Rick Heiges

SQL Saturday #33 in Charlotte!

RickHeiges — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:35:00 GMT

SQL Saturday is coming to Charlotte next month! If you are in the area, come on by. We have a great line-up of speakers. Find out more information at http://www.sqlsaturday.com/33/eventhome.aspx Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit!...(read more)

OT: Observations of how technology made things SO MUCH BETTER and how it doesn't help everything

RickHeiges — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:55:00 GMT

My mother-in-law had a camera that still uses film. She isn't really technical, but her camera was acting up over the Thanksgiving holiday. Her birthday is coming up in a couple of days, so we decided to get her a digital camera (one of the Black Friday...(read more)

25th Hour of 24 Hours of PASS up...

RickHeiges — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:50:00 GMT

Paul and Louis did a "re-take" of their 24 Hours of PASS session last night. It is now posted with the other selected sessions at: https://www323.livemeeting.com/lrs/8000181573/Registration.aspx?pageName=cw4mt2pg632crwfv Enjoy! Share this post: email...(read more)

Last Chance - Part of a LIVE Audience AND to save $$$

RickHeiges — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 02:37:00 GMT

Sep 15 is the last day to be a part of history for 24 Hours of PASS. Louis and Paul will be doing a 2nd take of their session for 24 Hours of PASS. Register at the following link : https://www.livemeeting.com/lrs/8000181573/Registration.aspx?pageName=qh37c3hrckwswsj5...(read more)

23 Hours of PASS ++

RickHeiges — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 02:20:00 GMT

As I reviewed the sessions by our pre/post-con speakers who also participated in the 24 Hours of PASS event, I was disturbed that the single session with the MOST attendees during the event had no audio (no one can hear you scream in cyber-space). Immediately,...(read more)

Speaking at Richmond

RickHeiges — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:32:00 GMT

I am honored to be the guest speaker at the Richmond SQL Server User Group on Monday, Sep 15. They usually have their meetings on the 2nd Thursday of the month, but they made a special exception. I will be speaking about SQL Server 2008 and Consolidation....(read more)

OT: Football! - (Late, but let's get rolling!)

RickHeiges — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:38:00 GMT

Once again, we will have a league for SQL Bloggers and Blog readers. Sign-up quickly as the season starts Thursday! But we probably won't start our fantasy season until week 2. Go to Yahoo's Fantasy Football - The League's ID is 667860 and the Password...(read more)

PASS Board of Directors - Call for Nominations

RickHeiges — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:45:00 GMT

Recently, PASS has opened it call for nominations for the seats for the Board of Directors. The deadline to get your nomination in is Sep 3, 2009. I have been a member of PASS and involved since 2001. I started out volunteering for a committee. I then...(read more)

24 Hours of PASS

RickHeiges — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:50:00 GMT

I have been busy on organizing an event which I hope that many in the community will find useful. The event will consist of 24 1-hour webcasts featuring some of the best community speakers on SQL Server. The event will begin 2-September-2009 at Midnight...(read more)

THRIVE!

RickHeiges — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 01:29:00 GMT

I have volunteered to be a part of the THRIVE campaign for several months now. In June, Chuck Heinzelman and I did a webcast based on SQL Server Express and how it could be used to enhance your skills for SQL Server. I have been on vacation for a couple...(read more)

Best Thing that I learned at PASS

RickHeiges — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:55:00 GMT

I remember my first PASS Summit in Denver in January 2002 (Delayed from Sep 2001 in Orlando due to Sep 11). One of the last sessions that I attended was led by Fabian Pascal. He runs a website called www.dbdebunk.com and is rather entertaining at times....(read more)

Webcast on Enhancing your SQL Server Skills with SQL Server Express

RickHeiges — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 00:56:00 GMT

Chuck Heinzelman and I are on the Advisory Board for the THRIVE Campaign by Microsoft. The THRIVE campaign is about getting people to use tools that they already own or are FREE to download in order to learn/enhance new skills. I thought right away about...(read more)

Perfmon for VMWare ESX

RickHeiges — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 21:49:00 GMT

Recently, I needed to capture some performance data from the host of a virtualized SQL Server. There is a utility called "esxtop" that if run from the ESX Host Command Line, it displays text-based information in columns similar to that which you see in Windows Task Manager. That is handy, but I wanted to get this to a file.

