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Author: Kevin Feasel

sudo in Windows

Published 2025-05-12 by Kevin Feasel

Patrick Gruenauer elevates our access:

Sudo for Windows is a new way for users to execute commands with elevated privileges (as an administrator) directly from a non-relevant console session on Windows.

The following requirements apply to the use of sudo in Windows:

  1. Windows 11 24H2
  2. Sudo needs to be enabled

Click through to see how to activate sudo. The English-language header reads “System > For Developers” and the exact setting is at the bottom of the first section and has the name “Enable sudo” with a toggle switch. The number of times I’ve run a command just to see it error out because I needed to be in an administrative command prompt or PowerShell terminal is high enough that I immediately turned it on.

But importantly, this is different from Linux, in that it opens up a new command prompt or PowerShell terminal rather than executing the command with elevated permissions in the same prompt. This is important because that new prompt goes away after the command finishes, so you lose the output. In other words, if you run sudo ipconfig in a command prompt, it will hit you with a UAC request (depending on how you’ve configured your PC) and then run ipconfig in a new command prompt, which disappears as soon as the command finishes. You don’t get to keep what was in stdout. I think this limits some of the capability of the option, unfortunately.

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Parameterization and Mocking in Python Tests

Published 2025-05-09 by Kevin Feasel

Aida Gjoka and Russ Hyde show off some capabilities in the pytest library:

Writing tests is one of the best ways to keep your code reliable and reproducible. This post builds on our previous blog about Python testing with pytest Part 1, and explores some of the more advanced features it offers. From parametrised fixtures to mocking and other useful pytest plugins, we will show how to make your tests more reproducible, easier to manage and demonstrate how writing simple tests can save you time in the long run.

Click through to learn more. I’m a huge fan of parameterization in pytest—it’s really easy to do. Mocks are a bit harder to pull off in practice, though quite useful.

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Real-Time Data Streaming in Snowflake

Published 2025-05-09 by Kevin Feasel

Anil Kumar Moka streams some data:

Real-time data ingestion has become essential for modern analytics and operational intelligence. Organizations across industries need to process data streams from IoT sensors, financial transactions, and application events with minimal latency. Snowflake offers two robust approaches to meet these real-time data needs: Snowpipe for near-real-time file-based streaming and Direct Streaming via Snowpark API for true real-time data integration.

This guide explores both options in depth, providing detailed implementations with explanation of code parameters, performance comparisons, and practical recommendations to help you choose the right approach for your specific use case.

Click through to see how it works. I’ll only make one semi-snarky comment that ‘real-time’ doesn’t mean “takes several seconds” but I realize I’m the one tilting at windmills here.

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Checking Key Vault Access in Microsoft Fabric Spark Notebooks

Published 2025-05-09 by Kevin Feasel

Marc Lelijveld has clearance:

Working with sensitive data in Microsoft Fabric requires careful handling of secrets, especially when collaborating externally. In a recent customer engagement, I needed to validate access to Azure Key Vault from within a Fabric Notebook, without ever exposing the actual secret values. With only read access granted and no need to manage or update secrets, I focused on confirming that the connection was working as expected.

In this blog, I’ll walk you through the approach, including the setup, code snippets, and logic behind this quick but crucial verification step.

Click through for the full story.

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Checking SQL Server for tempdb Performance Issues

Published 2025-05-09 by Kevin Feasel

Jeff Iannucci announces a new stored procedure:

Most database folks might know the tempdb database in SQL Server is used for temporary tables, but many folks don’t realize all the other things that use this critical system database.

It’s also used by table variables, cursors, aggregations, joins, and sorts. And by memory spills when you don’t have enough memory. And by integrity checks that you run regularly to check for corruption. And more.

Optimal performance of tempdb is vital, as it is involved constantly with all your database queries. So…is your tempdb configured and running optimally? And if it isn’t, can you tell why?

Click through to see how it works and where you can get a free copy.

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Mirroring vs Shortcuts in Microsoft Fabric

Published 2025-05-08 by Kevin Feasel

Nikola Ilic compares and contrasts:

A few days ago, I shared a short LinkedIn post in which I condensed key differences and use cases for both mirroring and shortcuts in Microsoft Fabric. Since the post sparked some nice conversation and opened a few additional question, I decided to cover the same topic here, so that it doesn’t get lost in LinkedIn’s “jungle”:)

But, before we move to the final showdown, let’s take one step back and explain what mirroring and shortcuts are.

Click through for the overview and explanation of how the two differ, as well as where each fits.

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Restoring Multiple Differential Backup Files

Published 2025-05-08 by Kevin Feasel

Tim Radney violates Betteridge’s Law of Headlines:

I was recently asked if you can restore multiple differential backups in preparation for a migration. I responded that yes, technically you can restore multiple differential backups, however it will not speed up your cutover.

As soon as I read the first sentence, the answer in my head was “Yes, but why?” Tim explains the person’s reasoning and then demonstrates that this reasoning doesn’t quite work.

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Caching Database Calls in Python with Redis

Published 2025-05-08 by Kevin Feasel

Levi Masonde stands up a Redis instance:

Databases play a vital role in software applications—they need to keep updated data or state, which is served by the database acting as the source of truth for the application. How the database performs affects how the entire application performs. Besides obvious factors that affect the performance of a database (hardware, database type, networking infrastructure), there are techniques designed to help you improve the performance of your database and ultimately, your applications. One way to do this is to add caching to your database. But which cache technique works best for which application requirements? This article sheds light on one strategy to implement a cache system.

Click through for one pattern of interaction between cache and database. My preference with the cache-aside pattern is to hide the two data platforms from the calling application as much as possible. In a classic object-oriented language like C#, the actual database + cache calls would be in a separate project and would expose methods on classes that were database-agnostic. With Python, I’d use different .py files in the same project unless I wanted to build a wheel file and deploy it to multiple projects, but the concept would still be the same. I’m not the biggest fan of the way that Levi did it, forcing API developers to have knowledge of both the cache and the database, as that increases the risk of a future developer messing something up.

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Working through an Azure SQL DB Vulnerability Assessment

Published 2025-05-08 by Kevin Feasel

Josephine Bush digs in:

But do you always need them? Not necessarily. A vulnerability assessment might confirm what you already know. On the other hand, if you’re managing multiple environments or collaborating across teams, these tools can catch things you might miss, like forgotten test accounts or relaxed security rules.

They’re not a silver bullet, but can be a smart way to stay proactive. Ensure you understand what you are trying to achieve, not just blindly accept what they tell you.

Click through for an example and some solid advice.

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