Voice of the DBA

Author: way0utwest

  • Creating Empty Repos in Azure DevOps–#SQLNewBlogger

    I saw someone struggling with getting started with a Visual Studio project and Azure DevOps. They got a conflict, which I’ll show and then get you started with an empty repo.

    Another post for me that is simple and hopefully serves as an example for people trying to get blogging as #SQLNewBloggers.

    The Problem with Initialized Repos

    First, I’ll open VS 2019 and create a new database project. I won’ t walk through that, but once I do, then I can add my project to source control. In the lower right corner, this is an option:

    2023-08-09 12_58_07-Zoomit Zoom Window

    I’ll choose a local repository here. I see plenty of people do this if they don’t want to use GitHub.

    2023-08-09 12_58_34-

    Now, I go to Azure DevOps and create a project. I initialize that project with a Readme, which seems like a good idea. You can see my online repo below:

    2023-08-09 12_56_01-VS DB Project Test - Repos

    When I create this, I get the options to link an existing repo or push up.

    2023-08-09 12_59_54-Database2 - Microsoft Visual Studio

    However, if I try to link my existing local repo, I get an error.

    2023-08-09 13_00_19-Database2 - Microsoft Visual Studio

    Why? I have a commit in the report (initialized with a readme) and commits locally. That’s a conflict.

    Creating an Empty Repo

    The way to avoid this is make an empty repo in Azure DevOps without anything in it. When you see this screen, un check the “add a README”. No matter how much you want to have one, don’t do this.

    2023-08-25 16_35_11-VS DB Project Test - Repos

    Now, you have an empty repo for the remote. You should see this online, with the first line noting this is empty. From here, you can use the second box to push your repo from the command line.

    2023-08-25 16_36_17-Files - Repos

    SQLNewBlogger

    This post was easy for me, but I’ve been in the situation where I’ve made this mistake. It’s annoying, but it’s also confusing as you should be able to make changes in both repos. That’s why we use git.

    You can, but not when both are initialized. You need to clone one from the other.

    This post took me about 15 minutes to create, with a good portion of time spent creating the scenario twice (two repos) and the db project in VS, which is slow. You could do this same thing and show how (and why) you set up a project linked to source control. If you use a couple systems (one at work and one at home) make two posts!

  • Webinar: The Cloud, the Future, and Bob Ward at the Summit

    I’m doing a webinar next week with Bob Ward, a principal architect for Microsoft working on Azure and SQL Server. I’ve had the chance to work with Bob quite a few times over the years, and I’m honored that I get to host a webinar with him.

    He has spent the last couple years doing a number of pre-con talks on SQL Server 2022 and how it integrates into a modern application. This year he has a pre-con on Monday at the Summit that looks at how you take your skills and move them to the cloud, with some hands-on experience in Azure. It’s not designed to sway you to Azure, but help you decide if it makes sense for your situation.

    It’s a great opportunity to learn about the Cloud and how it works. In the webinar, we’ll discuss some of the concepts and rational for considering the cloud as part of your future career.

    You can register here for our webinar next week. It’s Monday, Sep 18, at noon Eastern time.

  • Republish: The New Data Warehouse Choice

    Data warehousing has changed a lot in my 30+ years of working with data. With Microsoft Fabric, this editorial might be more interesting to read and reflect on how the world has changed.

    I’m on holiday today with my wife in Amsterdam, so you get to read: The New Data Warehouse Choice

  • A Break During a Long Trip

    It’s a day off for me, so why am I blogging?

    I actually wrote this a couple weeks ago as I was prepping for this trip. I’m in Amsterdam today, taking a few days with my wife.

    I came over to the UK on 1 Sep and I won’t go home until 16 Sept. With a very long trip, I decided to break this up in the middle. My wife joined me on the 7th, and she will go back on the 14th. It’s a vacation for us both from work, and taking advantage of the work trip means that I don’t feel quite so worn out from a long trip.

    If I’d stuck around this week in Cambridge and worked, which was something I thought about, I’d be pretty tired when I went home. Plus, I would really be missing my wife. We are rarely apart for more than a week, and it’s hard when we are.

    Not everyone travels for work, and many of us have other family commitments. However, my wife and I are always looking for opportunities to travel, and when things line up with work, we try to take advantage of them.

    Hopefully your day is going as well as mine.