https://landonfowler.com/Follower of Christ. Teacher of tech.en-ushttps://landonfowler.com/2026/03/when-network-problems-are-cpu-memory-problems-an-azure-sql-managed-instance-story/https://landonfowler.com/2026/03/when-network-problems-are-cpu-memory-problems-an-azure-sql-managed-instance-story/The Incident Recently I received word that one of our Azure Data Factory pipelines was experiencing significant latency. At the heart of this pipeline is an Azure SQL Managed Instance that is used as a staging tier. I…Tue, 24 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2025/07/database-error-when-deploying-ssrs-reports/https://landonfowler.com/2025/07/database-error-when-deploying-ssrs-reports/The Problem We recently migrated the underlying “ReportServer” and “ReportServerTempDB” databases of our SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) environment to a newer instance. Everything worked fine and there were no…Wed, 30 Jul 2025 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2025/01/homepod-mini-stuck-configuring/https://landonfowler.com/2025/01/homepod-mini-stuck-configuring/I recently purchased a new HomePod mini to extend music into an unreached corner of the house. Having used multiple of the full size ones in the past, I pretty much knew what to expect and didn’t give setup a second…Fri, 17 Jan 2025 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2024/09/integrity-checks-on-availability-group-secondaries/https://landonfowler.com/2024/09/integrity-checks-on-availability-group-secondaries/Background Everyone knows that it’s a good idea to regularly run integrity checks on your databases (you are doing that right?). What may be less obvious is that it’s generally recommended with AlwaysOn Availability…Wed, 04 Sep 2024 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2024/07/orphaned-user-after-availability-group-failover/https://landonfowler.com/2024/07/orphaned-user-after-availability-group-failover/The Problem I encountered an issue lately where one particular service account kept losing access on a development instance. Since the login and user were present I went to one of the usual culprits, orphaned users. I…Fri, 19 Jul 2024 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2024/05/working-as-a-sql-server-dba-from-a-mac/https://landonfowler.com/2024/05/working-as-a-sql-server-dba-from-a-mac/In This Article TLDR Macs are a pleasant place to spend 40+ hours in your work week, and totally workable for those with Microsoft-centric jobs. Let me give you a jump start on how to make it work. The Background I’m…Tue, 07 May 2024 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2024/05/automate-failover-of-sql-server-always-on-availability-groups-with-powershell/https://landonfowler.com/2024/05/automate-failover-of-sql-server-always-on-availability-groups-with-powershell/The Problem One of the initiatives I’ve been working toward with my team this year is automating as much of our SQL Server patching as possible. Over time our environment has become increasingly complex, and while…Fri, 03 May 2024 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2023/12/set-database-target-recovery-time-with-powershell/https://landonfowler.com/2023/12/set-database-target-recovery-time-with-powershell/Background My colleague and I were recently looking for ways to improve our production Availabiity Group nodes. These are beefy machines with a large amount of memory, and things like buffer cache scans can be lengthy.…Wed, 20 Dec 2023 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2023/06/introducing-tiny-tech/https://landonfowler.com/2023/06/introducing-tiny-tech/I’m so happy to share with you a little project that I’ve been working on! Growing up, I always had a love for computers and an insatiable desire to learn about them, but there weren’t many resources available. It’s my…Mon, 05 Jun 2023 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2023/02/using-powershell-to-disable-or-enable-a-list-of-active-directory-users/https://landonfowler.com/2023/02/using-powershell-to-disable-or-enable-a-list-of-active-directory-users/I was doing some volunteer work recently when it came to my attention that there was a large number of enabled users in their Active Directory environment. This number was far greater than the amount of active…Fri, 17 Feb 2023 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2021/07/using-azure-icons-in-keynote/https://landonfowler.com/2021/07/using-azure-icons-in-keynote/Keynote is a fantastic tool for putting together slick presentations