Hadoop Tutorial - from Yahoo Developer Network

Looking for a good intro and tutorial for Hadoop.
Look no further:  Hadoop Tutorial at Yahoo!.

Why Yahoo!  - they were effectively the first major company to embrace and extend Hadoop, helping to make it into what it is today.

Overview of R versions: CRAN, MRO, and R Server

Wondering just how the different versions of R compare?  And now doubt you have many of these questions:

1. Should I use: 
1. pure open source community supported CRAN version, 
2. enhanced Microsoft R Open, or 
3. R Server
2. Multi-threaded 
1. which R option, if any, supports multi-threading
3. In-memory constraint
1. which R option, if any, supports big data, and breaks out of the in-memory road block

Frank Banin has written up an excellent summary that compares the various R versions currently available. You can find it on SQLServerCentral:  Advanced Analytics with R & SQL: Part I - R Distributions

SSRS support for Power BI - in technical Preview!

If you love Power BI, but want a localized server option using SSRS, well its coming.

Announced on October 25, 2016 on the Power BI blog, they are releasing it into technical preview.   For this first review, you'll need an Azure account. No mention of when a local, on-premises preview will be available, but still this is great news.

See:  Technical Preview of Power BI reports in SQL Server Reporting Services

Video  - here's a video showing Power BI against SSRS 2016

Create a modern enterprise reporting and mobile BI solution with SQL Server 2016

Can I try it out on-premises?  

Ok, what you really want is to run a localized VM version.  Christopher Finlan has added a posting that outlines how you can download the VM from Azure and get it up and running as a localized VM. Find that post here:  How to run the Technical Preview of Power BI Reports in SQL Server Reporting Services on-prem using Hyper-V

Azure - Business Continuity with Geo-Replication

One great reason to move to Azure is the ease with which you can setup and manage disaster recovery (DR), high availability (HA) and your overall business continuity plan (BCP). And in April of 2016, Microsoft announced support for geo-replication for all service tiers.

(See  Azure SQL Database now supports powerful geo-replication features for all service tiers)

Great, so where to get started?  SimpleTalk.com has posted a great beginner article that discusses Geo-Replication. You can think of Geo-Replication as either log-shipping or mirroring for the Azure SQL Database environment, but either way, one benefit is that the passive secondary databases have three distinct benefits:

1. Readability!  the secondaries are readable.
2. Multiple passive secondaries
3. A possible lower cost that the primary

You can find Simple-Talk's report at SQL Database: How to Configure Active Geo-Replication.

Master Data Services - an overview of the mechanics

Looking for an overview of the mechanics of Master Data Services.  One that covers the internals, and other mechanical basics? Then check out this posting on Simple-Talk: Master Data Services – The Basics.

Warning for Custom Visualizations in Power BI can now be suppressed!

Kryptonite No More!

Early adopters of Power BI have long had to endure the pain of seeing a warning message whenever a user was reviewing a dashboard or report with a custom visual. Well, no more. Here is the official posting by Will Thompson (Product Manager, Power BI):

Will Thompson (Product Manager, Power BI, Microsoft Power BI) responded  ·  October 24, 2016

Hi everyone. We’ve added an option to turn off the warning for custom visuals. You’ll find it under the Security tab of the Options dialog. You can also remove unwanted visuals from your report by clicking the … in the Visualizations pane and selecting ‘Delete a Custom Visual’.

This is great news.  Having a warning pop-up as one of your executives is looking over a Power BI dashboard is not what most of us want.  You can read more about it here:

enable custom visualization warning supression.

Data Center Comics, by Diane Alber

Looking for just that right data center comic? We'll look no further.
You can find some great comics at the site http://www.kipandgary.com/.