If you run the following command "esxtop -a -b >results.csv" at the same prompt, all VMWare Performance Counters are sent to this file until Ctrl-C is typed in at the Command Prompt. This CSV file may be opened by Excel and even Perfmon in Windows! There are a lot of counters to look at. Some make a lot of sense; others don't. The description for many of these counters may be found online by searching for the counter name.

For the environment that I was investigating, I was able to determine from some of these counters a few things that were masked by the Virtual Environment. This provided additional insight. As VMWare and SQL Server become more common bedfellows, it is important to know how to monitor the systems.

May Day! May Day! Early Bird registration for 2009 PASS Community Summit Ends May 1st!

RickHeiges — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 01:19:00 GMT

Just last week, the call fro abstracts ended. At the end of this week, the rates will bump up. See below for more information on some great reasons to come to the 2009 PASS Community Summit.... Of course the number one reason isn't even listed here - that is you can seek out the SQLBLOG.com bloggers and give them a piece of your mind. :-)

Top 10 Reasons You Can't Afford to Miss PASS Summit Unite 2009

1. Network with over 2,000 SQL Server and BI professionals plus hundreds of Microsoft SQL Server and BI team members

2. Gain new skills and strategies to optimize SQL Server and BI, with over 160 technical sessions, hands-on labs, and pre- and post-conference seminars

3. Get the answers you need-immediately-at the "Ask the Experts" Lounge and Microsoft CSS First Aid Station

4. Learn SQL Server best practices you can implement right away

5. Meet with key Microsoft executives, engineers, and top SQL Server vendors

6. Gain insights into new advances, roadmaps, and plans for Microsoft SQL

7. Get new ideas, get re-invigorated, and be inspired! Attendees tell us this is one of the most valuable things they get out of PASS Summit, year after year

8. Learn how to do even more with what you have and increase the ROI of your SQL Server investment

9. Bring information and copies of presentations for others in your organization. Attendees can also purchase a DVD set containing all the sessions at a special, Summit attendee rate for in-depth learning all year long

10. Get the early bird rate of only $1,195 if you register by Friday, May 1!

Connect, share, and learn with the leading SQL Server users from around the world. Don't miss the top SQL Server and BI conference of the year!

Register now for the early bird rate of only $1,195 - a 35% discount off the regular conference rate! Send 5 people from your company and save even more.

Need to convince your boss for approval to attend? Get ROI Justification.

See you in Seattle!

SQL Server 2000 Still Strong, but Diminishing

RickHeiges — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:48:00 GMT

I presented a webcast on Wednesday on SQL Server Consolidation. As with many of my sessions (both physical and virtual), I like to ask several questions. This is NOT scientific, but it is anecdotal.

Poll Question #1: Do you have SQL Server 2000 STILL running in production in your organization today? YES = 70%, NO = 27%, UNSURE = 3%

Poll Question #2: Which Version of SQL is most prevalent today in your organization? 2005 = 60%, 2000 = 38%, Unsure = 1.8%, 2008 = .2%

As one would expect, the numbers continue to trend downward for SQL Server 2000, but I am still amazed at how widespread it is at 70%!

SQL Server 2000 is a fine data platform, but 2005/2008 is better. Most of the SQL Server 2000 that I see running out in the "wild" is due to a third party vendor who has not invested in upgrading the back-end and does not support running the DB in '80' compatibility mode or they also require a client-side upgrade which could be a huge cost for customers. Are ISVs the big road block to moving away from SQL Server 2000?