easily. Unfortunately, if you’re making those slides about Azure then you can hit a bit of a snag. Microsoft distributes their icons as SVG files,…Thu, 01 Jul 2021 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2020/11/striving-for-privacy-swimming-upstream/https://landonfowler.com/2020/11/striving-for-privacy-swimming-upstream/Introduction The struggle is real my friends. Everyone seems to want online privacy, or at least be concerned about it. There are a number of sophisticated and easy-to-use tools to help people achieve more of it. Yet it…Mon, 16 Nov 2020 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2020/09/coming-home-to-homekit/https://landonfowler.com/2020/09/coming-home-to-homekit/The Background From the outset, Apple’s HomeKit intrigued me. Over the years we have gradually become great fans of the Apple ecosystem, always appreciating the level of quality and smoothness that they bring to their…Fri, 18 Sep 2020 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2020/03/my-work-from-home-tips/https://landonfowler.com/2020/03/my-work-from-home-tips/We live in an interesting time where businesses have suddenly been forced into a remote work model in order to stay profitable during the COVID-19 crisis. Because of this, many people have now been thrown into a work…Wed, 18 Mar 2020 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2019/09/my-journey-to-better-privacy-part-6-conclusions/https://landonfowler.com/2019/09/my-journey-to-better-privacy-part-6-conclusions/Introduction Over the last few months I have been on a journey to better privacy. During that time I’ve gone over search, browsers, social networks/messaging, digital assistants, and email. This is not an exhaustive…Fri, 27 Sep 2019 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2019/09/my-journey-to-better-privacy-part-5-email/https://landonfowler.com/2019/09/my-journey-to-better-privacy-part-5-email/Updated 02/28/2020 Introduction If you’ve been following along, then you know I’m on a quest to increase privacy across my digital life. The next stop on that journey is email. This system of communication has become so…Tue, 17 Sep 2019 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2019/08/my-journey-to-better-privacy-part-4-digital-assistants/https://landonfowler.com/2019/08/my-journey-to-better-privacy-part-4-digital-assistants/Intro Since the time I was a child the idea of robotics and automation has appealed to me. When digital assistants started to hit the scene I was stoked. I imagined myself controlling my home like Tony Stark with…Sun, 18 Aug 2019 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2019/08/getting-started-as-a-sql-server-professional/https://landonfowler.com/2019/08/getting-started-as-a-sql-server-professional/I’ll never forget when I first started working with SQL Server. After the initial excitement of diving into something new I launched SSMS and then just sat there looking at a blank query window, with no idea what to do…Thu, 01 Aug 2019 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2019/07/my-journey-to-better-privacy-part-3-social-networks-and-messaging/https://landonfowler.com/2019/07/my-journey-to-better-privacy-part-3-social-networks-and-messaging/Intro I’m on a journey to improve my online privacy. Search engines and web browsers have already been covered in previous posts. What discussion on this topic would be complete without Social Networks (Facebook,…Wed, 31 Jul 2019 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2019/07/my-journey-to-better-privacy-part-2-browsers/https://landonfowler.com/2019/07/my-journey-to-better-privacy-part-2-browsers/TLDR My Recommendation : Firefox , with the extensions HTTPS Everywhere , uBlock Origin , Firefox Multi-Account Containers , and Cookie AutoDelete Privacy Simplified : If you just want privacy out-of-the-box and don’t…Thu, 25 Jul 2019 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2019/07/administering-azure-from-powershell-core/https://landonfowler.com/2019/07/administering-azure-from-powershell-core/Introduction Not long ago Microsoft proclaimed to us that they love Linux. And while many remain skeptical of that assertion (and not without reason), the tech giant is continually pouring more time and resources into…Mon, 15 Jul 2019 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2019/07/my-journey-to-better-privacy-part-1-search/https://landonfowler.com/2019/07/my-journey-to-better-privacy-part-1-search/Introduction The subject of privacy, for me, is one I’ve been more or less dodging for