Dec-2010 ~ Gathering and Interpreting Server Metrics ~ Grant Fritchey

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Presenter: Grant Fritchey – SQL Server MVP
Topic: Gathering and Interpreting Server Metrics

 

Before you can start tuning SQL queries, it’s vital that you know how your server itself is behaving. You need to know what the memory, IO and CPU on the machine look like while the system is at rest and under load. You need to establish this baseline in order to better interpret the results of your later query tuning efforts.

There are a number of inherent methods built into SQL Server and the Windows operating system that can supply you with this vital information. There are even third party tools that can take a lot of guess work and manual labor out of the process of establishing these vital measures. This session will cover all the tools necessary to generate a baseline measurement for performance of your SQL Server system. The session is a small part of and serves as an introduction to the one day pre-conference seminar on query performance tuning being offered at SQLRally in May.

Biography:

Grant Fritchey has twenty years experience in IT. That time was spent in technical support, development and database administration. For the last seven years he has been working at a major insurance company as a DBA. He writes articles for publication at SQL Server Central, Simple-Talk, PASS Book Reviews and SQL Server Standard. He also published two books, ”Dissecting SQL Server Execution Plans” and “SQL Server 2008 Query Performance Tuning Distilled.” He is one of the founding officers of the this Users Group and currently serving as the president. In April 2009 he was awarded as a Microsoft SQL Server MVP. You can also find him tweeting as @GFritchey and blogging at Home of the Scary DBA.

Oct-2010 ~ DMV’s as a Shortcut to Procedure Tuning ~ Grant Fritchney

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Presenter: Grant Fritchey – SQL Server MVP
Topic: DMV’s as a Shortcut to Procedure Tuning

 

Dynamic Management Views (DMV) expose a wealth of information to the database administrator. However, they also expose information that is vital to the database developer. More often than not people gather performance metrics through server side traces. This session will show how to gather information from the DMVs for currently executing, and recently executed queries.

The session will demonstrate combining this information with other DMVs to get more intersting information such as the query plan and query text. I’ll show where you can get aggregate information for the queries in cache to determine which queries are being frequently accessed or using the most resources. I’ll show how to determine which indexes are being used in your system and which are not. All of this will be focused, not on the DBA, but on the query writer, the developer or database developer that needs information to tune and troubleshoot data access.

Biography:

Grant Fritchey has twenty years experience in IT. That time was spent in technical support, development and database administration. For the last seven years he has been working at a major insurance company as a DBA. He writes articles for publication at SQL Server Central, Simple-Talk, PASS Book Reviews and SQL Server Standard. He also published two books, ”Dissecting SQL Server Execution Plans” and “SQL Server 2008 Query Performance Tuning Distilled.” He is one of the founding officers of the this Users Group and currently serving as the president. In April 2009 he was awarded as a Microsoft SQL Server MVP. You can also find him tweeting as @GFritchey and blogging at Home of the Scary DBA.

Sep-2010 ~ Accelerated MDM with SQL Server 2008 ~ Brian Berry

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Presenter: Brian Berry of Blum Shapiro Consulting
Topic: Accelerated MDM with SQL Server 2008 R2 Master Data Services

 

Data architects have struggled for several years with issues of Enterprise Master Data Management (MDM). The technology, tools, and processes required to create and maintain consistent and accurate lists of master data are of keen interest to rapidly growing organizations.

In this session, Brian Berry will discuss what master data is, why managing it matters, and some key concepts related to architecting an MDM solution. SQL Server 2008 R2 Master Data Services (MDS) is Microsoft’s first product offering to the MDM market. Brian will discuss MDS as an example of MDM Hub Architecture, demonstrating how to leverage MDS for rapid development of Master Data Models, Hierarchies, Business Rules, and integration scenarios via WCF and SharePoint 2010 Workflow

Biography:

Brian Berry is the Director of Technology Consulting at Blum Shapiro Consulting in West Hartford, CT. He has over 10 years of consulting experience with Microsoft Information Worker and Business Intelligence technologies: SharePoint Server 2010, PerformancePoint Services, SQL Server 2008 R2 and Master Data Services. He blogs on these topics (and others) at http://blogs.blumshapiro.com/bcbblog and tweets from @BrianChBerry.

Note:

NEIT needs to use the Hall of Fame on the same day as our meeting (Wednesday, 8th September 2010 6PM-9PM), so they have assigned us a different venue in the same building: #CT232.

Aug-2010 ~ What Are You Waiting For? ~ Thomas LaRock

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Presenter: Thomas LaRock; Senior DBA, SQL Server MVP, PASS Director
Topic: What Are You Waiting For?

