On my recent trip to SQLBits with subsequent visits to Dublin, Cologne, and Malmo (southern Sweden), I enjoyed a chance to meet several SQL Server MVPs, including Peter Larsson and Thomas Ivarsson.
Among them, I enjoyed Johan Ahlen’s article on Pulling real-time data from Twitter using StreamInsight. You can Find Johan’s blog here. I also enjoyed several other conversations, such as the one I had with Feodor Georgiev (blog). I particularly enjoyed Feodor’s guest post on SQLAuthority.com about waits in the round-trip loop from client to server back to client available HERE.
There’s a rumor going around (wink, wink – nudge, nudge) that the Scandinavians will be holding a SQLRally in the fall. I look forward to get back soon, but I’m hoping against hope that it’s still warm in November.
There are so many great tools out there for data professionals using Microsoft SQL Server. I really like to see all of these great tools made free to the public. On the other hand, I’m bummed that the tools are cast about in a very decentralized fashion. If you haven’t done migrations before, you might want to start with these good white papers first.
Here are a hand full of cool migration tools worth mentioning:
SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) for Oracle: Migrate from Oracle to SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008 or SQL Server 2008 R2. I’m thinking about installing it on my SQL Servers even without even needing to migrate existing Oracle databases to SQL Server. Why? Well as an old Oracle hand, I came to really enjoy quite a few Oracle PL/SQL system packages (kind’a like a SQL Server system stored procedure, but often more powerful). As it turns out SSMA-Oracle includes stored procedures, extended stored procedures, and CLR routines that reproduce the functionality in most all of the cool and powerful Oracle packages like DBMS_PIPES. It’d be nice to have those on my SQL Servers just because I know them and like them.
Microsoft Services for Mission Critical Customers: Many enterprise customers running mission critical applications on SQL Server have asked for more – more service and support for their environments. This is an add-on that costs extra, but it’s worth it for those running the systems that keep the company in business.
If you’ve tried any of these tools out, I’m keen to hear your experiences. Did they work well for you? Did they work, though poorly? Did they fail utterly? Inquiring minds want to know.
I had a very interesting conversation recently with a good friend of mine. She’s at the top of her game as a first class enterprise DBA in a major medical institution. She was interested in my career advice because she’d recently received an unsolicited invitation for a higher paying job in the business intelligence (BI) field. While I won’t talk much more about the specifics of that conversation, it’s not a unique conversation. In fact, I gave an interview to SearchSQLServer.com a while back about how DBA career paths are more and more leading into an even better paying career in business intelligence. Check out the interview HERE.
Many thanks to Microsoft SQL Server MVP Andy Leonard (blog | twitter) for conducting a series of interviews of prominent SQL Server types, including me. The interview found here.
The Toad for SQL Server review that was recently conducted for SQL Server Magazine was published online – and we got 5 out of 5 diamonds!
This is an improvement from the 4.5/5 stars Michael Campbell gave the product in a 2009 review. The review is very positive, with Michael citing the product’s highly customizable management and development solution, and writes that it “one-ups SSMS by including server, schema, and data comparison tools, a log reader, and a wide assortment of other options, capabilities, and utilities.”
Wow – what a great trip through Europe! SQLBits8 was in beautiful and sunny Brighton, which everyone local to the area assures me that it’s not usually either. The crowd was large and enthusiastic.
We did two rollickin’ fun lunch time vendor sessions, one being the SQL Pub Quiz. (I’ll tell you about the other one tomorrow in a separate blog post). We used a bingo pub quiz approach and, I have to say, a form of bingo I’d never before seen in my life. We managed to extract quite a bit of fun out of it any way, presentation hiccups and all.
Our giveaway winners were Mark Dodd (at top) and Dave Wimbush (at bottom). Congrats!
MVP Rob Farley Channeling the Inner Viking at SQLBits, Oct 2010
SQLBITS
One of the top highlights of my year is when I get to visit the great cities of Europe and meet with the great IT professionals there. Last October, I was able to visit several cities in Europe, including my first ever stop in Stockholm and Malmo, Sweden. Last year’s SQLBits event was in the lovely city of York, England.
The Level of Attendees Has Come Up a Notch. See?
This spring, in fact the next two weeks, I’ll be on a whirlwind junket. In just a few hours, I fly out to London and then drive down to Brighton for a couple days of SQLBits. SQLBits has a great lineup of speakers and content this spring.
