A Tale of Two Worlds At the outset of 2026, I live in two worlds. I continue to support clients who use SSIS for enterprise data engineering. Some of the enterprises are small-ish by comparison. Others are huge. Some friends also continue to support these clients and clients like them. That’s World 1. World 2 …
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Author:Andy Leonard
Christian, husband, dad, grandpa, Data Philosopher, Data Engineer; Azure Data Factory, Fabric Data Factory, and SSIS guy; and farmer. I was cloud before cloud was cool. :{>
Twenty years of watching SSIS catalog drift, environment mismatches, and deployment chaos finally has a name: Data Integration Lifecycle Management. I build tools for it at DILM Suite. Start with SSIS Catalog Compare.
2025: A Number Containing Two 2’s, One 5, and a 0
All the cool kids are writing year-in-review posts. I reckon I’ll write this one. For me, 2025 has been a year filled with different. Some of the different has been very cool; some has not been cool at all. If you’ve stumbled onto this post / newsletter (I’m writing this on my blog at andyleonard.blog …
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Separating Concerns in SSIS
I recently read a social media post from a data engineer that I found both encouraging and heartbreaking. This data engineer shared that he used an AI engine to successfully convert an SSIS package, roughly 1MB in size, into a different data engineering platform. Why encouraging? First, it is genuinely encouraging that AI engines are …
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Install Durandal Memory MCP Server to Mitigate AI Context Fatigue
The following is an excerpt from a 200+ page document titled AI-Assisted Data Engineering Development Playbook: How I Set Up a Virtual Server (Virtual Machine) for Modern Data Engineering for sale at DELMSuite.com, but available – free – to paid subscribers of my newsletter: Engineer of Data. The phrases context fatigue, attention degradation, instruction drift, …
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Join me 17 Dec 2025 for A Day of Azure Data Factory Live, 1-Day Training
Unlock the potential of your cloud-data strategy and step into the future with confidence. Join us LIVE on 17 Dec 2025 for “A Day of Azure Data Factory”, a powerful 1-day online training designed for professionals like you aiming to master Azure Data Factory (ADF). This hands-on session, led by industry expert Andy Leonard, covers: …
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Create a SQL Server 2025 SSIS Catalog Using SSMS v22
In this post, I describe how to create an SSIS Catalog in SQL Server 2025 (RC) using SSMS v22 (Preview 3). Once configured, I describe how to test the installation using Visual Studio 2026 Insiders Community Edition. In earlier posts, I describe prerequisites: One Way to Install SQL Server 2025 One Way to Install SSMS …
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One Way to Install SQL Server 2025
In this post, I describe one way to install SQL Server 2025 (using RC1) for on-premises testing. The major steps are: Get the bits Install SQL Server 2025 (RC) Get the Bits Navigate to the Microsoft Evaluation Center page for SQL Server 2025 (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/sql-server-2025-download) and click the link for the 64-bit edition (there is no …
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One Way to Install SSMS v22 (Preview 3)
In this post I describe how to install SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) version 22, which is in preview at the time of this writing. Get the Bits To begin: Visit the Microsoft Learn article titled Install SQL Server Management Studio Click the link labeled “Download SSMS 22 Preview”: Remember where you save the file: …
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Add the SSIS Extension to Visual Studio 2026 Insiders
In this post, I explain how to add the Integration Services extension to Visual Studio 2026 Insiders Community Edition. First, install Visual Studio 2026 Insiders Community Edition. Then… Add the SQL Server Integration Services Projects 2022+ Extension There is a lot of exciting news to announce! SSIS Extension Renamed First, the SSIS extension for Visual …
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Coming Soon – SSIS Framework Manager
On 9 Sep 2025, I posted a short video about SSIS Framework Manager, software I’ve dreamed about building for, well, for a long time now: I’m excited to reach this milestone! Reaching it has been quite the journey. I share more of the story in my newsletter titled “An SSIS Framework Odyssey: It’s taken a …
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