SQLSaturday #446 - Oregon 2015

Event Date: 10/24/2015 00:00:00

Event Location:

• Mittleman Community Center
• 6651 SW Capitol Highway
• Portland, Oregon

PDF of Schedule

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• Sessions
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Sessions

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

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: Admin - 206

Title: Detect Worst Performing SQL Queries During Peak Hour

Abstract: How many times you have been thrown in a situation when you have been asked to fix performance issues of a database system which you have never seen before? Where do you start tuning? When do you stop tuning? Each application is different. With the ever increasing number of systems one production DBA has to manage today, it’s very important to use TOP to BOTTOM approach to troubleshoot performance issues, which will lead to the answers in the right way for the application under consideration.

While you can find top queries, wouldn’t it be awesome if you can find out which ones are the exact queries taking most of the resources in last hour and current situation? Now you can focus on those specific queries!

In this session, Prakash walks you through with scenario demos to find which exact queries are taxing production systems resources based on CPU/DISK/Memory/Network. They are all based on his own real-life experience from managing demanding database systems.

Speaker(s):

• Prakash Heda

Track and Room: Tuning - 204

Title: S.M.A.R.T. Biml: Standardize, Model, Automate, Reuse and Transform

Abstract: Have you ever wanted to build a Data Warehouse simply by pushing a button? It might not be quite that easy yet, but gone are the days of repetitive development. Stop wasting your time on dragging, dropping, connecting, aligning and creating the same SSIS package over and over and over again and start working S.M.A.R.T. with Biml.

You already know how to build a staging environment in an hour, so let us dive straight into some advanced features of Biml. We will start by exploring the metadata modeling feature in Mist. Then we will look at how to create our own C# classes and methods, and how to centralize and reuse code. Finally, we will create a framework of transformers that allow you to modify existing objects both interactively and automatically.

If you already think Biml is powerful, just wait until you have a toolbox full of transformers ready to do the heavy lifting for you!

(No Autobots were harmed in the making of this session.)

Speaker(s):

• Cathrine Wilhelmsen

Track and Room: Integration Services - B

Title: Optimizing desktop Power Pivot models using Power Query

Abstract: You know the scene; you’ve built a beautiful Power Pivot model that has solved all of your organization’s problems. You open it up, click Refresh and wait patiently for all the data to stream in. That’s okay, there’s a lot of data and you expect that. Then you click a slicer and… wait… Time during the initial data load is one thing, but consumer’s patience during use is another. Their tolerance for latency is much less. In this session we’ll explore the things you can do to increase your Power Pivot model performance. We’ll look at the key factors that affect performance, as well as the things you can do to deal with them. In addition, we’ll look at how sourcing your data with Power Query can give you ultimate control over your data’s size and shape, and tricks to optimize it for Power Pivot consumption.

Speaker(s):

• Ken Puls

Track and Room: Business Intelligence - 219

Title: Execution Plans for Mere Mortals

Abstract: As a beginner database professional, execution plans are intimidating. In this session, I will take you through the basics of reading graphical execution plans and drill into key operators, warnings and properties.

You will understand how, why and when the execution plan will be created and saved to plan cache.

Reading the execution plan will be much less intimidating as we walk through the flow and process of a graphical execution plan.

After looking at the key operators, you will be able to analyze the operators of your execution plans, view the operator properties, and identify common performance tuning opportunities.

Finally, you will be able to capture the execution plan, save it for analysis and comparison after modifications have occurred.

Speaker(s):

• Mike Lawell

Track and Room: Tuning - 204

Title: Power BI is Awesome!

Abstract: Microsoft has changed its Business Intelligence strategy in the last few years from an IT centric approach with SQL Server Reporting Services and SQL Server Analysis Services to an end-user ad-hoc approach with Power BI. Initially the Power BI tools were all separate add-ons to Excel 2010+ that you had to know where to get them and install/activate them individually. Now with new Power BI product announcements and Power BI Designer, the full vision of these once separate tools is becoming more clear and cohesive as an end-user ad-hoc analysis and reporting tool. In this demo heavy session you will see how Power BI is now a much more complete solution and how it can change how you deliver analysis and reporting to anyone in your company. Demos will include using Power BI Designer to pull in data from multiple sources and repeatable transformations to clean usable data and build interactive reports and dashboards.

Speaker(s):

• Steve Wake

Track and Room: Business Intelligence - 219

Title: Hyper-V for SQL Server Virtualization

Abstract: VMware is not the only game in town when it comes to virtualizing SQL Server in a production environment. Microsoft’s Hyper-V, which is built into Windows, is a viable and powerful option to consider when going down the path of virtualization. Microsoft currently has a few advantages over VMware, such as being able to use high speed networks and storage solutions to have blazingly fast deployments. This session will discuss Hyper-V from a SQL Server point of view based on real world deployments and architectures, providing tips and tricks along the way, and introduce you to new technologies and features you may not have heard of such as Scale Out File Server and RDMA. Whether you are a VMware shop that is looking to reduce cost by switching platforms, or just want to know how Hyper-V stacks up, this session has you covered.

Speaker(s):

• Allan Hirt

Track and Room: Development - 212

Title: You did WHAT to my transaction log?!

Abstract: You won’t believe what people will do to the transaction log when they get into trouble. The log is full! The application is experiencing strange errors! Do something! In this session, I will apply commonly suggested advice from internet search results and various forums, in search of a fast remedy for explosive log growth. How bad could it be?!

I will illustrate with simple graphics exactly what’s in the transaction log, and why it is fundamental to SQL Server’s ability to ensure that the associated database is always in a consistent state. I will explain the factors that can prevent reuse of log space and how to tackle the root causes of rapid log growth, rather than simply alleviating the symptoms using dangerous quick fixes. I’ll also offer tips on how to avoid excessive logging becoming a bottleneck, and affecting the performance of user transactions.

Speaker(s):

• Tony Davis

Track and Room: Admin - 206

Title: Enterprise Auditing with SQL Server Audit

Abstract: Audit. The very word strikes fear in the bravest of hearts. But as a DBA, the need to know who is doing what in your production databases is critical. In SQL Server 2008, Microsoft finally gave us a true auditing tool. But how does it work, what exactly can it track, and how can you handle its output?

In this session, we cover SQL Server Audit from the ground up. We go from the basics of which events can be audited to a look at how SQL Server Audit works “under the covers”, and what that means for performance. While implementing server and database audits, we discuss audit granularity and filtering, as well as the pros and cons of Audit’s output options.

Whether it’s through the SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) interface, via T-SQL, or using PowerShell and Server Management Objects (SMO), at the end of this session you’ll be able to deploy SQL Server Audit across your enterprise and manage its output, fearlessly.

Speaker(s):

• Colleen Morrow

Track and Room: Features - 214

Title: The Reporting Machine!

Abstract: Dashboards and reports can be created always easier and getting better with tools such as SQL Server Reporting Services or Power View. But what do you do if you need to generate more than 600 reports? In different languages, different corporate designs, variable rendering formats and different layouts based on the data of the recipient?

In this demo based session, we will give you a complete overview into a customer project, where we used SSIS, SSRS and MDS to do exactly that. You will see, how we:

• import statistical data with R and SSIS
• stuck report parts together, to get complete reports with almost 100 pages
• define themes for different corporate designs
• define languages for different reports
• render the reports with different rendering extensions
• developing Office add-ins to automate SSIS, SSRS and MDS

Speaker(s):

• Tillmann Eitelberg

Track and Room: Reporting Services - B

Title: Designing Building Highly Available Solutions

Abstract: Building a system that is Highly Available is something that requires a lot of thought and work up-front, it is not something that is easy to add after the system is built.

