Category Archives: SQLServerPedia Syndication

Speaking at PASS Summit 2012

It’s Not A Repeat

Speaking at the PASS Summit last year was one of the highlights of my career. I had a single regular session initially and picked up an additional session due to a drop in the schedule. Both talks were fun and I got some solid feedback.

The Boy Did Good

I won’t say great, there were some awesome sessions last year. I did do well enough to get an invite to submit for all the “invite only sessions”. I was stunned. I don’t have any material put together for a half day or a full day session yet and the window to submit sessions was a lot smaller this year. But I do have three new sessions and all of them could easily be extended from 75 minutes to 90 minutes. So, I submitted for both regular sessions and spotlight sessions and got one of both! WOO HOO!

The Lineup

I’ll be covering two topics near and dear to my heart.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My SAN [DBA-213-S]
Session Category: Spotlight Session (90 minutes)
Session Track: Enterprise Database Administration & Deployment

SANs and NASs have their challenges, but they also open up a whole new set of tools for disaster recovery and high availability. In this session, we’ll cover several different technologies that can make up a Storage Area Network. From Fibre Channel to iSCSI, there are similar technologies that every vendor implements. We’ll talk about the basics that apply to most SANs and strategies for setting up your storage. We’ll also cover SAN pitfalls as well as SQL Server-specific configuration optimizations that you can discuss with your storage teams. Don’t miss your chance to ask specific questions about your SAN problems.

I’ve built a career working with SAN and System Administrators. The goal of this session is to get you and your SAN Administrator speaking the same language, and to give you tools that BOTH of you can use to measure the health and performance of your IO system.

Integrating Solid State Storage with SQL Server [DBA-209]
Session Category: Regular Session (75 minutes)
Session Track: Enterprise Database Administration & Deployment

As solid state becomes more mainstream, there is a huge potential for performance gains in your environment. In this session, we will cover the basics of solid state storage, then look at specific designs and implementations of solid state storage from various vendors. Finally, we will look at different strategies for integrating solid state drives (SSDs) in your environment, both in new deployments and upgrades of existing systems. We will even talk about when you might want to skip SSDs and stay with traditional disk drives.

I’ve spoken quite a bit on solid state storage fundamentals this time around I’ll be tackling how people like myself and vendors are starting to mix SSD’s into the storage environment. Where it makes sense and where it can be a huge and costly mistake.

Finally

I hope to see you at the Summit again this year! Always feel free to come say hi and chat a bit. Networking is as important as the sessions and you will build friendships that last a lifetime.

2011 What A Great Year

What A Diffrince A Year Makes

In January I posted up my new years list basically, stuff I wanted to learn in the last twelve months. Lets take a quick look at last years goals.

SQL Server Stuff

1. Partitioning
Win
Done, and pretty early on. I did a lot of reading and did some partitioning setups in my home lab and feel much better about partitioning.

2. Change Data Capture
Draw
This was a business need. At my old company we were using triggers everywhere and CDC seemed like a good fit for most of that. I did some reading and test setups but didn’t get much farther than that. Not a 100% win but I did learn stuff.

3. Replication
Win
Ongoing, since I’ve changed jobs replication moved up on the list as CDC fell down the list. I’ve geared back up and feel like I am back on solid ground.

4. Analysis Services Administration
Fail
Again, casualty of moving jobs. I have ZERO interaction with Analysis Services and as such, didn’t do much on this front.

.Net Programming Stuff

1.LINQ
Draw
I did do some stuff with the more general LINQ to objects and now that I have moved jobs I actually have more exposure to LINQ so I’ll get to learn more in the new year.

2.Parallel Programming in .Net
Draw
Didn’t do much with PLINQ but did work a bit with the new async framework stuff. My biggest complement is it isn’t horrible. I don’t think it is as slick as say node.js but it is light years ahead of the early 2.0 days and threading.

3.Entity Framework
FAIL
Just couldn’t do it. Partly due to the job change and partly due to complete lack of caring. I just can’t get jazzed up about it. I’ve worked with a lot of ORM’s and they all have strengths and weaknesses.

90 Degrees From Center

1. Get Better With Python
Win
I did a few little things in Python on a few different platforms like the Google App Engine. I mostly use it at home. There is a large user base and it does make lots of programming tasks much easier so I’ll hang on to Python for a while longer.

