SQLSaturday #436 - Las Vegas 2015

Event Date: 09/12/2015 00:00:00

Event Location:

College of Southern Nevada - Cheyenne campus
3200 E Cheyenne Ave
Las Vegas, Nevada

This event has completed. All data shown below is from the historical XML public data available.

Sessions
Speakers
Sponsors

If there are any data quality issues or corrections needed, please contact the webmaster for this site or submit a pull request for the appropriate file(s).

Sessions

This is a list of sessions from the event, based on the schedule in the XML files.

Title: When Database Corruption Strikes - Will you be ready?

Abstract: You are working along month after month with no problems in your database. Suddenly someone reports that their query won’t run. They get an error stating “SQL Server detected a logical consistency-based I/O error“, or something even scarier. Do you know what to do now? We will walk through 3 or 4 actual corrupt databases exploring ways to go about finding and fixing the corruption. More importantly we will explore how to prevent further data loss at the time corruption occurs. Learn what things you should do to protect yourself when corruption strikes. Learn what to avoid that will make things worse. You will leave with a checklist of steps to take when you encounter corruption. By the end of this session you will be ready to take on corruption, one database at a time.

Speaker(s):

Steve Stedman

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 2767

Title: Graphs, Charts, Gauges, Sparklines Oh My!

Abstract: Are you tired of the classic pick parameter/run report routine? If you’re not I bet your users are. Leverage Reporting Services (SSRS) to turn those same reports into an interactive “dashboard” where users simply click their way around the data. Add some graphical splash to make you reports come alive. In this session designed for people comfortable with SSRS looking to take their implementation to a new level we will go beyond charts and graphs and explore other representations of data. You will see how utilizing dynamic action buttons in report headers combined with sub reports and drill through reports can significantly improve user interaction and analysis of the data. Come see what you can do without a great deal of effort to take your SSRS solution to a new height.

Speaker(s):

Ted Stathakis

Track and Room: BI Information Delivery - 2769

Title: Statistics and Query Optimization

Abstract: There are any number of tricks and traps around getting the query optimizer to provide you with an optimal execution plan that gets you your data quickly and efficiently. But, at the end of the day, the principal driving factor of the optimizer, and therefore of your queries, are the statistics that define your data. This session teaches you how those statistics are put together and maintained by SQL Server. Different types of maintenance results in different levels of accuracy within statistics so we detail what the structures and information looks like after this maintenance. Your understanding of how the optimizer works with statistics will better enable you to understand why you’re getting the performance and types of execution plans that you are getting. Understanding enables you to write better t-sql statements and deal with performance problems such as bad parameter sniffing.

Speaker(s):

Grant Fritchey

Track and Room: Application Database Development - Auditorium

Title: Picking the Right Fights with Your Server Team

Abstract: Being a DBA is more challenging than ever—virtualized infrastructure, tiered storage and the cloud mean you may not know where you servers are, what disks your data is on, and you have less control than ever. In order to keep your databases performing and to provide an optimal environment you have to pick your battles. You have limited capital, and you only want to pick the most important fights. In this session you will learn about how to choose battles and win (with data!): • How to configure storage and file systems for SQL Server • Why you should always compress your backups • How your virtual machines should be configured for SQL Server • What rights you and your servers need in Active Directory • Many more and more importantly—which battles NOT to fight After attending this session, you will have a good understanding of how to talk with your peers in the infrastructure teams and make sure the key SQL Servers in your environment have the resources they need to perform great.

Speaker(s):

Joseph D’Antoni

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 2768

Title: Hacking Expos#233; - Using SSL to Secure SQL Server Connections

Abstract: You know all the ways to protect your database when it is at rest, but what about when someone connects and starts running some queries? What if they connect and don’t do anything? Just how exposed is that data? We will assume the role of a hacker and, by using a simple technique, we will sniff packets on a network to reveal what data is being sent. You may be shocked! We will then secure our database connections with a simple self-signed SSL certificate. Once secured, we will resume the role of the hacker and look inside the packets to see what has changed. *Warning - Do not try these demos at work without proper permissions as actual hacking techniques are used.

Speaker(s):

Chris Bell

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 2768

Title: CSI: DW – Anatomy of a VLDW!

Abstract: Put on your CSI caps as we delve into the anatomy of a Very Large Data Warehouse environment! During this case study session, we’ll take a look at the data warehouse environment at the Department of Veterans Affairs. The VA is the largest healthcare organization in the US and has an extensive national DW and BI infrastructure, now in its seventh year of evolution. We’ll take a look at the database infrastructure, the data loading process, and the various reporting and analytics solutions that provide over 150,000 knowledge workers and report consumers with timely data and information. We’ll also take a look at some of the processes in place to support the myriad of extended reporting and analytics teams throughout the VA who build and manage second-tier downstream data marts and other reporting solutions.

Speaker(s):

Dave Fackler

Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - Room 5

Title: Why should I care about the plan cache?

Abstract: SQL Server is a huge product, with many different places a DBA can go to look for information on how the server is performing. So many in fact that they can often overlap, which sometimes makes it hard to understand why tackling a new tool is worth the effort. In this first (and hopefully not last) installment of Rick’s “Why should I care” series a case for why working knowledge of how to query the plan cache is critical for performance tuning efforts in real world environments, followed by a review of relevant DMV’s for the newly motivated audience. Perfect for those who are relatively new to performance tuning concerns, or advanced DBAs trying to figure out how to have a similar conversation with their less experienced peers, or developers who are curious as to why DBAs drink in the morning (allegedly).