In this session I will help you understand the questions you need to ask, the options that are available to you and design principals technology that can be leveraged to build a solution that can meet your needs and the needs of your business. Covering elements from the physical storage all the way out to the client application connectivity, we will look at just what it takes to build something that can sustain component failures and keep functioning.

So no matter whether your systems are cloud resident, on-premises or hybrid we will look at how you can make sure they work as planned.

Speaker(s):

• John Martin

Track and Room: Architecture - 208

Title: Using DevOps to replace a culture of FearOps

Abstract: DevOps is about aligning SQL Server DBAs and Development teams to utilize agile methodologies and continuous improvement to optimize application rollouts.

Hamish Watson and Martin Catherall will discuss how to break down the silos that may exist between the teams and remove “FearOps” to improve the quality and maximize the uptime of deployed applications.

DevOps methodologies can help teams to respond faster to competitive pressures by replacing error prone (human) processes with automation for improved traceability and repeatable deployments.

Hamish has over 16 years’ experience in Enterprise Systems Management and 10 years in deploying and managing SQL Server.

He has incorporated DevOps methodologies over the past 5 years in assisting his small team of operations consultants to manage over 2,400 applications running across 400+ servers both on premise and in a hybrid cloud.

Martin is an SQL Server MVP, C# developer and SQL DBA and is also a PASS Regional Mentor for

Speaker(s):

• Martin Catherall

Track and Room: Development - 212

Title: Treating Tables Like Legos, Partitioning Basics

Abstract: Do you find you have tables and indexes that have grown really large? Are you moving around a lot more data than you used to? Are your windows for jobs and maintenance getting tighter? If you answered yes to any of these questions, partitioning may be for you! Partitioning allows us to break a table or index down into smaller more manageable chunks. Partitioning can enable us to perform maintenance on just part of a table or index. We can even move data in and out of tables with quick and easy metadata only operations. In this 75 minute session we’ll go over basic partitioning concepts such as horizontal vs. vertical partitioning, and techniques like partitioned views and full blown table partitioning. We’ll look at how partitioning effects things under the hood to solidify our understanding of how it works. At the end of this session you’ll have a firm understanding of partitioning and be armed with the knowledge needed to make decisions on how and when to implement partitioning.

Speaker(s):

• Brandon Leach

Track and Room: Architecture - 208

Title: SQL Server Security Basics

Abstract: The past few years seem to have had more than their fair share of high-profile data breaches, not all of which were caused by sophisticated hacking attempts. This session explains basic methods for securing your SQL Server by making sure you’re not leaving the proverbial front door unlocked (or in some cases, wide open). We will discuss the different levels and methods that can be used for granting and restricting rights, as well as the pros and cons of each. You learn steps you can take to design databases with securability in mind from the beginning, so that you can better protect your data later. We also demonstrate scripts that can help audit user rights and make sure logins don’t have any more permissions than they need. Security doesn’t need to be scary! Attend this session and gain a solid foundation on which to build your DBA career.

Speaker(s):

• Bob Pusateri

Track and Room: Reporting Services - 214

Title: Top 5 SQL Server 2016 Hybrid Cloud Features

Abstract: Microsoft SQL Server 2016 builds on the awesome hybrid capabilities in SQL Server 2014 which simplify cloud adoption and help you unlock new hybrid scenarios. Building on this momentum, this demo-filled session will highlight these features and show how you can use these features to lower your TCO and help manage your mission-critical applications by leveraging the cloud to provide new disaster recovery and backup solutions. In this session we will look at 5 great hybrid scenarios that are made possible by both great new features as well as enhanced features of SQL Server 2016. We’ll not only look how to use and implement these hybrid features, but also look at look at and discuss scenarios around why you would use these hybrid cloud features to expand your on-premises options without adding complexity. We’ll look at how you can easily move workloads from your datacenter to Windows Azure while still maintaining a complete view of your infrastructure with increased proficiency.

Speaker(s):

• Scott Klein

Track and Room: Architecture - 208

Title: Slow Query: Bring It On

Abstract: Troubleshooting slow performance issues is hindered by lack of available repro or even at times lack of available statistics. This puts the chief troubleshooter in a Catch-22 situation. Without identifying the problem, the issue could resurface again and create another critical business problem. SQL Server 2016 introduces two new features to troubleshoot query performance issues in a reactive and proactive manner namely, Live Query Statistics and Query Data Store.

In this session, you will learn about:

1. Using Live Query Statistics to perform live troubleshooting while it is running
2. Using Query Data Store and becoming a SQL superhero by answering questions about query performance with a click of a few buttons

Speaker(s):

• Amit Banerjee

Track and Room: Tuning - 204

Title: Life Lessons in Communication

Abstract: Communicating. We all do it, every day. But can you do it better? You present to management, share with peers, advise your direct reports. A common thread of success or failure here is how well you get your message across. Can you share bad news and soften the blow with humor while respecting the nature of the news you have to deliver? Can you support your direct reports when they make a very human mistake? Do you know how you communicate your support without micromanaging them can make a huge difference in the quality of their work for years to come? These questions and more will be answered, with stories, with humor, and with experience (both good and bad). Once you’ve figured these things out, how do you communicate your own skills to the world? After attending, you’ll be on the road to better, more direct communication, whether it’s with your management, your peers, or your reports.

Speaker(s):

• Tom Roush

Track and Room: Professional Development - A

Title: A Journey into Azure Machine Learning with R

Abstract: Machine Learning is a subfield of computer science which is so pervasive today that you probably use it dozens of times a day without knowing it. Azure Machine Learning is a valuable tool that can be employed by data scientists with different skill levels. Azure ML also supports R and Python custom code, which can be dropped directly into your workspace. In this session, I will show a demo of working with Azure ML. Audience will learn how a Microsoft Azure Machine Learning solution comes to life: From the creation of a workspace, to the preparation of data, to experimentation with machine learning algorithms, choose the right algorithm, and then finally to the integration of predictive insights. This session will show how they can use Azure ML to as a data mining tools. They become familiar with all steps of creating a prediction scenario from importing data, cleaning it, choosing the right algorithm, how evaluate the result, executing R code, and so forth.

Speaker(s):

• Leila Etaati

Track and Room: Architecture - 208

Title: Row-level Security in SSRS and SSAS

Abstract: It is relatively straight-forward to grant a user access to a particular SSRS report, multi-dimensional cube, or tabular model table, but what happens when the user needs access to the object but should be denied access to view certain rows of data? In this session we’ll investigate a real-world solution to this common BI problem.

Speaker(s):

• Chris Hyde

Track and Room: Business Intelligence - 219

Title: The TSQL Review for the Busy Data Professional

Abstract: How does the way I write my query affect the way data gets returned to me? If I use an inner join here, how does that affect my results? This session will review some of the ways we write queries and how these decisions affect us. We will also review database design concepts and how our architecture can influence our ability to make data available to users.

Speaker(s):

• Carlos L Chacon

Track and Room: Development - 212

Title: RED GATE: Automating Your Database Deployments

Abstract: Deploying your database changes to production can be nerve-wracking. We’ll discuss methods that take the stress out of the process by ensuring that you practice your deployments using continuous integration before you ever get near production. Automating the deployment and testing processes through various pre-production environments can make the whole experience of production deployments more repeatable, more reliable and more robust.

