It's an old story you've probably heard before. Provide a free version of your software product with strict limitations on performance or other specific capabilities so that folks can give it a try without risk, while you minimize the chance of cannibalizing sales of your commercial products. Microsoft has take this strategy with SQL Server Express Edition, not only to increase adoption in the student market but also to counter the threat of open-source (i.e. free) relational databases like MySQL for entry-level applications. One such limitation of SQL Server Express Edition is that it … [Read more...]
Squishy Limits in SQL Server Express Edition
Filed Under: Administration, Databases, Performance, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, Tips & Tricks Tagged With: DBA, Developer, Express Edition, Internals, Memory, SQL Server 2012
SQL Intersection!
The best emotion to describe how I'm feeling is 'astounded'. I'm astounded that I'm in such august company to be speaking the SQLIntersection (#iSQL) conference. Read the blog post from my first SQL Server mentor, Kimberly Tripp, which tells you all about SQLintersection. Check out this list of speakers: Aaron Bertrand, Sr. Consultant, SQL Sentry, Inc. [blog | twitter] Andrew J. Kelly, Mentor, SolidQ [blog | twitter] Bob Ward, Principal Architect Escalation Engineer, Microsoft [blog | twitter] Brent Ozar, Brent Ozar Unlimited [blog | twitter] Conor Cunningham, Principal … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Administration, Challenges, Cool Technologies, Databases, Hardware, IO, Performance, Presentations, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication Tagged With: AlwaysOn, Best Practices, DBA, Developer, High Availability, Monitoring, Performance, SQL Server 2012
Is Microsoft SQL Server Supported By …?
One of the types of question you get after speaking at a conference about virtualization, like I did at the 2012 PASS Summit with my buddy David Klee (Twitter | Blog), might go down like this: "Is SQL Server version X supported on hypervisor platform Q?" or something even more specific like "Is SQL Server 2012 supported on VMWare vSphere ESX 4.1 Update 2? Or do I have to upgrade to ESX 5.0?". Now, when I'm asked a question like this, I usually drool and act like an ape, hoping the the questioner will flee in terror. If they insist on hanging around to hear a real answer, I now refer them to … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Administration, Compliance, Cool Technologies, Databases, On-Line Resources, SQL Server, SQLMag Tagged With: Best Practices, cloud computing, DBA, Developer
The Year That Was – 2012
2012 was, simply stated, a year that kicked my butt. When I wasn't struggling professionally, I was struggling personally. Health issues, culminating in a diagnosis of Type II diabetes, and the passing of my father soon after Thanksgiving marked my biggest struggles. I apologize to those of you who are normally on my Christmas card list for not sending any this year. The wind was not in my sails. On the positive side of the ledger, I made a scary but exciting leap to SQL Sentry midyear. This was a huge shake-up after 10 years with my previous employer, but one which has been met with … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Administration, Conferences, Cool Technologies, Databases, DBTA, On-Line Resources, Presentations, Professional Development, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, Tool Time Tagged With: Best Practices, Career, DBA, DBTA, Developer, Professional Development, SQL Server 2012, SQLMag, Writing
Learn More About SQL Server IO and Query Tuning in These Webcasts
I'm doing two new webcasts next week on Wednesday, December 19th, one in the morning and the other after lunch. SSDs are a Game Changer for SQL Server Storage No, don't let the title mislead you. This session is not exclusively about SSDs. But this is my first session on IO and storage tuning that emphasizes SSDs over hard disks. As Bob Dylan said "Times, they are a'changin'". This session on Wednesday, December 19th at 11:30 AM EST, sponsored by Astute Networks, takes you through all of the basics of storage and IO tuning, regardless of the underlying storage technology. I'll … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Administration, Databases, IO, Performance, Presentations, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, Transact-SQL Programming, Video Tagged With: Best Practices, DBA, Developer, Internals, IO, SAN, SQL Server 2012, SSD, Storage, Training, Transact-SQL Programming, Video
Let’s Talk Licensing and Virtualization for SQL Server
