22-25 April 2026

Strahinja Rodic

Strahinja is a Product Manager at Microsoft, specializing in enhancing the backup and restore features of Azure SQL Managed Instance. Before joining the Managed Instance team, he worked on Microsoft Fabric, where he contributed to developing Synapse Data Warehouse and serverless SQL pools in Azure Synapse Analytics. Strahinja is passionate about engaging with end-users, gathering feedback, identifying pain points, and crafting solutions to address their needs. In his life before Microsoft, Strahinja worked as a gameplay programmer, developing AAA video games.

Sessions for 2026

Advancing the Role of SQL Server DBA in the Era of AI: Becoming an Azure SQL DBA - Part1
 

Learn how to transition from a traditional SQL Server DBA to an Azure SQL DBA in the AI era by understanding which tasks to retain or delegate to the cloud, mapping core DBA responsibilities to Azure SQL, and using Copilot and AI tools to boost productivity and focus on higher-value work.

Best Practices for SQL Database Backup Configuration, Immutability, and Ransomware Protection
 

Learn best practices for Azure SQL Database backup configuration and ransomware protection. Explore PITR and LTR strategies, backup immutability, and deletion safeguards to ensure compliance and resilience. Gain actionable insights to secure data, prevent tampering, and maintain business continuity.

Building the Backbone of Agentic AI: A Unified Data Strategy with Microsoft Fabric
 

As we move from simple chatbots to autonomous Agentic Applications, the data requirements have shifted from static retrieval to dynamic interaction. Agents now need to read, write, and reason over data in real-time, blurring the lines between transactional (OLTP), real-time, and analytical (OLAP) workloads. In this session, we will demonstrate with a real application how Microsoft Fabric serves as the comprehensive "nervous system" for next-generation AI agents.

New in modern Developer Experiences in SQL
 

Discover the most developer-focused SQL Server release in a decade! Explore new capabilities like JSON and Vector data types, advanced functions and indexing, Change Event Streams, improvement to query optimizer, plus powerful string functions like regular expression and string similarity search. Better integrate compute with data for improved efficiency and scalability of your solutions.

SQL + AI: Building Agentic Apps with SQL MCP Server + AI Foundry
 

Future applications will combine intuitive UI with powerful AI interactions, enabling AI agents to on our behalf for the best experience. At the heart of this transformation is AI Foundry. In this session, we’ll explore how to integrate AI Foundry with Azure SQL, from architecture deep dive through security considerations, to give you the best knowledge to bring your solutions to the next level.

Advancing the Role of SQL Server DBA in the Era of AI: Becoming an Azure SQL DBA - Part2
 

Learn how to transition from a traditional SQL Server DBA to an Azure SQL DBA in the AI era by understanding which tasks to retain or delegate to the cloud, mapping core DBA responsibilities to Azure SQL, and using Copilot and AI tools to boost productivity and focus on higher-value work.

Previous Sessions