Interview With PASS Summit 2012 Speaker - Jen Stirrup

This is the sixth in a series of interviews with speakers leading up to the 2012 PASS Summit which will be held in Seattle from November 6th - 9th.  This interview is with one of the Women in Technology (WIT) panelist, Jen Stirrup.

Tell us about yourself

I'm a SQL Server MVP with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Master’s degrees in Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science. I am part of the leadership team at Copper Blue Consulting, with 15 years SQL experience in delivering end-to-end Business Intelligence solutions.

I am also active in many SQL Server user groups in the UK, helping run the SQLHerts group. I have delivered pre-cons and general sessions at SQLBits and presented webcasts for the PASS Performance Virtual Chapter and 24 Hours of PASS Women in Technology edition.

Blog(s):  http://www.jenstirrup.com/

Twitter: @jenstirrup

Tell us your favorite thing about your PASS session(s)

I love the ability to engage people by showing demos. I also love to talk about the 'why' as well as the 'how'. I think that, if people know 'why' things are done in a particular framework, then it makes them better at the 'how'.

Tell us about your first time at PASS Summit

My first time at PASS Summit was awesome. I felt 'at home' with so many SQL Server and data fans around. I made lots of friends who were as passionate about Business Intelligence as I am, and these friendships have lasted. We have such a great community, and it is my privilege to get to know everyone who participates.

What advice do you have for PASS Summit First Timers?

My advice to new PASS first-timers is to attend all of the orientation sessions. Remember that there are a lot of other new people around too, and the people around you might feel shy too. I often start my sessions by asking people to introduce themselves to their neighbour, and talk about their favourite new feature of SQL Server 2012. It's an ice-breaker, and a 'start' in getting people to make business contacts and new friendships.

What are your can't-miss PASS sessions?

My 'can't miss' sessions are given by Michael Rhys. I had the pleasure of meeting Michael at TechEd Europe, and I was very engaged in listening to his research work (he holds a Ph.D and publishes papers) as well as listening to his deep technical insights whilst helping delegates with their technical problems. I had a great week working the TechEd booths with Michael, and I will definitely be attending his sessions.

Besides sessions, what's on your must-do list at Summit?

Outside of sessions, I will be taking a Starbucks in Seattle. You often run into other delegates when you're taking a coffee, so it's always nice to say 'hi' to the person next to you in the queue who is wearing a SQLPass shirt or speaker badge, for example.

I'm Scottish, and not in the US very often. I want to go to the Opera House in Seattle, and I want to go to the Seattle Art Museum too.

How can attendees become involved in the SQL Server Community and continue their learning throughout the year?

I'd strongly recommend the webinars for the Virtual Chapters. You can listen 'in real time' or you can download at a later date. I'd also suggest that people buy the SQLPass DVDs since I believe that they are well worth the money. I am still listening to my SQLPass 2010 set!

 

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Interview With PASS Summit 2012 Speaker - Robert Davis

It's the week before the big event, PASS Summit 2012!

As a treat to all the attendees, I will be posting at least one interview every day until I leave home to attend the summit. This is the fifth in a series of interviews with speakers leading up to the event which will be held in Seattle from November 6th - 9th.  This interview is with Microsoft Certified Master Robert Davis.

Tell us about yourself

I’m a Microsoft Certified Master in SQL Server and have been working with SQL Server for more than 12 years. Over the years, I’ve worn just about every hat a SQL Server professional can including SQL developer, production DBA, and data architect. I consider myself to be a “reformed developer”. When I got my first real job in IT, I was looking for a position as a web developer. Eventually, I was offered a job as a database developer. I was very eager to start my first IT job, and accepted it even though the thought of working with databases sounded like a boring job.

I was working at a small company, and for the next several years, I flipped between database and web development depending on the needs of the company at any given time. A day came eventually when my manager said that he thought they would be able to make me a web developer permanently. I realized at that moment that I no longer wanted to be a web developer. Our DBA had left the company about 6 months earlier and had not been replaced, mostly due to budget restrictions. I made a counter-offer for the DBA position instead, and SQL Server has been my real passion ever since.