Speaker(s):

Rick Lowe

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 2769

Title: Use Hive and Hadoop for High Performance Data Warehousing

Abstract: Big Data has moved beyond the hype and entered the mainstream as a tool for managing large and unstructured data sets, giving data architects more options for managing data. The Hadoop ecosystem has become the tool of choice and Microsoft has entered this arena with HDInsight in the cloud. For DBAs this means having a place to store data that can be accessed using a highly parallel framework. In this session you’ll see how to use the numerous tools available to store data in Hadoop, process it, manage it, and retrieve it. We’ll explore Sqoop and how its many options can be configured to import data by taking advantage of Hadoop’s massive parallelism. We will develop and run Map\Reduce code, with an emphasis on understanding what belongs in a mapper function versus what belongs in a reducer function, while demonstrating Hadoop Streaming with languages such as R and C#. Finally, Hive will be shown to exhibit the use of a high-level query language in Hadoop for those who prefer SQL.

Speaker(s):

Carlos Bossy

Track and Room: BI Information Delivery - 2769

Title: Data Pages, Allocation Units, IAM chains… Oh My!

Abstract: Understanding how SQL Server organizes your data under the hood can seem like a daunting task. In this session we’ll take a look at how objects such as tables and indexes are stored in the data file. We’ll also look at how these concepts tie in to your work as a DBA or developer. We’ll see these concepts in action using demos and see how we can use this knowledge to better design solutions. We’ll start off by looking at the structure of a row and then move on the concept of a data page. From there we’ll cover a few special page types like the index allocation map. Then we’ll look at index structures and talk about the differences between heaps and clustered indexes.

Speaker(s):

Brandon Leach

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 2767

Title: A Masters Passport to Extended Events

Abstract: As is commonly the case, all good things come to an end. And now is as good a time as any for the use of SQL Trace and Profiler to come to an end. Let’s face it, Trace was a good tool and had some wonderful uses. Profiler for that matter was a good tool and was useful at times. It is time to let those old tools retire gracefully and move into the world of XE. This full day workshop will provide you the means to let Profiler and Trace be retired from your toolset as you discover all that XE has to offer.

This session on Extended Events will help prepare you to put this tool to immediate use as you walk back to your daily duties. This workshop will teach you about Extended Events starting with the basics and moving through how to create XE sessions that will get the right data for you, while doing so with minimal impact.

Speaker(s):

Jason Brimhall

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 2767

Title: Revenge: The SQL! - Director’s Cut

Abstract: Pop quiz DBA: Your developers are running rampant in production. Logic, reason, and threats have all failed. You’re on the edge. What do you do? WHAT DO YOU DO?

Hint: You attend Revenge: The SQL!

This session will show you how to “correct” all those bad practices. Everyone logging in as sa? Running huge cursors? Using SELECT * and ad-hoc SQL? Stop them dead, without actually killing them. Ever dropped a table, or database, or WHERE clause? You can prevent that! And if you’re tired of folks ignoring your naming conventions, make them behave with Unicode…and take your revenge!

Revenge: The SQL! is fun and educational and may even have some practical use, but you’ll want to attend simply to indulge your Dark Side. Revenge: The SQL! assumes no liability and is not available in all 50 states. Do not taunt Revenge: The SQL! or Happy Fun Ball.

Speaker(s):

Rob Volk

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Auditorium

Title: Zero-Downtime Upgrades: Rockstar DBA

Abstract: SQL Server upgrades bring enticing new features and much needed enhancements, but can you perform them while maintaining high availability of your SQL Server infrastructure?

You can actually do this by leveraging rolling upgrades, which are upgrades performed with minimal downtime or service disruptions.

In this session you will:

Understand how rolling upgrades are better than in place upgrades
Learn how to use database mirroring or AlwaysOn Availability Groups for rolling upgrades
Explore how you might use Log Shipping to perform a simpler type of rolling upgrade

This is a demo-intensive session, so you can see rolling upgrades live and up close.

If you are considering upgrading to a major version of SQL Server, or just applying a Service Pack or a Cumulative Update, this session is for you!

Speaker(s):

Argenis Fernandez

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Auditorium

Title: Physical Join Operators

Abstract: SQL Server implements three different physical operators to perform joins. In this session we will examine how each of these operators work, its advantages and challenges. We will try to understand the logic behind the optimizer’s decisions on which operator to use for various joins using (semi) real life examples and we will see how to avoid common join related pitfalls.

Speaker(s):

Ami Levin

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 2767

Title: Making the Leap from Developer to DBA

Abstract: You are a Developer (.NET, SQL or otherwise) but you have been doing some DBA work and have now decided that is all you want to do - how do you make the transition? What do you need to know? This session will cover this topic from first-hand experience.

Speaker(s):

Amy Herold

Track and Room: Professional Development - 2725

Title: Master Data Management - Getting Started with SQL Server MDS

Abstract: This session will provide an introduction to Master Data Management (MDM). We explore the basic concepts, types of MDM solution, and the basics for a successful MDM Implementation. With a working definition in hand, we’ll discuss strategies for beginning a successful MDM pilot in your organization and look at some of the pitfalls to avoid. We’ll wrap the business discussion up with some tips for selecting the right domains to solve and some tips for managing the politics of MDM. After we’ve set the stage for what, how and why you need MDM, we’ll take a brief look at SQL Server MDS through the Excel add-in and talk about the Architecture of MDS

Speaker(s):

John McAllister

Track and Room: Information Delivery - 2767

Title: AlwaysOn Availability Groups Kickoff

Abstract: A run through from start to end of my experience implementing AlwaysOn Availability Groups for High Availability and read only secondary database copies

Speaker(s):

Jeff Reinhard

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 2768

Title: R#246;ck Yo#252;r Technical Interview (Part 1)

Abstract: Have you ever not gotten a job because you weren’t prepared for the interview? Would you like a big raise? Do you need motivation to rock your career? I’ve interviewed 100’s of software developers and will share my knowledge on how to survive, what we look for and even divulge some of the secrets we use during the process. Whether you are looking for a new position within your company or at a new company. This session will include crazy and strange interview stories from engineers just like you! This session includes tips to get you started, working with recruiters, getting prepared, the technical interview and more. You will also learn what is the #1 question you need to ask during an interview… it’s a game changer!

