FWSSUG Meetings

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Happy Holidays! 

Tuesday, November 13, 2012 1:22:00 PM Categories: Meeting

 

We wish you and yours a wonderful Thanksgiving break!

 

We will not be meeting in November or December in deference to holiday mania.

 

Last month was a wrap up for the year. Michael Bourgon gave a great presentation despite a few server driver issues. Even with out his prepared VM, his interpretive dance and shadow puppets were quite illustrative! If you weren't there, you really missed out on the Baking DBA.

 

Even though Dallas Give Camp is closed for the 2012 cycle, this is a group to watch. I can't wait to see what they spin up for 2013: http://dallasgivecamp.org/

 

It's a chance to use your technical skills to help local charities. Very cool. Thanks for the tip off, Lisa G. 

 

Enjoy your Texas winter and see you in January!

 

We'll be kicking off the season with Mike Hotek. We'll also be looking for speakers to round out the 2013 schedule. 

Oct 17, 2012 Michael Bourgon: Master of All I Survey - Tracking Code Changes Across Dozens of Servers Seamlessly and Automatically 

Sunday, October 14, 2012 11:48:00 PM Categories: Meeting

Everyone's been bitten by it - rogue changes made on servers, be it SPs, index rebuilds, or even configuration changes.  What if you knew?  What if you could look historically across servers and track down what changes were made when, by who, and from where?  It exists, it's already built into MSSQL, it's easy to implement and it's been there waiting for you for 7 years.  Come learn what Event Notification is and why you'll want (nay, DEMAND) it in your environment.

 

Bio: Michael Bourgon is the Senior Production DBA for Emdeon Pharmacy Services.  He started work with Sybase on RS/6000 over 15 years ago, and has been meddling with some form of that SQL Server codebase ever since.  He's done everything from training Sales Reps to building cubes to actually building a run-book from scratch that carries his name.  He's always looking for a better way to be a Lazy DBA - spending far too many hours automating processes in order to accomplish that.  In his spare time he listens to weird music, reads Science Fiction, and tries to ensure his daughter grows up a nerd, too. 

 

Food at 6:30

Lecture at 7PM

Sep 19, 2012 Carlos Bossy: Data Modeling Best Practices for Tabular Models 

Saturday, September 15, 2012 7:33:00 AM Categories: Meeting

We are very excited to have Carlos Bossy in from Colorado to share one of his PASS sessions:

Data Modeling Best Practices for Tabular Models
The new Tabular models in SQL Server 2012 give us a powerful analytic engine that is faster and easier to implement than traditional multi-dimensional cubes using Analysis Services. In this session, you'll see how to develop analytic models using your existing data sources and learn best practices for preparing data so that it can be effectively used as a Tabular database. In addition to creating the model, you'll see how to quickly add measures, hierarchies, and calculated columns to provide a rich user experience and how the model works with Excel and Power View.
 

You can download Carlos Bossy's presentation slide deck HERE: 

http://carlosbossy.wordpress.com/downloads

 

Carlos Bossy (MCTS, MCP SQL Server 2008 BI, CBIP) is a Consultant with 25 years experience in software and database development. As the Principal of his company Carlos focuses on developing Business Intelligence solutions including modeling data warehouses, predictive analytics, integration and reporting. He has worked with SQL Server for 12 years and is very enthusiastic about its powerful features. Carlos has developed warehouses and BI solutions for a variety of industries and state agencies.
Contact URL: http://www.carlosbossy.com

Aug 15, 2012 Kellyn Pot'vin: Curious About Oracle?  

Monday, August 6, 2012 5:49:00 PM Categories: Meeting

Are you curious about Oracle, but afraid to admit it?  It is common for many DBA's to be biased to one database platform, but it has become more and more demanding of the database administrator to manage and have a firm knowledge of more than one in many environments.  This session will introduce the SQL Server DBA to Oracle in a way that will meet their day to day challenges in a multi-platform database environment.  Come learn about how Oracle and SQL Server are very similar, different and how to translate common concepts in SQL Server to Oracle database administration.  No prior experience in Oracle is required and important features and concepts will be covered to assist the SQL Server DBA in incorporating Oracle into their database skill set.

