May 2012 ~ On beyond Zebra AdventureWorks OR where did I go wrong? ~ Steve Simon

Posted on April 25, 2012 by

[Steve Simon]

 

Presenter: Steve Simon
Topic: On beyond Zebra AdventureWorks OR where did I go wrong?
Downloads: http://tinyurl.com/talkz
Mentioned Link: Parameter Sniffing

 

No matter how well planned and executed, the data structures of any data warehouse oft times eventually land up resembling something out of a Dr. Seuss book. In this presentation we shall be looking at and discussing a few of the “perfect” data structures (that I have inherited) and discussing the flaws that have only recently surfaced. We shall be looking at the ‘before’, discussing a few alternatives to make these structure more efficient and effective, then we shall then look at final “production structure” and the resulting improvement metrics; all of which help us to help our clients’ make better decisions in a timely manner.

Biography:

Steve Simon is a senior BI engineer with MyWebGrocer. He has been involved with database design and analysis for over 20 years. Steve has presented papers at eight PASS Summits and two at PASS Europe. He has just recently presented a Business Intelligence paper at Oracle World in San Francisco . Steve has also presented 5 papers at the Information Builders’ (IBI) International Summits. He is a PASS regional mentor & chair of the Oracle/SQL Server VC.

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Apr 2012 ~ Aviation Disasters & IT Lessons From Them ~ Mike Walsh

Posted on April 1, 2012 by

 

Presenter: Mike Walsh
Topic: Aviation Disasters & IT Lessons From Them
Downloads: TBD

 

What does a plane crash have to do with technical skills? You might be surprised. There are many lessons to be learned from disasters. Most accidents are caused not by one factor, but by a series of seemingly-small missteps; even if a freak accident occurs, training and preparation can make all the difference – it’s the same for us!

In this session we’ll have a group discussion through a few actual aviation disasters and see what skills, attitudes and thought processes led to them. We’ll look at some success stories and see what was different. We’ll see how these attitudes and decisions impact us at work and talk about how to identify them in ourselves and our teams. Then we’ll figure out how to prevent them in our day jobs.

Biography:

Mike is an experienced SQL Server professional and has worked with SQL Server for over 12 years. He has performed the duties of DBA, Developer, Architect and Performance Lead but always leans on his DBA experience. Mike is a partner in the exciting SQL Community focused venture called Linchpin People – He is also an independent consultant through his Straight Path Solutions consultancy. He was recognized as an MVP by Microsoft in April of 2011 for his SQL Server community involvement. He blogs at http://www.straightpathsql.com

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Mar 2012 ~ SQL Server 2012 Special Ops Tour ~ SQL PASS

Posted on March 20, 2012 by


March 28, 2012 1:30 PM – 5:15 PM

Microsoft
201 Jones Road, Sixth Floor
Waltham, Massachusetts 02451

 

The time to activate is now. In anticipation of the upcoming launch of Microsoft SQL Server 2012, we’re engaging in a pre-launch tour especially for DBAs. Be a part of this highly anticipated event! Join us for our 12-city road tour where Microsoft experts and local DBAs will show you the power of SQL Server 2012.

At the Tour stop in your city, you will:

  • Dive deep into the tools, solutions and options that will enable mission critical confidence at a low TCO
  • Discover breakthrough insight with pervasive data discovery
  • Learn options to create & scale your current business solutions by managing the cloud on your terms
  • Preview RC0 with tips and tricks to help you succeed, & build your learning plan for certification
  • Secure your credentials. Block your calendars. This one you won’t want to miss.

This free event is sponsored by SQL PASS and Microsoft. Registration can be done here.

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Mar 2012 ~ T-SQL Deployment and Continuous Integration ~ Grant Fritchey

Posted on March 1, 2012 by

 

Presenter: Grant Fritchey
Topic: T-SQL Deployment and Continuous Integration
Downloads: Slides

 

While most T-SQL developers focus on writing quality T-SQL code and efficient queries, what they often forget is how it should best be deployed. This includes deployment of new applications, as well as upgrades and bug fixes. In this session, you will learn many best practices involving the principles of continuous integration, such as maintaining a code repository, automating builds, self-testing, auditing, automated deployment, and much more. This session is designed for both DBA administrators and developers who want to optimize their T-SQL deployment process.

