SQLSaturday #81 - Birmingham 2011

Event Date: 07/30/2011 00:00:00

Event Location:

Jefferson State Community College
4600 Valleydale Road
Birmingham, Alabama

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

Sessions
Speakers
Sponsors

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Sessions

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

Title: Characteristics of a Great Relational Database

Abstract: When queried, most database professionals would mention normalized as one of the most important characteristics that tell the difference between a good and bad database design. I won’t disagree in the least, but there is so much more to be considered. Even if you did a great job of normalization, poor naming, poorly implemented keys, too many or too few indexes, and so on can derail your design. In this session I will present seven primary characteristics of a design that differentiates between an ugly design that will have your colleagues nitpicking you to death and one that will have them singing your praises. Characteristics such as comprehendible, documented, secure, well performing, and more (including normalized, naturally) will be

Speaker(s):

Louis Davidson

Track and Room: Level 200 - N/A

Title: Design and Implement BI Like Edison!

Abstract: As the most prolific inventor in American history, Thomas Edison was a master of “Best Practices!” Edison’s creations were not just novel and commercially successful, but many launched entire new industries including electric light and power, sound recording, motion pictures and industrial cement and concrete manufacture. At the heart of Edison’s remarkable record of innovation was his categorization of the innovation process into “competencies,” or bundles of skills supporting the achievement of success in a particular area of endeavor. In this session, we will look at ways that we can use many of these broad success secrets to bring powerful tools and strategies to the recurring implementation of business intelligence.

Speaker(s):

William E Pearson III

Track and Room: Level 400 - N/A

Title: Database Design Fundamentals

Abstract: In this session I will give an overview of how to design a database, including the common normal forms and why they should matter to you if you are creating or modifying SQL Server databases. Data should be easy to work with in SQL Server if the database has been organized as close as possible to the standards of normalization that have proven for many years. Many common T-SQL programming “difficulties” are the result of struggling against the way data should be structured and can be avoided by applying the basic normalization techniques and are obvious things that you find yourself struggling with time and again (i.e. using the SUBSTRING function in a WHERE clause meaning you can’t use an index efficiently).

Speaker(s):

Louis Davidson

Track and Room: Level 200 - N/A

Title: You inherited a database, now what?

Abstract: You have recently inherited the support of a new or existing database, what are the things you should immediately check and start monitoring and what are the things that you should address over the next few weeks. When taking over support of a database or system, you cannot ASSUME anything. At the end of this session you will have a nice checklist of things you should check and be doing on ALL your databases not just the one you inherited. Whether you are a seasoned DBA or just starting out, this session should be informative and something you can relate to.

Speaker(s):

Tim Radney

Track and Room: Level 100 - N/A

Title: It’s TEMPDB Why Should You Care

Abstract: TEMPDB is just for temporary data right? It is installed by default and gets recreated it time SQL is restarted so what does it matter right? WRONG. This session will give you great insight into what uses TEMPDB, why TEMPDB is important, what are some best practices for configuring TEMPDB, and how to determine if you have contention. If you have systems where TEMPDB hasn’t been touched since the install, you need to attend this session.

Speaker(s):

Tim Radney

Track and Room: Level 300 - N/A

Title: Transaction Log Deep Dive

Abstract: Time for another deep dive from TheSQLGuru, this time on the transaction log. Architecture and internals, monitoring, tuning/optimizing will all be covered. A great learning experience on another pillar of the SQL Server relational engine.

Speaker(s):

Kevin Boles

Track and Room: Level 500 - N/A

Title: Entity Framework 4.1 Code First

Abstract: EF Code First provides an elegant and powerful way to work with data. In this session, we will learn how to mark up our model with metadata, automatically generate a database, and efficiently query for objects using LINQ. You will learn why the code-only approach of the library means that model layers end up being flexible and easy to customize.

