Search results matching tags 'performance' and 'Professional Development'

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

SQL Server Performance Tuning and Optimization in Jacksonville, FL on April 27th

KKline — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:15:00 GMT

One last reminder - If you're interested in learning more about troubleshooting and optimizing SQL Server performance, please consider coming to the full-day seminar I'll be giving this Friday. Full details are here: http://sqlperftuning.eventbrite.com/. We'll be working some exercises, so bring your laptop with an instance of SQL Server 2008 (or later) running on it. It'll be fun!

I also encourage you to come on down to SQL Saturday 130 the following day - whether there's an official registration for you or not. (But don't tell 'em I said that). :^)

Come by the booth for a visit. I'll be hanging out most of the day and have some nice swag to give away.

Enjoy,

-Kev

Follow me on Twitter!

Moving on up… but not to the East Side

AaronBertrand — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 12:46:00 GMT

It is with both sadness and excitement that I am announcing I am leaving my position as Senior Data Architect at OTO Labs.

The sadness comes because I am leaving behind a great company and an outstanding team, many of whom I am quite happy to consider friends rather than co-workers. This decision was not easy; I spent several days and sleepless nights wrestling with it because my current team and job are all I have known in my professional career, going back 13 years.

The excitement is because I feel like the Remington man or that guy from Hair Club for Men commercials - I am joining a team to work with a product that I am a huge fan of, and that has served me very well over the years. And on day one I will already be welcomed by co-workers I already consider friends.

But before we talk too much about where I'm going, let's talk about where I've been.

I grew up in Canada, hating computers. I had a Commodore Vic 20 and used to curse those cassette tapes when I'd make a typing mistake while "recording." My favorite thing about the Commodore 64 was Moon Patrol - I don't think I did much else with it. My first real computer was a 486; it ran Windows 95, but barely. I still remember the hours-long process of upgrading from Windows 3.11 for Workgroups using a stack of, what, 23 3.5" floppy disks?

You can read more sordid details about how I became a dork in these two blog posts:

http://sqlblog.com/blogs/aaron_bertrand/archive/2009/10/06/tagged-how-i-became-a-dork.aspx

http://sqlblog.com/blogs/aaron_bertrand/archive/2010/01/19/what-three-events-brought-you-here.aspx

But essentially I have been evolving in the same position for over 13 years. I first came to work for Eric Picard (twitter) in Rhode Island immediately after graduating in 1997. The company name changed from Waterworks Interactive, to 9th Square, to Bluestreak, before finally being absorbed by One to One Interactive in 2007. And the office I've called "home" has moved from several locations in Newport, to Middletown, to Providence, and finally to Charlestown (a quaint little area just north of Boston). But it has still felt like a single job to me, even though I have expanded my skillset and responsibilities there.

At PASS 2005 in Grapevine, Texas, I met Greg Gonzalez (blog | twitter) and his fantastic team from SQL Sentry. I fell in love with their flagship product, Event Manager, and had several great conversations with Greg about what I liked, and to a much lesser extent how it could be improved (because it already did a *lot* of the things I found at the time, and still find, lacking in Management Studio). I like to think that some of those conversations led to innovations in the existing product, and the further development of new tools such as Performance Advisor.

Last year, I published a product review of Performance Advisor on SQLServerCentral, comparing it to the Management Data Warehouse feature introduced with SQL Server 2008:

http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Product+Reviews/66278/

Having been a long-time user of the tool, it served mostly as a review for me; however, through interviews and conversations, I did get a better feel for the camaraderie of the team and the quality of the product they continue to build and perfect. I have also spoken at the Charlotte SQL Server User Group multiple times, and also at SQL Saturday #33; at these events I have had several positive conversations with the team.

Over the past year I have been involved in a benchmarking project that has measured in very fine and excruciating detail the overhead of using SQL Sentry to monitor your servers. I can't wait to continue the work on this project and show you how little you actually "pay" for the wealth of information it provides. This project, too, has led to a much better appreciation and understanding of the product, the team, and the company.

Also over the past year, and along with a few MVPs and other esteemed colleagues, I have served on a Product Advisory Council that has helped provide product feedback and steering to the SQL Sentry team. I can say with no hesitation that my interactions with the company have always been stellar.

So it should come as no surprise to many of you that my new employer, effective October 25th, is SQL Sentry. My official title will be "Senior Consultant" but, in addition to assisting with consulting services, I will wear many hats… from product tester, to blogger, to evangelist, to public speaker, and several things in between. I will be working out of my house for the most part, often pantsless (don't be jealous @buckwoody). I think the only thing I will *not* miss about my current job is the annoying commute - and when I do need to travel to Charlotte, I suspect the total travel time will be shorter than my current drive to Charlestown - on a good day.

