PASS SQL SATURDAY

I am always amazed at how many people have still not heard of SQL Saturday a series of events put on by the Professional Association of SQL Server. At the presentation Jeff Szastak and I gave at VMworld on Virtualizing SQL Server: Doing IT RIght, we had an audience of about 800 people each time we spoke. At each presentation I asked the question how many people in the audience had heard of SQL Saturday’s and only about 50 people out of 800 raised their hands each time. 

These events are run all over the world. They cost very little and are packed with a whole lot of great Technical content taught by people working with SQL Server in the trenches.

Want to meet a real life Microsoft MVP, attend a SQL Saturday. At every SQL Saturday event I have attended I have met a number of Microsoft MVP’s.  Want to feel part of the SQL Server community; this is a great way to become part of it. At these events, I have met some great people and made a lot of good friends.

On December 8^th in Washington DC, I will be presenting at SQL Saturday #173. There will be 5 sessions running every hour from 7:30 am to 5:00 pm.

Sample of Sessions at SQL Saturday 173, Washington DC

5 Common SQL Server Performance Issues, Jason Hall

A Complete BI Solution in About an Hour! , Aaron King

DBA Worst Practices, Disasters and Horror Stories, Mike Walsh

Designing an SSIS Framework , Andy Leonard

Minimally Invasive - Tools to Doctor Up Your Code, Wayne Sheffield (Ntirety)

Much Ado About Indexes - Tips, Tricks and TSQL, Robert Perl

Reporting Services for Mere DBAs, Jason Brimhall (Ntirety)

SQL Azure - What is it and why do you need it?, Scott Klein

Tax, Finance, and Money Tips for consultants, Brian Moran

Virtualizing SQL 2012: Doing It Right, Michael Corey (Ntirety)

More About SQL Saturday 173

SQLSaturday is a training event for SQL Server professionals and those wanting to learn about SQL Server. This event will be held Dec 8 2012 at the Microsoft MTC , 5404 Wisconsin Ave Suite 700, Chevy Chase, MD 20815. Admittance to this event is free, but we do charge a lunch fee of 10.00 so that we can provide a lunch - not pizza! 

To learn more about  SQL Saturday 173 Click Here

Future SQL Saturday Events

Michael Corey

Founder & CEO, Ntirety

www.ntirety.com 

My Personal Twitter Account: Michael_Corey

Ntirety Corporate Twitter Account: Ntirety

Database Administration As A Service® is a registered trademark of Ntirety, Inc

SQLSaturday #158 - NYC

The NYC SQL Saturday event #158 will be taking place on Saturday August 4th in the Microsoft NYC Office at 1290 Avenue of the Americas.  This much anticipated event features many prominent SQL Server community speakers, MVP’s and vendors, so this is a must-attend event for anyone who works with or is interested in learning more about SQL Server. 

To Quote another Blog I recently read "48 amazing sessions by some of the most respected people in the SQL Server community.  I have my ticket, hope to see you there"

More information on the event and the link to register can be found off of the SQL Saturday website located here. 

