Search results matching tag 'On-line Resources'

New On-Line Resources for Windows, Virtualization, and Cloud!

KKline — Wed, 22 May 2013 19:29:00 GMT

Ever since returning from the UK for the SQLBits conference, I've been snowed under a mountain of action items. I've got such a backlog of things to get done, emails to answer, and family to not ignore that I'm starting to feel really guilty.

So with that in mind, I wanted to whip out a quick blog post to let you know I'm still alive and thinking of y'all. What could be quicker and easier than some cool new resources you might not have seen? For your perusal:

Whitepaper: Managing Windows 7 and Windows 8 Side-by-Side
- http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=37144
Poster: Networking in Virtual Machine Manager
- http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=37137
Windows Server 2012: Core Network Companion Guide for Deploying IP Addressing in Branch Offices
- http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=37034
Become a Virtualization Expert in 20 Days ( Blog Article Series )
- http://aka.ms/VirtExpert
Build Your Private Cloud in a Month ( Blog Article Series )
- http://aka.ms/BuildYourCloud
Windows Server 2012 “Early Experts” FREE IT Pro Study Group
- http://EarlyExperts.net

Let me know what you think. Thanks,

-Kevin

- Follow me on Twitter!

- Google Author

PASS Business Analytics Conference (BAC) Recap

KKline — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 14:15:00 GMT

The PASS Business Analytics Conference (PASS BAC) is PASS' first foray into an event that is dedicated to business intelligence, big data, data visualization, and business analytics. And it totally makes sense for PASS to move in this direction, over and above the flagship community work centered on database management and application development. Why? Because business analytics is all about how to apply the data being collected and managed by all of those developers and DBAs. And, at the end of the day, how we use and apply our data is really the nexus of its value. That's what matters to business. You can read the speech from the standing president, Bill Graziano (Twitter | Blog), or watch it online at the PASS website.

The day one highlight, introduced by the SQL Server team's best presenter - Amir Netz (Twitter), is the release of a new BI data visualization tool called Project “GeoFlow” for Excel. GeoFlow is a 3D visualization and storytelling tool that helps you map, explore and interact with both geographic and chronological data for visualizing data which is difficult to identify in traditional 2D tables and charts. With GeoFlow, you can plot up to a million rows of data in 3D on Bing Maps, see data changes over time and share findings through appealing screenshots and cinematic, guided video tours of the data. It's really something you have to see to understand – check out the video demo and screenshots below. You can also download and try it out firsthand today. It’s an entirely new way to experience and share insights – one you’ll probably enjoy. For more information on GeoFlow, check out the Excel team’s blog and visit the BI website.

The highlight for me, aside from connecting with so many friends and colleagues in the exhibit hall at the SQL Sentry booth, was the day 2 keynote address by Dr. Steve Levitt of Freakonomics fame. Freakonomics is both a brilliant blog and the number one business book in America. His insights are well documented in a variety of places, not just in his own channels, but also in places such as TEDtalks. I'm also really enjoying his new website, https://www.freakonomicsexperiments.com/.

Steve presented an outstanding keynote, full of funny anecdotes and insights into the world of data analytics and interpretation. A couple of his comments really resonated with me which are worth repeating. In one story, he pointed out how some of the greatest insights came from corporate data which was collected incidentally or coincidentally. The data that help provide the greatest and most valuable revelations were from data that was basically a corporate afterthought. Another revelation - he's only now starting to make much use of relational databases. He primarily uses spreadsheets, flat files, and the Stata statistical analysis tool. Another insight, which I've known and proselytized as "the Fresh Pair of Eyes" approach, is that it really helps him to gain insights in a problem by knowing as little about the problem as possible. As it turns out, if you know the industry or the challenge at the core of the problem, you make a lot of assumptions that limit your means of interpreting data. By knowing nothing or next to nothing about a particular problem, you can ask the questions that insiders never ask. Here's an example (not from the keynote though) - let's say you're an energy company CEO. You might spend a lot of time thinking about how to accommodate the expected huge increase in energy consumption due to lots of people driving electric cars. You might tell your data analysts to figure out when and how to ensure peak electrical usage is available at the times when consumers are recharging their electric vehicles. But a fresh pair of eyes would point out that electric cars, in their present form, are a huge energy boondoggle compared to hybrid and plain ol' cheap, high-mileage models like the Honda Civic. Consumers will never recoup their investment in a high-priced, all-electric car compared to a cheap, gas sipping model.

