Search results matching tag 'SQL Community'

Blog Posts from Prepping for Last Year's Summit

RickHeiges — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 10:58:00 GMT

Last year, I had a series of blog posts that matched up with a webcast I did targeting First Timers to the PASS Summit 2011. Here is a link to the final blog post which is a summary of those posts and links to the main points in the series. A good deal of the information in those posts are still relevant. I am in the process of updating the webcast and will be presenting the information again this year on Oct 25, 2012 at 11am ET. There is a lot of great information out there for first timers that can be found here.

Hope to see you there!

SQLPASS BoD Polls Close this Friday

RickHeiges — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 15:59:00 GMT

Research, Contemplate, Vote.

In case you didn't hear, there is a campaign going on that impacts the PASS Organization and the SQL Community. If you were a PASS member before June 1, 2012, you should have received a ballot link via email. Polls close at 3pm PT on Friday, Oct 12, 2012.

I am fortunate to know all 5 candidates for this year's election and count them among my friends. The problem that I have is that I only have 3 votes to cast. At this point, I have decided on 2 of my 3 votes. Since I have invested a lot into PASS over the years, this is not a decision that I take lightly. I have read through all of the campaign materials and kept reading replies to questions on the forums. There have been many well thought out responses and I have changed my mind several times. I will probably wait until Friday to cast my votes. However, this problem of mine means it is another sign of strength for PASS as these five brave individuals step up to the plate to lead the organization.

And the winner is.....

Polls close Oct 12, but the announcement won't occur until Oct 17. Why the delay? Aren't we in the age of instant answers? There are several reasons why there is a delay. The process isn't full-proof. I don't believe there has been an issue with the voting process, but I know that there is the possiblity of an error occurring which may force the polls to remain open. I can think of several instances in years past when submitting abstracts for sessions that caused the deadline to be extended there. That isn't the only reason. The candidates should be informed before anyone else knows so that they can prepare a blog post or whatever. This is usually done in a personal manner and it takes time to connect with each candidate - yes sometimes it takes days to connect.

Closing Thoughts

If you have already voted, you are safe - you didn't make any bad choices. :-) In the past, I have been able to predict who will win just by looking at the ballot. I have made my own prediction on who I think will win, but this is the toughest year yet. I am at least guaranteed of selecting at least one winner! Go Vote!

PASS Board of Directors Election - Making Progress

RickHeiges — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 11:21:00 GMT

It is almost time to cast your vote in this year's PASS BoD Elections. Things have changed considerably since the first PASS BoD election that I participated in. That was in 2001. I hadn't even been to a Summit or even a chpater meeting yet. I had registered for the PASS Summit 2001 (which was postponed to Jan 2002 btw). Back then, the elections were held at the summit and on paper, but there was no summit that year. If you wanted to vote, you needed to print out a ballot and fax it in. I think that I was 1 of about 37 people who did this. How did I make my decision? I reviewed the material that was provided -essentially a bio and a picture. I also knew one of the names because I had just watched a video with this gentle giant (Wayne Snyder) telling me all about SQL Server. I knew one other name because the person was on the committee that I was serving on. So I knew a little more about 2 candidates than the others (I think there were 6) and I liked my interaction with these two people - so that meant I had to only make 1 decision for tmy third choice. I do not recall who I voted for, but with only 37 votes, it may have influenced the outcome.

Today, the process is much more involved and is more accessible. PASS tries to have elections before the Summit now and voting is electronic. There are forums where you can ask questions and read the responses of candidates. Denny Cherry held a podcast with the candidates. If there is an issue that you want to know where a candidate comes down on, use the forums or even #passvotes on twitter to ask a question.

Do youthink that you already know how a candidate will respond? Be sure and ask that question. Don't assume that the person holds the same view that you do just because you have read their blog or follow them on twitter. I know that the forums influenced my choices for last year's election. Keep an open mind, research, ask questions in the forums, and then make an informed decision and vote.

September 12 in San Fran

RickHeiges — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 02:04:00 GMT

Just a reminder that I will be speaking at the SF UG SQL Server User Group on Sep 12. Here is a link with all of the details. If you are in the area, It would be great to see you!

Presenting at the San Francisco SQL Server User Group - 12-Sep-2012

RickHeiges — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 22:25:00 GMT

I have a business trip scheduled out far enough in advance for a change. I was able to schedule a presentation at the San Francisco SQL Server User Group on Sep 12 about SQL Server Consolidation Strategies. If you will be in the SF area on Sep 12, I invite you to attend ar just drop by to say hello. You can find out more about the group at http://www.meetup.com/The-San-Francisco-SQL-Server-Meetup-Group/

Hope to see you there!

NomCom Time

RickHeiges — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 22:00:00 GMT

Well, it is official... there is a race for the community seats on the PASS NomCom. I am very pleased to see that we have 12 people who decided to put their names forward for this task. This is largely a thankless job that takes a great deal of time, judgement, and consideration.

I have put my name forward as one of those people who would like to take on this task and serve PASS (and the greater SQL Community) in this effort. You can find out more about me and the other candidates for the NomCom located here.