In this session, we’ll explore the concepts of continuous integration and continuous delivery for databases – what to consider, the challenges, the benefits, the testing, and the crucial approval gates necessary for a reliable production deployment. We’ll discuss these and other release strategies as you think about how to evolve your deployment pipeline towards a more automated approach, starting with continuous integration and ending at your production systems.

Speaker(s):

• Grant Fritchey

Track and Room: Architecture - A

Title: Improve your Database Performance in Seven Simple Steps

Abstract: You wrote the code, you tested it, it works, and it’s fast. So you deploy. And then those pesky users insist on entering not hundreds, not thousands, but millions of rows – and suddenly, you have performance problems. What to do? Blaming SQL Server is a good start, but won’t solve the problems. You can of course hire a database consultant to make all your performance problems (and all your money) disappear - but why not first take a look yourself? This session will show you seven simple things, that might alleviate most of your database related performance problems. Use these tricks at your workplace, and you can be the hero of the department!

Speaker(s):

• Hugo Kornelis

Track and Room: Tuning - 204

Title: Better Report Development and Management Techniques

Abstract: Are you already using Reporting Services (SSRS) but just not loving it? Has it become clumsy, hard to manage or just plain not great? In this session designed for intermediate users with some SSRS knowledge you will see how you can simplify and unify your implementation making your reports pop with polish while shortening your development time and maintenance efforts. An exploration of Shared Data Sets will show how to reduce data discrepancies and improve performance. Learn how to leverage the power of Linked Reports to reduce the number of reports needed and to streamline report publication. Come discover how the ultimate Report Footer can tell you all you need to know about that report, its performance and the users who are running it.

Speaker(s):

• Ted Stathakis

Track and Room: Business Intelligence - 219

Title: Dimensional Modeling Design Patterns: Beyond Basics

Abstract: Dimensional modeling is arguably one of the most important fundamentals of business intelligence. It is still relevant even as new technologies like PowerPivot and SSAS Tabular Models are becoming more popular. Correctly modeling your organization’s data not only protects the most important asset your company has but ensures that your data mart or data warehouse will be responsive and capable of accommodating emerging requirements. This session provides a deeper dive into the art of dimensional modeling. We will look at the different types of fact tables and dimension tables, how and when to use them. We will also some approaches to creating rich hierarchies that make reporting a snap. Finally we will cover physical design choices. This case study and demo based session promises to be very interactive and engaging, bring your toughest Dimensional Modeling quandaries.

Speaker(s):

• Jason Horner

Track and Room: Features - 214

Title: WHERESCAPE: Data Warehouse Automation with WhereScape

Abstract: From your first project in data warehousing it becomes obvious: it is ripe for agile development to engage with the business, automation to save time and metadata to generate documentation.

This session is an introduction to data warehouse automation with WhereScape - come and learn how far can automation go in building documenting your data warehouse. Hand coding can all but be eliminated.

This session will include a demonstration of WhereScape 3D RED - data warehouse automation tools – building high quality data warehouses leveraging the native features of SQLServer (2008- 2014). RED is used by very large companies around the world - to small/medium sized ones, accelerating delivery and documentation. No other toolset can beat it. Better than that though is engagement with business units during development, ensuring that the data warehouse development is correctly prioritized, relevant and up to date.

Speaker(s):

• Douglas Barrett

Track and Room: Business Intelligence - 219

Title: What you’re missing out on if you’re not using Master Data Services

Abstract: Even if you don’t have a full-fledged Master Data project, there are use cases where SQL Server Master Data Services brings helpful tools to the table. For example, if you have data in Excel that your business wants to manage for compliance and/or wants to integrate, or have a requirement to augment data in a data warehouse dimension (such as adding and maintaining an attribute or grouping that isn’t present in the upstream system), MDS has functionality that can help you solve the problem.

This presentation will outline some of the core MDS functionality and will provide detailed walk-throughs of functionality used to solve business problems using MDS.

Speaker(s):

• Steve Moss

Track and Room: Architecture - 208

Title: Introduction to Microsoft Azure DocumentDB

Abstract: Working with JSON data in SQL Server is not natively supported, but it is possible if you transform JSON into relational tables by using a set of functions Azure DocumentDB is a NoSQL document database service that natively saves JSON data, filling a major functionality gap.

This session demonstrates how to create a DocumentDB instance in Azure, work with JSON documents, create ad hoc queries with familiar SQL syntax, and create application logic as stored procedures, triggers, and user defined functions (UDFs), using standard JavaScript.

Speaker(s):

• Jeff Renz

Track and Room: Features - 214

Title: What is Biml and why are SSIS people talking about it?

Abstract: This session is designed for you, the experienced SSIS developer who’s been hearing about Biml but hasn’t taken the plunge. We will cover what Biml is and walk through some examples from Hello World equivalent to a fully baked truncate and reload pattern. You will leave this session armed with the knowledge of how Biml can help you achieve a consistent and reproducible approach for the creation of SSIS solutions.

Speaker(s):

• Bill Fellows

Track and Room: Integration Services - B

Title: CISCO: Lowering IT Complexity, Addressing SQL Server Management C

Abstract: SQL Server DBAs face a wide range of IT and management challenges today. The ability to enforce best practices, ensure automatic back up for key data, and an ability to rapidly reallocate system resources “on the fly” to meet time critical business objectives are just a few of the day to day headaches they are asked to address. Looking ahead the impending end of support of SQL Server 2005, continued business growth, and the possibility of hosting workloads in private, hybrid, and public clouds bring forth additional challenges. Cisco has been at the forefront of addressing these concerns with a revolutionary system design that combines server, network, and storage, while separating individual workloads from specific server components and driving industry leading performance. Expanding UCS solutions with key partner and Cisco technologies have lead Cisco to become the market leader for x86 blades. Please take 45 minutes to learn why thousands of SQL Server customers are choosing Ci

Speaker(s):

• John McAbel

Track and Room: Admin - 212

Title: PROFISEE: Accelerate SQL Server Master Data Services with Profisee Maestro

Abstract: Grab your lunch and join John McAllister for an informative presentation while you eat!

SQL Server Master Data Services (MDS) is a robust platform for master data and hierarchy management that provides master data capabilities such as business rules, a managed schema, hierarchies, versioning, workflow, and Excel Integration. Profisee Maestro slashes your time to deployment on MDS by providing an alternate UI for data Stewards and Application owners. Maestro adds data modeling, a first-rate user experience, ER-Win Integration, Simplified Import/Export to simplify getting MDM in the hands of your users.

Maestro also adds data quality, matching, harmonization, address corrections, an API, web parts and CRM integration.
Come see how Profisee Maestro can take your MDS implementation from the department to the enterprise.

Speaker(s):

• John McAllister

Track and Room: Business Intelligence - 204

Title: Every Byte Counts: Why Your Data Type Choices Matter

Abstract: Ever encounter a table consisting only of BIGINT, CHAR(255), and NVARCHAR(MAX) columns? Did your gut tell you that this is bad, but you had difficulty explaining why? Did you know that these data type choices can be a real performance killer?

Attend this session to learn how database records are stored within SQL Server, and why all data types are not created equal. Armed with that knowledge, we will then explore several performance scenarios that may be impacting your systems right now!

When you leave, you will be able to explain to your colleagues why data type choices matter, assess your own systems, and implement some best practices to mitigate these performance killers.