 

It’s a simple question, right? But how often do you have the answer, especially for your SQL statements? Thomas LaRock from Confio Software will teach you how proper response time analysis plays a key part in the overall performance tuning process. You will learn how to define, measure, and analyze performance issues as well as implementing changes and how to make sure those changes continue to have the desired effects.

Biography:

Thomas LaRock is a seasoned IT professional with over a decade of technical and management experience. Currently serving as a Senior DBA for Confio Software, Thomas has progressed through several roles in his career including programmer, analyst, and DBA. Thomas holds a MS degree in Mathematics from Washington State University and is a member of the Usability Professional’s Association. Thomas currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS), and is also a SQL Server MVP. Thomas can also be found blogging at http://thomaslarock.com and is the author of DBA Survivor: Become a Rock Star DBA (http://dbasurvivor.com).

Jul-2010 ~ SQL Azure: Relational Database in the Cloud ~ Andrew Novick

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Presenter: Andrew Novick of Novick Software
Topic: SQL Azure: Relational Database in the Cloud

 

SQL Azure is Microsoft’s relational database offering in the cloud. While it’s similar to SQL Server 2008 there are enough differences that it’s important to understand what you can and cannot do with SQL Azure. This presentation gets you comfortable with SQL Azure and understand how it can best be used. A glance at the topics that will be covered: Signing up for SQL Azure; Creating a database, users and tables; Differences from other SQL Server 2008 editions; Configuring the firewall; Moving schema and data up and down from the cloud; Getting the right connection string from the Azure UI; Checking Usage and Billing information; Connecting to SQL Azure; Approaches to scaling with SQL Azure; Data Access with OData; Deploying Data-Tier Applications to SQL Azure;

Biography:

Andy Novick is a SQL Server MVP and consultant who builds business applications on SQL Server and the .Net technologies from Microsoft. Andy’s writing includes the books Transact-SQL User Defined Functions and SQL Server 2000 XML Distilled as well as numerous web articles and web videos. You connect to is writing at his web site www.NovickSoftware.com. In addition to SQL Andy enjoys coaching Youth Baseball and the occasional movie with his wife, Ulli.

Jun-2010 ~ Launch of SQL Server 2008 R2 ~ SNESSUG Officers

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Presenter: SNESSUG Officers
Topic: Launch of SQL Server 2008 R2

 

Southern New England SQL Server Users Group is taking part in the launch of the newest version of SQL Server, SQL Server 2008 R2. The R2 version of SQL Server enhances several areas of functionality for the report writer and provides more and better management for the DBA and adds greater opportunities for the developer. Multiple aspects of SQL Server 2008 R2 will be explored with presentations from various officers of SNESSUG. Please come down and take part in this great presentation.

May-2010 ~ As a DBA, where do I start? ~ Mike Walsh

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Presenter: Mike Walsh
Topic: As a DBA, where do I start?

 

Whether you are new to the role of DBA, being “forced” to take on the responsibility of one or are starting at a new company, knowing where to start can often mean the difference between success or failure. In this chat, Mike will help us wade through the noise that attacks a DBA and figure out just what our priorities should be. By focusing on the “itties” of Database Administration (Recoverability, Availability – Health & Performance – , Security and Reliability) we can see a natural priority build. Throughout this interactive discussion we will also have a look at some of the available tools and scripts to help us see where our environments rate with the “itties” of Database Administration. There is also an interesting tip on extracting information from vendors before bringing their systems live.

Biography:

Mike is an experienced SQL Server professional and has worked with SQL for over ten years. He has performed the duties of Database Administrator, Developer, Architect and Performance Team Lead but always leans on his DBA experience in each role. Most recently he is the Principal DBA and SQL Server SME for a global insurance company while consulting with interesting and challenging assignments on the side.
Mike is becoming more active in the community through his blogging, starting up a user group in NH (http://seacoastsql.sqlpass.org) and speaking at various regional events

Apr-2010 ~ Automating Database Deployments Using Visual Studio ~ Scott Abrants

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Presenter: Scott Abrants of Iron Mountain
Topic: Automating Database Deployments Using Visual Studio

 

Leading your database development solution to a leaner, more automated method of development and deployment is an essential step to implementing a successful Agile/SCRUM based methodology. An existing SQL Server database will be import it into Visual Studio Team Edition for Database Developers GDR version preparing it for an automated continuous integration builds. Learn some of the tips and techniques that will have you well on your way to integrating with an automated build taking advantage of the power of Visual Studio Team Edition for Database Developers.

Biography:

Scott Abrants is a principal database software engineer at Iron Mountain Digital. Having worked with SQL Server since 6.5 days, and close to 15 years IT experience, Scott has always preferred the BI space when it comes to managing data. Scott is one of the founding officers of the Southern New England SQL Server Users Group and severed as a past president. When not focusing on the world of SQL Server I enjoy spending time with my two beautiful daughters and wife Brenda.