I'll repeat again, that other than the commute, it has not been easy for me to leave my current position. I have made a lot of good friends over the past 13 years, and I feel that my contributions have been valuable and have greatly impacted their offerings. And while my new career path will bring about a whole new set of challenges, many of my responsibilities will consist of things that I have already been doing in my spare time - blogging, speaking, helping folks out on twitter... so if you're worried about my community involvement changing, it will only change for the better.

I am very excited about this opportunity… October 25th can't come soon enough.

Join Me May 19th for 24 Hours of PASS

KKline — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 14:16:00 GMT

Join Us for 24 Hours of SQL Server Training

(with a special focus on SQL Server 2008 R2)

Did I mention that your Cohorts in Crime (that be me and Brent Ozar) are presenting?!?

The FREE 24 Hours of PASS event is bringing an exceptional lineup of SQL Server and BI experts to your computer starting at 12:00 GMT (UTC) on May 19.

Get an in-depth look at the hottest SQL Server and BI topics, including (but not limited to!) - the new SQL Server 2008 R2, with its business intelligence and data management innovations, and much more.

When does it start? 12:00 GMT (UTC):

New York: 08:00
Chicago: 07:00
San Francisco: 05:00
London: 13:00
Paris: 14:00
Moscow: 16:00
Mumbai: 17:30
Singapore: 20:00
Sydney: 22:00

The roster of phenomenal speakers features many MVPs and top-rated presenters, including Adam Machanic, Andy Leonard, Brad McGehee, Brent Ozar, Brian Knight, Chuck Heinzelman, Dean Richards, Don Kiely, Don Vilen, Donald Farmer, Glenn Berry, Greg Low, Jacob Sebastian, Jessica Moss, Kevin Cox, Kevin Kline, Louis Davidson, Maciej Pilecki, Peter Myers, Peter Ward, Rushabh Mehta, Sean McCown, Simon Sabin, Thomas Grosher.

Check out all the great SQL Server sessions you can attend for FREE. Share this information with a friend or colleague.

PASS is looking forward to having you join us all for this exceptional event. Please contact us at 24hrs@sqlpass.org with any questions. You can also find lots of general details at http://www.sqlpass.org/24hours/2010/.

Sequels for SQL: Dec 17, 2009

KKline — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:46:00 GMT

In the Sequels for SQL series, I point you to sites where you can go beyond the nose-to-the-grindstone resources that we see every day as SQL Server professionals. (My favorite resource for pan-SQL Server pointers is Steve Jone's Database Weekly email newsletter.) These are the story that comes after and outside (the sequels) of our daily working lives (the other SQL). Let's broaden our horizons together. If you hit on an interesting but overlooked topic, I'd like to hear from you.

SQL Server: We live it. We love it.

When Jimmy May talks, I listen. Not just because he's a personal friend, but also because he knows what's what, if you'll pardon the expression. So when Jimmy says "I believe xPerf will fundamentally change the way I do my job", then I want to know what the heck this free xPerf management tool is and how I can best leverage it. Check out Jimmy's blog entry on xPerf here.

Devices & Gadgets: Usually making our lives better, sometimes not so much.

Ever wonder what's inside one of those tiny USB hard drives? No? Not even a little bit?!? When I started in IT, hard drives where as big as washing machines and cost $60,000 running at speeds in the 100's of RPMs. My how times have changed. Here's a fun hack of a USB hard drive - http://www.dansworkshop.com/electricity-and-electronics/usb-hard-drive-hack.htm.

Futurewatch: Important issues just over the horizon.

There are a lot of standard elements of society being rebranded as the "2.0" version of itself. The 2.0 moniker was first put forward by visionary Tim O'Reilly (blog | twitter), of the eponymous media company. Whenever you see the 2.0 moniker added to the end of something, most famously Web 2.0, then you know that it will include the characteristics of collaboration, interoperability, and user-centered designs. So, whereas the first go at the web in the mid- to late-1990's was about enabling information retrieval such as transforming printed catalogs into on-line catalogs, Web 2.0 enables all of its participants to comment on, review, rate, and otherwise participating with each other in the use of such a catalog. In the last FutureWatch blurb, I pointed out work on Grid 2.0, centered on efforts to update the USA's electricity grid. I'm going to do a much more detailed post in the near future about emerging 2.0 efforts, but one to point out now is Gov 2.0. Under this broad set of initiatives, governments from the lowest to highest levels of responsibility are opening up their public databases for consumption by the public. An example of Gov 2.0 in action comes with the President's SAVE Award, in which the public is invited to vote on their pick for the best money saving tip put forward by federal government workers. Read all about this year's SAVE Award here.