 

Kellyn Pot'vin, (pronounced Poet-Vaughn) has been a Database Administrator for over twelve years, specializing in large database performance tuning for myriad of platforms, including Oracle, MSSQL and MySQL. In recent years she's been working with large SSD databases and Exadata, taking advantage of the newest technology and performance tuning features. Kellyn is known for her technical blog, dbakevlar.com and resides on the board of directors for the Rocky Mountain Oracle User Group, (RMOUG).  She is an Oracle ACE recipient and database track volunteer for ODTUG’s, (Oracle Developer Tool User Group) KSCOPE 2012 Conference.  She's performed numerous presentations in the US and Europe, along with articles for various technical newsletters and websites.  She is a current contributor to oradbpedia.com and a contributing author for Apress.  Kellyn lives with her partner, Tim and her three children in Broomfield, CO and currently is honing her technical skills at Enkitec, an Oracle-centric consulting partner, (www.Enkitec.com)

 

 

Food at 6:30

Lecture at 7PM

 

​See you there

​The folks at the Fort Worth SQL Server Users Group

 

​We meet the third Wednesday of most months

July 18, 2012 David Stein: Have you got the Urge to Merge? 

Monday, July 9, 2012 6:10:00 PM Categories: Meeting

 

The T-Sql Merge statement, introduced in SQL 2008, is powerful, versatile, and performant. However, it is also one of T-SQL's least understood statements. Most DBAs know they can use It to insert, update, and delete data in a target table in a single transaction, generally outperforming separate statements. Fewer know, however, that it can be used to load slowly changing dimensions, facilitate auditing, and for many other uses. Come to the user group meeting and learn the in and outs of T-SQL Merge. I'll even show you how to write complex Merge statements with lightning speed.

 

David Stein is a Senior Business Intelligence Consultant with WaveTwo in Irving, TX. He’s worked in SQL Server Business Intelligence for almost a decade, designed Data Warehouses from scratch, as well as saved projects in serious jeopardy. He is also very active in the community, having spoken at PASS events at all levels, including the PASS Summit, SQL Rally, and at numerous SQL Saturday events and user groups.

 

You can learn more about Data Warehousing, Business Intelligence, and other technical topics on his blog at Made2Mentor.com or follow him on Twitter, @Made2Mentor.

 

 

Food at 6:30

Lecture at 7PM

 

​See you there

​The folks at the Fort Worth SQL Server Users Group

 

​We meet the third Wednesday of most months

 

June 20, 2012 Trevor Barkhouse: Quantitative Analysis of SQL Server Error Logs  

Sunday, June 17, 2012 7:56:00 AM Categories: Meeting

Our favorite SQL Sleuth is back! Trevor has transmogrified into an outstanding speaker and educator. You can follow his tweets at @SQLServerSleuth. He's doing a very engaging and interactive talk this Wednesday that you won't want to miss. Show up and be heard. 

Abstract: The SQL Server error log is essential for managing SQL Server.  Unfortunately it is a flat text file that defies efficient analysis.  There is a new open-source tool (a PowerShell module) that breaks the contents of the error log into data that can be queried and aggregated.  Come and learn how to finally unlock all of the valuable information that has been hiding in your log files!

Speaker biography: Trevor has been a production or escalation DBA for almost a decade. He recently joined Microsoft CSS as a Senior Support Escalation Engineer for Microsoft SharePoint. Trevor's passions are automation, performance tuning, and troubleshooting.  He has spoken at dozens of user group meetings, SQLSaturday events, and conferences.

 

 

 

Excited post Tech-Ed chatter and munchies at 6:30
Error Log Intel at 7PM

 

​See you there

​The folks at the Fort Worth SQL Server Users Group

 

 

May 16, 2012 Judith Hotek : SQL 2012 File Table in Use 

Tuesday, May 15, 2012 7:52:00 AM Categories: Meeting

We've all been very excited about all the promise  the File Table feature extension holds.

 

Can you imagine being able to finally dump unstructured files into SQL Server and still be able to access them in their native format in windows explorer? There's no ugly GUID names as there was with File Stream only in 2008. Your existing apps can simply reference a file share and not have to be rewritten to go through SQL Server. Sound too good to be true? Try implementing it and you will learn there are trade offs. 

