Practical database and cloud insights from Six Column Solutions.
AWS DMS can't write directly to GCS. Here's the cross-cloud CDC pattern that works — DMS to S3 to GCP Storage Transfer Service — and what to know before you build it.
A music major, a PowerBook 1400, a COBOL job posting, and an AWS call that changed everything. An honest look at what luck and merit actually mean in a long career.
AI accelerates output but doesn't transfer understanding. Four practical rules for engineers and consultants on what to build, what to ship, and what to never put in a prompt.
CockroachDB speaks the PostgreSQL wire protocol — but wire compatible and drop-in replacement are not the same thing. Here's what that distinction costs teams who skip it, and what it takes to run CockroachDB the right way.
Moving from SQL Server to cloud databases like Aurora PostgreSQL or Cloud SQL requires more than technical skill — it requires a shift in how you think about performance, cost, and control.
A high-throughput Aurora PostgreSQL workload looked healthy, but ~75% of cost was driven by I/O. Switching to I/O-Optimized reduced daily cost by 78%.
A real-world disaster recovery failure that exposed untested backups, missed RTOs, and the hard lesson that backups are not the same thing as recovery.
A backup that has never been restored is not a backup — it is a hope. This post walks through a practical approach to verifying your SQL Server backup strategy before disaster strikes.