Biography:

Grant Fritchey is a SQL Server MVP with over 20 years of experience in IT, including time spent in support and development. He has worked with SQL Server since 6.0, back in 1995. He has developed in VB, VB.NET, C# and Java. Grant volunteers at PASS and is past president of the Southern New England SQL Server Users Group (SNESSUG). He has authored books for Apress and Simple-Talk and joined Red Gate Software as a Product Evangelist in January 2011. He blogs at www.scarydba.com.

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Feb 2012 ~ Policy based management ~ Scott Abrants

Posted on February 1, 2012 by

 

Presenter: Scott Abrants
Topic: Policy based management with SQL Server 2008 R2
Downloads: Slides

 

Policy Based Management – A tool to manage consistency across an environment Have you found yourself tasked with managing settings and environment definitions across a large pool of SQL Server 2008 servers and felt overwhelmed with where to start? Do changes in your environment go unnoticed and have a ripple effect within your application stack? Do you find developers and others not following standards time and time again even with the best process definitions and promises in place?

Then you will benefit from understanding a powerful feature tucked neatly within SQL Server 2008; Policy Based Management. Scott Abrants will provide a clean overview of this management tool along with some demonstrations that help explain its usage in action. If you are tasked with managing one or several hundred servers you owe it to yourself to know this tool is a viable option to server based management.

Biography:

I have worked in the IT field for over 20 years. Most of that time has been spent immersed in the database technologies discipline. After graduating from Bryant University with a degree in MIS, I began by seriously cutting my teeth with Microsoft’s SQL Server 6.5 and have never looked back. I am currently employed by a SaaS provider that takes in point-of-sales data, scrubs it, cubes that data, and presents it to the end user; the Microsoft stack is heavily relied upon as part of that solution. I have written several SQL Server related articels and maintain an active presence within the SQL Server user communities. I am one of the founding officers of the Southern New England SQL Server Users Group as well as a past president. I very much enjoy presenting at those meetings whenever I can. My passion is what drives me. I have a knack for understanding not only the technical details surrounding data but also how that data impacts the business decisions that drive a company. I enjoy being involved in the whole picture, from end user business requirements discussions to determining the overall architecture. My biggest drive is knowing that I make a difference.

I am the proud father of two smart and beautiful daughters. I enjoy spending time with them and learning to see the world through their eyes. My wife Brenda has been my rock and my biggest advocate and for that I am forever grateful. In my spare time I also enjoy remote control car racing, MMO gaming, and hockey.

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Jan 2012 ~ Operational mistakes to avoid ~ Mike Hillwig

Posted on January 1, 2012 by

Presenter: Mike Hillwig
Topic: Operational mistakes to avoid
Downloads: Slides

How often do you launch a remote desktop session to your SQL Server? And how often do you ALTER a TABLE during peak hours? These can cause performance problems. Mike Hillwig has a top ten (and growing!) list of operational mistakes to avoid and will help you understand why you should avoid them. And in many cases, he will show you how to work around them.

Biography:

Mike Hillwig is a 15-year IT veteran, having spent the last ten in the world of databases. He works as a contract DBA for a Boston-based provider of software and cloud-based solutions for the financial industry where he manages customer database environments. He specializes in making these environments grow and scale, where he believes that consistency and sanity are very closely linked.

Outside of work, he is an avid blogger, a passionate cook, and dad to two Rescue Pugs, Reggie and Ruby.