Speaker(s):

• Andy Yun

Track and Room: Development - 212

Title: PowerShell for Absolute Beginnners

Abstract: Have you wanted to learn PowerShell, but didn’t know where to start? Have you been scared off by all the pipes and curly braces, or maybe you’re just not sure what PowerShell can do for you? This session will teach you the very basics of PowerShell and give you the fundamentals you need to start writing your own scripts and functions. You’ll also get a list of resources to continue learning and take your skills to the next level.

Speaker(s):

• Michael Wells

Track and Room: PowerShell - A

Title: Azure SQL DB Monitoring Performance Tuning

Abstract: Choosing appropriate performance levels, monitoring and optimizing resource usage of Azure SQL database is of primary interest to SQL database users. Azure SQL DB now has a number of great tools to help sizing, scaling, monitoring and performance tuning your database solutions. This talk will provide an overview of resource usage monitoring, scaling capabilities and techniques as well as performance tuning tools that you can use today, such as Query Store, Index Advisor, Extended Events and DMVs

Speaker(s):

• Julie Koesmarno

Track and Room: Admin - A

Title: Understanding Solving Columnstore Problems

Abstract: Dive deep into Columnstore Indexes and discover their advantages and some of the limitations. Look into some of the Columnstore Indexes myths, understand more complex concepts of Batch Mode Query Processing with another depth.

Can you make your Columnstore queries ran even faster ? Can you actually lower the Degree of Parallelism and get a better performance ? How much memory does Columnstore Index actually use when working with queries ? How can you test your Columnstore queries in Row Mode and what is the actual difference between Row Batch Modes.

The answers on those questions are to be revealed at this session.

Speaker(s):

• Niko Neugebauer

Track and Room: Features - 214

Title: SANDISK: Flash and SQL Server—Re-Thinking Best Practices

Abstract: Flash storage is a game changer for virtually every app in which it is used. Whether used locally, for tiered storage, or all-flash arrays, flash is turning what we thought we knew about SQL Server best practices on its head. Contemporary IT environments should standardize their architecture including a tier of flash. Virtualized or non-virtualized, standardizing on in-server flash is vital for optimizing performance, scalability, efficiency (technical and cost), reliability, availability. Learn how flash flips the /faster bit the significant impact flash makes not just in terms of performance, but also best practices, the massive savings in licensing driven by consolidation on flash.

Speaker(s):

• J May

Track and Room: Admin - 206

Title: PowerShell and the Art of SQL Server Deployment

Abstract: In today’s tech world, IT professionals are driven to perform tasks faster and more consistently. Automation is the watchword for our success, whether we are deploying SQL Server to private virtual clouds or public platforms such as Azure IaaS. This session focuses on rapidly creating and configuring SQL Servers, using PowerShell and desired state configuration. You see practical examples of how to create repeatable builds of SQL Server that can be deployed in a matter of minutes. We also review how these techniques can be applied to both public and private cloud platforms, helping to ensure success in any situation.

Speaker(s):

• Michael Fal

Track and Room: PowerShell - A

Title: Dealing With Errors in SSIS 2014

Abstract: Errors can occur anywhere within an SSIS package and the cause and error message can be somewhat cryptic. This session focuses on identifying error causes and handling them dynamically and proactively. The means of dealing with errors is defined by where the error occurs and we will cover error handling in control flow, data flow, and script tasks in great detail.

You will learn: •To identify the different error handling methods in control flow, data flow, and script tasks •Be able to utilize event handlers to proactively handle errors •Be able to redirect data error and proactively handle data flow errors •Be able to identify error descriptions and log error details

Speaker(s):

• David Dye

Track and Room: Integration Services - B

Title: Performance Clinic

Abstract: Bring your questions, problems, and SQL Server issues to the Performance Clinic and engage with Speakers, Consultants, and members of the Microsoft SQL Server Product Teams.

Speaker(s):

• Misc Speakers

Track and Room: Features - Ball Rm

Title: MICROSOFT: SQL Server Stretch Database

Abstract: Your SAN consumption is increasing faster than your budget, you have tables so big that you dread re-indexing, or your end-users demand their cold or archived data always be online. There’s a solution that lets you take advantage of the Cloud, on your terms, all without impacting your existing end-user applications or queries.

Come find out how you can move your data securely and transparently, free up disc space and reduce your SAN consumption, while retaining full control from the on-premises SQL Server. You’ll reduce maintenance operations time and resources, plus lower overall cost. Learn how SQL Stretch database will simplify your journey to the Cloud!

Speaker(s):

• Anthony van Gemert

Track and Room: Admin - B

Title: Distributed Replay: Testing With Your Data, Your Way!

Abstract: Do you want to test hardware upgrades, index tuning or multi-client applications? Would you like to do this with data specific to your organization? Distributed Replay, introduced in SQL Server 2012, is a tool that will allow you to accomplish exactly that. In this session, we will cover why you should use it, how to set it up, and what types of data to collect for testing and replay. This session will demonstrate tangible methods and undocumented tidbits, that you can take back to your environment to create immediate, and measurable tests.

Speaker(s):

• Melody Zacharias

Track and Room: Tuning - 204

Title: A Concept for Clean Reporting: Information Design Rules for SSRS and R

Abstract: The statistical language R has many ways to visualize data, as does SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS). In this session, we take our two favorite methods and show you concepts to standardize and support these languages under the focus of a centralized information-design management. We take ICB standards and proposals for a conceptual, perceptual, and semantic information design and apply it to both languages, with the help of Master Data Services. You will see the concepts, techniques, and visual output in live demos and take away a concept that you can apply to your own SSRS reports or R output.

Speaker(s):

• Gabi Münster

Track and Room: Reporting Services - B

Title: Datazen - An overview

Abstract: Recently, in April 2015, Microsoft aquired the company Datazen a specialist for mobile BI. This aquisition enables Microsoft to offer mobile, self service BI tools for Windows, iOS, Andorid and HTML. Besides using BI solutions on mobile devices online it is also possible to use these BI solutions offline. SQL Server MVP Frank Geisler will give insights into how Datazen works and how you can build BI Dashboards on different Datasources. He will show how a Datazen Server is installed and configured and how the Datazen Apps work on Windows 8.

Speaker(s):

• Frank Geisler

Track and Room: Business Intelligence - 219

Title: SQL Server Storage Engine under the hood

Abstract: How SQL Server performs I/O

How is SQL Server really accessing the data and log files on the disk? What’s done asynchronous and what’s synchronous and what impact does that have on our queries and DML statements. SQL Server uses a series of different IO patterns depending on the workload. This session looks at them one by one and shows the difference and how to best optimize for it. Which impact have features like database mirroring and replication, what’s different when SQL Server is starting up. #160; Which I/O Subsystems (including SSD) are best for which type of data and what’s the impact if you choose a different one. Which files can be placed on the same volume and which should not.

