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Thomas LaRock

Thomas LaRock is a Head Geek™ at SolarWinds and a Microsoft® Certified Master, Microsoft Data Platform MVP, VMware® vExpert, and former Microsoft Certified Trainer. He has over 20 years’ experience in the IT industry as a programmer, developer, analyst, and database administrator. LaRock has spent much of his career focused on data and database administration, which led to his being chosen as a Technical Evangelist for Confio Software in 2010, where his research and experience helped to create the initial versions of the software now known as SolarWinds® Database Performance Analyzer. LaRock has served on the board of directors for the Professional Association for SQL Server® (PASS), and is an avid blogger, author, and technical reviewer for numerous books about SQL Server management. He now focuses on working with customers to help resolve problems and answer questions regarding database performance tuning and virtualization for SQL Server, Oracle®, MySQL®, SAP®, and DB2®. He’s made it his mission to give IT and data professionals longer weekends.

Posts Featuring Thomas LaRock

Analyzing the Micro Focus – OpenText Merger: Three Crucial Areas for Success

History is filled with examples of corporate mergers gone wrong. There’s AOL – Time Warner in 2000 and HP – Compaq in 2001, and who can forget when Microsoft didn’t…

Why Enterprise Observability Is a Better Approach to Unified Monitoring

To say modern enterprises are built on the cloud is an understatement. According to Gartner, enterprise spending on cloud applications surged to 57.7% in 2022, and investments into public cloud…

Because I’m All About That (Data)base…. — SolarWinds TechPod 074

Is your database a junk drawer? Is it more like a black hole? If you’re afraid to look in there, join TechPod hosts Ashley and Sean as they demystify Database…

What Databases Taught Me About Scaling Observability

I recently attended a virtual event and heard the speaker comment, “Relational databases don’t scale.” To my ears, this is about as silly a statement as saying, “No one can…

IT Trends Report Shows Experience Equals Confidence When Managing Complex IT Environments

Each year, SolarWinds publishes the IT Trends report, a collection of responses to survey questions meant to gain insight into the world of IT. I enjoy the IT Trends report…

Let’s Recognize Awesome IT Pros for IT Pro Day 2022

As we ramp up for our seventh annual IT Pro Day, a day to honor and recognize all IT professionals as the true unsung heroes of modern business, we want…

What Does Observability Mean For You?

The late 1990s were a crazy time in the technology industry. Apple converted a blueberry into a computer, Google still had a “new search engine” smell, and while Y2K loomed…

SolarWinds Tech Predictions for 2022: Data Governance and Risk Aversion – SolarWinds TechPod 059

Join our Head Geeks in Part 2 of our 2022 Tech Predictions TechPod series where they share their thoughts on the rise of Chief Data Officers and data governance principles, risk aversion,…

Benefits of DevOps

The term DevOps has taken the IT world by storm. Though every business incorporates DevOps practices differently—and even defines the term differently—doing so can offer businesses several benefits. In this article, we’ll…

The Importance of Database Backups: A Guide to Costs, Benefits, and Risks

Data is the lifeblood of businesses, and protecting it is incredibly important. One of the ways DBAs help ensure the continuous availability of data is through database backups, a process involving…