Speaker(s):

Jarrett Vance

Track and Room: Level 300 - N/A

Title: SQL Server Partitioning from A to Z

Abstract: We will cover most of the bases in this broad and deep coverage of table/index partitioning in the relational engine. Numerous demonstrations will help gel knowledge you can take back to the office and begin to apply to your environments to reap the many benefits of this fine addition to the product that has been significantly enhanced since SQL 2005.

Speaker(s):

Kevin Boles

Track and Room: Level 300 - N/A

Title: Entity Framework v4.1: What’s New in 2011

Abstract: Originally released with Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework v4, Entity Framework v4 has seen a remarkable evolution in the past year or so. In April, Microsoft released version 4.1. Most notably, there is now great support for Code First development. This talk will delve into the use of Code First in Entity Framework v4.1 and will be very code focused. Developers will learn how they can use the Entity Framework APIs to create applications that use Entity Framework features to access relational databases without the need to use designers to create the model. It is in essence a “code only” approach, which has many benefits, including for testability and long-term evolution of your code.

Speaker(s):

Sven Aelterman

Track and Room: Level 300 - N/A

Title: Looney Tuner? No, there IS a method to my madness

Abstract: SQL Server query tuning is often more art than science and it can quickly eat up a lot of DBA and/or Developer time. This presentation will outline a method for determining the best approach for tuning queries by utilizing response time analysis and SQL Diagramming techniques. Regardless of the complexity of the statement, this quick, systematic approach will lead you down the correct tuning path with no guessing. If you are a beginner or expert, this approach will save you countless hours tuning a query.

Speaker(s):

Janis Griffin

Track and Room: Level 200 - N/A

Title: Fundamental OOP with C#

Abstract: Do you want to learn or have a refresher on the fundamentals of object-oriented programming and C#? This session is perfect for the DBA who must occasionally code and the developer who wants a deeper understanding of C# and OOP.

Speaker(s):

Chris Eargle

Track and Room: Level 100 - N/A

Title: SQL Server on VMware

Abstract: More and more companies are virtualizing with VMWare, and databases are the next logical step. This presentation will explore the fundamentals of monitoring databases running in a VMWare environment because it can be much different than when running on a physical machine. You will learn business and technical benefits of virtualization, master new terms and concepts, pick up useful planning tips and tricks, and cover best practices for maintaining optimum performance in a VMWare environment.

Speaker(s):

Janis Griffin

Track and Room: Level 400 - N/A

Title: Enforcing Compliance With Policy-Based Management

Abstract: As the demand for data keeps growing and security and compliance keep tightening, the role of the DBA has become an increasingly critical part of maintaining compliance within the organization. This session will cover real world examples you can use with Policy-Based Management to ensure you have the proper server configuration and security settings in place along with the appropriate encryption and auditing options for your environment.

Speaker(s):

Ken Simmons

Track and Room: Level 200 - N/A

Title: SQL “Denali” AlwaysOn High Availability Solutions

Abstract: AlwaysOn is the new High Availability branding for Microsoft SQL Server that combines the best in Clustering, Mirroring, and Log Shipping for a simple, seamless experience. See what Microsoft is building into SQL Server Codename “Denali” and how you can plan for this new way to increase database availability in your shop.

Speaker(s):

Geoff Hiten

Track and Room: Level 500 - N/A

Title: File IO Stalls and Wait Stats: Tune Like a Guru!!

Abstract: When you know how to find out WHAT your queries are waiting on you get a very good clue about how to fix them - or help the server as a whole in many cases. Lots of stuff here you will want to put in your bag of tuning tricks! I could be putting myself out of work teaching stuff like this! :-D

Speaker(s):

Kevin Boles

Track and Room: Level 500 - N/A

Title: Handling Advanced Data Warehouse Scenarios in SSIS

Abstract: So you’ve used SSIS to populate a simple star schema data mart, and everybody’s happy. But now you have new requirements that require more advanced data warehouse approaches, like late arriving dimensions, bridge tables, parent child dimensions, and Type 3 or Type 6 slowly changing dimensions (SCD). How do you handle those in a scalable, efficient way in SSIS? This session will present some common patterns for handling these scenarios. You’ll learn when to use each advanced approach and the pros and cons associated with each pattern. You will learn how to implement these patterns in SSIS, and how to tune them for high performance.