Speaker(s):

David McCarter

Track and Room: Professional Development - 2725

Title: A NoSQL Primer for the SQL Server Developer

Abstract: You have all probably heard about this “NoSQL” thing and wondered what is about, how does it differ from SQL Server and how will this affect me. You might want to just stick your head in the sand and ignore it, but as database professionals it is always good to know about what other technologies might be out there to compliment your existing solutions. We will not be going deep into any one solution, but by the end of this session, the goal will be that you understand the following:

The different types of NoSQL databases
Some use cases where they might be applicable
Some of the major solutions out there for each one

Speaker(s):

Andrew Karcher

Track and Room: Other - 2767

Title: Running with Scissors - SQLCLR and You

Abstract: Have you ever tried to do something in the database that T-SQL just didn’t seem quite up to the task? Or perhaps you’ve been a little jealous of the application developers and their fancy Visual Studio and whatnot. Whatever your reason for wanting to learn about the CLR, you’ve come to the right place! In this session you’ll learn how to extend the capabilities of your database with CLR stored procedures, functions, aggregates, and data types.

Speaker(s):

Ben Thul

Track and Room: Application Database Development - 2726

Title: You Want Me To Do What? SQL Security Basics

Abstract: You’ve done it! You have a database now! Maybe not of your own choice, but you have one. What do you do now to get it secured properly? Come learn the basics of SQL Security to start down the path of proper database protection.

Speaker(s):

Chris Bell

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 2769

Title: The Lost Science of Set Theory

Abstract: Many database developers today do not have a Computer Science degree and may also have begun their career developing software using procedural programming languages (Java, C#, etc.). As a result, they may not have the background needed to conceptualize solutions in terms of sets of data and therefore may not be able to develop efficient set-based queries. In this session, we will review the basics of set theory and how it applies to database development to enable you to turn cursors, loops, and other procedural programming practices into efficient set-based operations that make the most use of a relational database engine.

Speaker(s):

Aaron Cutshall

Track and Room: Application Database Development - 2726

Title: What is a Latch, and Why Should I Care?

Abstract: Latching is a necessary function of the database engine. Although latching is a topic is normally presented only in expert-level sessions, a good grasp of the problems excessive latching exposes is important even for novice tuners. This session focuses on the PAGELATCH_* and PAGEIOLATCH_* wait types, explaining what is happening, why it is happening, and how to use the exposed information to tune queries and solve performance problems. If you’ve seen these wait types in Activity Monitor and wonder what they meant, then this session is for you!

Speaker(s):

Eddie Wuerch

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Auditorium

Title: How to Light up your SQL Server Investment with Pyramid Analytics BI

Abstract: I will be covering the following during the session:

Overview on “Who is Pyramid Analytics”
Demo on the BI Office Suite
Discussion on the recent MSFT Joint Collaboration agreement with Pyramid Analytics

Speaker(s):

Mike Teel

Track and Room: Analytics and Visualization - 2769

Title: Beginning Automation with Powershell

Abstract: This session will cover concepts of automating SQL processes with Powershell - the one tool no DBA should shy away from. If you haven’t gotten on the bandwagon yet now is the time. With some simple demos that you can take and expand upon, you will learn how you can leverage Powershell to not only efficiently meet the needs of your business, but also free up your time for other things.

Speaker(s):

Amy Herold

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 2767

Title: Optimizing your data warehouse for OLAP Processing

Abstract: Analysis Services have become a major part of upper management daily decision making activities. However, with our DW sizes reaching multiple terabytes minimizing time required to process our data has become our top priority. In this session, we will cover the options we have as DBA’s to improve the performance of our DW processing time. We will look at features and general best practices available to us within SSAS as well as enterprise level features within the database engine itself and how aligning them to work side by side would yield us at least 200% improvement in our processing time.

Speaker(s):

Konstantin Melamud

Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - 2769

Title: Tame the sibling rivalry of the Lock, Block and Deadlock sisters

Abstract: Deadlocks present a problem to many DBAs. Deadlocks can be minor occurrences or major issues making SQL Server continually choose a victim like constantly quarreling siblings.

We will review locking, blocking and deadlocking. We will review isolation levels. When would be an appropriate time to use each. We will also review how to identify locks and deadlocks and how to lessen the family fighting.

Speaker(s):

William Wolf

Track and Room: Application Database Development - 2726

Title: Tricks from the DBA Inbox: Real World Performance Tuning

Abstract: In this heavily demo based session, we show some techniques for performance tuning common problems faced by DBA’s Including: how to identify the problem, resolve the issue, and test the solution. Along the way we will also discuss some of theory behind the solutions. We all know there is no such thing as DBCC GO_FASTER but this session is the next best thing.