I know (or at least have met) most if not all of the candidates. I will also be reviewing their bios/etc. to help make my decision. I hope that you will too. There will aslo be some discussions that will take place soon on the sqlpass.org forums for NomCom candidates to participate in. Hopefully, everyone will be able to respond in a timely manner. IMHO, timely does not equal immediate as there are some workplace restirctions and other obstacles which may delay responses.

If you are a member of PASS as of June 1, 2012, you have a vote. Please take your time to consider all of the candidates for the NomCom. I know that I will. Take advantage of the forums to ask some questions. Be patient to make sure that all candidates have an opporunity to respond.

Finally, I wish to thank all of those who decided to put their names forward for this task. This is not an easy thing to do. However, I know that no matter who is elected to serve in this capacity will do so with the best interests of PASS in mind.

Speaking at Atlanta.MDF on March 12

RickHeiges — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 03:55:00 GMT

I am fortunate enough to be speaking to a user group with a really cool name - Atlanta.MDF (Microsoft Database Forum). Although I visit Atlanta often, it usually involves running from one councourse to another and rarely do I get the chance to visit the user group. I have made it to the user group on several occassions in the past, but it has been several years. This will be my first presentation to the group.

I will be speaking about Database Consolidation - something I have been doing for years. Here is my abstract:
SQL Server Consolidation Strategies - There are many approaches to SQL Server Consolidation. Each organization has unique business rules that impact the decision on which approach fits their needs best. This session will discuss the various approaches from Instance Stacking / Virtualization to Appliances and where they "fit". There will also be a discussion on the methods for data collection from Perfmon to Powershell and the Microsoft MAP Toolkit. Data Collection is only part of the process. Strategies to uncover the business rules are also discussed as these will be the true limiting factors of how far a consolidation effort can go.

Please register at http://atlantamdf.com/

Please join me if you can; I'd love to see you!

Rick Review: SQLBits7: Consolidating Data Collection with SQLDIAG and SQLNexus

RickHeiges — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 02:54:00 GMT

I ran across this recording about 3 months ago. It is a recording that is open to everyone. It was recorded at SQLBits 7 with Christian Bolton as the speaker for a session entitled: "Consolidating data collection with SQLDIAG and analysing it all with SQLNexus". I found it very informative and hope that you will too.

SQLBits is a UK based conference that occurs twice a year and I can't wait to attend one personally from the stories that I have heard. They record the sessions and make each one available for FREE access - AMAZING! You can find this session at the following URL: http://sqlbits.com/Sessions/Event7/Consolidating_data_collection_with_SQLDIAG_and_analysing_it_all_with_SQLNexus. The imbedded video has both a video of the speaker speaking to the audience as well as a full screen capture of the presentation to make the replay even more vivid.

Christian walks through the basics of using SQLDIAG for Data Collection initially. He then turns his attention to SQLNEXUS as a tool to analyze the data collected in SQLDIAG. He goes through how to configure SQLDIAG to collect the necessary data (perfmon and SQLTrace data) with the SQLDIAG process in order to discover the items needed for further analysis. If you need to perform a relatively quick analysis of a server, check this video out to discover your "pain points" for a particualr server.

After viewing this webcast, I am positive that you will find that using SQLDIAG along with SQLNEXUS will make your job easier.

Rick Review: PASS Summit 2011 - DBA-104-S

RickHeiges — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:34:00 GMT

I recently got my DVD set from the PASS 2011 Summit and started to look through all of the sessions that I missed. Wow! I can't wait to go through all of these! It will take me a while.

Since this is a new year and many people are often greeted with new challenges (like a new server to manage), I decided that this session would be a good one to review. It is by Brent Ozar and titled "BLITZ! The SQL - More One Hour SQL Server Takeovers".

Essentially, Brent shares with the audience his experience of being handed a SQL Server that someone else managed and being told that it is now his to manage. He went through the thought process of what to do first - what was important to know about this server. In short, he developed scripts that reveal information about the server such as when it was last backed up, had a consistency check, which sp_config settings had been changed from default, etc. In other words, he wants to do a Blitzkrieg on the server to take it over. He encourages the audience to go through the script and learn what is really happening and to not just run it blindly as this script is continually evolving. In fact, he has come up with a way to get the latest script "automatically" from the cloud when you want to run the script.

I watched this session on my fresh DVD set, but you can watch it here if you attended the summit:http://softconference.com/pass/sessionDetail.asp?SID=274893

For more information on the Blitz script and to see a training video, click here: http://www.brentozar.com/blitz/

Rick's Review - Goal for 2012

RickHeiges — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:14:00 GMT

One of my goals in 2012 is to blog on a more consistent basis. One idea that I have for keep this goal is to blog about a webcast or session recording that I listened to. I often listen to webcasts / session recordings while working. It helps to keep me "current".

So I will be starting a series called "Rick Reviews" which will be providing a summary and key things that I learned from a webcast or recording. I hope that you find these useful and can help point out some resources that you may not have been aware of. The first one will be out shortly.