Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Idera #SQLChat with John Morehouse

Please join Idera tomorrow for a #SQLChat on Twitter. The December #SQLChat will take place Tuesday, December 9 at 11 a.m. central to 12 noon with John Morehouse (@Sqlrus). We will be discussing how to survive the holidays with SQL Server.

Other Idera ACE’s will be helping with the chat and helping answer questions as well as follow up questions. Get started or improve your existing SQL Server systems to minimize the amount of time spent working during the holidays.

They are also giving away a Kangaroo Mobile Desktop Computer during the #SQLChat

SQLChat

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Covering Indexes

Microsoft continues to improve indexes and options for additional performance enhancements. One I see frequently is the need for a covering index. Before we look at those options, let’s talk about the need for a covering index.

The term covering index was created probably a decade ago. The idea is for the index to cover all columns need to improve the performance of a query. This includes the filters in the WHERE clause as well as the columns in the SELECT section of a query. Before Include Columns and Column Store indexes, this had to be accomplished by adding the columns to index tree structure.

Here is an example query that would benefit from a covering index using the Adventure Works database from CodePlex:

USE [AdventureWorks2014]
GO
SELECT soh.[SalesOrderID], [RevisionNumber], [OrderDate], [DueDate]
    , p.Name, p.ListPrice, sod.OrderQty
  FROM [Sales].[SalesOrderHeader] soh
    INNER JOIN [Sales].[SalesOrderDetail] sod ON sod.SalesOrderID = soh.SalesOrderID
      INNER JOIN [Production].[Product] p ON p.ProductID = sod.ProductID
  WHERE OrderDate Between '20130101' AND '20130101'
   AND p.Color = 'Black'

In the case of the above query, the Product table has an Index Seek on the clustered index which implements a Seek Predicate on the ProductID, but the Color column has a separate Seek which is the Predicate part of the query plan below. So, work is done in the Data Pages of the Clustered Index to find the proper Color value to match the second part of the WHERE (AND …) clause.

image

We can create a new index to “cover” the ProductID and Color in order to have only a Seek Predicate in the execution plan.

CREATE NONCLUSTERED INDEX idxProduct_ProductIDColor ON [Production].[Product]
  (ProductID, Color)
GO

Now, the problem is the execution plane shows a Key Lookup to get the columns Name and List Price.

KeyLookup

To cover the columns Name and ListPrice in the Product table, we need to add those columns to our index. Instead of adding to the end of the Column list like the following…

 

CREATE NONCLUSTERED INDEX idxProduct_ProductIDColor ON [Production].[Product]
  (ProductID, Color, Name, ListPrice)
GO

…we can include it in the data page part of the index by using the INCLUDE part of the CREATE INDEX syntax.

CREATE NONCLUSTERED INDEX idxProduct_ProductIDColorIncludeListPrice
    ON [Production].[Product]
        (ProductID, Color)
    INCLUDE (Name, ListPrice)
GO

Now, we have improved the performance of the query and limited the search part of the index structure to only the columns need for the Seek Predicate. In the image below, you can see in the output list the columns Name and ListPrice in addition to the Seek Predicates with extra Seek. The Object section of the display shows the index being used - idxProduct_ProductIDColorIncludeNameListPrice.

IncludeColumns

In conclusion, Microsoft has really helped us over the years with improvements to the Index creation. After we have created this new index, it is a good idea to start monitoring the indexes with DMVs/DMFs to see how often they are used (Reads and Writes), and if other indexes can be removed because they are not being utilized.

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Idera Ace

I started using a product called SQL Diagnostic Manager from Idera about 10 years ago at a Home Health company. It was very useful with monitoring a SQL Server instance and helped us estimate the future size of databases based on historical data. The numbers were very accurate for a 6 month and one year forecast.

I also discovered other tools for indexes and current state from the same company: Idera. Now, I have been selected as an Idera ACE for the Idera Community program to help speakers in the SQL Server Community.

idera_ace

They have given us the use of their peer network in order to blog about SQL Server and other Data topics. The best part is representing SQL Server and Idera at community events like SQLSaturday and PASS Summit. We will even be able to talk on webcasts with their support people.

