Gianluca Sartori

Babelfish for PostgreSQL is an open-source project that calls itself a drop-in replacement for SQL Server. The idea behind it is simple: set up a PostgreSQL database with the Babelfish extension and it magically starts acting like SQL Server - accepting connections and commands from applications built for SQL Server, and maybe even saving you from those hefty licensing costs.

SQL Server is facing fierce competition from open-source databases like PostgreSQL, and even long-time advocates, including former MVPs and SQL Server celebrities, are recommending alternatives. Even I, under this mounting pressure, find myself questioning my long-established SQL Server faith.

Babelfish for PostgreSQL is an open-source project that calls itself a drop-in replacement for SQL Server. The idea behind it is simple: set up a PostgreSQL database with the Babelfish extension and it magically starts acting like SQL Server - accepting connections and commands from applications built for SQL Server, and maybe even saving you from those hefty licensing costs. In this session, we’ll put that claim to the test. We’ll introduce Babelfish, install it, and use it as the target database for an application originally designed for SQL Server. If Babelfish really delivers, what does that mean for SQL Server developers and DBAs? Could this be the nail in the coffin for SQL Server?

SQL Server is facing fierce competition from open-source databases like PostgreSQL, and even long-time advocates, including former MVPs and SQL Server celebrities, are recommending alternatives. Even I, under this mounting pressure, find myself questioning my long-established SQL Server faith.

SQL Server is facing fierce competition from open-source databases like PostgreSQL, and even long-time advocates, including former MVPs and SQL Server celebrities, are recommending alternatives. Even I, under this mounting pressure, find myself questioning my long-established SQL Server faith.

The last few years have seen the rise of time series databases, specialized for data that has a time attribute. Should you store your time series data in one of those databases? SQL Server 2022 has some new time series features: are they enough to make it a good choice? InfluxDB is the market leader in this space: what are the features that make it stand out? ADX is the go-to choice in Azure: how does it compare to InfluxDB? TimescaleDB is the Postgres path to time series: what makes it a good option? Join me in this session and help me pick a winner!

You bought a license for SQL Server 2022 and it's finally time to upgrade that old SQL Server 2008R2. That's great, but you have no idea how your application will work on the new version.

If you are working with time series data, such as IoT or telemetry, you probably know already that relational databases are not the best choice for this kind of data. What about Azure Data Explorer?

OK, you got the message: Extended Events is the way to monitor SQL Server from now on. However, you feel overwhelmed by XML shredding and the simplest of tasks seems impossible.

Are you faced with complaints from users, poor performing code from developers, and regular requests to build reports? Do you uncover installation and configuration issues on your SQL Server instances? Have you ever thought that in dire times avoiding Worst Practices could be a good starting point? If the answer is “yes”, then this session is for you: together we will discover how not to torture a SQL Server instance and we will see how to avoid making choices that turn out to be not so smart in the long run. You are probably thinking: “Hey, wait, what about Best Practices?”. Sometimes Best Practices are not enough, especially for beginners, and it is not always clear what happens if we fail to follow them. Worst Practices can show the mistakes to avoid. I have made lots of mistakes throughout my career: come and learn from my mistakes!

The last few years have seen the rise of time series databases, specialized for storing and analyzing data change over time. These databases are great for IoT projects and for telemetry data in general, but their behavior and feature set are different from what we have in relational databases.

You bought a license for SQL Server 2022 and it's finally time to upgrade that old SQL Server 2008R2. That's great, but you have no idea how your application will work on the new version.

Relational databases have been around for 40 years and they are a great choice for most data management needs. On the other hand, telemetry data has some properties that make it not exactly a great fit for a relational database. The last few years have seen the rise of time series databases, specialized for data that has a time attribute. Join me to see what a time series database is, how it works and how you can use it in your projects. I will demonstrate how this technology enables new possibilities and overcomes some limitations of relational databases. Are you working with IOT telemetry data or performance metrics? This is the session for you!

OK, you got the message: Extended Events is the way to monitor SQL Server from now on. However, you feel overwhelmed by XML shredding and the simplest of tasks seems impossible.

OK, you got the message: Extended Events is the way to monitor SQL Server from now on. However, you feel overwhelmed by XML shredding and the simplest of tasks seems impossible. Fear not: in this demo intensive session I will show you how to tackle the most challenging tasks without writing a single line of code. I will use the open-source tool XESmartTarget to audit logins, find unused objects, capture and notify deadlocks and much more. Stop doing things the hard way! Join me and learn how XESmartTarget can do all the heavy lifting for you.

Relational databases have been around for 40 years and they are a great choice for most data management needs. On the other hand, telemetry data has some properties that make it not exactly a great fit for a relational database. The last few years have seen the rise of time series databases, specialized for data that has a time attribute. Join me to see what a time series database is, how it works and how you can use it in your projects. I will demonstrate how this technology enables new possibilities and overcomes some limitations of relational databases. Are you working with IOT telemetry data or performance metrics? This is the session for you!

Monitoring SQL Server can become a very expensive business. Sure, the market offers countless paid solutions, but what if you have a large server estate and your budget is tight?

Lifting and shifting your application to the cloud is extremely easy, on paper. The hard truth is that the only way to know for sure how it is going to perform is to test it. Benchmarking on premises is hard enough, but benchmarking in the cloud can get really hairy because of the restrictions in PaaS environments and the lack of tooling. Join me in this session and learn how to capture a production workload, replay it to your cloud database and compare the performance. I will introduce you to the methodology and the tools to bring your database to the cloud without breaking a sweat. With WorkloadTools, benchmarking will be as easy as pie.

Lifting and shifting your application to the cloud is extremely easy, on paper. The hard truth is that the only way to know for sure how it is going to perform is to test it. Benchmarking on premises is hard enough, but benchmarking in the cloud can get really hairy because of the restrictions in PaaS environments and the lack of tooling. Join me in this session and learn how to capture a production workload, replay it to your cloud database and compare the performance. I will introduce you to the methodology and the tools to bring your database to the cloud without breaking a sweat. With WorkloadTools, benchmarking will be as easy as pie.