Speaker(s):

• Thomas Grohser

Track and Room: Admin - 206

Title: Choosing Projects for Hadoop in the Cloud

Abstract: Techies and business people will learn how to choose the right projects for Hadoop. We’ll talk about how Hadoop fits into end-to-end architectures and when it makes sent to put new Hadoop projects in the cloud, focusing on Microsoft Azure. I will show you HDInsight on Azure as well as Hortonworks HDP and Cloudera EDH/CDH on Azure VMs. http://smallbitesofbigdata.com/archive/2015/02/25/master-choosing-the-right-project-for-hadoop.aspx

Speaker(s):

• Cindy Gross

Track and Room: Architecture - 208

Title: SSRS 101 – Creating Reports For Diagnostic Data

Abstract: DBAs always have a collection of queries that they need to run periodically to find out information on the databases they manage. Sometimes this information is requested by management or other IT colleagues. In this session, I’ll show you how to create your first report. We’ll talk about data sources, parameters and internal functions. We’ll add data to tables, commonly referred to as Tablixes and group the data by column fields. We’ll also talk about how to leverage templates so that you can kick-start your report creation. Finally, we’ll see how to quickly publish reports to a SSRS Report Manager.

Speaker(s):

• Mickey Stuewe

Track and Room: Reporting Services - B

Title: Extended Events In Real Life

Abstract: Extended Events, introduced in SQL Server 2008 are here to stay. When combined with the fact that Profiler for Trace is a deprecated feature we’re going to need to learn how to use Extended Events to monitor our server. In this session we’re going to step through some real-world uses of Extended Events including Statistics capture, Default Trace replacement, system_health analysis, and insight into the DBCC CHECKDB process (NEW IN SQL 2014)!

Speaker(s):

• Seth Washeck

Track and Room: Admin - Ball Rm

Title: Anatomy of an I/O Tuning Exercise

Abstract: Performance troubleshooting doesn’t have to be hard, yet getting good at it requires a methodology, practice, and learning a few tools, and a bit about internals. In this session we’ll simulate an I/O bottleneck and walk through the steps required to identify and remediate the problem. You’ll learn how to identify an I/O issue using Wait Stats, Virtual File Stats, and PerfMon. We’ll talk about relevant metrics, how to zero in on a problem, and how a healthy disk I/O subsystem performs. You’ll return to the office with a suite of tips and tools that will get you on your way to becoming a Performance Tuning Superstar!

Speaker(s):

• Theresa Iserman

Track and Room: Tuning - 204

Title: Moving Beyond Unconscious Bias

Abstract: People love patterns. We simplify our lives by categorizing all day long – things, activities, and even people. Categories let us make sense of a constant bombardment of sensations. But what happens when we unconsciously categorize someone at work? How do these categories box us in? Let’s talk about what we can do to shake up those categories and drive towards a more diverse and productive workplace.

Speaker(s):

• Misc Speakers

Track and Room: Admin - Ball Rm

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: PowerShell - A

Title: How I survived supporting a Java team

Abstract: After spending the last decade or so completely devoted to the Microsoft stack, I spent the last year supporting the SQL Server instance for a team of Java developers. Yes, sure, Java is just another language so there aren’t really and issues that are absolutely unique to the Java world. I did find, however, that there were cultural differences which made my biggest challenges different from what I was used to dealing with in the .Net world. Come hear about my misadventures with JBoss, server side cursors, and NOCOUNT settings.

Speaker(s):

• Rick Lowe

Track and Room: Professional Development - A

Title: PERNIXDATA: ‘Leveraging In-Memory Computing Underneath Virtual SQ

Abstract: In-memory computing is gaining widespread acceptance as a way to speed database performance by moving hot data into main memory. But, In-memory solutions tend to be limited in functionality, lack scalability, are cumbersome to deploy and configure, and are extremely expensive.

PernixData FVP solves these challenges by turning in-memory computing into an infrastructure layer solution that benefits all virtualized applications. SQL Server plays exceptionally well with FVP. Come learn more about this exciting technology today!

Speaker(s):

• David Klee

Track and Room: Admin - 214

Title: The DBA with his Head in the Clouds

Abstract: With Azure data centres located round the globe, will your company be looking more at cloud options? The Azure VM approach doesn’t change your day to day role much, but Azure SQL Database certainly does.

In this session we will compare the core features of Azure SQL Database against SQL Server in an Azure VM, including the limitations and how to create, access and configure it. We’ll then compare scaling-up and scaling-out and the change in perspective that a DBA needs to manage a mixed environment. Finally, we’ll look at some of the DBA activities that are still needed on Azure SQL Database and how these can be achieved easily.

Speaker(s):

• Martin Cairney

Track and Room: Admin - 206

Title: Who Has What to Which? (The Permissions Superset)

Abstract: Do you know who has access to your database and what permissions they have? If you answered yes, you’re most likely wrong. Permissions in SQL Server don’t work the way almost everyone think they do. We’ll look at different scenarios you are likely to see day-to-day and explore what permissions the users are actually getting (likely not what you expect).

This exercise will demonstrate why it is important to be strict about granting permissions and cleaning up old security accounts. You will learn how to think of permissions as a superset.

Speaker(s):

• Robert Davis

Track and Room: Admin - 206

Title: Reliable data consistency with constraints and access layers

Abstract: This session demonstrates the usage of database core concepts for data modelling which prevents data manipulation from outside (application / direct). By usage of constraints, schemas and reusable data layers your data model becomes more reliable.

Control data access by using dedicated access methods with stored procedures and Views. This session demonstrates with two small independent applications the topic of reusability of common database objects.

Speaker(s):

• Uwe Ricken

Track and Room: Development - 212

Title: Advanced Data Transformations with Power Query

Abstract: Power Query is the self-service data consolidation tool of the Power BI embedded in Excel. Power Query has ability to fetch data from variety of data source, and apply transformations through Power Query Formula language known as M. This session covers advanced transformation samples of M formulas to solve real world data consolidation challenges. Many of useful Power Query formula functions with live demos will be explored through this session.

Speaker(s):

• Reza Rad

Track and Room: Business Intelligence - 219

Title: A Programmatic Journey Through SSISDB

Abstract: With the advent of SQL Server Integration Services Catalog (SSISDB) a new place of storing, executing and monitoring SSIS packages came into existence. In this session, Wolfgang will show you different aspects of programmability in the context of SSISDB. Beginning with a short overview of the underlying database objects, a deeper look at SSISDB’s stored procedures will follow. A side-step from TSQL to C# and the available Integration Services SDK illustrates a different view accessing SSISDB. Concluding, the analysing and reporting aspect of SSISB programmability is shown with some exemplified SQL Server Reporting services reports.

Speaker(s):

• Wolfgang Strasser

Track and Room: Integration Services - 214

Title: How to Determine What Data Is Corrupt

Abstract: There are two kinds of DBAs in the world – those who have experienced corruption, and those who will. Join me for this session to learn what corruption is, how it can occur, and how to check if your data is corrupt. And if you do find corruption, I will show you how to identify what data is affected using DBCC CHECKDB and DBCC PAGE.

Speaker(s):

• Frank Gill

Track and Room: Admin - 206

Title: Dynamic SQL: Build Fast, Flexible Queries

Abstract: Dynamic SQL is a misunderstood and much maligned part of a DBA’s tool kit – it can be used to solve difficult business problems, respond to diverse data needs, and alleviate performance problems. Many DBAs reject dynamic SQL outright as a potential source of SQL injections, being poorly performing, or just for being a hacky solution in general. Not so!

Jeremiah Peschka has been making extensive use of dynamic SQL throughout his career to solve a variety of problems. In this session, we’ll be dispelling these misconceptions and demonstrating how dynamic SQL can become a part of every DBA’s tool kit.