SQLSaturday Event Schedule NYC

Track    Starts    Session Title    Speaker
Track 1    08:30 AM    Kickoff / Keynote    SQL Saturday SQL Saturday
Track 1    09:00 AM    Microsoft's Big Play for Big Data    Andrew Brust
Track 1    10:15 AM    SQL Server Internals & Architecture    Kevin Kline
Track 1    11:30 AM    Lunch Break    SQLSaturday 158
Track 1    12:30 PM    SQL Azure - What is it and why do I need it?    Scott Klein
Track 1    01:45 PM    SQL Azure Scalability with Federations    Scott Klein
Track 1    03:00 PM    Designing an SSIS Framework    Andy Leonard
Track 1    04:15 PM    Loading the Cloud    Andy Leonard
Track 1    5:30 PM    Closing / Prizes    SQL Saturday SQL Saturday
Track 2    08:30 AM    Kickoff / Keynote    SQL Saturday SQL Saturday
Track 2    09:00 AM    Performance Tuning SQL Server Integration Services    Brian Knight
Track 2    10:15 AM    Data Cleansing with SSIS 2012    Brian Knight
Track 2    11:30 AM    Lunch Break    SQLSaturday 158
Track 2    12:30 PM    Building Faster SQL Servers    Brent Ozar
Track 2    01:45 PM    Real-Life SQL 2012 Availability Group Deployments    Brent Ozar
Track 2    03:00 PM    What's new in SQL Server 2012 - from A to Z    Kevin Goff
Track 2    04:15 PM    SQL Server 2012 Columnstore index    Kevin Goff
Track 2    5:30 PM    Closing / Prizes    SQL Saturday SQL Saturday
Track 3    08:30 AM    Kickoff / Keynote    SQL Saturday SQL Saturday
Track 3    09:00 AM    Programming T-SQL Enhancements in SQL Server 2012    Leonard Lobel
Track 3    10:15 AM    Introducing SQL Server Data Tools    Leonard Lobel
Track 3    11:30 AM    Lunch Break    SQLSaturday 158
Track 3    12:30 PM    Much Ado about Indexes - Tips, Tricks and Tuning..    Robert Pearl
Track 3    01:45 PM    Alright,WHY is the server REALLY running so slow!    Steve Simon
Track 3    03:00 PM    But it worked great in Dev! Perfomance for Devs    Randy Knight
Track 3    04:15 PM    What's Buried in the Plan Cache?    Christina Leo
Track 3    5:30 PM    Closing / Prizes    SQL Saturday SQL Saturday
Track 4    08:30 AM    Kickoff / Keynote    SQL Saturday SQL Saturday
Track 4    09:00 AM    Virtualizing Tier-1 SQL Server Databases On VMware    Michael Corey
Track 4    10:15 AM    Hadoop and its Ecosystem Components in Action    Andrew Brust
Track 4    11:30 AM    Lunch Break    SQLSaturday 158
Track 4    12:30 PM    Moves like Jagger - Upgrading to SQL Server 2012    Mark Broadbent
Track 4    01:45 PM    READPAST & Furious-Transactions.Locking.Isolation.    Mark Broadbent
Track 4    03:00 PM    How Not to Be a Cranky DBA    Mike Hillwig
Track 4    04:15 PM    SQL Server Dos and Don'ts: Keys to DBA Nirvana    Allan Hirt
Track 4    5:30 PM    Closing / Prizes    SQL Saturday SQL Saturday
Track 5    08:30 AM    Kickoff / Keynote    SQL Saturday SQL Saturday
Track 5    09:00 AM    Replicaton Technologies    Hilary Cotter
Track 5    10:15 AM    Temporal Fact Tables: The Road Less Traveled    Martin Schoombee
Track 5    11:30 AM    Lunch Break    SQLSaturday 158
Track 5    12:30 PM    Get-PowerShell | Get-SQLServer    SB Chatterjee
Track 5    01:45 PM    Real World Integration Services: Excel Spreadsheet    Todd McDermid
Track 5    03:00 PM    Mastering Date-Time Based Analysis in DAX    Dan Clark
Track 5    04:15 PM    Full Text Indexing Basics    John Miner
Track 5    5:30 PM    Closing / Prizes    SQL Saturday SQL Saturday
Track 6    08:30 AM    Kickoff / Keynote    SQL Saturday SQL Saturday
Track 6    09:00 AM    Without A SQLTrace - Getting To Know Extended Even    AJ Mendo
Track 6    10:15 AM    Seven SQL Agent Jobs You Should be Running    Mike Hillwig
Track 6    11:30 AM    Lunch Break    SQLSaturday 158
Track 6    12:30 PM    Introduction to Data Quality Services    Marc Jellinek
Track 6    01:45 PM    Shred SQL Server XML.    Alex Grinberg
Track 6    03:00 PM    Running SQL Server on Solid State Drives    Linchi Shea
Track 6    04:15 PM    Enriching Applications with SSAS Data Mining    Peter Myers
Track 6    5:30 PM    Closing / Prizes    SQL Saturday SQL Saturday
Track 7    08:30 AM    Kickoff / Keynote    SQL Saturday SQL Saturday
Track 7    09:00 AM    Writing Faster Stored Procedures and Functions    Andy Novick
Track 7    10:15 AM    I Got Your Back (Up)...    Mark Swofford
Track 7    11:30 AM    Lunch Break    SQLSaturday 158
Track 7    12:30 PM    Team Management Fundamentals    Kevin Kline
Track 7    01:45 PM    Advanced Charting Techniques in SSRS    Jason Thomas
Track 7    03:00 PM    Slowly changing dimensions- an integrated approach    Mark Stacey
Track 7    04:15 PM    SSAS 2012 Tabular vs. Multidimensional    William E. Pearson III
Track 7    5:30 PM    Closing / Prizes    SQL Saturday SQL Saturday
Track 8    08:30 AM    Kickoff / Keynote    SQL Saturday SQL Saturday
Track 8    09:00 AM    SQL 2012 Error Handling. Pick your Destiny    Rick Morelan
Track 8    10:15 AM    (SQL,SSIS,MDS) Adv Fuzzy Matching Roll Your Own    Ira Whiteside
Track 8    11:30 AM    Lunch Break    SQLSaturday 158
Track 8    12:30 PM    Creating a Performance Baseline for SQL Server    Ron Johnson
Track 8    01:45 PM    Surviving Your Peak Database Load    Ben DeBow
Track 8    03:00 PM    Know Backups and Know Recovery    Tim Radney
Track 8    04:15 PM    Deploying SQL Server 2012 Multi-site Clusters    Edwin Sarmiento
Track 8    5:30 PM    Closing / Prizes    SQL Saturday SQL Saturday

