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SQL Saturday

#Powershell in Atlanta

SQL Saturday Atlanta is coming up in two weeks and I’ll be giving my Introduction to Powershell for SQL Server DBAs precon the day before the event. I’m extremely excited to offer this precon and get more SQL Server professionals exposed to Powershell. Think you might be interested? Here’s the synopsis:

Maybe you’ve only heard of Powershell. Maybe you’ve seen a little bit of Powershell code, but still don’t understand how it works. You’ve been telling yourself for months now that you need to learn it. Why wait? The time to get started with Powershell is now.

This full day session will help build your foundation for learning and using Powershell. While we will be focusing on using Powershell as a SQL Server Database Administrator (or Developer), much of the material will also review general use for system administrators. By attending this training, you will gain an understanding of what Powershell is, how you can use it in your day to day management of your environments, and what specific things can be done using Powershell in a SQL Server environment.

You can sign up on Eventbrite and use the discount code ‘Mike_Fal’ to save $15 off the registration fee.  The session will be held at the Georgia State University Alpharetta Center on May 15 from 9am to 5pm.

I hope to see you there!

 

SQL Saturday #104 – Colorado Springs (#sqlsat104)

If you’ve been reading my blog, you probably saw the posts I made about SQL Rally, the PASS Summit, and a couple SQL Saturdays.  It is the SQL Saturdays, in particular, that really show the strength of the SQL community.  For those unaware, SQL Saturday is a run of regional events, put on by local user group chapters and supported by the Professional Association for SQL Server, that provide a day of free training and networking.  It’s a great chance to connect with others who do what you do, along with learning about how to do your job better.

SQL Saturday #104 in Colorado Springs was a stellar example of what these events offer and ended up being a great way to start off a new year of career development.  Here’s a brief overview of some of what went on:

  • Scheduled networking activities included as part of the presentation tracks:  Many events will only have a dinner or some after party, but I thought it was a nice way to break up the sessions by including games and other opportunities to network with other data professionals.
  • Regional and national speakers on a variety of topics:  I thought the speaker mix was fantastic, with many “big name” speakers such as Karen Lopez(b|t), Grant Fritchey(b|t), and Tom LaRock(b|t) (amongst others), but also the local talent, including: Marc Beacom(b|t), Doug Lane(b|t), Jason Horner(b|t), and…..me!
  • Professional resume reviews: Face it, job hunting sucks.  We all have to do it sometime and it’s rare that we get a chance for someone who deals with resumes all day to help us with ours.  I think the organizers of #104 scored a coup getting professionals to come in and go over resumes with people.
  • Free precons: Thanks to the sponsors of #104 for helping out with this one.  It was great to spend an entire day learning concentrated SQL info from Glenn Berry(b|t).  I know a lot of other folks benefited from this.  Not many SQL Saturdays can squeeze these in, but I’m glad the Springs folks made it happen.

As for my experience, I had a couple great highlights.  First off, I got to present again, and with a whole new presentation.  It went very well and I got great feedback.  There were also some great sessions that I learned from (have I mentioned how awesome Grant Fritchey is?)  Catching up with those of my SQL family who flew in for the event is always great, because sometimes having friends in other states sucks (and going skiing with these folks was AWESOME!).  Finally, being immersed in the SQL community gives me such a great feeling, both from being able to contribute and all the stuff I learn from it.

If you haven’t ever been to a SQL Saturday, go.  Keep an eye on the website and if there’s an event within easy travel distance, I can’t recommend enough that you get there.  It’s more than learning about SQL Server, it is about getting connected to SQL Server and the people (just like you) who work with it day in and day out.  It is finding out the gotchas and hidden gems within the application that will make your life easier.  It’s about boosting your career, knocking yourself out of that rut, and becoming “the DBA” instead of just a DBA.

I want to thank everyone who made this event possible(such a long list!), but especially Chris Shaw(b|t) and Jeremy Lowell(b|t), the engines that made this awesome event happen.  Keep up the great work!

In the land of Jazz and Meat

I’ve been on the SQL Saturday kick lately.  Truly, these are great events that really tell you what the SQL community is all about, even more so than the Summit.  This time I was at SQL Saturday Kansas City, getting my community involvement on.  The best thing about these events is you get to interact with folks who are getting their first taste of the SQL community, which gets me really excited to share and enjoy.

I was tapped to present on two sessions, my SQL Server Security session (which I’ve done several times now) and my new Query Plan Primer session, where I do a basic rundown of reading query plans and some of the operators we can find within.  Both went well, though I’ve got my presentations lined up to be ~60 minutes each and the KC folks slotted the sessions to be 75 minutes.  This worked out well becuase I got into some good Q & A time with the audience in the remaining time.

I’m getting more and more comfortable with the whole presentation thing. It’s a ton of fun and really stretches my learning.  As I’ve told many people, the act of building a presentation really drives you, getting you to study up on the subject matter.  Open Q & A time is also a bonus, because while you can read all that material and build a nice little presentation, having 30 people quiz you on it is even better because it forces you to think about the subject from different angles.