At the heart of his presentation is the fact that data is meaningless when it doesn't answer important questions! Many times, data professionals spend so much time devising elegant SQL statements and clever user-interfaces that they forget about using a fresh pair of eyes when they look at business questions. Our session, Operational Excellence for the BI Pro, focused on the trails and travails of successfully implementing and growing the footprint of a business intelligence project.

In addition, we had a fun and very informative panel discussion breakfast on Thursday of the PASS BAC. At right is a picture of Nick Harshbarger, Justin Randal, and me prior to the session. The audience was very engaged and, despite having no slides, there was a whole lot of wisdom goin' on. The panel included Chris Webb (Twitter | Blog), Craig Utley, Jen Stirrup (Twitter | Blog), Paul Turley (Blog), and Stacia Misner (Twitter | Blog). I served as the moderator and facilitator of the session. We recorded the session, with a little HD Flip camera, and although I haven't checked out the file yet, we're hopeful we can post it or at least a transcript soon.

Do you have a "fresh eyes" story? I'd love to hear it! Post a comment here!

Many thanks,

-Kevin

-Follow me on Twitter!
- Google Author

The All-New 'Database Lifecycle Management" is available on MSDN

KKline — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 10:51:00 GMT

The initial release of Database Lifecycle Management is now available on MSDN.

The site is something called "curated content". This means it's a single consolidated location to look up lots of disparate articles and content, all in one easy to search location. This “curated content view” contains the best content, video, and community-centric information from Microsoft, including topics like:

SQL Server Data Tools

· Get started with sample projects, code samples

· Video demos by Gert Drapers (blog)

· Script common data portability tasks using Sqlpackage.exe

· Link to the SSDT team blog

SQL Server Management Studio

· Manage SQL Database using SSMS

· Backup and restore w/ SQL Azure

· Migrate local databases to Azure

· Video demo of hybrid scenarios by Gert Drapers (blog)

Windows Azure SQL Database

· SQL Database backup and restore

· Import/export SQL Database

· Windows Azure training kit

· Connection management and troubleshooting connections

Enjoy,

-Kevin

-Follow me on Twitter!
- Google Author

How To Download Free Sessions From PASS

KKline — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 15:02:00 GMT

For all members of the Professional Association for Server (PASS), are you downloading slides and videos from all sorts of great PASS events? If not, what are you waiting for ... an invitation?

Ok, here it is. I invite you to download like a madman! (How a madman downloads, an almost entirely virtual activity, is not the question here, ok?).

For starters, there's the recent 24 Hours of PASS event. I hope you were able to attend all of the sessions you wanted. But even if you didn't get to see any, you can see them now as long as you're a (free) member of PASS. The session recordings are now available for streaming from the 24 Hours of PASS Archive website. Review your favorites or catch up on some of the sessions you missed, by gum! Questions? Contact us at 24hrs@sqlpass.org

Next on the list for downloads are the PASS Summit 2012 highlights. The navigation is a little weird. But all you have to do is simply click on the keynote that you're interested in. And may I recommend, as always, the excellent session from Dr. David Dewitt. Again, you need to be a PASS member, but it's free. And I'd be remiss not to mention the SQLPASS YouTube Channel.

During and immediately after each PASS Summit, attendees are able to buy the event records for around $175. That's over 150 hours of training, over three weeks of training I say, for under $200!!! I hear that this year, instead of a massive DVD set, we'll be getting a slim 32- or 64Gb thumbdrive. Yeah! But did you know you can also watch sessions from earlier years, free for members, at http://www.sqlpass.org/LearningCenter/SessionRecordings.aspx? That's right, brothers and sisters, if you didn't get to go to older events and didn't buy the DVDs, you don't have to bribe that scruffy mangy dog of a DBA to get your own look at the sessions. And since SQL Server versions don't change enormously from one year to the next, most of the content remains valuable and worthwhile for several years. For example, most recommendations and sessions from the PASS Summit 2008 event are still valuable even if you've upgraded to SQL Server 2012.