Speaker(s):

Jason Horner

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 2768

Title: Turbo Boost Performance: In Memory Tables index optimizations

Abstract: With the introduction of in-memory based tables in SQL Server 2014, it’s natural to expect significant increases in query performance. But what do we do when queries which utilize in-memory tables actually start to perform same or, in some cases, even worse than their equivalent disk based table predecessors? In this session, we are going to take a look at the changes to the indexing design for in-memory based objects and how it differs from existing disk based table indexing. Also, we are going to cover how to choose the appropriate indexes for your in-memory object to give you the performance boost that you have been expecting.

Speaker(s):

Konstantin Melamud

Track and Room: Strategy and Architecture - 2768

Title: Building Your Way to Better Database Testing

Abstract: Test Data Builders. Ever heard of them? That’s ok. Neither did I before I went looking for a convenient way to set up test data in SQL Server. I will show you what they are and how they work. More importantly, you will learn an easy way to get started and what you can do with them that could make your professional value grow and earn more money. I will also cover some of the design decisions you need to make so that they’ll fit your needs.

Speaker(s):

Phil Helmer

Track and Room: Application Database Development - 2726

Title: The PROCESS of Queries

Abstract: This session focuses on the PROCESS of queries and how this effects Batches, Transactions, and Error Handling. The session is led by an expert Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) who regularly teaches the SQL Server certification courses.

Speaker(s):

John Deardurff

Track and Room: Application Database Development - 2726

Title: SSMS Tips Tricks: Using What You’ve Already Got

Abstract: Almost everyone uses SSMS to write queries and to browse around on the server – but do you use all of the features that SSMS offers to increase your productivity? Come to this session, consisting mostly of demos, to see features built-in to SSMS that will improve your experience and productivity. Time permitting, we’ll also go into some 3rd party products that also increase your productivity in SSMS.

Speaker(s):

Wayne Sheffield

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 2768

Title: Collecting and Analyzing File Wait Statistics

Abstract: Is your SQL Server instance running at its peak performance level? Probably not but the real question is do you know why not? Is your disk subsystem too slow or are you lacking enough CPU’s or is it something else? It is very easy to capture and analyze the file wait statistical information that is automatically provided by the SQL Server instance with several key DMV’s so why not utilize them. We will see how you can stop chasing your tail and focus on which area of SQL Server performance bottlenecks are doing you the most harm. This should be part of every DBA’s arsenal so come make it part of yours as well.

Speaker(s):

Andrew Kelly

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Auditorium

Title: Make Your SQL Server Queries Go Faster

Abstract: Have you ever developed slowly running queries and wondered how to make your own SQL Server queries go faster? In this session you will learn some T-SQL performance tuning tips that can be used on Monday back at the office. You will learn how to identify top offender queries, be able to benchmark queries, and apply proper indexes while avoiding common mistakes. Finally we will cover coding patterns that are developer friendly but are not SQL Server database engine friendly and show you how to rewrite them so they can run faster.

Speaker(s):

John Sterrett

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 2725

Title: Dealing With Difficult People

Abstract: John knows everything and goes out of his way to correct you at every turn. Mary is agreeable to a fault and just placates everyone. Mike is full of doom and gloom and whines constantly. Are these your co-workers? Relatives? Frenemies? You? Learn two golden rules to reduce the stress produced by the difficult people in your life.

Speaker(s):

Gigi Bell

Track and Room: Professional Development - 2725

Title: T-SQL: Simple Changes That Go a Long Way

Abstract: Writing TSQL that performs well requires knowledge beyond proper syntax, sometimes it requires more than just knowing TSQL, and sometimes it takes a bit of rework and ingenuity. There are simple things that you will learn in this session that will improve the performance and functionality of your queries. We will dive into a few TSQL tricks with features that include Common Table Expressions, Table-Valued Parameters, OUTPUT INTO, Window Functions and COALESCE.

Speaker(s):

David Valentine

Track and Room: Application Database Development - 2726

Title: First Look at SQL Server 2016

Abstract: Microsoft has been busy working on the next version of SQL Server - SQL Server 2016. We will go over some of the new features at a high level and dig deeper on Row Level Security and StretchDB. Row Level Security allows you to add another layer of security to your environment. StretchDB will allow you to transparently place part or all of a table into a SQL Azure DB freeing up your valuable SAN space for data that is COLD.

Speaker(s):

Rick Heiges

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Auditorium

Title: DBA to Project Manager in 60 minutes flat

Abstract: As DBAs we are often stuck at the mercy of higher ups and Project Managers for completion of our assigned tasks/ projects. In this session we wil actually take an arbitrary application and its affiliated databases and go throught the tasks/resources needed to accomplish the task. We will think and act like a Project Manager and DBA rolled into one. This will surely help you advance your career within organization and help you think ahead of time.

Speaker(s):

Paresh Motiwala

Track and Room: Professional Development - Auditorium

Title: R#246;ck Yo#252;r Technical Interview (Part 2)

Abstract: Part 2 of this sessions. Make sure you attend Part 1 first.

Speaker(s):

David McCarter

Track and Room: Professional Development - 2725

Title: Understanding the SQL Server Transaction Log

Abstract: The SQL Server transaction log is one of the most misunderstood components of the database engine. What makes it grow? How does it get truncated? Should I shrink it? What is a VLF? In this session we will answer these questions and more.

Speaker(s):

Randy Knight

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 2725

Title: Setting up your BI Infrastructure

Abstract: We know BI in bits and pieces. But imagine if you had to setup the BI infrastructure from scratch. What do we need to consider, which players do we consider, what are the components, the HA/DR scenario for the same, what technology to use? These are the questions we will attempt to answer along the way. What are the best practices involved in creating a BI infrastructure. We can discuss whether to outsource this project or rise above our DBA job and do it ourselves. We will also briefly discuss Copy Data Virtualization and inclusion of Cloud.