a long time. It’s something I feel strongly about. I make half-hearted attempts at improving it now and then. But overall I’ve…Tue, 09 Jul 2019 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2019/07/my-first-mobile-app/https://landonfowler.com/2019/07/my-first-mobile-app/Over the last several months I’ve been on a journey to a) learn Swift and b) create my very first mobile application. And I’m proud to announce that it is complete! Named “The Simple Workout”, it is exactly that. Just a…Wed, 03 Jul 2019 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2019/07/app-privacy-policy/https://landonfowler.com/2019/07/app-privacy-policy/Privacy Notice This privacy notice discloses the privacy practices for apps developed by me. Information Collection, Use, and Sharing Data is not collected, used, or shared. Your Access and My Security Measures No data…Mon, 01 Jul 2019 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2019/06/life-in-the-key-of-e/https://landonfowler.com/2019/06/life-in-the-key-of-e/Many years ago, sometime during high school, I set out to learn guitar. This was in the days before YouTube, so all I had to work with was an antique book of my dad’s. Utilizing that, and eventually the internet, I…Wed, 26 Jun 2019 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2019/05/quickly-copy-ad-group-memberships-to-a-new-user/https://landonfowler.com/2019/05/quickly-copy-ad-group-memberships-to-a-new-user/I recently moved into a new role and needed to to be added to a number of AD groups. An often-used method for this is to model a new employee’s permissions after someone already in the same role. For one or two groups…Mon, 06 May 2019 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2018/09/sql-server-failed-to-open-loopback-connection/https://landonfowler.com/2018/09/sql-server-failed-to-open-loopback-connection/TLDR : If you have the SQL Browser Service disabled then you must also have Shared Memory enabled, otherwise SQL Server can’t communicate with itself. While setting up a sandbox Always On Availability Group cluster…Tue, 25 Sep 2018 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2018/08/god-wants-only-your-good-no-matter-how-it-feels/https://landonfowler.com/2018/08/god-wants-only-your-good-no-matter-how-it-feels/One thing that has surprised me as a parent is how often interactions between my kids and myself mirror my relationship with God. Parenthood really gives you a unique opportunity to be on the flip side of the…Mon, 13 Aug 2018 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2018/08/kindle-fire-hd8-review/https://landonfowler.com/2018/08/kindle-fire-hd8-review/Background : I recently found myself wanting to replace my iPad Mini 2. It’s around four years old and starting to become sluggish enough to be frustrating. Given the incredibly low price of Amazon tablets on Prime Day,…Thu, 09 Aug 2018 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2018/04/list-the-manager-emails-for-ad-group-members-with-powershell/https://landonfowler.com/2018/04/list-the-manager-emails-for-ad-group-members-with-powershell/Below is a quick script I’ve been working on for a colleague. Its simple purpose is to query an AD group then display each member’s username and the email address of their manager. Hopefully this will help others…Thu, 05 Apr 2018 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2018/02/getting-started-with-powershell-desired-state-configuration-dsc/https://landonfowler.com/2018/02/getting-started-with-powershell-desired-state-configuration-dsc/As I’ve mentioned in other posts, Desired State Configuration (DSC) is a powerful technology with a lot of potential. However, due to how new it is and how rapidly it’s evolving, it can be difficult to get started and…Mon, 12 Feb 2018 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2018/02/installing-sql-server-using-desired-state-configuration/https://landonfowler.com/2018/02/installing-sql-server-using-desired-state-configuration/(Update: I’ve since discovered that SqlServerDsc has replaced xSQLServer.) One of my growing passions is using PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC) to automate all the things. I started out with simple…Mon, 05 Feb 2018 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2018/01/my-first-powershell-module-psoraenv/https://landonfowler.com/2018/01/my-first-powershell-module-psoraenv/Update (04/01/2019): We’ve hit over 100 downloads for PSOraenv! A big thanks to the PowerShell community. Please keep using it and let me know how I can make it