Take Another Look at PASS Virtual Chapters

Don’t have a local PASS Chapter near you? Want to learn from your desk? Or are you simply looking for more opportunities for free SQL Server training and learning every month with fellow IT pros from around the world? Virtual Chapters (VCs) are a great way to get involved in the PASS community from your own home or office. Virtual chapters are targeted, online monthly webcasts from top-rated speakers with related subject matter from one month to the next, such as database design, performance, virtualization, etc. Here’s how. But wait - there's more. All of the VC sessions are also recorded and posted online for later viewing, usually within a month of the initial broadcast.

Enjoy!

-Kevin

Follow me on Twitter!

Resource Center for Microsoft Office

KKline — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 15:18:00 GMT

Every now and then I go off on a tangent away from databases and try to improve some of my other important skills, like maximizing my knowledge of the various Microsoft Office products I use in-and-out everyday. (Let me tell ya, a good shortcut cheat sheet is worth its weight in gold! Let me know where I can find some of those for the Office products, if you know of any.) Anyway, I learned about some new(ish) resources on my latest productivity expedition that I thought I'd so that you can take advantage of them too. (Let me know if any of these links go dead).

Microsoft Office Social Media

I'm kind'a surprised by the value of some social media pages. Others, not so much. Here's some good ones to investigate:

Facebook – www.facebook.com/office
Facebook - www.facebook.com/OfficeLive
YouTube – www.youtube.com/officevideos
YouTube - www.youtube.com/OfficeLive
Twitter – www.twitter.com/office
Twitter - www.twitter.com/Office_Live
LinkedIn – http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Microsoft-Office-1913738

The Office Blog

I used to read a ton of different email newsletters from Microsoft. Now, I just go to The Office Blog. It's comprised of all of those older newsletters, like Inside Office Online, Office Offline, Templates & Clip Art, and Crabby Office Lady blogs. So now we have a single place to get (and share productivity stories, find useful ideas, and build better solutions on top of Microsoft Office. You can also get involved and join the conversation. When you leave comments, you can include links to your Web site, blogs, and Twitter feeds so that the world can learn more about you. They even want contributions! (Let the staff writers know if you have an idea or want to contribute a blog post).

Office 2010 Resource Center

There are so many other great resources out there, depending on your special needs. I'm tossing a bunch of these additional resources below because A) it's easy to just cut-n-paste and I'm basically lazy, and B) you might not already know about them.

Office 2010 General

Microsoft Office 2010 Engineering

Office Web Apps Official Blog

Microsoft Office Resource Kit Blog

Office Solutions

Microsoft Office Sustained Engineering Blog

Microsoft Answers for Office

Office 2010 Backstage

Microsoft Office Product Blogs

Get insight directly from the product teams. They sometimes even know what they're talking about!

Microsoft Access 2010 Team Blog

Microsoft Excel 2010 Team Blog

PowerPivot Team Blog

Microsoft Outlook 2010 Team blog

Microsoft PowerPoint Team Blog

Microsoft Word 2010 Team Blog

Microsoft Project Team Blog

Microsoft Publisher 2010 Team Blog

Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog

SharePoint Workspace Team Blog

SharePoint Designer Team Blog

SharePoint for End Users Blog

PerformancePoint Services

Microsoft Visio 2010 Team Blog

Microsoft InfoPath Team Blog

Mostly OneNote

Some Miscellaneous Microsoft Office Links

This stuff isn't my cup of tea (except for the BI content), but maybe you haven't heard of it and it'd be helpful for you:

Microsoft Business Connectivity Services

Microsoft Business Intelligence Team Blog

Office International

Office Global Experience Blog

Office Development for Visual Studio 2010

Microsoft Office 2010 Partner Site

SharePoint 2010 Community

Again, let me know if any of these links go dead or you have other resources you'd like to post here. Thanks!