Speaker(s):

John Welch

Track and Room: Level 500 - N/A

Title: Do More (ETL) with Less (Effort) - Automating SSIS

Abstract: SSIS is a great tool for transferring data from one data source to another, and for implementing complex ETL processes. However, for simple, straightforward data transfer tasks or packages that adhere to a pattern, creating SSIS packages by hand can be time-consuming and repetitious. By attending this session, you’ll learn how to automate package creation in SSIS, including the dynamic generation of data flows. We’ll cover some of the free and open source tools available for this, and discuss “roll your own” options.

Speaker(s):

John Welch

Track and Room: Level 200 - N/A

Title: New PowerShell features in SQL Denali

Abstract: This session will cover the new features of PowerShell in SQL Denali. The new module for SQL Server, the new module for SSAS, and the new Replica cmdlets for High Availability databases.

Speaker(s):

Aaron Nelson

Track and Room: Level 400 - N/A

Title: Performance Management – 2008 MDW - How Why

Abstract: Management Data Warehouse (MDW) which was introduced in 2008 can provide DBAs with useful performance information about Disk Usage, Server Activity and Query Statistics. This presentation will explore how to set up MDW, look at its underlying schema / statistics and point out some of its shortcomings in comparison with other performance tools.

Speaker(s):

Janis Griffin

Track and Room: Level 400 - N/A

Title: Storing BLOBs in SQL Server using FILESTREAM

Abstract: Are you faced with the dilemma of where to store large files that are related to your structured, relational data? In this session, FILESTREAM will be discussed in details, with lots of demos, so you’ll know when to use this SQL Server 2008 and up feature to handle BLOB storage. The demos will show how to enable FILESTREAM at the instance level, database level and table level; and how to leverage the features for optimum performance in your applications.

Speaker(s):

Sven Aelterman

Track and Room: Level 500 - N/A

Title: Getting Started with MDX

Abstract: In this session, led by Microsoft BI Architect and SQL Server MVP Bill Pearson, we will concentrate largely upon crafting simple MDX expressions and queries whose purposes, for the most part, are to return a set of data. We will overview the structure of a cube, using as a basis the sample Adventure Works cube that is available to anyone installing SQL Server Analysis Services 2008 R2. We will then outline the components of simple MDX syntax, and get started writing basic expressions and queries. We will expose basic member functions, introduce filters (or “slicers”), and begin exploring core MDX functionality, including calculated members, and named sets.

Speaker(s):

William E Pearson III

Track and Room: Level 100 - N/A

Title: Olap Security using AS Stored Procedures

Abstract: The demand is increasing for analytical data on the web for dashboards and ad-hoc analysis. Companies are using this data to provide immediate insight into their business. Data as a service model requires that users can only access the data they have permission to use. This session discusses a method of using an Analysis Services Stored Procedure to secure both dimensions and measures in SQL Analysis Services based on Security Authentication from either Performance Point, Share Point or via Excel Web Services (MSMDPUMP) layer. This mechanism can also be extended to provide custom application security to a SSAS cubes.

Speaker(s):

Rob Schoenborn

Track and Room: Level 500 - N/A

Title: Quickly Gather Performance Data with PowerShell

Abstract: Continuously gathering performance data to log history and developing a performance baseline is a really important task in any environment. Having quick access to what’s happening right now is equally important. In this session we’ll take a look at how to continuously gather Perfmon counters and DMV info. We’ll also take a look at how to Visualize the data using charts.

Speaker(s):

Aaron Nelson

Track and Room: Level 400 - N/A

Title: Introduction to SQL Server Statisics

Abstract: This beginner to intermediate level session will introduce you to statistics, including how to create, manage, troubleshoot, and more! Statistics are a key part of getting solid and repeatable performance and is easily just as important as having indexes. Whether you’re a DBA or trying to get by without one, this session will give you the information you need to know.