Please visit their site and find out all about the wonderful tools for monitoring your systems. I got a great demo of BI Manager with capabilities to look at SSIS, SSAS and SSRS. The director of BI Manager development was a BI developer and he knows what needs to be captured through PerfMon(s) and DMV(s).

I am really looking forward to testing this monitoring tool during my upcoming sessions. Wish I had it before the Summit during my three hour tabular presentation.

The next 3 events I have scheduled are Live!360 (Orlando), SQLSaturday Austin and SQLSaturday Pensacola.

For Live! 360, here is a discount promo: Register for #Live360 Orlando with code LSPK49 and save $600! bit.ly/LSPK49_Reg

Monday, October 19, 2015

PASS Summit 2015

Yes, it is that time of the year again. You know, when all the nut case and normal SQL Server experts collide in Seattle (or wherever the Summit is located) to experience the largest gathering of data experts on this planet. Well, I might be lying a little about the personalities of these people (including myself), but I am getting excited about next week.

PASS Summit 2015

I just tried to build my schedule of sessions to attend and had the same problem. 3 to 4 sessions that I want to see but only have time for one. Good thing these are recorded and I can watch after the event.

image

That is not the only problem. I have to find time to visit vendors, talk to attendees I know and have not meet yet and give a 3 hours session on Tabular plus the after hour events. This is an exhausting week, but has paid dividends 10 fold from attending 8 of the last 9 years.

image

If you have not attended this event and have the budget to do it, please do not pass up. You can read many blogs and articles about the benefits of membership to PASS plus sessions to learn about SQL Server and the Microsoft Data Platform roadmap.

Hope to see ya there and please come say hi to me!!!

Thursday, September 17, 2015

#ITDevCon15 Conner Cunningham Keynote

On Wednesday morning, Conner Cunningham from Microsoft was the keynote speaker for IT/DevConnections in Las Vegas. His talk focused on SQL Server 2016. To summarize the things he said that got my attention were a Live Query Plan, the Query Store to retrieve a previous query plan and Azure Dev First – then on-premise. Continue reading if you want more information.

The talk concentrated on SQL Server 2016. His favorite parts are making queries run faster because this is the area he helped in planning and development years ago. Now, he encourages the developers and architects to make queries run faster. DBAs love this stuff.

The talked started with an overview of the new features in releases 7.0 to 2014. It was good to see the progress in SQL Server from the early days to today.

Conner said SQL Server 2016 is a very, very big release – more announcements will come at PASS Summit 2015 at the end of October in Seattle.

The data engine is now 3 to 4 different actual engines in different development streams but using the same skill set for the DBA. The rise of cloud computing has shifted to development in Azure first, then using the same code base to release on-premise.

The development can be done faster now due to changes in the process at Microsoft and release and testing is easier because of the cloud. This gets feedback to the development team faster and updates to problems released sooner. What used to take 3-5 years, now is done in months.

Microsoft only vendor where on premise and cloud are fully supported on same code base!!!

Here is a list of new 2016 features

Security

  1. Row level permissions to limit rows returned (select statement returns only the rows the user has permission to see.)
  2. TQE – Transparent Queryable Encrypt (better protection)
  3. Data Mask columns (x’s in a SSN)

AlwaysOn Improvements

  1. Log transport improvements
  2. DB level failover rather than instance
  3. Load balance readable secondary
  4. ActiveDirectory integration
  5. DTC transaction support  (this was a big one)
  6. 2 failover targets

Language enhancements

  1. JSON support 
  2. Temporal table support – Historical tracking of changes automatically, Think Audit Tables

In-Memory Engine – OLTP (2014)

  1. 5-20 times faster
  2. Collation support, JOINs, Large DBs, MARS support, Initial UDF/TDF support and row level security

Column store enhancements

  1. Updateable non-cluster column store indexes
  2. Non-clustered B-tree indexes
  3. Always On support – readable secondary support

