Michael Wall is a database and infrastructure architect at 3Cloud, designing SQL Server estates on Azure to survive real failure — not just pass the configuration checklist.
He was hired by a small consulting firm to write web pages and was thrust into the SysAdmin world when their lead consultant changed the password on every server at a major pulp and paper company to 100%s$%t and walked out the door. Michael was sent down with a copy of UNIX for Dummies and 50 cents for the bus ride back. After managing a fifty-server Y2K upgrade he was asked if he wanted to be a DBA, and never looked back.
He now architects data estate migrations into Azure — largely the same job, with better tooling and fewer bus rides. In his words: “I don’t just drive the moving truck. I design the rooms you’re moving into, then place the furniture once it’s there.”
What I talk about
- SQL Server HA done right — availability groups, distributed AGs, quorum, and failover testing as a discipline.
- Azure infrastructure for data — storage throttle points, Premium SSD v2, zones vs. sets.
- Migrating the estate — VM vs. Managed Instance vs. Azure SQL, landing zones, cutover and rollback, immutable builds.
- Resilience under the new stuff — recovery objectives for the SQL estate under AI applications and Fabric mirroring.
Talks, upcoming dates and the full session catalog are on the Speaking page.
Community
Co-president of Oregon Data Community and an organizer of PNW Day of Data (formerly SQL Saturday Oregon). He speaks internationally at Data Saturdays, user groups and conferences including PASS Data Community Summit, SQL Konferenz and FabCon Europe.
He is blessed with a wonderful family, two lazy cats, and a local pool he keeps treading water in. Literally.
Contact: mike@becomingamaster.com · Sessionize · LinkedIn