Data Wrights

About

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Hey, I’m Chris Albert.

I got my start in IT doing system administration before moving into database administration back in 2010. That led me deep into the world of data engineering, and I spent a good chunk of my career in healthcare — working across independent hospitals and health systems of all sizes. I learned a ton about how data can make a real difference in those environments.

In 2022 I joined Travelers and shifted my focus to DevOps. These days I spend most of my time working on CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure as code, and the tooling that helps teams ship software more reliably. It’s been a fun evolution from managing databases to managing the systems that deliver them.

Python: Presenting Data with Streamlit

Sun, 07 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Intro

You have all your data ready to go. It has been cleansed and transformed to all your needs. Now you need to make it easy to consume by your target audience. In this scenario our users can be just about anyone. We need to make the data easy to access and even easier to navigate.

Challenge accepted!

Tooling

As the title suggests we are going to be using Streamlit to present our data. If you aren’t familiar with Streamlit I suggest you take a tour of their website or GitHub repo to see what they have to offer. I chose Streamlit because it offers the ability to get a small project like this off the ground very quickly. We will also be using Pandas, and this will all be running on Python 3.12.2.

Python: Extract Data From PDF

Fri, 05 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Intro

True story, the town I live in recently had some issues around the town budget. As I started to get involved I wanted to look at the data provided by our Board of Finance. To my misfortune, I found myself trying to analyze data in a PDF. Trying to do any sort of analysis on it was time consuming and frustrating. To make the data useful I needed to extract data from PDF and into something more flexible, in this case a simple CSV will do. Here is a sample of what we are working with:

Python & SQL Server: Manage Database Transactions

Sun, 14 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Intro

In our last post we used SQLAlchemy to bulk load data into SQL Server. Now that we can bulk load data we want to perform other actions on our database. In todays post we want follow a common loading strategy and TRUNCATE the target table before loading it. Adding this functionality to our script leaves us with a choice to make in how we want to execute our SQL statements and manage database transactions.

Python & SQL Server: Bulk Loading Data

Sun, 19 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Intro

You have a bunch of data and need to load it into SQL Server using Python. With the abundance of options out there its difficult to know what the best tool is to use. Lets approach the problem with two requirements. The solution needs to be easy to implement and blazing fast.

Tooling

Initially bcpandas looked like a great solution for this task. While it does fit our two requirements, it becomes very difficult to work with for data that contains multiple separators or any odd strings. If the data you work with is like mine it is almost never perfect. I quickly pivoted away from this due to its inability to handle imperfect data.

OpenTofu

Mon, 06 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Intro

Back in August HashiCorp switched Terraforms license from Mozilla Public License v2.0 (MPL 2.0) to a Business Source License. In response, the open source community has forked the last MPL release of Terraform to a new project named OpenTofu. To understand their mission checkout the The OpenTofu Manifesto.

Current State

OpenTofu has an alpha release out if you want to take it for a test drive. I did so myself with a few sample projects and they all worked without any issues. Biggest difference so far is using tofu apply instead of terraform apply in the CLI.

Terraform Azure: Tests

Sun, 22 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Intro

With the exciting new announcement for Terraform Tests I couldn’t help but take them for a test drive. For our use case we will build on a prior post Terraform Azure: Reusable SQL Database Configurations. In the last post we created a module to deploy SQL Servers. Today we will add a new default prefix to SQL Server name and then build a test to check the name of the server.

Terraform Azure: Import SQL Database

Wed, 15 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Intro

In this post we will cover how to import an existing Azure SQL Database to Terraform. If the resource wasn’t originally created by Terraform you will need to import it before Terraform can manage it. This comes in handy when you have existing infrastructure and want to start using Terraform later on.

For a video walkthrough check out my YouTube video.

Here we will use the standard import functionality provided by Terraform. There are other 3rd party tools you can use for this process as well. One of the most popular is Terraformer, I will cover how to use that in a later post.

Terraform Azure: Reusable SQL Database Configurations

Sun, 29 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Intro

In this post we are going to build on the previous post Terraform Azure: SQL Database. We will cover how you can use Terraform to create multiple Azure SQL Databases with Terraform modules. We are going to turn the original Terraform into a module so we can create as many databases as we need with identical configurations. Another advantage here is maintenance, if a setting needs to be adjusted you can simply adjust the module and it will propagate to each resource using the module configuration.

Terraform Azure: SQL Server VM

Mon, 16 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Intro

In this post we are going to deploy a SQL Server VM in Azure. Deploying a VM requires a little more work than the SQL Database we deployed in the last post. We will need to add some networking resources and configure the host VM. If you need help setting up Terraform please see my prior post, Terraform Azure: Setting Up Your Environment. This post assumes you have an Azure account. If you do not, you can create one for free.

Terraform Azure: SQL Database

Sun, 15 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Intro

In this post we are going to cover how you can use Terraform to create an Azure SQL Database. If you need help setting up Terraform please see my prior post, Terraform Azure: Setting Up Your Environment.This post assumes you have an Azure account. If you do not, you can create one for free.

We will take a slow approach to accomplishing our task. The goal here is to get familiar with Terraform and its commands by creating some basic resources. Terraform also has some great resources for getting started here.