Polybase

  1. Query relational and non-relational data with T-SQL
  2. Hadoop support

Column store scales better with Degrees of Parallelism

  1. Batch mode scales far better

Stretch SQL Server in Azure

  1. For data you do not want to delete but need at some point
  2. Increases backup time where the warm data is backed up and cold data is in cloud (which has HA and backups/restores)
  3. For historical data

Upgrade

  1. Rewriting upgrade guide (was 429 pages)

Improved Upgrade advisor

  1. Try the tool

Eliminate Trace flags for High-End Scaling

  1. Most have been integrated in 2016

Optimizer Changes Now Tied to DB Compatibility Level

  1. Less risk for upgrades
  2. Trace Flag 4199 folded in new DB compatibility Level

Query Store

  1. Force prior plan
  2. Deep insight into workload performance
  3. Simplifies upgrades by reducing change risk

Conner says he has been working on Query Store for a long time and is extremely happy about this has finally been done

Monday, September 7, 2015

Dustin Ryan: Power Pivot 101: An Introduction

The PASS Excel Business Intelligence virtual chapter presents Dustin Ryan introducing everybody to Power Pivot in Excel. This chapter has gotten a lot of questions during some of the last couple of sessions that can be directly done in Power Pivot through Excel.

Please join us this Thursday September 10th at Noon Central time for our monthly Excel BI VC meeting. Below is more information:

Thu, Sep 10 2015 12:00 Central Daylight Time


Excel BI VC presents Dustin Ryan - Power Pivot 101: An Introduction

RSVP:https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4390709838901462786

POWER PIVOT 101: AN INTRODUCTION

Power Pivot is a powerful yet flexible analytics tool built into a familiar environment yet many users remain unsure of how to take advantage of this dynamic tool. In this session, learn the purpose of Power Pivot, where Power Pivot fits within your organization and the basics of designing a Power Pivot model that integrates disparate data sources with the goal of gaining previously unrecognized insight into key business metrics.


Dustin Ryan is a senior BI consultant and trainer with Pragmatic Works in Jacksonville, FL. Dustin specializes in delivering quality enterprise-level business intelligence solutions to clients using SSRS, SSIS, SSAS, SharePoint, and Power BI. Dustin has authored and contributed to SQL Server books. You can find Dustin speaking at events such as SQLSaturday, Code Camp, and online webinars.

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

DevConnections Sept 14-17th 2015 – Las Vegas

DevConnections is a new conference for me and I am excited about the opportunity to present 2 different sessions. The conference is at ARIA Resort in Las Vegas, NV. There are many great speakers at this event including Grant Fritchey, Itzik Ben-Gan, Denny Cherry and many more. The conference includes more than one technology.

Here is a Promo Code LSPK49 for a savings of $600 off the standard price of $2,250 for the 5-day all-access package!

SessionTracks

The cost of the event includes access to all sessions from all tracks. I would really like to spend some time in the Cloud & Data Center as well as Enterprise Collaboration. The first day (Monday) is for full day workshops in all tracks.

Registration

I will be speaking on Tuesday at 11AM and Wednesday at 1:15PM. The sessions are Attributes and Hierarchies in SSAS 2014 and Excel 2013 Tips and Ticks for Displaying a Multidimensional Cube. These are topics that I really have a passion to work on. Analysis Services is a great tool for aggregating data and being able to get Dimension columns into Hierarchies and Members. With Excel, you can directly report against a cube and get lots of insights.

ThomasSessions

There is also a SQLSaturday on the weekend before this conference, so if you are in Las Vegas, you will probably get to see some if these same speakers on Saturday (for free).

Monday, July 27, 2015

SQLSaturday #423 Baton Rouge

This is I believe the 7th SQLSaturday in Baton Rouge. Please come out this Saturday at the LSU Business Center to enjoy free training, prizes and networking with over 500 IT professionals.

sqlsat423 

Here is the schedule.