Speaker(s):

• Jeremiah Peschka

Track and Room: Development - 212

Title: DH2i: Stand-alone to High-Availability Clusters in Minutes

Abstract: Don’t miss this demonstration of the hot new container technology that will change your assumptions about what it takes to implement high-availability clusters on premises or in the cloud. Join DH2i’s OJ Ngo as he transforms standalone SQL Server instances into an automated HA cluster failing over between mixed-OS systems—in just a few minutes. In fact, he’ll have plenty of time left over to show you some other cool tricks with his new cluster, such as: QoS controls at the instance level, SQL and OS updates as fast as an application stop/start, and multi-subnet geo-clustering capabilities.

Speaker(s):

• OJ Ngo

Track and Room: Admin - 208

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.

Leila Etaati

Twitter: - @leila_etaati

LinkedIn: Leila Etaati

Contact: http://blog.radacad.com

Leila Etaati is the First Microsoft AI MVP in New Zealand and Australia, as well as a Data Platform MVP. She has a Ph.D. from the University of Auckland and is the co-director and data scientist in RADACAD company with many clients around the world. Additionally, she is the co-organizer of Microsoft Business Intelligence and Power BI Use group in Auckland with more than 1300 members. Leila has also co-organized 3 main conferences in Auckland: SQLSaturday Auckland (from 2015), Difinity (from 2017) and Global AI Bootcamp. She is a data scientist, BI consultant, trainer, and speaker. She is a well-known International speaker to many conferences such as MS Ignite, SQL PASS, Data Platform Summit, SQLSaturday, Power BI World Tour and in Europe, USA, Asia, Australia, and NZ. She has over 10 years’ experience with databases and software systems. Leila is an active Technical Microsoft AI blogger in RADACAD.

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.

Cathrine Wilhelmsen

Twitter: - @cathrinew

LinkedIn: Cathrine Wilhelmsen

Contact: https://www.cathrinewilhelmsen.net/

Cathrine loves teaching and sharing knowledge :) She is based in Norway and works as a Senior Business Intelligence Consultant in Inmeta, focusing on Data Warehousing, Data Integration, Analytics, and Reporting projects. Her core skills are Azure Data Factory, SSIS, Biml and T-SQL development, but she enjoys everything from programming to data visualization. Outside of work she’s active in the SQL Server community as a Microsoft Data Platform MVP, BimlHero Certified Expert, author, speaker, blogger, organizer and chronic volunteer.

Tony Davis

Twitter: - @tonytheditor

Contact: https://www.simple-talk.com/blogs/author/2130-tony-davis/

Tony Davis is an Editor with Red Gate Software, based in Cambridge (UK), specializing in databases, and especially SQL Server. He edits and writes for both the Simple-talk.com and SQLServerCentral.com websites and newsletters, with a combined audience of over 1.5 million subscribers. He is the editor behind most of the SQL Server books published by Red Gate, and also the lead author of the book, SQL Server Transaction Log Management (http://bit.ly/1B2gWuB).

Hugo Kornelis

Twitter: - Hugo_Kornelis

LinkedIn: Hugo Kornelis

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

Hugo Kornelis is an established SQL Server community expert who spends a lot of time at various conferences. He is author of “the Execution Plan Reference” (sqlserverfast.com/epr), blogger, technical editor of Grant Fritchey’s “SQL Server Execution Plans, 3rd edition” and some other books, and Pluralsight author. He was awarded SQL Server MVP and Data Platform MVP 12 times (2006 - 2016, and 2019-present).

When not working for the community, he is busy at his day job: freelance database developer/consultant.

Hugo has over 20 years of SQL Server experience in various roles. He loves to write and tune complex queries, but he also has a strong database design background.

When not working for the community, he is busy at his day job: freelance database developer/consultant.

Hugo has over 20 years of SQL Server experience in various roles. He loves to write and tune complex queries, but he also has a strong database design background.

Chris Hyde

Twitter: - ChrisHyde325

LinkedIn: Chris Hyde

Chris Hyde is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP and Microsoft Certified Trainer based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He works as an independent SQL Server BI and DBA consultant, and is the leader of the Albuquerque PASS local user group. He is also part of the Friends of Redgate program and was a member of the Idera ACE class of 2018. He loves loud music and cricket, but usually not at the same time.

Reza Rad

Twitter: - Rad_Reza

LinkedIn: Reza Rad

Contact: http://radacad.com/blog

Reza Rad is a Microsoft Regional Director, MVP, author, trainer, speaker and consultant. He is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP for nine years from 2011. Reza wrote many books on Power BI subjects including the Power BI from Rookie to Rock Star, and Pro Power BI Architecture. Reza is the invited speaker at the world’s well-known conferences such as Microsoft Ignite, Microsoft Business Applications Summit, Ignite Tour, PASS Summit, and many other conferences. Reza is an active blogger and writes regularly about Power BI at https://radacad.com.

Cindy Gross

Twitter: - cindygross

LinkedIn: Cindy Gross

Contact: http://befriendingdragons.com

Cindy Gross is an Adaptive Community Leader founder of Befriending Dragons. She nurtures equitable tech cultures where everyone thrives and belongs. That starts with a foundation where workplace bullies and harassers are not tolerated. Cindy has met many scary dragons in her life – breast cancer, divorce, a layoff, changing roles and technologies, workplace harassment as a Microsoft woman in tech, constant striving to meet some impossible to meet bar for success, and the idea that we always have to put work first. Most recently she left the corporate world to strike out on her own, into a rich community filled with people who create justice, meaning, allies, and dreams.

Mike Lawell

Twitter: - @sqldiver

LinkedIn: Mike Lawell

Contact: http://sqlserverassociates.com/Blog

Mike Lawell is an 19 year veteran of SQL Server, working with all versions since 6.5. He specializes in performance tuning and high availability as an independent consultant.

He is a Linchpin People Teammate, he also consults with SolidQ, Intellinet and Microsoft Consulting Services.

He is also a certified Scuba instructor with a long bucket list of dive sites.

He resides in Atlanta, GA and you can catch him at many of the SQLSaturdays in the SE region of the United States.

J May

Twitter: - @aspiringgeek

LinkedIn: J May

Contact: http://blogs.msdn.com/jimmymay

Jimmy May is a Microsoft Certified Master (MCM). He’s formerly a Principal Architect at Microsoft as well as Senior Program Manager for the SQL Server Customer Advisory Team (SQL CAT) where he managed the Customer Lab which hosts the biggest, fastest, most interesting SQL Server apps from all over the world. More recently he was a SQL Server Technologist for what was Fusion-io’s Data Propulsion Lab (DPL). He is a founder of the IndyPASS IWUG user groups.

Colleen Morrow

Twitter: - @ClevelandDBA

LinkedIn: Colleen Morrow

Contact: http://colleenmorrow.com

Colleen Morrow is a database professional living in Cleveland, OH who has been working with database systems since 1996. For more than 12 years, she was a Database Administrator at a large law firm where she developed an appreciation for auditing, automation, and performance tuning. Since that time she has worked with clients in the healthcare, manufacturing, software, and distribution/freight delivery industries. Colleen is currently a Senior Consultant at Fortified Data. She is an active member of the Ohio North SQL Server User Group and has presented at many SQLSaturday events as well as PASS Summit 2014 and 2015.