Speaker(s):

Paresh Motiwala

Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - 2769

Speakers

This is a list of speakers from the XML Guidebook records. The details and URLs were valid at the time of the event.

Rob Volk

Twitter: - sql_r

LinkedIn: Rob Volk

Contact: http://weblogs.sqlteam.com/robv/

Rob Volk is a SQL Server DBA in the Metro Atlanta area since 2001. He also moderates and answers the forums on SQLTeam.com. While an old-time cranky DBA, he no longer considers quot;business intelligencequot; an oxymoron or quot;the cloudquot; as merely atmospheric moisture, and is delightedly dipping his toes into both of these new oceans, and loves to do things in new and and unusual ways.

Joseph D’Antoni

Twitter: - jdanton

LinkedIn: Joseph D’Antoni

Contact: http://joeydantoni.com

Joseph D’Antoni is a Senior Consultant and Microsoft Data Platform MVP with over 20 years of experience working in both Fortune 500 and smaller firms. He is a Principal Consultant for Denny Cherry Associates and lives in Malvern, PA. He is a frequent speaker at major tech events like Microsoft Ignite, PASS Summit, and Enterprise Data World. He blogs about all topics technology at joeydantoni.com. He believes that no single platform is the answer to all technology problems. Joseph holds a BS in Computer Information Systems from Louisiana Tech University and an MBA from North Carolina State University, and is the co-author of the Microsoft book “Introducing SQL Server 2016”.

John Sterrett

Twitter: - JohnSterrett

LinkedIn: John Sterrett

Contact: https://johnsterrett.com/community/

John Sterrett is a MCSE: Data Platform, Principal Consultant, and the Founder of Procure SQL LLC. John has experience presenting at community events, including Microsoft Ignite, PASS Member Summit, SQLRally, 24 Hours of PASS, SQLSaturdays, PASS Chapters, and Virtual Chapter meetings. John is a leader of the Austin SQL Server User Group and is the founder of the HADR Virtual Chapter. John’s community activities can be found at https://johnsterrett.com/community/

Steve Stedman

Twitter: - @sqlemt

LinkedIn: Steve Stedman

Contact: http://SteveStedman.com

Steve Stedman is the Leader of a PASS Local Group in Bellingham WA USA. Steve runs his own SQL consulting firm Stedman Solutions, LLC. He has 29 years of programming and SQL experience. He has written the book on SQL Common Table Expressions. He teaches, speaks at conferences, writes, and has taught SQL server classes at Western Washington University. Steve has previously spoken at PASS Summit, TechEd, DevTeach Vancouver, many SQLSaturdays, and more.

John Deardurff

Twitter: - SQLMCT

LinkedIn: John Deardurff

Contact: https://www.sqlmct.com

John has been a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) for over 20 years teaching Azure, SQL Server, Exchange Server, and Windows Server networking courses. He is currently a SQL Premier Field Engineer for Microsoft. He is an MCT Regional Lead for the Eastern United States and a former Data Platform MVP.

Gigi Bell

Twitter: - @sqlspouse

LinkedIn: Gigi Bell

Known across the country as the SQL Registration Princess, Gigi Bell actually has vast experience in training and development. Being married to a SQL DBA, she knows enough about SQL to be dangerous, but her real passion is helping people learn and achieve their true potential. She has spoken at SQLSaturdays across the country since 2014.

Andrew Karcher

Twitter: - @akarcher

Contact: http://www.andrewkarcher.com

Andrew is a Data Professional that is super passionate about the ability of data to drive change in our world, work, and personal lives. He has over 15 years of experience across multiple roles, companies and technologies. A passion for learning is core to how I approach life. Over 10+ years I have spoken at User Groups, Code Camps, SQLSaturdays and Conferences along with supporting my local community as a SQLSaturday Organizer, User Group leader, and advocate for community involvement for all technology professionals. I was also recognized by Microsoft as a four-time SQL Server MVP for my technical community contributions.

Paresh Motiwala

Twitter: - pareshmotiwala

LinkedIn: Paresh Motiwala

Contact: https://pareshmotiwala.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=2amp;action=editamp;message=6amp;postpost=v2

Paresh Motiwala a Azure/Big Data enthusiast, Manager of Database Platform teams has led several large SQL implementations, migrations and upgrades. He has managed multi terabyte OLTP databases. He has also been a Sr. SQL DBA and a Solutions Architect in Fortune 100 companies. He helps/organizes and speaks at many SQLSaturdays, Azure Bootcamp, Azure Datafests and User Groups(Boston BI UG, NESQL, PASS PD VG and PASS DBA VG).

He is certified in Big Data Analytics, FinTech, PMP, Public Speaking, Business Communications. He is a avid singer, cook, open networker, and stand-up comedian. He teaches public speaking, debating, interviewing and group discussion skills and mentors children around the globe via www.circlesofgrowth.com

Rick Lowe

Twitter: - DataFLowe

LinkedIn: Rick Lowe

Contact: http://dataflowe.wordpress.com/

Rick is a Microsoft Certified Master with more than 20 years of SQL Server experience in a variety of roles. He currently lives in Washington state and works as an independent consultant providing remote performance DBA and performance tuning services for clients in the USA and Canada. His first exposure to SQL Server was as a database developer, but over time he became more and more interested in how the database engine operated… eventually specializing more on performance issues than code.

Rick will work with all things relational, but most enjoys helping smaller companies get better performance from MSSQL, as well as smoothing over relationships between DBA and development teams.