Friday, July 24, 2015

Power Bi Desktop Release Today

You can download the much hyped up Power BI Desktop (formerly Power BI Designer). There are many blogs about the new features, but I am going to mention one here that I have been waiting for.

It involves connecting to the Analysis Service database as a connection and not an import all the tables into the Power BI file.

Once Power BI Desktop is Open…

image Click on Get Data…

image  then highlight SQL Server Analysis Services Database

Click Connect…

image 

Now, you have a new option

- Explore the Tabular model by using a live connection

You no longer have to use the option to retrieve the data into the Power BI file.

Once you click OK after entering the instance name…

image

You now can Navigate to the SSAS Database and select the Model or Perspective to connect to. Once selected, click OK

image

Now, you can start building the visualization like PowerView connected to a tabular database.

image

Thursday, July 16, 2015

New Features of SQL Server 2016

The next version of SQL Server looks to add more and more features helpful in database design and administration as well as Business Intelligence.

The first I found interesting is Temporal Tables. This table keeps a history of the changes made to the table over time. This will change how software developed to track changes will be coded in the future. How wonderful it would be not to have to worry about this. Another plus side to all these changes is more and more DBAs will be needed :)

The next feature is Stretch Database. This option lets you use Azure to store and retrieve archival data in the cloud. I was not much of a fan of the cloud in the beginning, but now I see benefits as the technology advances to make it easier to manage.

In-Memory technology as well as Column Store indexes seemed to be the big items for performance improvements. Check here and here for those updates. If you are really interested in reading about Column-store indexes, check out NikoPort’s blog.

Of course, I will have to mention something about SSIS. Incremental Package Deployment is the one that interest me most. Not having to deploy the whole project will help with the manageability of versions on the production server. It was great when SSISDB was released in 2012, and it looks like Microsoft is going to keep improving this option.

Performance improvements to the tabular model of Analysis Services seems to be the direction Microsoft is heading as far as SSAS improvements are concerned. The parallel Processing of Partitions will make it more in line with the advanced features of Multidimensional Cube. I still believe Multidimensional Cube is needed for Enterprise level cubes, but tabular is catching up.

New DBCC commands are added to check for corruptions in Analysis Services database (both Multidimensional Cubes and Tabular Models) as well as new DAX functions for Tabular. Read here for the full list for Analysis Services.

Of course, all of this is in the current CPT release and can change so get updated will the latest.

Friday, June 26, 2015

PASS Summit Selection Process

I was thinking today about why I submit sessions to speak at the PASS Summit.

My first summit was in Denver back around 2006 or 2007. We (my boss and me) saw an ad for it on SQL Server Central. We enjoyed every minute of the Summit and had about 100 things to go back to the office and implement. Problem was, there were too many ideas to implement and we weren’t to successfully at applying the changes. The trip did get us a list of speakers to watch for published articles and blogs, plus a consultant firm or 2 to help us expand the SQL Server environment at a growing company.

The next year our plan was to find 2-3 ideas from the Summit and come back to the office and implement one within a month, the second within 3 months, and hopefully get to the third. The first was Clustering and that went well and on time. The second was Data Mirroring and that took a little longer. I do not remember the last item.

One other thing happened. I sat in a session or 2, and both me and my boss were like ‘I can do that.’ Meaning, we both could have gave that talk. Not really, but that is what we thought.

Patrick LeBlanc had started a SQL Server User Group in Baton Rouge and they were looking for speakers. I signed up. My boss (or bosses at the time) helped me refine the session and off I went. I had been doing Lunch and Learns at the last 2 jobs which helped this process. Everything went well until I got to something I did not have experience, and I could not answer the question posed from the audience. This set in motion a drive to learn more about SQL Server.

I submitted to SQLSaturday in Baton Rouge and prepared for an advanced session. Not many SQLSatuday attendees come for an advanced topic. This got me thinking that sessions at SQLSatuday need to be more introduction to topics or intermediate instead of advanced. This started a successful session building list of ideas: Focus on helping 3-5 individual learn more about SQL Server. That is why I first went to the Summit.