David Dye

David is a Sergeant with the Cape Coral Police Department and currently works as a database administrator and developer in the Administrative Services Division. He began his career with the police department in 1990 in the patrol division and worked various assignments until being promoted to Sergeant in 1998. Based on his education and experience David was assigned to his current position in 2002 and is responsible for database administration, software integration, and development for public sa

Amit Banerjee

Twitter: - banerjeeamit

LinkedIn: Amit Banerjee

Contact: http://www.troubleshootingsql.com

I am a data professional with over a decade of experience in Relational Database Management Systems. I lead Program Management for the SQL Server engineering team focusing on the SQL Server database engine (Windows and Linux) and Azure SQL Edge.

My past experiences include Program Management for Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (HADR), Data Movement and Performance for SQL Server, Azure Database for PostgreSQL and Azure Database for MySQL.

I am an active blogger, co-author of Pro SQL Server on Microsoft Azure and Professional SQL Server 2012: Internals and Troubleshooting and a regular speaker at various community events like Microsoft Ignite, SQL PASS, TechEd, Virtual Tech Days, SQLSaturday and User Group meetin

Thomas Grohser

LinkedIn: Thomas Grohser

Thomas Grohser has spent most of the past 26+ years exploring the deeper inner workings of SQL Server and its features while working for entertainment, pharmaceutical, and financial services industries. His primary focus is to architect, plan, build, and operate reliable, highly available, secure, and scalable infrastructures for SQL Server. Over the years he has managed thousands of SQL Server instances, processing trillions of rows, taking up petabytes of storage. Thomas has been a Microsoft Data Platform MVP for 9 years and has spoken regularly at conferences, SQLSaturdays, and user groups for 12 years.

Michael Wells

Twitter: - @SqlTechMike

LinkedIn: Michael Wells

Contact: http://sqltechmike.com

Michael Wells is a Microsoft Specialist at Dell EMC covering enterprise customers. He has worked in IT since 2000 and has supported all versions of SQL Server from SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2014. Michael has been presenting since 2007 for local user groups, CodeCamps, SQLSaturday events, IT Pro Camps, and large conferences like PASS Summit and Oracle OpenWorld.

Mickey Stuewe

Twitter: - @SQLMickey

LinkedIn: Mickey Stuewe

Contact: http://www.MickeyStuewe.com

Mickey Stuewe has been working with SQL Server since 6.5. That gives her over 20 years of experience. She has not only been a database developer, but also an application developer, even before Visual Studio existed. She is now thankful to be focusing on database design, t-SQL development, and query optimization. She also has a habit of enjoying SSIS and data warehouse design.

She blogs regularly on her website mickeystuewe.com and contributes to sites such as SQL Server Central and SQL Server Pro. She enjoys presenting at PASS Summit, SQLSaturdays, User Groups and other events.

When she is not immersed in SQL related activities, she enjoys action movies, art, reading, and laughing. She laughs loudly and often…just ask her children.

Michael Fal

Twitter: - @Mike_Fal

LinkedIn: Michael Fal

Contact: http://mikefal.net

Mike is a specialist in data management technologies. As a community advocate, public speaker, and blogger, Mike is a practicing thought leader for data and automation. He is passionate about DevOps and data, building platforms to optimize, protect, and use data efficiently.

Since 1999, Mike has been working in the database field, focusing primarily on SQL Server and specializes in automating data solutions to improve the reliability and efficiency of his environments. He has been caught playing trombone in public on more than one occasion.

Scott Klein

Twitter: - SQLScott

Contact: http://aka.ms/sqlscott

Scott Klein is a senior consultant with SQL Solutions Group with over two decades of experience working with Microsoft SQL Server. Prior to SSG, Scott spent almost 10 years at Microsoft, traveling the globe as a technical evangelist training and speaking about SQL Server and Microsoft’s Azure data services. Scott’s recent focus has been on advanced analytics, including big data and IoT, providing real-world training to help bring intelligence to your data. Scott has authored several books focusing on data and data analytics. Scott is continuously striving and looking for ways to help developers and companies grok the wonderful world of data.

Jeff Renz

Twitter: - jeff_renz

LinkedIn: Jeff Renz

Contact: http://www.revgen.com

Jeff Renz is a Senior Architect at RevGen Partners, currently working as the design architect and implementation lead on several projects for a Fortune Top 50 company. Jeff has worked with SQL Server and BI for 15+ years and has 10 years’ experience with data warehouse design and implementation. In addition to consulting, he is joining the University of Denver adjunct faculty and is expected to begin teaching in the ICT program starting in June. He received his bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, his master’s degree in Operations Research from Colorado School of Mines, and will be graduating from the Harvard Business Analytics Program in December.

Bill Fellows

Twitter: - @billinkc

LinkedIn: Bill Fellows

Contact: http://blog.billfellows.net

Bill Fellows is a SQL Server MVP and has been a database developer for most of his career, with the past 15 years focused on ETL. He is the organizer of Kansas City’s eight SQLSaturdays and a speaker at many other SQLSaturdays, User Groups and the PASS Summit. Bill is the owner of Sterling Data Consulting where he gets to solve interesting data problems.

Allan Hirt

Twitter: - SQLHA

LinkedIn: Allan Hirt

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

SQLHA, LLC founder, consultant, trainer, author, and business continuity, infrastructure, and virtualization expert Allan Hirt has been working with SQL Server since 1992 when it was still a Sybase product. He has also been clustering in Windows Server since the late 1990s when it was known as Wolfpack. Currently a dual Microsoft MVP (Data Platform; Cloud and Datacenter Management) as well as a VMware vExpert, Allan works with all sizes of customers, no matter if they are on premises or in the public cloud. He also delivers training and speaks at events over the world.

Andy Yun

Twitter: - SQLBek

LinkedIn: Andy Yun

Contact: http://sqlbek.wordpress.com

Andy Yun is a SentryOne Principal Solutions Engineer and a former Microsoft MVP. He has been working with SQL Server for nearly 20 years as both a Database Developer and Administrator. Leveraging knowledge of SQL Server Internals and extensive experience in highly transactional environments, he strives to make T-SQL leaner and meaner. Andy is extremely passionate about passing knowledge onto others, regularly speaking at User Groups, SQLSaturdays, and PASS Summit. Andy is a co-founder of the Chicago SQL Association, co-Chapter Leader of the Chicago Suburban User Group, and part of the Chicago SQLSaturday Organizing Committee.

Tillmann Eitelberg

Twitter: - @_Tillmann

LinkedIn: Tillmann Eitelberg

Contact: http://www.ssis-components.net

Tillmann Eitelberg is CEO and co-founder of oh22information services GmbH, which specializes in data integration and data management. Tillmann is an active blogger at www.ssis-components.net, writing regularly about data quality topics and his passion: spatial data. In addition, he has published several SSIS components on Codeplex and GitHub. Tillmann is a Data Platform MVP, a board member of PASS Germany e.V., a PASS CL for the Cologne/Bonn region, and a PASS RM.

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.

Ken Puls

Twitter: - @kpuls

LinkedIn: Ken Puls

Contact: https://www.excelguru.ca/blog

Ken Puls, FCPA, FCMA is a Chartered Professional Accountant, author, and trainer. With over 20 years of experience as a corporate controller and business owner, he has been exposed to many business systems, databases, and analysis tools, leading to a career of building Excel and Power BI-driven applications to harness data and turn it into management information.

A Microsoft Excel/Data Platform MVP since 2006 and author of 2 books, Ken has also been recognized as a Fellow of CPA Canada.