Argenis Fernandez

Twitter: - DBArgenis

LinkedIn: Argenis Fernandez

Contact: http://blog.purestorage.com/author/argenisfernandez/

Argenis is a Principal Architect at Pure Storage. He works with customers around the world to make sure they don’t have to worry much about their infrastructure for Data. He is a former Data Platform MVP, former VMware vExpert, Microsoft Certified Master, and more recently worked in the Microsoft Azure Data/SQL Server engineering team as a Principal PM in the Tiger team.

Konstantin Melamud

Twitter: - @kmelamud

Konstantin has over 15 years of SQL Server experience and demonstrates his expertise and commitment to helping SQL Server DBAs succeed through his position as Director of Service Delivery at RDX. In his role, Konstantin is responsible for designing and implementing RDX’s service delivery strategies, including those for SQL Server. Since joining RDX in 2009, Konstantin has proven to be a strong leader and expert in SQL Server database administration, architecture, performance tuning, and business intelligence. He is also a very active member of the SQL Server community and frequently presents at SQLSaturdays and user groups throughout the year. In addition, Konstantin presented during 24 Hours of PASS and at the PASS Summits.

William Wolf

Twitter: - sqlwarewolf

LinkedIn: William Wolf

Contact: http://www.sqlwarewolf.com

Bill is the Manager of SQL Server Performance Tuning for RDX. He works with over 400 customers on solutions within the SQL Server environment and specialized in code tuning and mentoring the team within RDX. He has become a SQLSaturday veteran speaking at nearly 40 SQLSaturdays in the last 3 years. He has also spoken at Summit and is an Idera Ace class of 2018. Bill is active in the Pittsburgh SQL Server User Group. He is also the chapter lead for the DevOps Virtual User Group. He is passionate about educating users on SQL Server and mentoring others.

Konstantin Melamud

Twitter: - @kmelamud

Chris Bell

Twitter: - @cbelldba

LinkedIn: Chris Bell

Contact: https://www.wateroxconsulting.com/

Chris Bell offers a unique view of how we live and work with data, both now and as we head into the future. Having braved many roles, lifecycles, and battles in the IT world, he has honed his DBA (Database Administration or Do ‘Bout Anything) skills in Information Systems and development, focusing on SQL Server. Currently, he serves as the lead DBA at The Motley Fool. You can keep up with Chris’ thoughts and technical community activities at WaterOxConsulting.com.

David McCarter

Contact: http://dotnettips.com

David McCarter is a Microsoft MVP and a principal software engineer/architect in San Diego. He is the editor-in-chief of dotNetTips.com… a web site dedicated to helping programmers in all aspects of programming. David has written for programming magazines and has published three books (the latest is quot;David McCarter#39;s .NET Coding Standardsquot;). He is one of the founders and directors of the 20 year old San Diego .NET Developers Group (www.sddotnetdg.org)

Dave Fackler

Twitter: - @sqlbiguru

LinkedIn: Dave Fackler

Contact: http://davefackler.blogspot.com/

Dave Fackler is a business intelligence architect, focusing on enterprise data warehouse and business intelligence solutions using Microsoft technologies. Dave has helped organizations design and implement large-scale data warehouses, exploiting SQL Server enterprise database features using dimensional modeling design principles and best practices. He has also architected and developed several enterprise ETL processes using SSIS and its robust set of high-performance tasks and transformations. Dave has delivered various end-user reporting solutions using SSAS and SSRS, often coupled with SharePoint and Office components. Dave speaks about business intelligence at numerous technical conferences, user groups and professional groups each year.

Rick Heiges

Twitter: - heigesr2

LinkedIn: Rick Heiges

Contact: http://sqlblog.com/blogs/rick_heiges/default.aspx

Rick is a Former Data Platfrom MVP and Sr. Consultant for Microsoft where he focuses on working with customers on their data estate. His career includes work as a DBA, University full-time faculty member, Systems Analyst, Project Leader, and Developer. He has found his passion in working with data and the community. Rick served nine years on the PASS Board of Directors and spearheaded the popular 24 Hours of PASS event. He also started his local User Group in 2002. Today, he spends much of his time with his head in the clouds.

Ami Levin

Twitter: - ami_levin

LinkedIn: Ami Levin

Contact: http://www.amilevin.com

Ami is a data nerd that has been designing, consulting, training, writing, and speaking about SQL, relational modeling, and data platform architecture for more than 20 years. Currently works as a freelance consultant, senior SQL instructor at O’Reilly Media, as an author for PluralSight and LinkedIn Learning.

Jason Horner

Twitter: - jasonhorner

LinkedIn: Jason Horner

Contact: http://blog.jasonhorner.com

Hi, my name is Jason I’m a practice lead at Redapt. I spend most of my day helping clients solve business problems mostly in the Data and Advanced Analytics spaces. Sometimes this involves various and sundry cloud technologies including Azure Data Factory, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Azure Data Lake Store, Azure Databricks, HDInsight and Azure SQL Database. I’m fluent in several languages including: SQL, C#, Python, and PowerShell.

I’m a Microsoft Certified Master of SQL Server (MCM) and have been recognized for my technical excellence and evangelism efforts by Microsoft by being awarded the Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for the last 5+ years.

In my off hours I like to snowboard, karaoke, ride roller coasters, and play arcade games

Ben Thul

Twitter: - @spartansql

Contact: http://www.spartansql.com

Born naked and defenseless, he overcame these obstacles to become a mender of broken things, seeker of magic rings, and occasional watcher of slow pings.