Blog(s):  http://www.sqlsoldier.com/ and blog.idera.com

Twitter: @SQLSoldier

Tell us your favorite thing about your PASS session(s)

My favorite thing about doing sessions are when people tell me that they learned something new that will save them a lot of time. As DBAs, we are often tasked with doing a lot more than is truly possible. As such we learn to be as efficient as possible. When I worked as a web developer, I was often given the opportunity to come up with elegant solutions to problems, and that was fun. As a DBA, to be successful, you need to learn to come up with the most efficient way to do things. So any time I can learn new ways to be efficient or teach someone else to be more efficient, I consider it a very good thing.

Tell us about your first time at PASS Summit

My first time at PASS Summit was in 2010. To be honest, I never paid attention to PASS activities until I started getting actively involved in the SQL community in 2008. I had been blogging intermittently on SQL Server Central for a couple of years, and started speaking at SQL Saturday events in 2009. I didn’t get picked to speak at the SQL PASS Summit in 2009 because my team’s entire training budget had been allocated to sending me through the Certified Master program. Every year since then, I have been selected to be a speaker.

What advice do you have for PASS Summit First Timers?

Diversify and participate. Take in a variety of sessions and attend lots of the after-hour events. The first-timers’ program is also a great way to meet people. Your mentor is probably someone who knows a lot of people and can introduce you to someone.

And if you run into someone you’ve always wanted to meet, talk to them. They’re just people like you and I. For me, the SQL pros I always wanted to meet were Paul Randal and Kimberly Tripp, and I’ve had the good fortune to be a student of their class and to work with them on projects. You won’t meet anyone nicer and easier to talk to than Paul and Kimberly.

What are your can't-miss PASS sessions?

Paul White’s session is one of the things I look forward to the most. I told him last year that he should submit a session called S*** Only I Know. He’s freaky smart about things like the query optimizer. I only wish he was doing a full day pre-con.

Besides sessions, what's on your must-do list at Summit?

There are a couple of SQL Karaoke parties at the same time on the same night. SQL Karaoke is always a lot of fun, and I’m sorry that I’ll be missing the one sponsored by Pragmatic Works. I think Pragmatic Works is an awesome company, and I have lots of friends there. I have lots of friends that will be at the SQL Karaoke sponsored by Idera and run by Denny Cherry, and that is the SQL Karaoke event that I will be attending.

I also like to just hang out and “talk shop” with other SQL people. There will be times where you can find me just hanging out and talking to people. In fact, I’ll probably spend some time hanging out at the Idera booth. They get a lot of people at the booths that have technical questions, and this gives me a good way to talk shop with people I don’t even know.

How can attendees become involved in the SQL Server Community and continue their learning throughout the year?

SQLSaturdays are still one of my favorite PASS events. I love speaking at and attending the events. One of the things I love about my job at Idera is that they send me to SQLSaturday events that I wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford to attend. Travel can be expensive, so I definitely get to attend more than I would otherwise.

I would love to help organize and run a SQLSaturday event as well. I know it would be a lot of work, but I think there are some great things being done at the events out there that I would love to see get incorporated into our local SQLSaturdays.

 

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Interview With PASS Summit 2012 Speaker - Adam Machanic

This is the fourth in a series of interviews with speakers leading up to the 2012 PASS Summit which will be held in Seattle from November 6th - 9th.  This interview is with SQL Server MVP Adam Machanic, the creator of T-SQL Tuesday.

Tell us about yourself

I am a SQL Server developer residing in the Boston, MA area. I focus on large scale relational data warehouses, primarily in the financial services industry. Sometimes I also like to get away from the computer, and on the rare occasion on which that happens I like to spend my spare time cooking, baking bread, and messing about with cocktails. 

Blog(s):  http://sqlblog.com/blogs/adam_machanic (not the most active thing in the world, these days)

Twitter: @AdamMachanic

Tell us your favorite thing about your PASS session(s)

This year I'm doing a session on taking control of SQL Server intra-query parallelism. Today's servers have a lot more cores, a lot more memory, and much faster storage than we were seeing even just five years ago. SQL Server's query processor is quite capable of taking advantage of this hardware, but the optimizer hasn't received much of an upgrade in several years. This means that if you want your big queries to run as fast as they possibly can, you need to take control. I'm a take-charge kind of guy, so this session fits in perfectly with my sensibilities.