-Kevin

Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | LinkedIn | Blog

Two New Slide Decks. Plus, the Week in Colorado.

KKline — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 15:03:00 GMT

I had the honor of traveling the great state of Colorado last week, speaking at the PASS chapters in Boulder, Colorado Springs, and Denver. At all three events, we had a stellar attendance and, at least in Denver, broke all the records in recent memory both in terms of overall attendance and in first-timers. Denver, in fact, was standing room only and had nearly 30 first time attendees. Great news! I also want to give a special shout-out of thanks and appreciation to Chris Shaw (Twitter | Blog) whose hard work and tenacity ensured that all of Colorado got to see me speak. From left to right, Gabriel Villa (Twitter), me, Chris Shaw, and Rebecca Mitchell (Twitter). If it weren't for Chris, I wouldn't have been there. Thanks for putting in the time, amigo!

New Slide Decks!

During the 3-day jaunt, I presented two of my more popular sessions. These are updated slide decks, in case you want to download them here:

UG - End-to-End Troubleshooting

and

UG - Top 10 SQL Server Administration Mistakes

Be sure to check in the Slides area of the website, if you want to see the links for SpeakerRate, and in the case of several of my presentations, white papers, video recordings, etc. It's the People that Matter

A Blast from the SQLPASS Past!

I've always tried to maintain the relationships I built with the founding members of the PASS board of directors. After their time on the PASS board, almost all of them have moved on from SQL Server to other adventures. Pam Smith, the first president of the organization, is now a professor. Guy Brown, the second president, is now the director of IT at his same employer, rather than just SQL Server as when he was on the PASS board. A few, such as Kurt Windisch, a former VP of PASS, and my good friend Joe Webb (Twitter | Blog), are still active in the SQL Server space. One relationship that I've enjoyed over the years is with PASS' original Microsoft liaison and now a Denver-area software entrepreneur Steve Murchie (at right) running his own healthcare IT outfit. Steve has been a source of inspiration to me and also of great advice for all things startup-related. It was great to connect with Steve and catch up on his latest doings.

I also got to enjoy an evening out with the local attendees after the Denver user group meeting. It was great to hang out with folks there. I got to meet Kevin Cox (twitter), a member of Microsoft's incredibly talented SQLCAT group, and for whom I was a technical editor on a SQL Server v6.5 book back in the Neanderthal era. That shows just how old both Kevin and I actually are. Other cool folks that I got to meet included Steve Wake, Mike Fal, Marc Beacom, Jason Kassay, Jason Horner and my ol' buddy, Kelly the Greeley Geek.

On top of that, long-time SQL Server MVP and all-around awesome guy Steve Jones (Twitter | Blog) visited. I kept him out way too late that night which, to be honest, isn't usually my style. But the good conversation propelled us on past midnight.

The Good Folks at SQL Server Professional and Windows IT Professional Magazines

I've written for SQL Server Professional (formerly the artist known as "SQLMag") in some form or another starting from my first cover article for them way back in the mid 1990's. My Tool Time column has been going strong there since, oh, around 2006 iirc. For most of the time I've known the folks at SQLMag, they were located in Loveland, CO but they were able to move to some incredibly nice digs just up the road in Fort Collins. In all the many years, I've written for them, I'd never been to their offices - until now. It was great to visit and break bread with Megan (to my right), Blair (across), and Jaylee (across and to my right)!

I've always supported SQLMag and encourage you to subscribe. On top of the goodness already in the digital magazine, there are some neat developments coming down the pipeline with SQLMag which I think we'll all enjoy. Be sure to subscribe today! (You can click the badge on the left or simply go to http://www.sqlmag.com).

What's Next?

My current travel schedule is pinned up on this blog post HERE. However, I also know of a couple on-line appearances and probably a trip between the long gap between now and my next in-person appearance at the Orlando SQL Saturday at the end of September, where I'll also be teaching a pre-conference seminar (register HERE for the seminar).

SSWUG

The first on-line event to note is my a presentation by SSWUG of my Leadership Skills for IT Professionals video series, starting on August 24th. Sign up using the hyperlink (note that a video plays immediately upon loading the webpage, in case you want to be ready to pause or stop it). You can also buy a DVD set of the 14 hours of leadership training content.