better. ******* Most of my experience with Oracle has been…Fri, 26 Jan 2018 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2017/07/windows-server-core-jumpstart/https://landonfowler.com/2017/07/windows-server-core-jumpstart/Recently I’ve been looking into the potential that Windows Server Core holds for our environment. Like most eager new Core users, I imagine, I jumped in with grand visions of spinning up a VM quickly and being off to…Wed, 19 Jul 2017 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2017/06/the-final-push-crm-2016-is-live/https://landonfowler.com/2017/06/the-final-push-crm-2016-is-live/After months of ups and downs, plans built and destroyed, and countless hours invested, CRM 2016 is live. (Actually, it’s been live since Easter weekend. But keeping a blog up to date is obviously not one of my…Tue, 20 Jun 2017 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2017/02/dynamics-crm-installimport-the-sql-server-sqlserver_name-is-unavailable/https://landonfowler.com/2017/02/dynamics-crm-installimport-the-sql-server-sqlserver_name-is-unavailable/My apologies for the significant gap between my last post on our CRM 2016 Upgrade Adventure and this one. My time has been consumed with preparing for go-live, but I’ve been keeping track of the roadblocks and caveats…Wed, 22 Feb 2017 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2016/12/dynamics-crm-import-fails-on-upgrade-indexes/https://landonfowler.com/2016/12/dynamics-crm-import-fails-on-upgrade-indexes/As I mentioned in the last post, I’m taking you through our adventure in upgrading the existing on-premise Dynamics CRM 2011 environment to 2016 (and eventually 2016 cloud). Previously I discussed the first show-stopper…Wed, 07 Dec 2016 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2016/11/dynamics-crm-import-error-must-declare-the-scalar-variable-table/https://landonfowler.com/2016/11/dynamics-crm-import-error-must-declare-the-scalar-variable-table/This post is the first in a new series I’m going to call “CRM 2016 Upgrade Adventure”. Summary: my organization has taken on the ambitious challenge of not only upgrading our existing Dynamics CRM 2011 environment to…Wed, 30 Nov 2016 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2016/06/using-powershell-to-refresh-a-test-sql-server-instance-from-production/https://landonfowler.com/2016/06/using-powershell-to-refresh-a-test-sql-server-instance-from-production/A project I’ve been wanting to work on for a long time is how to automate restores of our Production databases to the Test instance. There are a number of challenges associated with this. First, the restore has to be…Mon, 27 Jun 2016 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2016/06/scripting-availability-group-failovers-for-windows-updates/https://landonfowler.com/2016/06/scripting-availability-group-failovers-for-windows-updates/In the past we’ve explored how to use PowerShell to automate failovers on SQL Failover Clusters for Windows Updates and other scheduled maintenance. But what if you’re using Availability Groups instead of the…Fri, 03 Jun 2016 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2016/04/fixing-orphaned-sql-users-via-powershell/https://landonfowler.com/2016/04/fixing-orphaned-sql-users-via-powershell/In SQL Server, a login is an instance level object that is used for authentication. It is mapped to a database user, which controls permissions at the database level. These objects (login and user) are tied to one…Tue, 19 Apr 2016 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2016/03/using-powershell-to-execute-sql-maintenance/https://landonfowler.com/2016/03/using-powershell-to-execute-sql-maintenance/It’s an odd truth that laziness leads to better systems administration. That is, so long as it spurs you to automate and thoroughly document a repetitive or tedious task. For instance, I was recently tasked with…Mon, 28 Mar 2016 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2016/03/the-faith-of-atheism/https://landonfowler.com/2016/03/the-faith-of-atheism/The extent to which Christians are criticized for their faith always surprises me. In current American culture, and especially in science-based fields like IT, one is viewed as unintelligent or at least ignorant if they…Mon, 21 Mar 2016 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2016/03/scripting-failovers-for-sql-server-maintenance/https://landonfowler.com/2016/03/scripting-failovers-for-sql-server-maintenance/As much as we’d all like to set up our SQL instances and never again let anyone touch