Wednesday Quest: On-Line Demos for Toad Data Analyst and Benchmark Factory

February 23, 2011 by Leave a Comment

If you've attended any of my public sessions about SQL Server technology, then you might remember that I extend a standing offer to provide a free, long-term license to any of several products from Quest Software, such as Toad for SQL Server (including the SQL Optimizer), Toad Data Analyst, Toad Data Modeler, and the awesome performance and scalability testing tool Benchmark Factory. If you've ever wondered about these tools and why I tout them, why don't you take a couple minutes to look at the on-line demos available at each of the preceding links?  If you like what you see, drop me a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Administration, Cool Technologies, IO, Performance, SQL Server, Tool Time Tagged With: , , ,

Adventures in the Land of CloudDB/NoSQL/NoAcid

February 18, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Last year, some of my friends from Quest Software attended Hadoop World in New York. In 2009, I never would've guessed that Quest would be there with products, community initiatives, as a major sponsor and with presenters? There were just under 1,000 attendees who weren’t the typical devheads and geekasaurs you'd normally see at very techie events like Code Camps, SQL Saturdays, Cloud Camps and or even other NoSQL events such as the Cassandra Summit. We're talkin' enterprise customers with active Hadoop projects underway. Some observations from the show that may be of interest to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: BigData, Cloud, Conferences, Cool Technologies, Databases, NoSQL, Opinion, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, Strategies, TCD blog post, Trends Tagged With: , , , ,

Have You Heard About Project Lucy?

February 16, 2011 by 1 Comment

Quest Software's latest community initiative, Windows Azure-based Project Lucy, has debuted! Project Lucy is part infrastructure analytics, part social media experiment, and part performance data warehouse. The best things about Project Lucy include: It’s Free - just like our SQLServerPedia website, Project Lucy is free to anyone who wants to upload a trace file It’s 1oo% web-based - you don’t have to download or maintain anything and updates roll out seamlessly, all the time It really helps - just generate a SQL Trace on a SQL Server 2000, 2005 or 2008 instance, upload it on … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Cloud, Cool Technologies, Databases, On-Line Resources, Performance, SQL Server, Tips & Tricks, Tool Time Tagged With: , , , , , ,

What’s Up With Discovery Wizard for SQL Server?

February 16, 2011 by Leave a Comment

First, the Good News I really like the free SQL Server utility from Quest Software, nicknamed "Disco", that enables you to discover and inventory all versions and editions of Microsoft SQL Server from the mid-1990's onward.  You can see what it does at http://questkb.com/category/sqlserver/discovery-wizard/. I've had a lot of customers who have faced the challenge of bringing an unwieldy and chaotically growing SQL Server infrastructure  to heel.  It can be really daunting in a big enterprise trying to find all of the SQL Servers tucked behind third-party applications, Microsoft … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Challenges, SQL Server, Tips & Tricks, Tool Time Tagged With: , , ,

Education and Career Resources from Microsoft and the Community

January 28, 2011 by 1 Comment

Sometimes I'm timely in getting the news out on useful resources.  And, other times, I'm a bit slower on the draw.  As I told friends back at New Year's Day, "As an official member of the Procrastinators Club, welcome to 2008!"  On the other hand, it's always good to remind folks of great resources that are still available and on the shelf.  Why?  Well, the Internet hits us with such a deluge of constantly new material, that we often forget about the old(ish) stuff that's still really useful. Quest vConference for SQL Server One of the most popular teaching sessions I ever engaged … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Administration, Databases, On-Line Resources, PASS, Presentations, Professional Development, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, TCD blog post, Tips & Tricks, Video Tagged With: , , , , , ,

And the Winners are…

November 18, 2010 by Leave a Comment

The winners were named last week in our contest for bloggers on SQLServerPedia.  Lots of great bloggers and great articles for you to read. A complete list of the winners is here: Thanks to the thousands who participated! Follow me on Twitter! … [Read more...]

Filed Under: On-Line Resources, Professional Development, SQL Server, SQLServerPedia Syndication, Tips & Tricks Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Video: Worth the Wait Why SQL Server 2008 is Great

November 18, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Join Kevin Kline, SQL Server MVP and SQL Server Technology Strategist for Quest Software and Brent Ozar, SQL Server Domain Expert for Quest Software as they introduce the top ten features and capabilities in SQL Server 2008 that they find to be the most exciting and valuable. Originally Posted on YoutTube November 12, 2008. Follow me on Twitter! … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Administration, Databases, Presentations, SQL Server, SQLServerPedia Syndication, Video Tagged With: , , ,

Video: SQL Performance Optimization

November 4, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Gain insight into best practices for SQL Server optimization and ways to alleviate many root causes that can impact performance of your SQL Server database. Kevin also will discuss how to manage for planned and unplanned changes, speed time to implementation of your applications and ensure that your databases are running as they should. You will learn how to: * Identify the root cause of bottlenecks that hinder performance of your SQL Server environment * Diagnose and fix T-SQL errors in development before code goes into production * Learn new best practices for project planning and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Challenges, Databases, Performance, Presentations, SQL Server, SQLServerPedia Syndication, Tips & Tricks, Video Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Vote Now for the 2010 SQLServerPedia Awards!

November 1, 2010 by Leave a Comment

As a way of recognizing and thanking it's contributors, SQLServerPedia is holding annual awards for the best blog posts syndicated on the site from November 2009 – October 2010. Editors Iain Kick (blog | twitter), Jeremiah Peschka (blog | twitter), and myself have scoured SQLServerPedia.com to find the most informative and useful posts across a wide range of categories that were posted over the last year. Please click below to cast your vote.: http://sqlserverpedia.com/awards/ Get your friends/kids/colleagues to vote too! Voting opens today (November 1st) and closes November 8th.  … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Conferences, On-Line Resources, PASS, Professional Development, SQL Server, SQLServerPedia Syndication Tagged With: , , , ,

Videos: Strategies for Addressing Common SQL Server Challenges

October 28, 2010 by Leave a Comment

As a busy SQL Server DBA you face an increasing number of daily challenges: Managing fast growing data volumes and database environments Diagnosing and resolving performance issues Effective backup and recovery Monitoring and tracking database changes Balancing current resources against future capacity needs Inefficiencies in any of these areas can lead to performance degradation, unauthorized database changes, and unplanned, extended downtime. Webcast originally presented by renowned SQL Server expert Kevin Kline and learn valuable strategies for addressing these challenges … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Administration, Challenges, Databases, Performance, Presentations, SQL Server, SQLServerPedia Syndication, Strategies, Tips & Tricks, Video Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,
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