2. Pick Up Lisp again
EPIC FAIL
I spent about two days banging on Lisp again and realized why I don’t use Lisp today. There just isn’t enough support for it in the wild. There are lots of flavors and variations on Lisp but to gain any real proficiency you really need to focus on one dialect and master it. I just couldn’t find one and settle. Eventually, that time popped over to Python.

Changes, Changes and Changes

This seems to be a constant in my life. Admittedly most of that is self inflicted but I wasn’t expecting the amount of stuff to happen to me personally or professionally this year.

Lets make the short list:
New House
New Job
Spoke at SQLRally
Pulled off SQLSaturday #97
MVP
Spoke at PASS Summit

yep, crazy year but a good one for sure.

Thank You

I don’t say that enough. The community has been great to me this year and I can’t wait to see what next year holds!

See you next year!

SQLSaturday 97 Speaker Recap

Great Content + Great Speakers = Awesome Event

All the evaluations have been tallied, its official SQLSaturday #97 was a hit! As a speaker I always like to know how well I did. As a competitor, I like to know how well I stacked up overall. SQLSaturday #97 had some heavy hitters with Conor Cunningham, Joe Celko and the Midnightdba’s in the house. I won’t release the full rankings to the public but I will share some metrics with you. If a speaker had two sessions they were not aggregated together, each session stands on its own.

The Stats

28 speakers signed up to speak and we had zero no shows. Out of those 9 were first time speakers at a SQLSaturday.

Top 3 speakers with more than ten evals ordered by Rating, Expectation and number of evals.

Jennifer McCown Afternoon
Ryan Adams
Jim Murphy

Top 3 speakers ordered by rating.

Jennifer McCown Afternoon
Ryan Adams
Jim Murphy

Top 3 speakers ordered expectation.

Jennifer McCown Afternoon
Jim Murphy
Conor Cunningham

Top 3 speakers ordered by number of evals.

Conor Cunningham
David Stein
Sean McCown

Average ratings For Whole Event

Rating	Expectation	Number Evals
4.42	2.46	22.60

Wow, I don’t know what else to say. It was a great event with awesome speakers. I can’t wait to see what next year looks like!

SQL Server 2012 RC0 Is Here

SQL Server 2012 Release Candidate 0, Time To Get Serious

With the release of RC0 Microsoft has signaled that the release of SQL Server 2012 is just around the corner. If you haven’t been experimenting with the CTP’s now is the time to get off your duff and start getting your hands dirty. Realize that there may still be some bugs, mostly in the GUI tools and setup, but the core engine stuff is considered production ready. I wouldn’t push RC0 into production unless you are part of the Microsoft TAP program, without the TAP program in place Microsoft doesn’t provide support for pre-release software in a production environment.

The Setup

As of this writing, only the DVD image of RC0 is available. There will be other options for installation at a later date.

If you are running Visual Studio 2010 already you need to apply SP1 before doing anything else. If you don’t have an install of SQL Server 2005 through 2008 R2 that you don’t want to upgrade it is pretty much the same song and dance you are used to now. It does take a long time to do the install. It took almost two hours to get it completely setup on my laptop.

Upgrading 2008 R2

You have to have SP1 for SQL Server 2008 R2 installed before upgrading to 2012 RC0. Remember, there is no direct upgrade path for SQL Server 2000. You can take a backup and restore it to a clean install. SQL Server 2012 RC0 will only upgrade 2005 through 2008 R2.

If, like me, you plan on doing a complete uninstall of 2008 R2 be aware you need to have the 2008 R2 install bits handy. If you don’t the uninstall process will complain and leave some bits left over on your machine. I have a hard time accepting that you need the install media to remove everything. You are in for at least two reboots as well.

The Install Is Done, Almost

After everything is completely installed you can start browsing the new SQL Server Management Studio. It is based on Visual Studio 2010. They have made a real effort to bring SQL Server in line with the rest of Microsoft’s development platform. It still has plenty of restrictions and that is all part of the plan. Shipping with SQL Server 2012 is SQL Server Data Tools formerly known as Juno. I was pretty excited to play with the latest release. There is a menu entry that fires up Visual Studio 2010. When you browse the project list there is an entry for SQL Server Data Tools project, which actually prompts you for an additional download. To add to your frustration SSDT RC0 isn’t actually available yet. You get redirected to http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ssdt/archive/2011/11/18/sql-server-data-tools-ctp4-ssdt-for-sql-server-2012-rc0.aspx.