Tell us about your first time at PASS Summit

My first Summit was 2004 or 2005. It was great to meet a lot of people with whom I'd previously conversed online. On the plane home I tried to remember everyone I'd met and talked to, and ended up writing a blog post with all of the names. I think there were at least 150 of them; quite the networking experience!

What advice do you have for PASS Summit First Timers?

Communicate! If you're at lunch, sit down at a table with other people. Talk to them. If you're in a room and a session hasn't started, strike up a conversation with the person next to you. Don't sit in your hotel room all night checking your e-mail. You can get plenty of SQL Server content online; the thing you can get at PASS that you can't get elsewhere is interaction with your fellow SQL Server professionals.

What are your can't-miss PASS sessions?

I always enjoy Bob Ward's sessions, and this year I'm planning to be there early so I can snag a front row seat.

Besides sessions, what's on your must-do list at Summit?

Whenever I'm in Seattle I make a point of spending some quality time at the Pike Place Market. Other than that, networking, networking and a bit of partying. 

How can attendees become involved in the SQL Server Community and continue their learning throughout the year?

Attend your local SQL Server user group(s), follow and engage with people on Twitter, and block out time in your schedule for catching up on blog posts. Never stop reading. 

 

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Interview With PASS Summit 2012 Speaker - Karen Lopez

This is the third in a series of interviews with speakers leading up to the 2012 PASS Summit which will be held in Seattle from November 6th - 9th.  This interview is with SQL Server MVP Karen Lopez.

Tell us about yourself

I’m a Senior Project Manager and Architect at InfoAdvisors.  I specialize in all things data.  I want you to Love Your Data. 

Blog(s):  http://blog.infoadvisors.com/

Twitter: @datachick

Tell us your favorite thing about your PASS session(s)

I love talking with people about data modeling and database design, especially in the SQL Server crowd, were the vast majority of people tend to be operational, not development.  So in my first session on Database Design Throwdown, I get to debate with a DBA about the nuances of issues in design.  In my other session on Data Model Driven Development, I get to talk about how modeling can help improve the quality of designs and free up time for production and operational people to do more good stuff.

Tell us about your first time at PASS Summit

That was in 2010.  I was new not only to the Summit, but also the PASS community.  I had been active in the online community for a while, so meeting hundreds of people I already knew was incredible.  My impression of the Summit was that 1) there’s too much to see and do 2) there are too many people to meet and engage and 3) those two “problems” were amazing ones to have.

What advice do you have for PASS Summit First Timers?

Don’t think that the Summit ends with the last session every day.  Go to the after events and/or find other people to socialize with in the evenings and in the morning.  Things are going on around the clock.  The best thing about attending an in-person event is the fact that you can spend time with people in the real world.

Feel free to change sessions if you find the session you are in doesn’t meet your needs or the speaker is being overly “salesy” PASS does a wonderful job keeping that to a minimum, which is great.  I also encourage people to attend sessions outside their area of expertise.  Learning something new about SQL Server is one of the best things about being in such a diverse environment.   There are so many options available in the program.

What are your can't-miss PASS sessions?

I’ll be blogging about this soon, but in summary, I tend to pick speakers over topics.  I find the value I get out of hearing a great speaker present is worth learning a few new things, too. 

Besides sessions, what's on your must-do list at Summit?

Meeting people.  Sharing stories, pain points, and successes.  My favourite part.

Besides that, I love chatting with the vendors at the Summit.  I’m a strong advocate of vendors being part of our community.  One of my Splendid Truths about tools is that they impact our decisions and designs much more than we could ever imagine.  By sharing our success stories, our pain points, our questions with vendors, we have a great opportunity to help them help us.  I chat with them at their booths, but also at evening events and coffee breaks.  

Also, events like the Summit, SQLSaturdays and usergroups could not happen without the support of these sponsors.  In fact, I make it a habit of personally thanking each of them for being there and helping us make this event possible.  I encourage others to do the same.  

The PASS mission is Connect, Share, Learn. For me, that’s what the Summit is all about.  Connecting with others, sharing what we know and learning more about SQL Server and data management.