them, that’s just not possible in real life. We live in a world where entities, for good or for evil, are constantly exposing…Mon, 14 Mar 2016 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2016/03/giving-yourself-permission-to-lose/https://landonfowler.com/2016/03/giving-yourself-permission-to-lose/One of the most profound turning points in my life was the moment that I gave myself the permission to lose. Please do not confuse this with apathy or a lack of ambition. It’s more of an upfront decision to roll with…Fri, 11 Mar 2016 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2016/02/unlocking-liberty/https://landonfowler.com/2016/02/unlocking-liberty/This week a US judge asked Apple Inc. to help them unlock the iPhone that belonged to one of the San Bernardino shooters. The CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, has resisted this order citing risk to his customers and implications…Fri, 19 Feb 2016 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2014/12/the-price-of-free/https://landonfowler.com/2014/12/the-price-of-free/When looking at which tech toys to use it’s easy to differentiate by the upfront cost. An iPad, for example, can be twice the price of some of its competitors. This can certainly be prohibitive, no matter the quality of…Mon, 01 Dec 2014 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2014/11/love-god-and-love-people/https://landonfowler.com/2014/11/love-god-and-love-people/There are a multitude of verses in the Bible and endless topics of conversation that can be drawn from them. However, we often forget that complexity is not the point. There is a simple message that ties it all…Mon, 10 Nov 2014 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2014/10/consider-it-pure-joy/https://landonfowler.com/2014/10/consider-it-pure-joy/“ Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature…Fri, 31 Oct 2014 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2014/06/is-optimizing-for-adhoc-queries-worth-it/https://landonfowler.com/2014/06/is-optimizing-for-adhoc-queries-worth-it/As you probably know, there is a server configuration option called “optimize for ad hoc workloads”. For more details on that option check out the MSDN article . The real question is, how do I know the extent to which…Mon, 09 Jun 2014 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2014/03/where-did-cdc-go/https://landonfowler.com/2014/03/where-did-cdc-go/So, here’s the deal. You’ve got Change Data Capture going in your environment and want to move your database to an Availability Group on SQL Server 2012. That’s great, lots of advantages there. But what happens to CDC…Mon, 31 Mar 2014 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2013/12/web-hosting-tools/https://landonfowler.com/2013/12/web-hosting-tools/Over the last year or so I’ve been getting more into web hosting for myself and friends. Below are the solutions I’ve chosen to use and I would recommend them to anyone. Name.com : This is the site I’m using both to…Mon, 23 Dec 2013 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2013/01/windows-8-evaluation/https://landonfowler.com/2013/01/windows-8-evaluation/My opinion of Windows 8 after using it for a bit: I think it will work well for personal machines. I’m going back to Windows 7 on my work laptop. In our case the apps we use just aren’t compatible enough with it yet and…Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2012/11/curb-your-office-toolbar-fury/https://landonfowler.com/2012/11/curb-your-office-toolbar-fury/When they introduced the ribbon menu in Office 2007 it seemed like both the best and worst idea ever. While it provides a more simple approach to those new to Office it is infuriating for us that had the old style down…Tue, 13 Nov 2012 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2012/10/what-to-expect-when-youre-expecting-to-change-cell-carriers/https://landonfowler.com/2012/10/what-to-expect-when-youre-expecting-to-change-cell-carriers/I recently decided to go back to Verizon from using Straight Talk. When we had our son we cut back on our expenses a lot and are only just now sorting out how much of that is truly necessary. Anyway, we decided to go…Wed, 24 Oct 2012 12:00:00 GMThttps://landonfowler.com/2012/10/hello-world/https://landonfowler.com/2012/10/hello-world/Welcome to my site! I’m glad you stopped by and I hope it will be a blessing to you. My goal is to share all I can about God, family, and tech with you. For more insight into who I am check out the About Me page.…Tue, 16 Oct 2012 12:00:00 GMT