Ted Stathakis

Twitter: - fishheadted

LinkedIn: Ted Stathakis

Contact: http://fishheadted.com

Ted Stathakis is a data professional passionate about the presentation layer. He has worked with SQL Server since the turn of the century, has mastered Reporting Services since he began working with it when it was released in 2004, and is super excited about Mobile Reports and Power BI. Ted hosts the local PASS user group, is the organizer of SQLSaturday Orange County and presented on SSRS at Summit in 2019. As a 40+ year veteran of the restaurant industry, he is been an advisor, speaker and panelist at national trade shows. When he isn’t consulting on Business Intelligence projects he can be found presenting at a conference, enjoying some live music or teaching kids, both young and old, fishing and archery at a nearby Scout camp.

Andrew Kelly

Twitter: - gunneyk

Contact: http://sqlblog.com/blogs/andrew_kelly/default.aspx

Andrew J. Kelly is a Senior Technical Subject Matter Expert with B3 Group Inc. and lives in Clarkdale, AZ. He has over 20 years experience with relational databases and application development, but his main focus now is SQL Server. In addition to general SQL Server training and mentoring, he specializes in performance, scalability, and maintainability of large-scale SQL Servers. He is a regular speaker at conferences and user groups and was a SQL Server / Data Platform MVP for 18 years.

Jeff Reinhard

Twitter: - @SQLMajor

LinkedIn: Jeff Reinhard

I have 25 years of database development experience, mostly with SQL Server, with companies such as Ernst amp; Young, Internet Security Systems/IBM, AirWatch, WebMD, CheckFree and others. My recent focus has been on AlwaysOn availability groups and database DevOps.

Paresh Motiwala

Twitter: - pareshmotiwala

LinkedIn: Paresh Motiwala

Contact: https://pareshmotiwala.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=2amp;action=editamp;message=6amp;postpost=v2

Chris Bell

Twitter: - @cbelldba

LinkedIn: Chris Bell

Contact: https://www.wateroxconsulting.com/

Amy Herold

Twitter: - @texasamy

LinkedIn: Amy Herold

Contact: http://www.sqlkitten.com/

Amy Herold is currently a Premier Field Engineer with Microsoft, specializing in APS. Prior to this, she was a Sr. Database Administrator, focusing on PowerShell and automation. She is also currently the Director of Programs for the North Texas SQL Server User Group (NTSSUG). She frequently speaks at SQLSaturday and user group events across the United States and has also participated in numerous Women in Technology sessions as a panelist. Amy currently blogs at sqlkitten.com.

John McAllister

Twitter: - @jmcallis64

LinkedIn: John McAllister

Contact: http://www.profisee.com

John McAllister co-founded Stratature, an Independent MDM software vendor, in 2001. Following Microsoft’s acquisition of Stratature in 2007 John served as Group Program Manager for MDS and oversaw the incorporation of MDM into SQL Server. John now serves as the Regional Sales Director for Profisee, Inc. which provides enterprise-class MDM Solutions built on top of Microsoft’s MDS offering. John has worked with 100’s of organizations around the world in all phases of MDM projects.

Wayne Sheffield

Twitter: - @DBAWayne

LinkedIn: Wayne Sheffield

Contact: http://blog.waynesheffield.com/wayne

Wayne Sheffield, a Microsoft Certified Master in SQL Server and Microsoft Most Valuable Professional, started working with xBase databases in the late 80’s. With over 25 years in IT, he has worked with SQL Server (since 6.5 in the late 90’s) in various dev/admin roles, with an emphasis in performance tuning. He is the author of several articles at www.sqlservercentral.com, a co-author of “SQL Server T-SQL Recipes”, and enjoys sharing his knowledge by presenting at SQL events worldwide and blogging at http://blog.waynesheffield.com/wayne

Eddie Wuerch

Twitter: - @EddieW

LinkedIn: Eddie Wuerch

Contact: http://www.indydba.com

Eddie Wuerch has 20 years of experience as a SQL Server specialist in a much-longer IT career. A Microsoft Certified Master, Eddie spends his days in the Salesforce Marketing Cloud, focusing on performance, scale, and uptime for the massive SQL Server backend. These SQL Servers churn billions of transactions daily against trillions of rows of data in a 24x7 continuously-available online system accessed by millions worldwide every day.

Jason Brimhall

Twitter: - sqlrnnr

LinkedIn: Jason Brimhall

Contact: http://jasonbrimhall.info

Jason Brimhall has more than 20 years of experience and has worked with SQL Server 6.5 through SQL Server 2019. He has experience in performance tuning, high transaction environments, and large environments. He is currently a consultant specializing in performance tuning, server analysis, and problem resolution. Jason is a Microsoft Certified Master (MCM) and a Data Platform MVP.

David McCarter

Contact: http://dotnettips.com

David Valentine

Twitter: - https://twitter.com/IngeniousSQL

LinkedIn: David Valentine

Contact: http://www.ingenioussql.com

Dave Valentine is a Development DBA with over 15 years of experience with SQL Server and development technologies, specializing in Business Intelligence and ingenious solutions. Dave has also been an Adjunct Professor at Metropolitan State University for the past 15 years educating students in Database Management and Application Development. Dave started giving back to the SQL community a few years ago by presenting at Local PASS Chapters, SQLSaturday Events, and blogging at IngeniousSQL.com.

Phil Helmer

Twitter: - @philhelmer

LinkedIn: Phil Helmer

Contact: http://www.philhelmer.com

Phil has been designing and building relational databases in a variety of industries ever since he first realized how many people don’t understand the limitations of Excel and sticky notes as databases. When he was a poor college student, that meant teaching himself MS Access. After moving to SQL Server 13 years ago, he found out about the PASS community and never looked back. He now spends his days developing databases using T-SQL, exploring data management tools techniques and trying to make sense of Microsoft’s marketing.