I also attended a couple sessions that were good.  But it worked in Dev! with the illustrious Randy Knight(b|t) was great fun.  Randy’s a heck of a speaker and was able to express some of the cardinal development sins we find in our production environments in a straightforward, understandable way.  His presentation is that kind that needs to be given at any shop with a serious developer presence.  I caught a solid powershell session by Mike Lynn(t) that was a good introduction to the fundamentals of the language.  Finally, I learned about service broker from Sanil Mhatre(b|t).  Service broker is one of those cool solutions that has a lot to offer, but it’s hard to find the right problem for it to solve.

The KC group did a solid job with the event, from a comfortable speaker dinner, to an excellent event venue, and wrapped it all up with smooth exection.  Shout outs to Bill Graziano(b|t), Bill Fellows(b|t), Kris Nessa(b|t), Andy Cross, and everyone I couldn’t remember.  You guys have got this <<redacted>> DOWN.  I’ll definitely try to be out for next year.

SQL Saturday #94 Wrapup

So take one part road trip, one part awesome community event, one part hanging out with friends old and new, blend thoroughly, and you get my weekend at SQL Saturday #94 – Salt Lake City. It never ceases to amaze me how much fun the SQL community is, but I love it and can’t wait to get more.

As stated previously, I was asked to do my security presentation, which was nice because after four times presenting the session is very comfortable. (I’m going to need to stop submitting it, though, so I can present on other topics.) The session went smoothly and I finished 5 minutes early, but there was good engagement from the audience, with plenty of questions and folks who stayed after to talk more about the topic.

The event itself was run in conjunction with a code camp event and, while that got the bulk of attendees, I felt like we had a nice sized audience for the SQL sessions. Things seemed to run pretty smoothly and (I don’t think) we had any major crises going on. Attendees floated between both floors, so it was nice to get a good cross section. Also, the code camp brought in a lot of open source and non-Windows people, which added to the variety. We even had a session about MySQL! (which I unfortunately had to miss because it was up against my own session)

Besides attending my own presentation, I sat in on a couple others:

  • Mitch Bottel (b|t) spoke on Policy Based Management and Central Management Server, a topic I’ve been dancing around lately. It was good to get his take on it and he gave a good enough taste that many of us in the room were excited to take what he had taught us back to our workplaces.
  • Chad Crawford had a fantastic presentation on partitioning. While I’ve got experience with the topic, Chad really gave a good foundation of all the principles of table partitioning and enough practical knowledge to get folks started implementing it.
  • Ben Miller (b) had a solid session on SQLPSX for Powershell. This is a topic I’m really excited about because there are a lot of management possibilities out there for shell scripting. I saw enough of SQLPSX to know that it’s going to make my life a lot easier once I start piecing together my own scripts.

Outside of the presentations, we also had a nice chance to hang out. Randy Knight(w|t) and his wonderful wife were incredibly generous by entertaining a group of us Friday night at his house with conversation, cheesecake, and ice cream cake. T Jay Belt (b|t) was an awesome host, putting 5 of us in Colorado up in his camper. Then, on top of all of this, the both of them took a group of us up in the mountains after the event to wind down with some barbecue, a campfire, and beer on a comfortable Saturday evening. Really, I can’t think these guys enough for what they did for this event.

Thanks to the vendors who supported the event as well. It’s because of these fine folks that we can have these events, so don’t hesitate to chat with them at these events. The tools they offer have definitely helped me out managing my environments and they can save you a lot of time, too. The reason they invest in the community is because their success is determined by our success, so they want to see all of us do well.

Finally, big huge gigantic thanks go out to Pat Wright (b|t) and his crew for putting this all together. Hosting a SQL Saturday is a non-trivial event and really can take it out of you, but the benefits are huge. It’s what I love about being a SQL Server guy, because we have this awesome grass roots effort to share and learn to everyone who is involved in our technology. I came out of this event with half a dozen new friends (technical contacts, sure, but I consider ’em friends first), additional speaking experience, and some new info about technical topics. If you haven’t had a chance to participate in something like this, take some time and figure out where your local user group meets. Check out the SQL Saturday website and get involved. Once you do, you’ll not only see your career take off, but you’ll have a sh*t-ton of fun doing it.

After all, that’s what’s happening for me!

SQL Saturday #94

First off, I apologize for not posting for a while.  I’ve switched jobs and have been spending the time getting sorted at the new job.  On the one hand, it’s exciting to move into a new environment and learn new things.  However, it’s also been oddly comfortable, since it’s all SQL Server.  Anyway, more on that later.

I found out yesterday that I’ll be presenting at SQL Saturday #94.  Hurrah!  I’m very happy the Salt Lake City folks have given me a chance to present.  Unfortunately, I present opposite to Doug Lane, but at least I won’t have to worry about him heckling me.

For those wondering, I’ll be doing my security presentation again.  For those curious, it’s definitely a beginner presentation, but it was well recieved at all the Colorado groups.  I was even told by a DBA of 20+ years that he got something new out of it.  Hopefully you will to!

Managing and Auditing SQL Server Permissions

When your boss asks you who has access to your databases, do you break out into a cold sweat? Or, instead, are you worried about those other people who might have ‘sa’ access to your server and might be causing trouble on your server? Either way, as DBAs we need to be able to audit our SQL Server security. This presentation will give you a general overview of the different types of roles that you can use to manage access, what they mean, and how we look at the security gremlins hiding under the covers of our databases.

I look forward to seeing you in Salt Lake City!