Humor: I haz da funny.

Weird products in Japan have their own name - chindogu. Most of these are crackpot inventions that everyone knows will never see the light of day, such as these these featured here. However, some of these products DO get marketed and, more amazingly, purchased. Check out the product reviews of this totally bizarro chindogu here at Overstock.com.

Professional Development: Because there are two words in "database professional".

There are mountains of great websites with tips on how to be a better speaker. Some day, I'll write a long blog post about my favorite sites for learning how to improve your oration. But if you're in a hurry, and who isn't these days, then this blog post at TechRepublic succinctly sums up the advice you'll find from many other web sites, articles, and blogs.

Society: Important issues to discuss with your friends and family.

One of the most remarkable things about the USA, as a rather biased citizen, is our ability to suck up our pride, admit a mistake, and try to prevent it from happening again. One way that the USA tries to prevent future occurrences is to convene a commission of some kind. I found this analysis by David Leinweber, a Haas Fellow in Finance and Founding Director of the Center for Innovative Financial Technology at UC Berkeley, of the commission studying banking market reform in the USA to be quite intriguing and, frankly, upsetting.

WorldView: If James Bond knows that the world is not enough, then so should I.

I'm always on the lookout for issues related to safe and clean water. If you think people can be grumpy when oil is in short supply, imagine what it's like when there's not enough drinking water for everyone. See how India is dealing with enormous water issues in this revealing article from the Economist. And I'd be interested to hear what our Indian blogger friends thoughts are on this topic, folks like Rushabh Mehta, Jacob Sebastian, and Pinal Dave. (Water issues have remained one of my passions ever since my years working for NASA developing the water recycling systems for the International Space Station, in which we made water of the H20 that passes through the human body re-drinkable. And it tastes good. Incidentally, all of the technology we developed for this project, as with all non-classified government projects, became public domain. ECLSS technology is now used in hundreds of commercial products ranging from household detergents to commercial solvents to filtration systems.)

Thanks!

-Kevin

Twitter @KEKline

Sequels for SQL Server: The Week of November 27, 2009

KKline — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:02:00 GMT

Just as an FYI, I've added one new slide deck and webcast to http://KevinEKline.com/Slides/, as well as quite a few upcoming user group events where I'm speaking in http://KevinEKline/Upcoming-Events/.

I'm starting a new series called Sequels for SQL Server. In this series, I point you to seven sites where you can go beyond the nose-to-the-grindstone resources that we see every day as SQL Server professionals. These are the story that comes after and outside (the sequels) of our daily working lives (the other SQL). Let's broaden our horizons together. If you hit on an interesting but overlooked topic, I'd like to hear from you at http://KevinEKline.com/.

SQL Server: We live it. We love it.

An amazing example of explosive growth in SQL Server performance using SSDs from one of the most popular on-line gaming systems, Eve On-Line by CCP Games.

Devices & Gadgets: Usually making our lives better, sometimes not so much.

Everyone I know wants the newest best smartphone, InfoWorld gives us a good test run of them all. Ultimate mobile deathmatch: iPhone vs. BlackBerry vs. Droid vs. Pre.

Futurewatch: Important issues just over the horizon.

The reshaping of our national power grid will provide profound benefits to consumers, but it will also bring enormous liabilities that could equal—or even outweigh—the very problems we hope to solve. And this webcast from O'Reilly on Grid 2.0 is also quite good.

Humor: I haz da funny.

Witness firsthand a mind-boggling worst practice by a DBA insisting that he's implementing a best practice.

Professional Development: Because there are two words in "database professional".

Peter Drucker, one of the greats in management thought-leadership, would've turned 100 last week were he alive today. Check out these top 20 quotes from the man who revolutionized management theory.

Society: Important issues to discuss with your friends and family.

Quoting the Motley Fool, "We spent the latter half of 2008 feeling the wrath of "too big to fail." Today, banks are bigger than ever. We need to end that. Now." It's Time to End "Too Big to Fail". Read this thought-provoking article soon.

WorldView: If James Bond knows that the world is not enough, then so should I.

The smartest analyst on international issues out there, Fareed Zakari, discusses US and Indian relations in this insightful article from Newsweek.

Thanks,

-Kevin

Twitter @KEKline