My Soap Box

These events are a must attend for anyone who is serious about there careers in the SQL Server Community. They feature a full day of free training taught my some of the best in the industry. I have attended a number of these over the years. They are awesome.  My own talk is being co-presented by Jeff Szastak from VMware. One of the true experts on SQL Server within VMware. 

Not only do you get some great tech talk you get to go to one of the greatest cities in the world. On top of that all the speakers are very approachable. I have made a number of good friends at these events over the years. I wish when I was active on the PASS board I had thought of this. I don’t know who did, but who ever did, it’s a truly awesome event.

If you had to pay for this training, it would be priceless. Yet the price of admission is giving up a Saturday.  A very fair tradeoff if you asked my opinion.  Look forward to seeing you there.

My presentation with Jeff Szastak will be on SQLServer and doing it right on VMware.

Michael Corey

Founder & CEO, Ntirety

www.ntirety.com 

My Personal Twitter Account: Michael_Corey

Ntirety Corporate Twitter Account: Ntirety

Database Administration As A Service® is a registered trademark of Ntirety, Inc

A Fun Look at the DBA

A bunch of us got together and put our heads together for what DBA really stand for. Regardless of if its, an Oracle DBA, SQL Server DBA, DB2 DBA, MySQL DBA. If you have one that is not on the list please share with us.

• DBA Stands For......
• Data Base Administrator
• Don't be assertive
• Doing business after-hours
• Don't bother asking
• Don't be afraid
• Don't beg anymore
• Dumb But Adorable
• Driven By Aggression
• Deaf But Astute
• Drinking Beer Allday
• Drugs Beer and Alcohol
• Deep Brain Activity
• Deaf But Astute
• Dubious Business Acronyms
• Default Blame Acceptor
• Does Bugger All
• Do Be Accurate
• Determined Best Always

If you have one that you feel should be added please let me know.

Michael Corey

Founder & CEO, Ntirety

www.ntirety.com 

My Personal Twitter Account: Michael_Corey

Ntirety Corporate Twitter Account: Ntirety

Database Administration As A Service® is a registered trademark of Ntirety, Inc

CALLING ALL SQL Server PROFESSIONALS:

Microsoft has created a really fun event for the launch of SQL server 2012. Read Below...

SQL Server 2012 is the most important release ever of SQL Server with its’ mission critical, breakthrough insight and cloud on your terms features. Do your part to bring the SQL Server 2012 roadshows to your city and get on stage with Microsoft! This March, Microsoft is teaming with PASS to bring you the SQL Server 2012 Special Ops Tour – a cross-country roadshowthat will take us to 12 cities across America. This is your tour, and we want to highlight you –the SQL Serveroperative, your company, and the great work you are doing through opportunities to be featured on our media channels, stage time at roadshow events, and exclusive networking session.

Here is a really neat video on the event...

http://youtu.be/jdN69o8DlbA

So Take the Time to Vote......

www.specialopstour.com

Calling All Database Administrators - SQL OPS DBA Contest

In the coming weeks, you'll have the opportunity to enter a high-profile contest where we'll identify 12 SQL Professionals with the best solutions on SQL Server 2012. Winners will enjoy the Tour spotlight, the accolades of fellow agents, and more. So get ready to share your killer SQL Server 2012 skills.

So Keep Checking back at the site for more details...

www.specialopstour.com

Michael Corey

Founder & CEO, Ntirety

www.ntirety.com 

My Personal Twitter Account: Michael_Corey

Ntirety Corporate Twitter Account: Ntirety

Database Administration As A Service@ is a registered trademark of Ntirety, Inc.

Why Event Like SQLInspire Are So Important

Years Ago I helped found PASS “Professional Association of SQL Server”.  http://www.sqlpass.org/ Not bad for someone who was also sitting on the Board of Directors for The Independent Oracle Users Group at the time. http://www.ioug.org/  Its important to me as a professional that we invest in our careers. Through these volunteer activities I worked with and met a great number of people. Many of these people I met, I consider friends today. I was able to make a difference in my profession and as a professional I became even stronger.