Amy Herold

Twitter: - @texasamy

LinkedIn: Amy Herold

Contact: http://www.sqlkitten.com/

Brandon Leach

Twitter: - SQLServerNerd

LinkedIn: Brandon Leach

A Microsoft Data Platform MVP, Brandon manages the DB Operations team for financial company x. With a data estate of several petabytes, he puts a high focus on performance tuning and automation. He is a frequent speaker at events like conferences and user groups.

Mike Teel

Twitter: - michael teel@teel_pyramid michael teel@teelmi2000

LinkedIn: Mike Teel

Contact: http://www.pyramidanalytics.com/Pages/blog/Authors/mike-teel.aspx

Mike Teel- Pyramid Analytics- Sales Director – Western Region Mike is a high energy and peak-performing sales professional with over 25 + years’ experience in diverse, high volume, complex solution oriented technology markets including; PC#39;s, Servers, Data Warehouse, CRM, Business Intelligence and Big Data.
Mike has a deep industry knowledge of the Retail, CPG, and Transportation Industry. Prior to joining Pyramid, Mike’s sales career spanned working at some of the big br

Aaron Cutshall

Twitter: - sqlrv

LinkedIn: Aaron Cutshall

Contact: http://sqlrv.com

Aaron N. Cutshall is an Enterprise Data Architect with 20 years of experience in analysis, design and development for applications and databases in manufacturing and warehousing plus over 15 years in the Healthcare Informatics field. His primary focus is in designing and developing solutions for extremely large data sets that perform quite well in SQL Server. He is active in the SQL Server community and speaks at SQLSaturday sessions across the country.

Grant Fritchey

Twitter: - @gfritchey

LinkedIn: Grant Fritchey

Contact: http://scarydba.com

Grant Fritchey is a Data Platform MVP with over 20 years’ experience in IT, including time spent in support and development. He has worked with SQL Server since 6.0 back in 1995. He has also developed in VB, VB.NET, C#, and Java. Grant has written books for Apress and Simple-Talk. Grant presents at conferences and user groups, large and small, all over the world. He joined Redgate Software as a product evangelist in January 2011.

Randy Knight

Twitter: - randy_knight

LinkedIn: Randy Knight

Contact: http://www.sqlsolutionsgroup.com/blog

Randy Knight is a data professional who has worked with Microsoft technology for over 25 years, focusing on SQL Server since 1997. He has worked in a variety of settings, including 6 years as a database architect for match.com. In 2010, he founded SQL Server Solutions Group LLC, a boutique SQL Server consultancy. A Microsoft Certified Master (MCM) in SQL Server, he speaks often at events all over the country including the PASS Summit, SQLIntersections, and numerous SQLSaturday and User Groups.

Carlos Bossy

Twitter: - @carlosbossy

LinkedIn: Carlos Bossy

Contact: http://www.carlosbossy.com

Carlos Bossy (MCTS, MCP BI, CBIP) is a data and cloud analytics architect with 25 years of experience in software and database development. As a principal of Datalere, Carlos focuses on developing BI, Data Science, and Advanced Analytics solutions, including modeling data warehouses and delivering predictive models, integration, and visualization. He has developed warehouses and BI solutions for a variety of industries and state agencies, including health insurance, solar energy, foster care, telecom, and manufacturing.

SQLSaturday #436 - Las Vegas 2015

Sessions

Title: When Database Corruption Strikes - Will you be ready?

Title: Graphs, Charts, Gauges, Sparklines Oh My!

Title: Statistics and Query Optimization

Title: Picking the Right Fights with Your Server Team

Title: Hacking Expos#233; - Using SSL to Secure SQL Server Connections

Title: CSI: DW – Anatomy of a VLDW!

Title: Why should I care about the plan cache?

Title: Use Hive and Hadoop for High Performance Data Warehousing

Title: Data Pages, Allocation Units, IAM chains… Oh My!

Title: A Masters Passport to Extended Events

Title: Revenge: The SQL! - Director’s Cut

Title: Zero-Downtime Upgrades: Rockstar DBA

Title: Physical Join Operators

Title: Making the Leap from Developer to DBA

Title: Master Data Management - Getting Started with SQL Server MDS

Title: AlwaysOn Availability Groups Kickoff

Title: R#246;ck Yo#252;r Technical Interview (Part 1)

Title: A NoSQL Primer for the SQL Server Developer

Title: Running with Scissors - SQLCLR and You

Title: You Want Me To Do What? SQL Security Basics

Title: The Lost Science of Set Theory

Title: What is a Latch, and Why Should I Care?

Title: How to Light up your SQL Server Investment with Pyramid Analytics BI

Title: Beginning Automation with Powershell

Title: Optimizing your data warehouse for OLAP Processing

Title: Tame the sibling rivalry of the Lock, Block and Deadlock sisters

Title: Tricks from the DBA Inbox: Real World Performance Tuning

Title: Turbo Boost Performance: In Memory Tables index optimizations

Title: Building Your Way to Better Database Testing

Title: The PROCESS of Queries

Title: SSMS Tips Tricks: Using What You’ve Already Got

Title: Collecting and Analyzing File Wait Statistics

Title: Make Your SQL Server Queries Go Faster

Title: Dealing With Difficult People

Title: T-SQL: Simple Changes That Go a Long Way

Title: First Look at SQL Server 2016

Title: DBA to Project Manager in 60 minutes flat

Title: R#246;ck Yo#252;r Technical Interview (Part 2)

Title: Understanding the SQL Server Transaction Log

Title: Setting up your BI Infrastructure

Speakers

Sponsors