App

sqlreitse.comFabric Capacity Metrics App, a huge upgrade!In case you missed it, Microsoft released a new version of the Metrics App. We all know the current one, and we have opinions on it. But it's all we've got from Microsoft, so we made do. But now, there's a new one. Or, well, a new one. When you install a new version, you get a second option! Preview added…
Reitse Eskens
@2meterdba.bsky.social

Blog alert! This time on experiences at the SqlCon/FabCon event in Barcelona. #SqlConEurope #FabConEurope #SqlServer #AzureSql #MicrosoftFabric

sqlreitse.comMicrosoft Fabric and SQL Community Conference 2026, the Barcelona editionLast week was filled with talks about SQL Server and Fabric. A large portion of the community travelled to Barcelona to learn from community leaders and Microsoft on their favourite topics. I'll take you through my personal experiences and highlights. Day 0: the MVP day On Monday, you have three options, depending on your relationship with Microsoft. You can join the Partner Day if your company is a Microsoft partner.
Reitse Eskens
@2meterdba.bsky.social

When people come up to me and say “I’ve asked AI and it told me xyz is true”, I tend to react as if stung. Why? In general, AI models start by returning information that was true, or at least found, when they were trained. See the past tense here?

Reitse Eskens
@2meterdba.bsky.social

More often than not, when I told the AI that it has to check current docs and return the links, it turns all anti-depressant on me, telling me I’m absolutely right, it should have done that before and now it has the correct answer.

Reitse Eskens
@2meterdba.bsky.social

Please always check the results. Do not blindly accept what the model tells you. Or even better, do your own research because in most cases, it’s just an advanced ‘let me google that for you’.

Reitse Eskens
@2meterdba.bsky.social

Blog alert! This time on the #FabConEurope announcement on the On-Demand capacities for Fabric. They're new and cool, go check them out! #MicrosoftFabric #OnDemandCapacities #F0

sqlreitse.comFabric on-demand capacity: the first experiencesIf you've been following the releases announced at FabCon, you must have seen one of the bigger Fabric ones: the on-demand capacities. Now, this blogpost is based on my personal, private preview, experiences. The documentation is not yet available. I've been told it won't take long before that will be available; just as the option to actually deploy it will appear soon.

Reitse Eskens reposted

Justin Bird 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
@justinjbird.com

It is RetroData week! Saturday brings TEN HOURS of free practical learning. 10:00 UTC+1 @2meterdba.bsky.social on picking an Azure SQL DB tier - real projects, real costs, and a test script you can take away. 11:00 UTC+1 @marcorus.bsky.social goes inside the VertiPaq engine. swfta.uk/retro-beta

tinyurl.comRetro Data Beta, Sat, Sep 26, 2026, 8:00 AM | MeetupOur agenda is live! 📅 Saturday, September 26, 2026 📅 🕜 8:00 am ⭐️ SUPERCHARGE YOUR DASHBOARDS WITH POWER BI We’ll explore advanced techniques for optimizing data models
Reitse Eskens
@2meterdba.bsky.social

Blog alert! This time on a new, preview feature in the Azure portal: Resiliency Agent. Or, how to check if your (data) resources can handle an outage. #Azure #DataPlatform #AzureSql #MicrosoftFabric #Resiliency #Copilot

sqlreitse.comAzure: Check your data platforms resiliencyWait, what? Resiliency? Against what? Well. The cloud sounds like an amazing, magical place without limits. The truth is, it isn't. Maybe you've seen the funny T-shirts with the text "the cloud is just someone else's computer". And that's true. Instead of building and maintaining your own data centre, you're hiring a global corporation to do that for you. And with that, you get a whole lot of options.
Reitse Eskens
@2meterdba.bsky.social

Blog alert! This time on my struggles with migrating a Power BI report between tenants, and a solution. #MicrosftFabric #PowerBI #SemanticModel

sqlreitse.comPower BI: the tale of migrating a report between two tenantsBefore I get started, yes, I'm going to write about Power BI. If you're not familiar with my work, the long and short of it is that I tend to keep a healthy distance from anything involving semantic models and reports. Why? In one word, pie charts. Sorry if that triggered you. But every now and again, I need to do work adjacent to this; specifically, when onboarding new clients or helping them migrate things, I have to touch the Power BI stuff too.
Reitse Eskens
@2meterdba.bsky.social

Blog Alert! This time on why, and how, I found the Staging setting for the Fabric Copy Job. #MicrosoftFabric #CopyJob #Staging

sqlreitse.comFabric Copy Job: Find the staging!This week, I worked for a client using the following setup. Setup They're using SQL Server databases to store their OLTP data. They use a variety of options to authenticate. Fabric isn't using private links or anything; it connects to the data through the on-premises data gateway. Inside Fabric, we chose the Copy Job activity because it helps the customer maintain the solution and fits the data we need to ingest.
Reitse Eskens
@2meterdba.bsky.social