Speaker(s):

Andy Warren

Track and Room: Level 100 - N/A

Title: .NET in SQL for the DBA

Abstract: This talk will go over some of the best practices of software engineering as they apply to SQL Server CLR projects. We will also show how to build a small library of utilities, stored procedures, functions, etc., that should help you remove some of SQL Server built-in functional barriers.

Speaker(s):

Alex Tocitu

Track and Room: Level 200 - N/A

Title: What’s New in SQL Server “Denali” - For Developers

Abstract: Currently in CTP1, the next version of SQL Server, codename “Denali”, offers several new features and improvements. This session will cover the ones that are most of interest to application developers, including enhancements to FILESTREAM, T-SQL and developers tools (including SSIS).

Speaker(s):

Sven Aelterman

Track and Room: Level 300 - N/A

Title: SQL Developer’s Intro to SSAS

Abstract: This session covers a basic overview of SSAS in 08. The session will go over how cube and dimensions are build and developed, basic data mining, and the other information SQL Devs and Data Analysts need to know moving into Analysis Services.

Speaker(s):

Nathan Mourfield

Track and Room: Level 100 - N/A

Title: Building a Professinal Development Plan

Abstract: A good professional development plan has to go far beyond ‘learning more technology’, it has to encompass the wide variety of skills you need to build the next step in your career, and it has to include a variety of learning methods. We’ll discuss how much time and money you should budget when building your plan, and how the distribution of time and money changes as your career evolves. We’ll look at the growth phases you’ll encounter, learning how you learn best, how to keep up with new technology without burning out, and even how things like blogging and Twitter can be an interesting part of your plan.

Speaker(s):

Andy Warren

Track and Room: Level 100 - N/A

Title: PowerShell and SQL for the DBA

Abstract: This talk will go over some of the best engineering and management practices as they apply to PowerShell scripts addressing SQL Server. We will also show how to build a small library of utilities that should help you in your day to day database related tasks.

Speaker(s):

Alex Tocitu

Track and Room: Level 300 - N/A

Title: Revenge: The SQL!

Abstract: Have you been wronged, cheated, lied to, lied about, or deceived by a coworker? Feel like your DBA position offers no opportunity for revenge? WRONG! This session is a light-hearted exploration of some delightfully mischievous SQL design patterns that will annoy, aggravate, and antagonize anyone who has to work with them. (But they deserved it!) Learn how to: create tables with no names; columns with duplicate names; and write perfectly valid yet utterly nonsensical SQL. You may never get to use these techniques…but you’ll ache for the chance!

Speaker(s):

Rob Volk

Track and Room: Level 400 - N/A

Speakers

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

Ken Simmons

Twitter: - @KenSimmons

Contact: http://cybersql.blogspot.com

Ken Simmons is a DBA, Developer, and Microsoft SQL Server MVP. He is the coauthor of Pro SQL Server 2008 Administration (Apress, 2009), Pro SQL Server 2008 Mirroring (Apress, 2009), and Pro SQL Server 2008 Policy-Based Management (Apress, 2010).

Tim Radney

Twitter: - @tradney

LinkedIn: Tim Radney

Contact: http://www.timradney.com

Tim is a Data Platform MVP and has a whole collection of Microsoft and other industry certifications. His experience includes HA/DR, virtualization, SSIS, SSRS, and performance tuning, among everything else SQL Server-related. Tim is very active and passionate in the SQL Community. He runs the Columbus GA SQL Users Group, has been a PASS Regional Mentor for a number of years, was named a PASS Outstanding Volunteer in 2012, and is a frequent speaker at user groups, SQLSaturdays and PASS Summits. Tim is one of the top ranked in karma on ask.sqlservercentral.com, answers questions as @tradney on Twitter, and blogs at http://timradney.com and SQLskills blog at http://www.SQLskills.com/blogs/tim.