I have two new articles up on Database Trends & Applications magazine. I'd love to get your thoughts and feedback! Welcome to the Weird, Wild World of SQL Server Licensing Not long in the past, SQL Server licensing was an easy and straightforward process. You used to take one of a few paths to get your SQL Server licenses. The first and easiest path was to buy your SQL Server license with your hardware. Want to buy a HP Proliant DL380 for a SQL Server application? Why not get your SQL Server Enterprise Edition license with it at the same time? Just pay the hardware vendor for the … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Administration, Architecture, Cool Technologies, Databases, DBTA, On-Line Resources, Performance, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, Trends, Virtualization Tagged With: Best Practices, DBA, DBTA, Developer, Internals, Licensing, Monitoring, SQL Server 2012, SQLMag, SQLPASS, Virtualization, VMware
PASS Summit 2012, Slide Decks
Ok, I have to admit the painful truth. I'm reliably slow to the finish line. This year, I got my slides into PASS HQ by the skin of my teeth, the weekend before the event was to begin. Although I could say with a straight face "I uploaded my slides!". I have to be honest that I wasn't surprised when many of my attendees said that they weren't available for download by the time my session started. OTOH, I also have to say that I really do prefer for attendees to focus on the presentation while it's being presented and that they should grab the slides afterwards. But that's just my personal … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Administration, Conferences, Cool Technologies, Databases, PASS, Performance, Presentations, Professional Development, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, Virtualization Tagged With: Career, DBA, Developer, Leadership, Plays Well With Others, Professional Development, SQL Server 2012, SQLPASS, Virtualization, VMware
Conquer Your Fear of Virtualization with a Free Day of Training at PASS!
Click the link above to register! Presented by my buddy, David Klee at House of Brick, one of the nations top VMWare consultancies specializing in Oracle and SQL Server deployments. David has a great write-up of this boot camp at http://www.davidklee.net/2012/10/01/virtualizing-your-business-critical-sql-servers-free-boot-camp-by-house-of-brick/. … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Administration, Architecture, Conferences, Cool Technologies, Databases, PASS, Presentations, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, Virtualization Tagged With: DBA, SQL Server 2012, SQLPASS, Virtualization
Two New Slide Decks. Plus, the Week in Colorado.
I had the honor of traveling the great state of Colorado last week, speaking at the PASS chapters in Boulder, Colorado Springs, and Denver. At all three events, we had a stellar attendance and, at least in Denver, broke all the records in recent memory both in terms of overall attendance and in first-timers. Denver, in fact, was standing room only and had nearly 30 first time attendees. Great news! I also want to give a special shout-out of thanks and appreciation to Chris Shaw (Twitter | Blog) whose hard work and tenacity ensured that all of Colorado got to see me speak. From left to … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Administration, Challenges, Cool Technologies, Databases, IO, On-Line Resources, PASS, Presentations, Professional Development, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, Tips & Tricks, Video Tagged With: Best Practices, CodePlex, DBA, Developer, Leadership, Performance, SQL Server 2012, SQLSaturday, Tools & Scripts, Troubleshooting, Video
Come See Me. I’ll Probably Be Just Down the Street Soon!
Even though I've recently changed jobs, I'll still be speaking at a lot of SQL events across the country and internationally. There are still a few trips that I've yet to finalize, in particular with the fine folks in Houston, run by my friend Nancy Hidy (blog | twitter), and my friends in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, run by my friend Mark Ginnebaugh (blog | twitter). Also, do to some missed deadlines, it looks like I won't be speaking at the Nordic SQL Rally this fall. My bad! On the other hand, you can see when checking my roster, that I hardly have time to catch my breath with this … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Administration, Conferences, Cool Technologies, Databases, Nashville SQL Server Users Group, PASS, Presentations, Professional Development, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication Tagged With: DBA, Developer, Leadership, SQLPASS, SQLSaturday, Video