All Done, For Now…

So, now that I have a working install of SQL Server 2012 RC0 I’ll be digging into the bits I find interesting. Off the cuff I like the new SSMS upgrade. XEvents is a first class citizen and it pretty easy to find. Utility Control Points show some promise as well, but we will see how they work at scale. So far it feels familiar yet fresh.

PASS Board Of Elections: Rob Farley

Be Part Of The Solution, Not The Problem

Now that BoD season is in full swing and I’m not running for the board I am going to cover the candidates I think would be good for the BoD. Make no mistake about it, these are endorsements. I have ether worked with, or have a personal relationship with the people I am going to talk about. In the past I have sat on the sidelines and watched events unfold and simply spoke with my vote. I don’t expect everyone to agree with me, heck I’m not sure the people I’ll be writing about will agree with my reasons for backing them.

Also, don’t think because I’m not backing you that I’m soundly rejecting you ether. I simply may not know you very well and wouldn’t endorse any thing, person or product if I didn’t have some personal experience to draw upon. If you want to correct that then feel free to reach out to me. I always love getting to know people better.

I won’t be speaking against any candidate. Don’t ask my opinion on a candidate that I haven’t written about, you won’t get it. I still have a sense of hope about elections in general and believe you should win them on YOUR merits and not by tearing down your fellow candidates. At the end of the day, we are all part of the PASS community. We all want it to be better and shouldn’t be in the business of belittling others just because they are running for a BoD slot along with you.

</disclaimer >

Rob Farley, High Voltage!

Many of you my only know Rob from his blog (http://sqlblog.com/blogs/rob_farley/) or via Twitter @rob_farley. I very little contact with Rob before 2009. I was an avid reader of his blog and knew he was an MVP from Australia but it wasn’t until I started following him on twitter and watching him interact with others that I add him to my “people to meet” list. In 2010 I got that chance at the PASS Summit. To be honest with you, I thought he was drunk. I’ve rarely seen anyone that excited about anything. I have seen people with enthusiasm and passion but Rob was just a notch above that. I think Microsoft took AlwaysOn from Rob.

Management Skills

Well, that one is pretty easy. Rob started with a single person company and has grown it to 6. He is a leader in the SQL Server community running the Adelaide, Australia users group. He is also active outside the SQL Server community. Rob is a huge proponent of ownership. If you take on a problem you should own it. He doesn’t ever dodge an issue or deflect blame.

Education/Experience

Rob holds three degrees covering arts, science and computing. Again, I don’t believe that you must have a degree to be a successful leader. I do admire his dedication and for studying such a wide range of subjects. Again, he is a local leader as well.

Dedication to Community

Holy cow! Rob is dedicated the the community locally and nationally. He recently accepted an non-voting appointment to the BoD to help grow PASS as an international organization. He Even though he has focused on that aspect he also understands that PASS has to reach out to the local level. He also gets that local doesn’t just mean metro areas like my own town of Austin, TX but to the smaller undeserved communities.

My Understanding of Rob’s Vision

Remember, this is my take and if I’ve got it wrong I hope Rob will correct me.

Growing PASS internationally. Rob wants PASS to be more than a United States only organization. PASS has tried a few times to extend its reach without a lot of success. I don’t know if the new initiative will be a slam dunk but I think PASS has engaged the right people. Rob also understands that to expand into Australia and other countries you must engage at the local level. You must also respect the organizations that are there serving the community already. After all, we all want the same thing, to educate and support the community. He also sees PASS as an organization that isn’t as tight with Microsoft as it should be. I agree that in some aspects we aren’t as close to the mother ship, but part of that is the nature of being an independent organization. I’m not sure how we could strengthen our bonds with Microsoft without becoming a “branch” of Microsoft. I’d like to hear how Rob would grow that relationship.

A Solid Candidate

Rob Farley is probably one of the most honest and genuine people I’ve ever met. He gives of his time and resources to help others. He is also a strong entrepreneur, his brand of leadership rings true with me. Oh, did I mention he is humble? He has a hard time promoting himself. He isn’t a boastful man at all even though he has plenty to be proud about. He has been awarded MVP for several years. A successful business man, father and community leader, he may not feel comfortable putting forward his successes I do.

Yep, I support him.