After 2 years of local user group and SQLSaturday talks, I got selected for a PASS Summit and the first SQLRally. The other thing I learned to have a better chance at getting picked is to find topics that are not a lot of submissions for. The second part of my process is to go watch successful sessions at the PASS Summit and find out how they present (style), abstract writing (catchy descriptions) and what the person does before and after the sessions. Blogging is also helpful for ideas and practice.

This may sound mean, but I also stop going to sessions by Microsoft speakers even though the subject was something I needed to learn. This is not a knock to the speaker or session or Microsoft, but I found it better to watch presenters with industry experience. The Microsoft sessions can be learn/watched later online or the information is in White Papers. This was just a personal opinion.

New Features is another topic I avoid right now because so many people want to talk about that new feature. Without some experience, I am not the right speaker (at the present moment) to do those talks. But, it is not a bad idea to talk about something you do not have a lot of experience with. This determination will get you to spend time (more than usually) learning about that topic or feature. The is what I have done to advance a feature at the companies I worked for.

I hope we all continue growing the community of speakers, bloggers and experts to keep the SQL Server community healthy and exciting.

Thursday, June 18, 2015

PASS Excel BI VC presents Ásgeir Gunnarsson: End to End Risk Assessment – Using PowerView

Join us today at noon central for Asgeir presenting for the Excel BI VC.

Thu, Jun 18 2015 12:00 Central Daylight Time


PASS Excel BI VC presents Ásgeir Gunnarsson: End to End Risk Assessment – Using PowerView

RSVP: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/259088186466925058

END TO END RISK ASSESSMENT – AFFORDABLE SOLUTION USING POWER BI AND EXCEL

Risk assessment is becoming an integral part of many organizations. In order to do it successfully you need to do it regularly and consistently. You need to register the risk factors, the risks them self, evaluate them and then plan the actions required to mitigate them. Besides the registration you need to have compelling and easy reading reports that help managers quickly find how the assessment is going. The familiar Excel interface helps assessors register the risk factors and risks and then plan the actions. The solutions then uses Power Query to load data into PowerPivot without overwriting and the Power View to report the results. The results can then be monitored in Power BI. This method can easily transfer to any other data collection solution such as budgeting or incident registration Decent knowledge of Excel and a familiarity with Power Query, PowerPivot, Power View and Power BI sites


Ásgeir is a Senior Consultant with Capacent Iceland working with Business Intelligence and planning solutions using different software vendors. Ásgeir has been working in BI since 2007 both as a consultant and internal employee. Before turning to BI Ásgeir worked as a technical trainer and currently teaches BI courses at the Continuing Education Department of the University of Iceland. Ásgeir is passionate about data and loves solving problem

Thursday, June 4, 2015

SQLSaturday #408 Houston

I have been selected again to speak in Houston (Saturday, June 13th) for a SQLSaturday event and look forward to connecting with some Texas PASS members like Nancy, Alan, Jen, Sean and many others. The facilities at San Jacinto College in the Southwest part of the Houston area were great last year. These free events (yes, I said free) have wonder sponsors that help cover cost especially Lunch!!!

http://www.sqlsaturday.com/408/Sponsors.aspx

image 

The presentations for this event for me are BI related: Getting Started with Tabular and Excel 2013 Tips and Tricks. These are session I have done a couple of times and get great responses. I have a couple of speakers I would like to see and hope to peak inside their sessions.

Hopefully I will see some of you there and we can talk. Come find me.

Getting started with Tabular Analysis Services [Room 1.117]

Speaker(s)Thomas LeBlanc

Duration: 60 minutes

Track: Business Intelligence

 

Excel 2013 Tips and Tricks for Displaying a Multidimensional Cube [Room 1.147]

Speaker(s)Thomas LeBlanc

Duration: 60 minutes

Track: Business Intelligence

 

Thursday, May 7, 2015

PASS Elections and Verifying Account

It is that time of the year when PASS starts a process to help update memberships and clean up duplicate account. I just Deactivated an old account setup in 2006 I never used.