How can attendees become involved in the SQL Server Community and continue their learning throughout the year?

There are so many options here, too.  Join their local SQL Server user group (My user group is Toronto.sqlpass.org).  Start a user group, tweetup, event.  Join Twitter and chat with other data professionals.  Attend training, both formal and informal. Read blogs.  Blog yourself. Attend a PASS Virtual Chapter webinar.  Attend the PASS Summit and other PASS events.  

 The great thing about the SQL Server Community is that there are so many options.

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Interview With PASS Summit 2012 Speaker - Jeremiah Peschka

This is the second in a series of interviews with speakers leading up to the 2012 PASS Summit which will be held in Seattle from November 6th - 9th.  This interview is with SQL Server MVP Jeremiah Peschka.

Tell us about yourself

I've been working with SQL server for a little over a decade. I got my start in IT as a UNIX system administrator and rapidly automated myself out of a job. I knew that there was something exciting in the world of IT, so I moved between several different positions as a system administrator, developer, and finally a database developer/DBA.

Since founding Brent Ozar PLF last year, I've had the pleasure of working with Brent Ozar and Kendra Little solving interesting database problems. I also work with other databases in my free time. One of my hobbies is working on Corrugated Iron - it's a C# driver for Riak - a distributed key-value database.

Outside of SQL Server, my hobbies include going to Crossfit, hiking around the woods of Portland, interesting restaurants, and taking care of 2 cats and a dog.

Blog(s):

http://brentozar.com/ is where I currently blog, but a fair amount of content is also available at http://facility9.com/

Twitter: @peschkaj

Tell us your favorite thing about your PASS session(s)

My session comes from common mistakes that I've made while writing T-SQL. There are a lot of ways to run into terrible performance and many of them can be easily avoided. If I can save someone a lot of the pain that I went through, I'll consider this a success.

Tell us about your first time at PASS Summit

I first attended the PASS Summit four years ago and I hardly knew anyone. I met up with Brent Ozar (now my business partner) during a break in the pre-conference sessions and he introduced me to a lot of people. Throughout the week I introduced myself to as many people as I could and went to as many social events as I could find. It was tough to break out of my shell and talk to people, but the people I met were so friendly that it became easy very quickly.

What advice do you have for PASS Summit First Timers?

Meet new people. There are 3,000 attendees at the PASS Summit with many of the same interests as you - they've come to Seattle in November to learn more about SQL Server. They're also nervous about being in the same building as 3,000 other people they don't know. Just say "Hello" and start making new friends.

What are your can't-miss PASS sessions?

My interests are almost entirely in making SQL Server go faster or in getting around some of SQL Server's own limitations, so these might not fit for everyone ;)

I'm excited about Paul White's sessions (Understanding Parallel Query Execution and Query Optimizer Deep Dive). Jes Borland's “The What, Why, and How of Filegroups” is such a fun talk about a subject most DBAs take for granted. And Kendra Little's “First Responder Kit” is a must attend session if you're a production DBA - there's a lot in here that I use every day. Lynn Langit's “NoSQL for the SQL Server Professional” should be a good talk for DBAs interested in getting a handle on what's new in the world of databases. For people interested in scaling out SQL Server, I recommend Brent Ozar's “Real-Life SQL 2012 Availability Group Lessons Learned” session.

Besides sessions, what's on your must-do list at Summit?

Meet new people. That's a big thing to do.

I really enjoy coffee and one of my favorite coffee roasting companies is in Seattle, so I'll be making a trip out to pick up some coffee beans.

How can attendees become involved in the SQL Server Community and continue their learning throughout the year?

Just get involved. We aren't all writers or presenters. Some people do a fantastic job of running a local chapter, others do a great job with virtual chapters or taking on responsibilities within PASS.

If volunteering isn't your thing, there are plenty of local and virtual chapter meetings. I originally got involved with PASS by starting a local chapter. My involvement only grew from there.

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Interview with PASS Summit 2012 Speaker - Denny Cherry

This year I decided to assist PASS Summit attendees and also people who are still contemplating whether to attend by getting Summit thoughts from various 2012 speakers. This interview is with SQL Server MVP Denny Cherry.