I’m looking forward to many of the sessions going on as well as the innovative CIO-oriented event that will include facetime with Fusion-IO executive and industry legend, Steve Wozniak.
This Crew Is Crazy!
Our lunch time sessions on Friday and Saturday are ALL ABOUT FUN! If you attended last year, you’ll know to get there as early as you can because it will be standing room only. Bring a good horror story to tell about your experiences in IT because we’ll have some fun prizes to hand out as well.
Of course, the biggest fun for me is time spent with other SQL Server people. Lots of great speakers and Microsoft SQLCAT team members will be on hand, too numerous to name them all, in fact. And of course, I always enjoy a visit with my colleagues at Quest, such as Iain Kick (at left).
We were so inspired by winning a Trivia Pub Quiz that we decided to do one at SQLBits!
DUBLIN
After SQLBits, I head out for a day long session in Dublin on Monday, April 11th with my old friend Niall Flanagan at the Microsoft European Development Centre, South County Business Park, County Dublin starting at 09:30 am. If you’re in old Eire, I hope to see you there! Registration details are HERE.
COLOGNE (KOLN)
At the conclusion of the Irish event, I head directly to the airport for a flight to Cologne, Germany. The next day, on April 12th starting at 09:30, we’ll do another day with the expert. The agenda is a bit different, but all the details including registration are available HERE.
MALMO
My final stop before heading home is on Wednesday, April 13 in Malmo, Sweden. The user group in that area is lead by the very talented Johan Ahlen, whose blog is located HERE. I especially enjoyed his posts about FileStream late last year. I’m looking forward to more good sessions and, again, to learning as much from the attendees as they do from me. Be sure to register for the event HERE.
I was just bragging about how Toad for SQL Server keeps getting better. In that post, I also pointed out a lot of great resources you can put to work immediately on improving your skills with this great tool. (Incidentally, there’s a freeware version without all of the features, but it’s still quite useful. And you can always use the beta product, if you want all of the features and many new features that are undergoing community testing.)
Ain't he handsome?
One of the reasons that Toad is so good is that it’s always been a community-driven product. Back when I used Oracle every day, TOAD was an acronym = Total Oracle Application Development. It didn’t take long for Toad to rise above the acronym transform into the eponymous term denoting “kick-butt database tool” just a few years before Toad began to go cross-platform. Now that Toad is solidly cross-platform with versions for DB2, MySQL, and Cloud to boot, it’s worth pointing out that Toad got to be what it is today entirely from community feedback. Back in the day, when I worked in Quest’s R&D team, the developers literally kept a checklist of cool suggestions from the community and worked against that to develop new features. My point isn’t to fully describe the inner workings of the Toad dev team, rather I wanted to highlight how incredibly important community feedback is to this tool and the developers behind it.
Product documentation and product training are two areas where our customers consistently press us to improve…and one we take if very seriously.
Bold Claims
One of my favorite tools in the Quest Software toolbox for SQL Server (and Oracle) DBAs is called Foglight Performance Analysis, or more commonly, PA. This product can do things that no other tool or amount of customized scripts can ever reproduce. I am dead serious about this claim.
Here you’ll find just about any and all documents you could possibly need, from initial evaluation, through the demo and proof-of-concept (POC) phase, and on through implementation and on-going management. Do we have more documentation? Sure, but this list contains the key documents you’ll most likely want to see.
Training?
I’ve also gotten a lot of questions about training on the Quest tools – Do we offer it? How much does it cost? When do the classes run?
The quick answer is YES! We offer very nice training for a mere $350. Head over to www.quest.com/foglight-performance-analysis-for-sql-server and you’ll see a link to “Find out about Technical Training” that links to http://www.quest.com/sql-training-leadthem/. Once you register, you’ll get to take part in two 2-hour fully remote offerings. The first class is focused on sizing, configuration, and setup of PA, while the second teaches you how to use the product.
I would like to make you aware of a recently written paper by Bert Scalzo. The paper focuses on how DBAs can rely on the Toad and Benchmark Factory to perform database workload replays, ensuring that changes to the databases do not degrade the user experience.
I encourage you to read the paper and make workload replay a part of your database change management practices. As I’ve been saying for years, if you don’t have quantitative evidence of what normal is for your database, how can you know what is abnormal?