Terraform Azure: Setting Up Your Environment

Sat, 14 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Intro

You want to start using Terraform to manage your Azure infrastructure. To get started you will need to get your local development environment setup. In this post I will walk you through setting up Terraform and the Azure CLI on Windows.

For a video walkthrough check out my YouTube video.

PowerShell

I’m a huge fan of PowerShell so that is my preferred way to interact with Terraform. If you are using Windows you will already have a version of PowerShell available on your machine. I like to use the latest and greatest so I start by installing the latest version which as of this writing is 7.3.1. Download the package and install it, you’re done.

AthenaHealth: Connect Power BI to Data View

Mon, 06 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Intro

In our previous post we discussed the difference between the AthenaHealth data delivery options. In this post we are going to cover how to connect Power BI to Data View. This post assumes you have already installed Power BI on your computer. If you have not you can download it here.

Gather Information

To get started you will need to find out what your SnowFlake URL is. In Athena if you open Practice Manager Admin there is an option for Data View Settings. To access this your Athena account will need to be in the Data View Admin role. Once on the Data View Setting page you should see your URL at the top of the page. Copy that URL somewhere so we can use it later.

AthenaHealth Data View vs Data Warehouse Feed

Wed, 25 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Intro

Athenahealth offers two options for receiving data from their EMR. They offer either the Data Warehouse Feed or Data View. This post will describe each option and the difference between the two.

Data Warehouse Feed

The data warehouse feed is athena’s traditional data offering. It has been around for a quite some time and functions like most traditional data feeds. Data is delivered on a daily basis in flat files to an FTP site.

Log Shipping Restore With dbatools

Tue, 17 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Intro

In some scenarios a vendor or other 3rd party will send you a copy of their log shipping backups so you can keep a reporting copy of their database. Today’s post will cover how we can use dbatools to automate the restore process. This post assumes you have already restored the initial full backup and are now at the point where you are ready to automate the transaction log backups you are receiving.

Start and Stop VM with Azure Data Factory

Mon, 09 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Intro

In this post I will describe how to manage the state of a VM with Azure Data Factory (ADF). I was inspired to write this post after reading a very similar walk through on Tech Talk Corner.

A VM can be in one of several states, for this post we are going to focus on Running and Deallocated. When a VM is running you are being billed for it and able to access its resources. If the VM is deallocated you are not being billed for it and its resources are inaccessible. In many scenarios it makes sense to have a VM in a deallocated state to save on cost and only keep it running when absolutely necessary.

How to Configure SQL Server Management Studio for Efficiency

Mon, 13 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Intro

SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) is a great product. Out of the box SSMS is an awesome tool that many of us have come to know and love. In my quest for efficiency I have found some very helpful settings that can be changed. If you spend most of your day in SSMS like I do, these changes can help you be more productive.

Version

First and foremost is the version you are running. If you aren’t running the latest version of SSMS go download it now. It’s free! SSMS has received a lot of love from Microsoft over the last couple years. Now updates come out regularly instead of with the SQL Server release cycle. If you are still running SSMS 2005 I’m begging you to go download the latest version and give it a try.

Installing dbatools

Tue, 07 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I had some issues installing dbatools over the weekend and wanted to share my experience. If you have not heard of dbatools I encourage you to go check it out and see what it can do.

The easiest method to install dbatools is to open PowerShell as administrator and run the following command:

Install-Module dbatools

Following the install instructions on the dbatools website and other relevant blog posts around the web the install should be as easy as that. In my case it was not.

First 3 SQL Server Settings to Check

Fri, 20 Jul 2018 00:00:00 +0000

You are handed a SQL Server that someone else set up and has, or more likely has not, maintained over time. You are now responsible for this server, but have limited time to check it out because of your busy schedule. What are your first 3 SQL Server settings to check?

1. Backups

This should always without a doubt be the first thing you check. If backups are failing or even are non existent, you need to know about it and make it your first priority to fix. Now that this server is your responsibility, the business is going to look at you when the server crashes and they need a restore. Not being able to recover any data is a great way to get fired!

CTE: Make Your Data Easier to Query

Mon, 09 Jul 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Ever wish your data was a little different so it is easier to query? Don’t fret, we have all had those queries that are gigantic and become too cumbersome to read through or modify. A CTE, a.k.a. Common Table Expression, can be the savior you have been wishing for. They are great for separating different pieces of your query and performing some tasks before your query runs.

To use a CTE:

Reset SQL Server sa Password

Tue, 26 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Once upon a time a vendor set up a new SQL Server at the company I was working for. For whatever reason they decided it best to not work with the local DBA. A few weeks later a server admin emails me asking if I can help out with an issue they were having. He says the vendor has lost the sa password and cannot connect to the SQL Server instance. After having a good chuckle I agreed to help out and reset the SQL Server sa password. Here is how I did it:

My First Blog Post

Tue, 08 Aug 2017 00:00:00 +0000

I have been back and forth with the idea of blogging for a long time now. I read other people’s blogs daily and I really enjoy them. Constantly I get ideas that I would like to see blogged about, especially from bloggers I currently read. Time and time again I have written down my ideas for blog posts, maybe even managed to get a few paragraphs typed out. Nothing ever came of them besides consuming disk space on my laptop. So here it is, I finally made my first blog post. What was different this time than the other times? 3 things come to mind when I ask myself that question.