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Dec 2011 ~ Virtualization and SAN Basics for Database Administrators ~ Brent Ozar

Posted on December 1, 2011 by

 

Presenter: Brent Ozar – SQL Server MVP
Topic: Virtualization and SAN Basics for Database Administrators

 

These two technologies can make a very big – and very bad – difference in how your SQL Server performs.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could get the real, honest lowdown from a virtualization administrator, a SAN administrator, and a DBA? Wouldn’t it be even better if one person had done all three, and could give you the pros and cons of each point of view? That person is Brent Ozar, a Microsoft Certified Master who’s been there and done that.

Biography:

Brent Ozar helps companies like StackOverflow and AllRecipes go fast. He really enjoy helping developers push SQL Server to its limits, and then figure out how to make it go even faster. Doing that requires coordination between programmers, sysadmins, SAN administrators, and project managers. It takes one guy who speaks all of those languages, and does it with tact and diplomacy to avoid throwing people under the bus.

That’s what Brent does. Brent has walked in your shoes. He know what it’s like to see a bunch of people pointing fingers at the database, the SAN, the hardware, the code, and nobody really having good proof. He has over a decade of experience with these niche technologies. With a solid track record of finding the real underlying problem, explaining it in fun, easy-to-understand ways, and bringing the entire team together to deliver the solution. Brent know you don’t have weeks to play politics, and Brent helps you get it done in a matter of hours.

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Nov 2011 ~ Partitioning Techniques ~ Andy Novick

Posted on November 1, 2011 by

 

Presenter: Andy Novick of Novick Software
Topic: Partitioning Techniques

 

Partitioning techniques in SQL Server help the developer and DBA manage large quantities of data and improve query performance in a variety of situations. This presentation demonstrates the techniques used for

Partitioned Tables
Partitioned Views
Partition aligned Indexed Views

Reasons for partitioning in both OLTP and data warehouse applications will be disused along with these topics:

Partitioning Basics
Hash Partitioning
Aligned vs. unaligned indexes
Index Views Basic
Index placement in Aligned and unaligned partitioning

The topics include features from SQL Server 2000, 2005 and new features from 2008. Come learn about these powerful schema design techniques.

Biography:

Biography:Andy Novick is a SQL Server Developer in the Boston area with 25 years of database and application development experience. His consulting practice focuses on building applications, including software products that use SQL Server’s capabilities to the maximum. He has developed both OLTP and data warehouse databases with multi-terabytes scale. He has particular expertise in automating data management for such large databases. Other recent projects have included ETL, Security and SQL Injection prevention. Andy is the originator of the popular “SQL Server Load-fest” event conduced in Waltham, MA.

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Oct 2011 ~ Meeting Cancelled ~ PASS Summit

Posted on October 1, 2011 by

 

Octobert 11 to 14 is PASS Summit 2011 in Seattle, WA. Many speakers and some regulars of SNESSUG are attending this event. Hence this month’s meeting is cancelled.

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Sep 2011 ~ How to audit and prevent unwanted user actions ~ John Miner

Posted on September 1, 2011 by

 

Presenter: John Miner of Sensata Technologies
Topic: How to audit and prevent unwanted user actions

 

Many corporations are composed of small divisions located in countries throughout the world. While you might be the lead DBA for your corporation, there are several other employees who have the keys to the kingdom. How do you prevent and audit unwanted user actions to key data?

This presentation will review techniques on how to prevent and/or audit data and schema changes.

The following topics will be presented with examples.

1. Granting correct user access is vital
2. Using DML triggers to keep an DATA audit trail.
3. Using DDL triggers to keep an SCHEMA audit trail.
4. Preventing unwanted DATA modifications
5. Preventing unwanted SCHEMA changes
6. Preventing table TRUNCATIONS
7. New Feature in 2008 – change data capture

Biography:

John Miner (www.craftydba.com) has twenty years of data processing and proven project management experience, specializing in the banking, health care, and government areas. His architecture expertise encompasses all phases of the project life cycle, including design, development, implementation, and maintenance. His credentials include a Masters degree in Computer Science from the University of Rhode Island with concentrations in database technologies and programming languages. He has Microsoft Certificates for Database Administration (MCDBA) and System Administration (MCSA).

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