No matter what technical problem I encountered in my career I was always able to overcome it. As the beetles said a little help from my friends. If I needed help, I would reach out to the many people I had met at these different organizations. Through that network there was always someone who had answer I needed.

When Robert Perl and Brian Moran approached me about participating in SQLInspire I was very excited. As a side notes Brian was someone I had met during the founding of PASS.  A real mover and shaker in the SQL Server world. The same can be said about Robert Perl.

I loved the entire concept behind SQLPeople and the event SQLInspire. How many times have your heard the expression it’s not what you know but whom you know.  This event was about people, about getting them together and inspiring conversations that help make us better professionals. When I consider the brain trust that will be there and the ticket price of $20.00 this is a no brainer. This event is being done not to make money, but because it’s the right thing to do.  I am going to be there and I would encourage anyone who can be there joining us.

The Elevator Pitch For SQLInspire

SQLPeople is hosting an event, SQLInspire, in New York City on November 12^th. Come and be inspired by a great line-up of speakers, including Steve Jones, Tom LaRock, Robert Pearl, Michael Coles, Andrew Brust, Michael Corey, and Brian Moran. The focus of this event is work – whether it’s navigating the new job market, getting approval for telecommuting, or finding the right work-life balance. Space is limited so register today!

The Details For The Event

SQLPeople is hosting an event, SQLInspire, in New York City on November 12^th. Registration for SQLInspire costs $20, which helps to cover a quality lunch, drinks and snacks through the day. The event will be held in the downtown Microsoft office. (1290 Avenue of the Americas 6^th Floor, New York, NY 10104). Here is the registration link...

http://sqlinspirenyc2011.eventbrite.com

The focus of this event is work. Don’t worry: we’re not here to tell you how to do your job, but our terrific line-up of speakers are ready to share their insights to help you grow professionally and personally. Tom LaRock is going to pep you up about getting things done today. Andrew Brust is going to share his knowledge about the different technologies going into Big Business Intelligence – there’s sure to be one that fits your needs.

If you’re looking for better work-life balance, Steve Jones has got you covered. Robert Pearl follows suit by giving tips to make the case for telecommuting and being successful while doing it. And if you aren’t happy with your job, Michael Coles will be talking about navigating the new job market. And if you’ve been thinking about striking out on your own, Brian Moran shares his insights into building successful professional services companies.

Even more, we’ve just secured a special guest speaker, Mike Corey, and we’re sure his discussion is going to wow. Space is limited, so register today and we’ll see you on November, 12^th!

Michael Corey

Founder & CEO, Ntirety

www.ntirety.com 

My Personal Twitter Account: Michael_Corey

Ntirety Corporate Twitter Account: Ntirety

Database Administration As A Service@ is a registered trademark of Ntirety, Inc.

The IOUG is gettng real on Virtualization. They are running a series of online Educattional events. Get Real with MySQL, Database, Virtualization, Security, and BI IOUG 2011 Online Education Series

Get Real with MySQL, Database, Virtualization, Security, and BI IOUG 2011 Online Education Series

IOUG's inaugral Online Education Series was such a success in 2010 that we're bringing it back in 2011!

Since we're committed to equipping community users with the tools and mindshare to increase proficiencies in their everyday job roles, we're presenting a year-round Online Education Series to provide members remote access to 'unfiltered' education from real customers.
 
The best part? All of this training comes straight to you. No travel. No time out of the office. Minimal conflicts with your schedule.

Save the date for the 2011 Webinars, each quarter being focused on a different topic:

 

July 27: 360 Degrees: Everything to know about Virtualization for Oracle DBAs
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. CT
Mike Ault
Tariq Farooq, BrainSurface

Register here!

The speakers will present, detail and elaborate Comprehensive Concepts Overview, Insight, Recommendations, Best Practices, Current Strategies, Pros & Cons, Relevance/Role in Cloud Computing, Prevalent/Dominant Paradigms & Technologies and, a whole lot more about Virtualization as, it relates to Oracle DBAs.

August 24: Virtualizing Oracle Database Servers on VMware
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. CT
Bert Scalzo, PhD
George Trujillo, VMware

Register here!