Tell us about yourself

I am an independent consultant with over a decade of experience working with various platforms, including SQL Server, Hyper-V, vSphere, and Enterprise Storage solutions. My areas of technical expertise include system architecture, performance tuning, replication, and troubleshooting. In addition to being a Microsoft MVP, I currently hold several Microsoft certifications related to SQL Server for versions 2000-2008, including the Microsoft Certified Master. I am also a VMware vExpert and have written several books and dozens of technical articles on SQL Server management and how SQL Server integrates with other technologies.

Blog(s):

http://www.mrdenny.com/

http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/sql-server/

Twitter: @mrdenny

Tell us your favorite thing about your PASS session(s)

My favorite thing about my PASS sessions is the same thing about every session that I give.  The fact that people are willing to come and sit in a room for an hour (or a day at my pre-con) and listen to what I’ve got to say.  I love sharing the knowledge that I’ve picked up over the years and the fact that the session attendees trust me enough to teach them still inspires me.

Tell us about your first time at PASS Summit

My first time at the PASS summit was the year we were in Denver 4 or 5 summits ago now.  I was there on a budget and a had a GREAT time at the sessions and the after events just talking to people and making new friends, many of those friends are people that are still friends to this day.

What advice do you have for PASS Summit First Timers?

Rule #1 at the PASS summit: never eat alone, for any meal.  There are going to be over 4000 people at the summit that all work with the exact same product that you do for a living.  You don’t have to go out drinking and get trashed all night every night, but go out and try and meet some people.  There are lots of places that you can go to meet people, both inside and outside of the convention center.  The easiest place to find people later in the evening is usually a bar/restaurant called the Tap House.  It’s in 6th between Pike and Pine above a 3 minute walk from the convention center.  I know that it’s hard for a lot of people, but just walk up to a group of nerdy looking people (it’ll probably be mostly guys) and just introduce yourself.  Another place to look for people is the lobby bar of the Sheraton hotel.  For lots more ideas check out my webcast that I’m doing for first timers.  The webcast will be October 17th at 1pm Pacific and will be recorded so that you can view it after the fact.

What are your can't-miss PASS sessions?

Besides my sessions, anything by Bob Ward is a great session that you won’t want to miss.  It’ll be a very in-depth session, but the technical knowledge that Bob and his team have is amazing.

Besides sessions, what's on your must-do list at Summit?

Outside of the sessions my only must-do is to socialize with friends that I don’t get to see all that often.  With SQL Saturdays all over the world it’s a lot easier to see some people, but there are still lots of friends that I only get to see at the PASS summit.

How can attendees become involved in the SQL Server Community and continue their learning throughout the year?

The SQL PASS website (http://www.sqlpass.org/) is a great place for free education.  There are the local user groups and chapters as well as the virtual chapters all of which provide free sessions usually monthly.

 

 

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DBCC CHECKDB WITH DATA_PURITY Command

As I mentioned in my last post, many people may be considering upgrading their SQL Server Instance(s) due to the release of SQL Server 2012 and the upcoming release of SP1. Because of this reason I thought it would be a good idea to highlight the importance of the command for people who are planning to upgrade from SQL Server 2000.

Before I get into the details about the command, let me just highlight that DBCC CHECKDB is a command that checks the logical and physical integrity of all the objects in the specified database and should be run on a regular basis. If you are a SQL Server DBA but never used or heard about DBCC CHECKDB before then you need to do some reading about it and start using it! 

In versions prior to SQL Server 2005, it was possible to import invalid data into databases. This was resolved for databases created in SQL Server 2005 and later versions by adding column-value integrity checks. This was a great solution to avoid the issue in the future but how do you deal with the invalid data issue in older databases that are being upgraded?

Solution -

DBCC CHECKDB ([DATABASENAME]) WITH DATA_PURITY

When this command is executed it will confirm if there are any data issues in the specified database. Once there are no issues/errors then DBCC CHECKDB column will check the column value integrity by default aka you don’t have to specify the DATA_PURITY anymore.

For more information about this command, I recommend Paul Randal's post:

CHECKDB From Every Angle: How to tell if data purity checks will be run?

and of course MSDN: DBCC CHECKDB.

 

 

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