Dec-2012 ~ Lightning talk ~ Various Members

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The December 2012 meeting will be devoted to developing new talent within the group. We will have several slots open for short fifteen to twenty minute talks on a Microsoft SQL Server topic of your choosing.

 

We will be reserving three slots for SNESSUG directors to present. The tentative line up is below.

1 – “Don’t Lose Your Integrity” by John Miner.  Download Sample Code & Presentation

2 – “An Introduction to Table Valued Parameters” by Matt Batalon. Download Presentation

3 – “HIPAA for the DBA. What are the implications of the law and how does it affect us as Data professionals” by Brandon Leach.

4 – Open Slots

Oct-2012 ~ Effective Use Of Temporary Tables ~ John Miner

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Presenter: John Miner
Topic: Effective Use Of Temporary Tables
Downloads: Slides

 

Every developer eventually comes against business logic that can not be handled with a single simple or complex query. TSQL provides the developer with several constructs that can store temporary result sets that are passed to the next query in the script. I will be covering derived tables, local temporary tables, global temporary tables, table variables, user tables in tempdb, and common table expressions in my examples using the AdventureWorks database. The pros and cons of each contruct will be examined. Advanced options like enabling trace flag 1118 will be explored.

Biography:

John has over twenty years of IT experience including a Masters degree in Computer Science from the University of Rhode Island with concentrations in database technologies and programming languages. He also has Microsoft Certificates for Database Administration (MCDBA) and System Administration (MCSA).

John is currently a Senior SQL Server Developer / Administrator in charge of best practices by the IT team at Sensata Technologies. He is the PASS chapter leader for Southern New England SQL Server Users Group.

Aug-2012 ~ Bad Habits and Best Practices ~ Aaron Bertrand

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Presenter: Aaron Bertrand
Topic: Bad Habits and Best Practices
Downloads:Slides

 

In this session we will go over several bad habits that are quite pervasive in the SQL Server community, and show with demos and samples why these habits can be bad.


We’ll also illustrate some good habits that are less common and why they should be adopted.

The goal is to have every user in the room walk away with immediately actionable knowledge to improve their existing stored procedures, raise their overall T-SQL skill, and change the way they think about writing code.

Biography:

I thoroughly enjoy my position as Senior Consultant for SQL Sentry, makers of Performance Advisor, Event Manager and the free Plan Explorer – all tools geared to helping customers get the most out of SQL Server.

I have been working with SQL Server for 15 years, and do my best to share my knowledge and experience with the community via sqlblog.com, speaking at dozens of community events, and answering questions in online forums and through the twitter hashtag #sqlhelp.

Jul-2012 ~ Introduction to Extended Events ~ Brandon Leach

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Presenter: Brandon Leach
Topic: Introduction to Extended Events

 

Profiler is a clunky old tool. In this session we will take a look at Extended Events in SQL Server 2008 and 2012. We’ll start by discussing the various components and compare and contrast extended events with profiler. Then we’ll move move on to creating our own events that you can start using right away!

Biography:

Brandon Leach is a DBA for Network Health in Medford, MA. He’s been working with SQL Server since version 2000 as a developer and DBA.

Jun-2012 ~ Full Text Indexing Basics ~ John Miner

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Presenter: John Miner
Topic: Full Text Indexing Basics
Downloads: Slides

 

Today’s large data fields (LDF) are full of unstructured information stored in varchar, text, varbinary or xml data types. How do you write an application to search the column for patterns? Traditional SQL techniques using a column INDEX and LIKE operator result in a query plan that contains a full table scan.

I will be introducing the Brother’s Grimm database that has the full text of each fairy tale. I will create a full text catalog / index, select a change tracking strategy, define optional stop list / thesaurus file, and then populate the index. I will use CONTAINS and FREETEXT operators in SELECT queries to leverage the FTI. This resulting query plan performs better with an index seek.

Biography:

John has over twenty years of IT experience including a Masters degree in Computer Science from the University of Rhode Island with concentrations in database technologies and programming languages. He also has Microsoft Certificates for Database Administration (MCDBA) and System Administration (MCSA).

John is currently a Senior SQL Server Developer / Administrator in charge of best practices by the IT team at Sensata Technologies. He is the PASS chapter leader for Southern New England SQL Server Users Group.

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

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[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.

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

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

 

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