Here is some more info and links. This material is copied from PASS website and emails.

Announcing 2015 PASS Elections Season

Are you ready to participate in the 2015 PASS Nomination Committee (NomCom) and Board of Directors elections? PASS is your community--don't miss this opportunity to shape its future by casting your ballot!

Who can vote?

Any PASS member who has a complete myPASS profile by 11:59 PDT on June 1, 2015, is eligible to vote in this year's elections. 

How do I vote?

The first step is to make sure that you are eligible to vote:

1. Log into your myPASS account
2. Click myProfile
3. Review and udpate all fields
4. On the myPASS section of your profile, you should see a green check mark in the Voting Eligibility section. This will confirm your status.

 

PASS Voting Eligibility and Upcoming Elections

Posted in [PASS General], [Virtual Chapters], [PASS Chapters], [Elections] By Bill Graziano

May 7, 2015 – During the 2014 election cycle, the PASS Board established specific eligibility requirements for voting in the PASS elections. These requirements are designed to help de-duplicate member data for eligible voters before ballot notifications are sent. Specific mandatory fields have been added to the myProfile section of sqlpass.org to help us better serve the community.

To cast a ballot, members must complete all mandatory fields in their myPASS profile. PASS members who have not completed their profile will receive a reminder to update their myPASS profile to be eligible to vote. Your profile must be completed by 11:59 pm PDT June 1, 2015 to guarantee eligibility to cast ballots in the 2015 PASS elections.   

Don’t miss your chance to vote in the PASS elections! To confirm your eligibility, please log into your myPASS account to look for the follow eligibility stamp:

PASS is your organization. Thank you for helping to shape its future by participating in the elections process. 

–Bill Graziano
Immediate Past President

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

My Favorite FREE Reports in SSMS

Microsoft has given us DBAs/Developers/etc. a wealth of free reports integrated into SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) in order to see what is happening in our environment. These reports are really nice because you do not need to know the DMV/DMF in order to get the results.

The first report I use in on a database - Disk Usage. In order to get to this report, I need to Right-Click on the database and go to Reports menu.

image

 

Disk Usage

From there, drill into Standard Reports –> Disk Usage

image

This reports gives me a visual of the data and log usage as well as what is going with the data files. From here, I can see if the log file is getting large and/or how full. The Data/Log File Autogrow/Autoshrink indicates that the log file grew on 4/7 and added 200MB (it is autogrow sized correct). I can also see the percentages of data, index, etc. usage on the File Groups.

 

Disk Usage by Top Tables (or Disk Usage by Tables)

The next report is Disk Usage by Top Tables or by Tables. The Top tables will order the report Reserved Data Size. The by Tables report orders the list alphabetically by schema name and then table name.

 

image

 

image

 

Schema Changes

Being able to see changes on the database without too much effort is reserved for this report. It feeds from the default trace, so some things fall off with recycling of the trace files.

image

 

Index Usage Statistics

This report gives usage and operational information about indexes.  The usage statistics are related to Seek, Scans and Updates while the operational is for Insert, Updates and Deletes.

image

These are just a few of the integrated reports in SSMS. I am sure you will find your favorite or even find some at the instance level you might enjoy.

image        image

 

Thomas

Sunday, March 29, 2015

PASS Excel BI VC presents Devin Knight on Getting Started on PowerQuery

Come join us Thursday April 2nd for an Excel BI virtual chapter session at noon central with Pragmatic Work’s Devin Knight who will help us get started with PowerQuery.

Thu, Apr 02 2015 12:00 Central Daylight Time


Getting Started with Power Query by Devin Knight

RSVP: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1373099073018225154

GETTING STARTED WITH POWER QUERY

Power Query is a free add-in for Excel 2010 or 2013 that provides users an easy way to discover, combine and refine data all within the familiar Excel interface. With Power Query you can now combine and transform data from a variety of data sources all within Excel, which would have previously required a complex ETL tool. Join Devin and learn how you can use Power Query to take your Self-Service BI solutions to the next level. You will also see quick ways to visualize this new data appropriately. BIO Devin a Microsoft SQL Server MVP and the Training Director at Pragmatic Works Consulting. He is an author of six SQL Server books and speaks at conferences like PASS Summit, PASS Business Analytics Conference, SQL Saturdays and Code Camps. He is also a contributing member to the PASS Business Intelligence Virtual Chapter. Making his home in Jacksonville, FL, Devin is the President of the local users’ group (JSSUG).