The default platform for Oracle database servers is rapidly moving towards virtual machines. This is why virtualizing Oracle Databases on VMware is one of the largest growth areas in the IT industry. This presentation will show attendees the various virtualization alternative technologies and how virtualization works under the covers. The quality of service of database management improves significantly by running Database Servers in a VM.  Features such as vMotion, Storage vMotion, DRS /HA clusters and SRM  will completely change how DBAs manage their database environments.  Best practices of virtualizing single instance and RAC instances will be covered.

September 21: Virtualized Oracle 11g/R2 RAC Database on Oracle VM: Methods/Tips
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. CT
Kai Yu, Oracle Solutions Engineering Lab, Dell Inc.

Register here!

Virtualization technology provides the solution to enable the server partition and consolidation for improving the resource utilization and archiving the great flexibility and high availability. By combining with RAC technology, it provides the grid ready architecture to consolidate the data center infrastructure. This presenter covers the configuration of such an infrastructure based on Oracle VM and Oracle 11g R2 RAC. You will learn the  basic Oracle VM architecture and the tips and tricks of network and shared storage configuration on the multiple layers of virtual infrastructure to support 11g R2 RAC database deployment. The presentation will also discuss the various methods to provision 11g R2 RAC database on Oracle VM.

Get Real with MySQL, Database, Virtualization, Security, and BI IOUG 2011 Online Education Series

Michael Corey

Founder & CEO, Ntirety

www.ntirety.com

My Personal Twitter Account: Michael_Corey

Ntirety Corporate Twitter Account: Ntirety

This post is admittedly self-serving, since it highlights the services my company offers. Neverthless, I believe that it provides a useful perspective which is directly related to the theme of this blog: all things "Database Administration as a Service (Remote DBA)". 

The presentation is filled with information that I believe you will find interesting and, hopefully, a bit entertaining, too. Some of what this covers is how hard it is to manage a data base properly and why no one person can run the whole show.  These are themes I have been talking about, and blogging about, for years.  If all the pressure is on one person, they run the risk of burn-out with 7 x 24 x 365 uptime demands. DBAs need sleep too!  So, check out "Your DBA Deserves a Good Night Sleep" and stay tuned for more posts soon. 

Mike Corey

Founder & CEO, Ntirety

www.ntirety.com

My Personal Twitter Account: Michael_Corey

Ntirety Corporate Twitter Account: Ntirety

I've long thought that, like the TV show,  being a DBA is a dirty job:

This video is a teaser of things to come: you will see me becoming more active on my blog STARTING NOW!  I plan on posting more videos and answering questions that are posted in the form to the right of the page. Check back for more posts soon. 

Founder & CEO, Ntirety

www.ntirety.com

My Personal Twitter Account: Michael_Corey

Ntirety Corporate Twitter Account: Ntirety

On July 7th, I wrote a SQL Server DBA Tip. It was how to get a copy of the SQL Server documentation. Surachart Opun a friend of mine in the oracle world reminded me of the oracle online documentation and how to get it.

I remember once hearing that Albert Einstein did not remember his own phone number because he did not want to clutter his brain with things he could look up when he needed them. 

Having access Database Documentation is a valuable resource for any DBA. 

Oracle Documentation

This page contains links to the most current documentation for Oracle Database, Application Server, Developer Suite, Collaboration Suite and Applications/E-Business Suite.

 Online Oracle Documenation Set

Founder & CEO, Ntirety

www.ntirety.com

My Personal Twitter Account: Michael_Corey

Ntirety Corporate Twitter Account: Ntirety

I was in the office today and we are doing some training. The DBA’s were swapping best practices. One of the senior SQL Server DBA’s made the comment, “I use my SQL Server Books Online each and every day”.
When I heard that comment I thought it made sense to share it. So I asked the person to send me the link. Here are the links so you can have you very own copy of the SQL Server documentation.

Here is a brief description:

Download Books Online for Microsoft SQL Server 2008, the primary documentation for SQL Server 2008. Books Online includes the following types of information:

    * Setup and upgrade instructions.
    * Information about new features and backward compatibility.
    * Conceptual descriptions of the technologies and features in SQL Server 2008.
    * Procedural topics describing how to use the various features in SQL Server 2008.
    * Tutorials that guide you through common tasks.
    * Reference documentation for the graphical tools, command prompt utilities, programming languages, and application programming interfaces (APIs) that are supported by SQL Server 2008.
Now the important part, the links....

SQL Server 2008 Books Online Link...

SQL Server 2008 Books Online
 
SQL Server 2005 Books Online Link..

SQL Server 2005 Books Online

Founder & CEO, Ntirety

www.ntirety.com

My Personal Twitter Account: Michael_Corey

Ntirety Corporate Twitter Account: Ntirety