 

Two of your comfortable old tools, a SQL Server  table and a file folder,  will look like they used to but will behave in quirky knew ways till you get used to the new combination.

 

Other considerations:

Just how well does File Table play with Antivirus? What does the security look like? What nasty files and apps could someone drop onto my SQL Server??  What do you mean non-transacted data? Can I track who is looking at files this way? Can I replicate these files and back them up? What happens if I detach a file table? Will it ever reattach? What happens if I reference my file table rows in other tables to add metadata? We can't get to demos for all those questions in one hour, but they are the sorts of things to start asking yourself if you think this might be a great solution for some of your business needs.

 I've been dragging my feet on emailing you the monthly meeting announcement because it's me speaking this time around. We meet the third Wednesday of most months in southwest Fort Worth. Thank you  Mark Valentino and Freese & Nichols for graciously hosting us!

Food and friends at 6:30

File Table exploration at 7PM

Judith

 

 

Apr 18, 2012 Brian Guarnieri SAN TOPOLOGY 101: How do I know if my SAN Administrator is lying to me?  

Friday, April 13, 2012 6:15:00 AM Categories: Meeting

Our very own Brian G is back at the podium to talk about all the SAN stuff no one in the database world seems to talk about but we all have to understand.

Your job is to use up disk resources and the SAN man's job is to protect and keep those resources. So the fight is on! G.I. Joe says knowing is half the battle. Here's some of what Brian will arm you with:

What is a SAN Anyway?

  • Quick review of RAID 5, 0, 1, 10, 1+0
  • Common SAN Data Protocols
    •   SCSI
    •   i-SCSI
    •   Fibre Channel
  • Connective Media
    •    Fibre Optics
    •    Ehternet

   

  • SAN Components
    •    HBA (Host Bus Adapter)
    •    PCI Express BUS
    •    SVC (San Volume Controller)/Zoning
    •    SAN FABRIC 
    •    SWITCHES
    •    Disk Array / Striping
  • A SAN by ANY Other Name
    •      SAN in a Box//Card - Direct Attached Storage (External & Internal)
    •      NAND Flash Drives (Fusion IO)
    •      RAM SAN (RAM SAN) 

     

  • How does a SAN work?
    •      SAN Fabric, Management, HotZones
    •      Zoning
    •      CLUSTER AWARENESS and SOFTWARE RAID by VERITAS: Why it hurts and how bad.  
    •      Putting it all together
  • How do I know if My San Administrator is lying?
    •      What does he look like? Is he shifty? 
    •      Latency verse Bandwidth
    •      T-SQL Queries to show the Jig is up
    •      SQL Simulator
    •      IOMeter
    •      How many spindles is enough? Spindle Gluttony.
    •      Why does my Latency graph have a Heart Beat?

 

 

 

​Food and Wookiee Language Lessons at 6:30 (See Jack)

Fun with SANs at 7:00

 

​See you there

​The folks at the Fort Worth SQL Server Users Group

 

​We meet the third Wednesday of most months

 

 

 

 

Mar 21, 2012 Mike Hotek DBA 101 

Thursday, March 1, 2012 10:56:00 PM Categories: Meeting

Back in January Mike Hotek had two topics. Hierarchy IDs ended up being a substantial enough topic to hog up the whole meeting. He's offered to take a break from writing his SQL Server 2012 books and come back to address that second topic.  

He's back in March with DBA 101: Figuring out THE most important deficiency 

You walk into or are handed a completely dysfunctional SQL Server environment, where do you start and how do you fix it without going insane or working 200 hours a week.

 
Also, March 7th is the SQL 2012 online launch event: http://www.sqlserverlaunch.com
 
Editorial note: For those of you who joined in the Hierarchy data type and graph theory discussion, did you run home and reread some of the NoSQL buzz that has been surfacing the last few years? Graph databases may be finding their niche to solve a number of interesting problems but the needs of most business still rest on good old relational databases. Fortunately our good old relational DBMS can handle some interesting graph theory problems as well. 
 
Join us on the third Wednesday of the month.
Post SQL Server 2012 launch buzz and munchies at 6:30 PM
Michael Hotek SQL Server experience download starting at 7 PM
 
See you there!

 

 

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