Devin Knight a Microsoft MVP and the Training Director at Pragmatic Works Consulting. He is an author of six SQL Server books and speaks at conferences like PASS Summit, PASS Business Analytics Conference, SQL Saturdays and Code Camps. He is also a contributing member to the PASS Business Intelligence Virtual Chapter. Making his home in Jacksonville, FL, Devin is the Vice President of the local users group (JSSUG).

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Simple-Talk Article

In December, I was asked to write an article(s) on Database Refactoring. It started as 2 topics, but then consolidated into one. I really wanted to talk about the database design issues I see with a development department. Please give some time to reading the article and comment. First, I would like to thank for Simple-Talk team for the editing process which was first class and very, very useful.

https://www.simple-talk.com/sql/t-sql-programming/defusing-database-time-bombs-avoiding-the-need-to-refactor-databases/

The comments are really for the new developer who needs some guidance on designing databases. I wish everybody had the MIS class I took at LSU for Entity-Relationship diagrams. Back then(86-91), the ER Diagram and Data Diagram were 2 separate pieces to the database. You looked at the conceptual design before the physical implementation.

I am started to wonder if Agile/Scrum methods are starting to water down the design sessions for application development. Or maybe not :)

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

SQLSaturday #362 – Austin, TX – Let’s Get Weird

I used to spend the 4th of July weekend (or week) in Austin with some buddy’s when we were in our 20s. There was so much to do and enjoy while there it is exciting to go back to this great city. Not only that, but there are some really good SQL Server experts and community organizers in that city – John Sterrett, Jim Murphy, SQLServerIO (Wes Brown – hope he is there), AJ Mendo and more. Catching up with these people will be refreshing.

The event is on Jan31st at Wingate by Wyndham Round Rock Hotel and Conference Center 1209 N IH 35, Round Rock, TX 78664

 

THIS YEAR THERE ARE 2 OFFICIAL SQL SATURDAY PRECON'S ON FRIDAY JANUARY 30th, 2015. TICKETS WILL SELL OUT QUICKLY SO MAKE SURE YOU REGISTER TO SPEND THE DAY WITH SOME OF SQL SERVER'S GREATS!

BECOME AN ENTERPRISE DBA WITH SEAN AND JEN MCCOWN     Eventbrite - Become an Enterprise DBA with Sean and Jen McCown

MURDER THEY WROTE WITH JASON BRIMHALL AND WAYNE SHEFFIELD   Eventbrite - Murder They Wrote

Register

 

Here is the emailed schedule:

Track

Starts

Session Title

Speaker

Business Intelligence

08:30 AM

Registrations

SQLSaturday 362

Business Intelligence

09:00 AM

Capture Change and Apply it with CDC & SSIS

Steve Wake

Business Intelligence

10:15 AM

Getting started with Tabular Analysis Services

Thomas LeBlanc

Business Intelligence

11:30 AM

15 Quick Tips for SSIS Performance

Tim Mitchell

Business Intelligence

12:30 PM

Learn How To Build A Golden Record for Any Subject Over Lunch!