Aaron Nelson

Twitter: - SQLvariant

LinkedIn: Aaron Nelson

Contact: http://sqlvariant.com/

Aaron Nelson is an author, public speaker, blogger, and leader in the community. He has over 15 years of experience in architecture, Business Intelligence, development, and performance tuning of SQL Server. Aaron has received many certifications and is a six time winner of the Microsoft MVP Award.

Aaron leads the PowerShell Virtual Group of PASS (SQLPS.io), is a board member of PowerShell.org, and is a volunteer at his PASS Local Group, AtlantaMDF.

Jarrett Vance

Contact: http://jvance.com

Jarrett Vance, MCSD lives in Birmingham, Al and is a software architect for Computer Technology Solutions, Inc. He has experience in many areas of software engineering including QA, BI, machine vision, desktop, mobile, and web. However, Jarrett prefers building enterprise web applications. In his spare time, Jarrett works on an open-source blogging platform called AtomSite.

Aaron Nelson

Twitter: - SQLvariant

LinkedIn: Aaron Nelson

Contact: http://sqlvariant.com/

Aaron leads the PowerShell Virtual Group of PASS (SQLPS.io), is a board member of PowerShell.org, and is a volunteer at his PASS Local Group, AtlantaMDF.

Geoff Hiten

Twitter: - SQLCraftsman

LinkedIn: Geoff Hiten

Geoff Hiten is a Technical Solutions Professional at Microsoft. Geoff began working with SQL Server in 1992 with version 4.2 and has used every version since. He specializes in highly available SQL systems, performance tuning, and systems migration. Geoff is heavily involved in the Microsoft SQL Server Community and was initially awarded MVP status in 2004. Geoff was appointed in 2011 to fill an interim Director position at the National PASS organization.

Chris Eargle

Contact: http://www.kodefuguru.com

Chris Eargle is a Telerik Developer Evangelist, INETA Director, and Microsoft Most Valuable Professional – C# from Columbia, SC, USA. He has over a decade of experience designing and developing enterprise applications, and he runs the local .NET User Group: the Columbia Enterprise Developers Guild. He is a frequent guest of conferences and community events promoting best practices and new technologies. His blog, kodefuguru.com, features content to guide you in becoming a .NET Ninja!

Tim Radney

Twitter: - @tradney

LinkedIn: Tim Radney

Contact: http://www.timradney.com

Janis Griffin

Twitter: - DoBoutAnything

LinkedIn: Janis Griffin

Janis Griffin has over 30 years of DBA/database experience including design, development and implementation of many critical database applications. Before coming to Quest Software, Janis primarily worked in the Telecom/Network Industry, working with both real-time network routing databases and OLTP business to business applications. Janis also held positions as a Principal Architect and Senior Manager, mentoring other DBAs on best practices in database performance tuning.

Nathan Mourfield

Nathan has developing BI solutions with MS SQL and Sybase ASE for the last 11 years in health care, 8 of those involved working with SSAS. He currently works at a large hospital as a systems analyst, specializing in line and middle management analytic applications, specifically on the business/finance side.

Louis Davidson

Twitter: - drsql

LinkedIn: Louis Davidson

Contact: https://www.red-gate.com/simple-talk/author/louis-davidson/

Louis Davidson has worked in the IT industry for over 25 years as a corporate database developer and architect. He has been a Microsoft SQL Server MVP for 15 years and has written five books on database design, and contributed to many other SQL Server books as an author and tech editor. He has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. You can read more about Louis at http://drsql.org.

Andy Warren

Twitter: - @sqlandy

Contact: https://sqlandy.com

Andy Warren is a SQL Server consultant and trainer based in Orlando, FL. Focusing on administration, performance tuning, and SQL Server patterns and practices, he’s been a SQL Server MVP since 2008. Andy served two terms on the PASS Board of Directors, was a founding principal in SQLServerCentral, and created both the SQLSaturday and SQLRally event models.