Blog Alert! This time on how REGEXP_LIKE is a little confusing compared to other SQL Server RegEx functions. #SqlServer #AzureSql #DBA #RegEx

sqlreitse.comSQL Server REGEX_LIKE confusionI was trying out some things to learn more about RegEx when I ran into something weird. When using REGEX_LIKE in a query, I got an error in both SQL Server and Azure SQL Hyperscale. Now, I learned what will be shared in this blog from Cláudio Silva, Greg Low, and Erland Sommarskog. They were very kind to share their experiences and knowledge.
Reitse Eskens
@2meterdba.bsky.social

Speaking at #datasatoslo was, as usual, an excellent experience. Great people, audiences that were interacting, and the venue this year was very very good, Enora can be proud! The only thing for me was the distracting views when presenting. Coming from a flat country, this view was truly mindblowing

Reitse Eskens
@2meterdba.bsky.social

Next week, I'll be travelling to one of my favourite conferences of the year, Data Saturday Oslo. Just after lunch, I'll be speaking on my experiences with load testing Microsoft Fabric.

Reitse Eskens
@2meterdba.bsky.social

Tickets are still available, so head over to datasaturday.no and secure your tickets now, and see who else is sharing top-level knowledge. You won't be disappointed! #DataSaturday #Oslo #Norway #MicrosoftFabric #Community #Speaking #datasatoslo

datasaturday.noData Saturday Oslo 2026 - 29th AugustData Saturday Oslo is a training event for professionals who use data platform capabilities either on-premises or in one or more of the 3 major public clouds Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure or Go...
Reitse Eskens
@2meterdba.bsky.social

At the beach. Where, according to legend, the fun is. So far, it’s warm, sandy, and smells of sunscreen. Not sure what people like here, other than walking or riding their bike. At least it’s not really noisy. But I could have done fun, useful things instead…

Reitse Eskens
@2meterdba.bsky.social

I love the fact that security is further improved to TLS1.2 only, with my hope that 1.3 won't take long. In my opinion, more security is more better. #AzureSql #tls #tls12 #Security #DataProtection

Reitse Eskens
@2meterdba.bsky.social

Together with the great people of Packt, I’m going to work on a book that will help you achieve your DP-800: SQL and AI certification. As this will take up some significant time, I might blog a little less, and now you know why. #Writing #DP800 #SqlServer #AzureSql #MCP #AI #mvpbuzz

Reitse Eskens
@2meterdba.bsky.social

Blog alert! I've reached 250 blog posts! Some thoughts on how I got here, and why I keep going. #AI #SqlServer #AzureSql #SqlFamily #Community #Mvpbuzz #DataCommunity

sqlreitse.com250 blog postsLast week, I noticed that I published my 250th blog post. I'm not sure if it's something to celebrate (I'm not really someone who celebrates things), but it is an extra reason to write a new post. Endurance I started writing in 2018 after Brent Ozar suggested I do this. He also told me that the first blog posts wouldn't get that much attention, and that I had to sustain the effort to keep writing.

Reitse Eskens reposted

Darling Data
@erikdarling.com

built a claude code plugin that reads sql server execution plans and tells you what's wrong. /plugin marketplace add erikdarlingdata/claude-plugins /plugin install sqlserver-query-plans@erikdarling then run /reload-plugins and just point it at a .sqlplan file: github.com/erikdarlingd...

github.comGitHub - erikdarlingdata/claude-plugins: Claude Code plugins from Erik Darling DataClaude Code plugins from Erik Darling Data. Contribute to erikdarlingdata/claude-plugins development by creating an account on GitHub.
Reitse Eskens
@2meterdba.bsky.social

It's Friday. I've started a new project this week that has some rough edges. A new Jira board has been created to smooth them out. The company's name is not weird. Jira: hold my beer while I abbreviate it. Result: NSFW.

Reitse Eskens
@2meterdba.bsky.social

Blog alert! This time on #tsql2sday invite nr 200! When I look at a query ...

sqlreitse.comT-SQL Tuesday 200: When I Look at a Query …First up, congrats to Adam Machanic and Steve Jones on reaching 200 episodes of T-SQL Tuesday; you can be proud of yourselves! I've always loved the variety of topics, the different views of the bloggers, and the learning that can be gained from all the posts. I've even had the honour of hosting. Anyway, Brent Ozar invites us this month to write about the most horrible things we've encountered in a query.
Reitse Eskens
@2meterdba.bsky.social

Blog alert! This time on the topic of semantic model refresh in Fabric, as part of the ongoing DP-700 training series. #MicrosoftLearn #MicrosoftFabric #SemanticModel #Monitoring

sqlreitse.comDP-700 training: Monitor semantic model refreshAs you've probably heard and read before, monitoring your Fabric environment as a whole is quite important. It really does help to know what's going on. Now, one thing I've learned over all these years is that report users do quite like their data to be as fresh and up to date as possible. And, when the data seems stale, they tend to ask questions.