Gene Webb

Business Intelligence

02:15 PM

Writing Your First BimlScript

David Stein

Business Intelligence

03:30 PM

Change Data Capture & Change Tracking Deep Dive

Kevin Hazzard

Business Intelligence

04:00 PM

XML & SQL: Best Frenemies Forever

Richard Heim

Business Intelligence

05:15 PM

Raffle

SQLSaturday 362

DBA, Automation

09:00 AM

DBA Toolbox: Surviving A Disaster

AJ Mendo

DBA, Automation

10:15 AM

SQL Server: Monitoring disk usage

Daniel Janik

DBA, Automation

11:30 AM

Beginning Automation with Powershell

Amy Herold

DBA, Automation

12:30 PM

Embarcadero - Lunch Sponsorship Session

John Sterrett

DBA, Automation

02:15 PM

Database Release Management: Tips to help organize it

TJay Belt

DBA, Automation

03:30 PM

SQL Server Internals

Naomi Williams

DBA, Automation

04:00 PM

SQL Server Bingo – Install, Migration & Config

Mindy Curnutt

DBA, Automation

05:15 PM

Raffle

SQLSaturday 362

DBA, Cloud

09:00 AM

SQL Server Foreign Keys – De-mystifying the Rest of the Story

Mike Byrd

DBA, Cloud

10:15 AM

Getting Started with SQL Server in the Cloud with Microsoft Azure

Anil Mahadev

DBA, Cloud

11:30 AM

SQL 2012 Extended Events

Jason Brimhall

DBA, Cloud

12:30 PM

Amazon Web Service - Lunch Sponsorship Session

John Sterrett

DBA, Cloud

02:15 PM

No DR Site?! No problem!! Enhance your SQL Server HA/DR capabilities using Windows Azure

Kal Yella

DBA, Cloud

03:30 PM

SQL Server Statistics – What Are The Chances?

Lori Edwards

DBA, Cloud

04:00 PM

Introduction to Wait Types and Response Time Analysis

Janis Griffin

DBA, Cloud

05:15 PM

Raffle

SQLSaturday 362

DBA, Security

09:00 AM

Turbocharge Your Career With a Learning Plan

Andy W

DBA, Security

10:15 AM

CIS Benchmarks – A Guide to SQL Server Security

Nancy Hidy Wilson

DBA, Security

11:30 AM

SQL Watchdog - find out instantly when SQL change

Michael Bourgon

DBA, Security

12:30 PM

Cisco - Lunch Sponsorship Session

John Sterrett

DBA, Security

02:15 PM

SQL Security Best Practices & Shrinking Your Attack Surface

Matthew Brimer

DBA, Security

03:30 PM

SQL Injection

Kevin Boles

DBA, Security

04:00 PM

Securing Your SQL Environment

Tim Radney

DBA, Security

05:15 PM

Raffle

SQLSaturday 362

Development

08:30 AM

Registrations

SQLSaturday 362

Development

09:00 AM

Parameter Sniffing the Good and the Bad

Lance Tidwell

Development

10:15 AM

5 TSQL Commands I've Been Missing

Jason Carter

Development

11:30 AM

The Real Value of Name-Value Pairs: Using PIVOT and UNPIVOT

Kevin Wilkie

Development

12:30 PM

Women in Technology Round Table Discussion

Rie Irish

Development

02:15 PM

Windowing Functions

Timothy Costello

Development

03:30 PM

Turbo Boost Performance: In Memory Tables index optimizations

Konstantin Melamud

Development

04:00 PM

T-SQL Throwdown

Hakim Ali

Development

05:15 PM

Raffle

SQLSaturday 362

Thunderdome

09:00 AM

Introduction to Powershell cmdlets for DBAs

Jennifer McCown

Thunderdome

10:15 AM

Query Store - A New SQL Query Tuning Feature

Conor Cunningham

Thunderdome

11:30 AM

Increase your SSIS productivity with Biml

Reeves Smith

Thunderdome

12:30 PM

Microsoft - Sponsor Lunch Session

John Sterrett

Thunderdome

02:15 PM

SQL Server 2014 In Memory technologies - In Memory OLTP (aka Hekaton) & ColumnStore

Reinaldo Kibel

Thunderdome

03:30 PM

Table Vars & Temp Tables - What you NEED to Know!

Wayne Sheffield

Thunderdome

04:00 PM

AlwaysOn Live Deployment

Ryan Adams

Thunderdome

05:15 PM

Raffle

SQLSaturday 362