24HOP - The 24 Hours of PASS Event

I'll also be speaking on the topic of influence in the next 24 Hours of PASS coming up on September 20th and 21st. Registration for the twenty-four hours of around the clock presentations is completely free and well worth your time. Check the schedule for the event and register! Even if you can only watch one or two sessions (or even zero sessions), be sure to register so that you'll automatically be notified when the sessions become available as streaming media.

Enjoy!

-Kev

-Follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook

Recorded Webcast Available: Extend SCOM to Optimize SQL Server Performance Management

KKline — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 11:37:00 GMT

Join me and Eric Brown, Quest Software senior product manager for SQL Server monitoring tools, as we discuss the server health-check capabilities of Systems Center Operations Manager (SCOM) in this previously recorded webcast. We delve into techniques to maximize your SCOM investment as well as ways to complement it with deeper monitoring and diagnostics.

You’ll walk away from this educational session with the skills to:

Take full advantage of SCOM’s value for day-to-day SQL Server monitoring
Extend the capabilities of SCOM to proactively manage SQL Server performance
Troubleshoot issues in real time and historically
Drill into database health to quickly find the root cause of issues and make corrections

Watch the recorded webcast: HERE

Two TechNet Radio Sessions You Don't Want to Miss

KKline — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 20:12:00 GMT

I was recently honored to speak on TechNet Radio in two separate sessions about BigData & Hadoop and cloud databases (specifically SQL Azure). The show debuted on the TechNet homepage under “Today’s News” and on the TechNet Edge homepage. In each of these shows, I did what I like to do for all the parties I attend - bring a friend. To make my life easier, I simply reposted the verbiage that TechNet used, rather that to write my own.

About the BigData/Hadoop video:

Microsoft SQL Server MVP Kevin Kline and Vice President of Database Development at Quest Software Guy Harrison (blog | twitter), join us for today’s episode where we discuss Big Data and Hadoop ---from what it is, why its important as well what role does it play in cloud computing.

Watch the video: HERE

Use the following short link to share the word with on Tweeter, Facebook, and LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/In8uu8

About the SQL Azure video:

Microsoft SQL Server MVP Kevin Kline is back and brings with him Director of Development at Quest Software, Patrick O’Keefe. Tune in as they chat about the latest enhancements of SQL Server 2012, SQL Azure, as well as Project Lucy – a unique data analytics service in the cloud which offers insight on system and data performance through analytical presentations.

Watch the video: HERE

Use the following short link to share the word with on Tweeter, Facebook, and LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/Hypc6z

Build Your Own Microsoft Operations Manager Pack

KKline — Thu, 03 May 2012 15:25:00 GMT

Operations Manager Management Pack Development Kit

I just recently told you about some cool new things happening with System Center - before I stumbled across this tidbit. Hey, if I could, I'd go back in time and add this entry to the previous one --- yeah, and totally NOT play the stock market to make a fortune through time travel. But I digress...

So the Operations Management Management Pack Development Kit applies to Microsoft Operations Manager 2012 and Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007. It provide the you with all of the info need to design and build a management pack intended of your own for monitoring an application via Operations Manager.

At last! You can now manage all of those FoxPro and Access 2.o apps you've still got in production. More info at:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee533840.aspx

http://blogs.technet.com/b/mpauthor/archive/2011/09/21/new-module-documentation.aspx

Let me know what you think! Enjoy,

-Kev

Follow me on Twitter!

How is Microsoft IT using the Cloud?

KKline — Wed, 02 May 2012 15:46:00 GMT

Steve Balmer very publicly pronounced that Microsoft was “all in” for cloud computing and Windows Azure. So that means Microsoft is using cloud for its internal IT as well as building products to utilize the cloud. If you want to learn how Microsoft IT is using Windows Azure to move existing applications to the cloud and creating new applications for the cloud, click here: IT Showcase on Windows Azure.

Let me know what you think. Accurate and informative? Or marketing fluff?

Thanks,

-Kevin

Follow me on Twitter!