Kevin Boles

Twitter: - @TheSQLGuru

LinkedIn: Kevin Boles

Kevin Boles is a SQL Server expert, working exclusively with the product since v6.5. With over 25 years of database experience and over 45,000 man hours of SQL Server engine experience, he holds many related certifications, is an MCT and was a SQL Server MVP from 2007 to 2012. Kevin has been a very successful independent consultant for over 20 years. His passion is the relational engine, especially designing, building, analyzing and tuning high-performance database applications.

Rob Schoenborn

Rob is a Business Intelligence Architect for EyeWonder, a LimeLight networks business, were he has fun doing global interactive marketing analytics. Rob’s experience designing and implementing databases in various technical and business environments has enabled him to become a subject matter expert in database administration and development, especially working with technologies such as Microsoft SQL Server, Analysis Services, Web Services, and XML.

Janis Griffin

Twitter: - DoBoutAnything

LinkedIn: Janis Griffin

Louis Davidson

Twitter: - drsql

LinkedIn: Louis Davidson

Contact: https://www.red-gate.com/simple-talk/author/louis-davidson/

Sven Aelterman

Twitter: - @svenaelterman

LinkedIn: Sven Aelterman

Contact: https://svenaelterman.wordpress.com

Sven Aelterman is the Director of IT for the Sorrell College of Business at Troy University; a role with a global scope. He is also a lecturer in Information Systems and teaches courses in data warehousing and information security. He continues consulting work through Adduxis, where he assists customers with various Microsoft technology implementations. Co-author of The Art of SQL Server FILESTREAM, published by Red Gate; and SQL Server 2017 Administration Inside Out, published by Microsoft Press. Cloud Software Architect at Sorrell Solutions, L.L.C. developing a Microsoft Azure-hosted Electronic Health Record system.

Alex Tocitu

Alex Tocitu is a software engineer with an MSEE in Automation and Control, and an MBA in Finance. With over 2x years of software practice he has enjoyed 1x of them in Sillicon Valley. After a long time with Java and Sybase/Oracle, he currently works with C#/C++ and SQL Server and has lots of fun. Alex Tocitu speaks at local user groups, SQLSaturdays and code camps; he also writes articles for MSSQLTips and SQLServerCentral. Alex is an avid chess player both live and online.

Kevin Boles

Twitter: - @TheSQLGuru

LinkedIn: Kevin Boles

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.

Sven Aelterman

Twitter: - @svenaelterman

LinkedIn: Sven Aelterman

Contact: https://svenaelterman.wordpress.com

William E Pearson III

Twitter: - @Bill_Pearson

LinkedIn: William E Pearson III

Contact: https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile=02C5CD07-7511-4151-A678-3A4A3451F85E

Bill Pearson created Island Technologies Inc. in 1997, and has developed a large and diverse customer base since. Bill#39;s background as a CPA, Internal Auditor, Management Accountant, and SQL Server MVP (BI) enables him to provide value to clients as a liaison between Accounting / Finance and Information Services. Bill has implemented enterprise business intelligence systems over the years for many Fortune 500 companies and focuses his practice upon the integrated Microsoft Business Intelligence

John Welch

Twitter: - @john_welch

LinkedIn: John Welch

Contact: http://agilebi.com/jwelch

John Welch joined SentryOne in spring 2018 as VP of Engineering with the acquisition by SentryOne of the software division of Pragmatic Works. John leads the development of a suite of products that make developing, managing, and documenting data solutions easier. John has been successfully delivering IT solutions to business problems since 1994, and has been focused on business intelligence and data warehousing technologies since 2001. He is a Microsoft Most Valued Professional (MVP), and a frequent presenter on SQL Server and data topics. He also contributes to several open source projects and community initiatives targeted toward making data professionals work more productive.

Sven Aelterman

Twitter: - @svenaelterman

LinkedIn: Sven Aelterman

Contact: https://svenaelterman.wordpress.com

Alex Tocitu

Kevin Boles

Twitter: - @TheSQLGuru

LinkedIn: Kevin Boles

John Welch

Twitter: - @john_welch

LinkedIn: John Welch

Contact: http://agilebi.com/jwelch