Uwe Ricken

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

LinkedIn: Uwe Ricken

Contact: http://www.sqlmaster.de

Uwe Ricken is working with IT systems since the 90’s. The primary passion for developments with Microsoft SQL Server expanded in 2007 with his engagement as a DBA for Deutsche Bank AG in Frankfurt am Main. After 6 years of operational experiences as a DBA and over 14 years as a developer of complex database models he achieved the “Microsoft Certified Master – SQL Server 2008” certification which “was” the highest technical certification. In the same year he earned his first award as a Data Platform MVP for his support to the Microsoft SQL Server community in Germany and Europe. Uwe Ricken is a speaker on many international conferences and events and preferred topics are “Database Internals”, “Indexing” and “Development”.

Seth Washeck

Twitter: - @swasheck

LinkedIn: Seth Washeck

Contact: http://swasheck.wordpress.com

Seth Washeck, SentryOne senior solutions engineer, is a longtime SQL Server DBA, active member of the Denver SQL Server User Group, and frequent speaker at SentryOne events. He was formerly senior SQL Server DBA at OppenheimerFunds, and DBA of Baxter Healthcare.

John Martin

Twitter: - SQLDiplomat

LinkedIn: John Martin

Contact: https://www.mssqltips.com/sqlserverauthor/291/john-martin/

John Martin is a Data Platform Engineer working in the financial sector, as well as Vice President Marketing for the PASS organization and currently a Microsoft Data Platform MVP. Previously John has worked as a product manager for SentryOne and a Premier Field Engineer with Microsoft UK.

John has over a decade of experience working with SQL Server and the Microsoft Data Platform. Working as a DBA, developer and consultant for Microsoft, he has been lucky enough to see how best, and how not, to use SQL Server and the Data Platform effectively.

Tom Roush

Twitter: - @geeql

LinkedIn: Tom Roush

Contact: http://www.geeql.com/

Tom is a master storyteller, known to translate Geek into plain English in a single bound. His wry sense of humor, life experiences and vivid descriptions are skillfully combined with his expertise as a DBA to have you understanding SQL in ways you never thought you would. Tom’s explanations of why to do something are insightful, why not to do something enlightening, and the stories behind them, both tech and non-tech, will leave you laughing to the point you forget you’re learning something.

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

David Klee

Twitter: - kleegeek

LinkedIn: David Klee

Contact: http://davidklee.net

David Klee is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP and VMware vExpert with a lifelong passion for technology. David spends his days focusing on the convergence of data and infrastructure as the Founder of Heraflux Technologies. His areas of expertise include cloud, virtualization, performance, and business continuity. David speaks at a number of national and regional technology related events, including PASS Summit, VMware VMworld, SQLBits, SQLSaturday events, and many SQL Server User Groups.

Martin Catherall

Twitter: - MartyCatherall

LinkedIn: Martin Catherall

Contact: http://martincatherall.com

Martin is a data consultant in Melbourne, Australia, a Microsoft Data Platform MVP, and PASS Regional Mentor for the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. Martin founded the Christchurch, New Zealand PASS Local Group and lead the group for a number of years before relocating to Melbourne. He has been using SQL Server in various roles since 2000. In addition to anything data related, he enjoys playing the guitar and having fun with his family.

Steve Moss

LinkedIn: Steve Moss

Steve Moss is a Solutions Architect consulting in data and business intelligence with Slalom Portland . He is passionate about delivering enterprise data architecture solutions, the performance of data systems and data quality/master data management and in particular Azure Data technologies. He has over 18 years experience in SQL Server including roles as BI Architect, Data Architect, DBA Manager, Sr. DBA and .Net Developer. He has previously presented at SQLSaturday Redmond, SQLSaturday Oregon (4 years). He has attended Microsoft’s internal Cloud Solution Architect Training and is also a Certified AWS Solution Architect - Associate.

Steve Wake

Twitter: - stevewake

LinkedIn: Steve Wake

Contact: http://blog.wakebi.com

Steve Wake is currently the Principal BI Developer at Brown and Caldwell and has experience in consulting, advertising, media, manufacturing, retail, charities, telecommunications and financial services organizations using the full on-premises Microsoft BI stack. Recent experience with the Azure services: Analysis Services, Logic Apps, Data Factory, Databricks, Snowflake and Power BI. Steve is also very involved in the SQL community, speaking at events around the world.

Gabi Münster

Twitter: - @SQLMissSunshine

LinkedIn: Gabi Münster

Gabi Münster is working as a Business Intelligence consultant and team lead and brings in her experience with SQL Server, data warehousing, relational and multidimensional database design and implementation, report and dashboard design, and Master Data Services, as well as project management into the community as a regional PASS Local Group lead. She is also passionate about motivating other women to start a technical career and therefore initiates and supports “Women in Technology” events. Apart from SQLSaturdays, she also spoke at SQLBits, SQL Nexus, Tuga IT, and 2015’s and 2017’s PASS Summit. In October 2017 Gabi received her first Data Platform MVP award.

Jeremiah Peschka

Twitter: - @peschkaj

Contact: http://brentozar.com

Jeremiah Peschka sees the magic in technology. He knows how to do things now, and he also knows how to think about possibilities. Jeremiah likes to imagine new kinds of indexes, new kinds of teams, new kinds of applications. This means that when you need to reinvent something, or get unblocked, you should talk to Jeremiah.

Douglas Barrett

Twitter: - @dougy_jb

LinkedIn: Douglas Barrett

Contact: https://www.wherescape.com/blog/

Douglas has worked in the field of Business Intelligence for 20 years - concentrating primarily on data. Data Warehouse design, data processing, tuning, data quality - leading projects for Banks, Airlines, Retailers, Brewers (dim_beer anyone?), Universities etc. When not building data warehouses Douglas loves hiking in the Northwest.

It becomes abundantly clear after project 1 that agility - prototyping, iterations and collaboration with SMEs / BAs is the only way to de-risk a data project. Douglas works for WhereScape - a software company that builds agile tools for developing / managing data warehouses / vaults / hubs. The design will change - when it meets the data, when it meets the users - it is expected, lets make it easier.

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.

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.

Robert Davis

Twitter: - @SQLSoldier

LinkedIn: Robert Davis

Contact: http://www.sqlsoldier.com

Robert is a SQL Server Certified Master, MVP, and has spent 17+ years honing his skills in security, performance tuning, SQL development, high availability, and disaster recovery. He served as PM for the SQL Server Certified Master Program at Microsoft Learning, and in various roles at Microsoft specializing in SQL Server administration, development, and architecture. He currently works as a Database Engineer at BlueMountain Capital Management where he spends a vast majority of his time tuning massively parallel queries. Robert feeds his passion for security by acting as co-leader of the PASS Security Virtual Chapter.

Melody Zacharias

Twitter: - SQLMelody

LinkedIn: Melody Zacharias

Contact: http://sqlmelody.com

Melody is the Sr. Microsoft Solutions Manager at Pure and has been in love with data since 1991. She has been sharing her passion with the community in technical sessions and blogs since 2014. She has been a Microsoft MVP since 2016, including winning Rookie of the year for Canada that year. This last year, she was elected to the board of directors for PASS.org, the professional association for SQL Server and was awarded Regional Director by Microsoft. She has co-authored 3 books, including, SQL Server 2019 Administration inside out by Microsoft Press.

Martin Cairney

Twitter: - martin_cairney

LinkedIn: Martin Cairney

Martin has 20 years’ experience in SQL Server technologies. His experience spans both the Database Engine and infrastructure requirements, and Data Warehousing and BI implementations. He has worked across many industry sectors including London’s global financial institutions and both State and Federal Government Departments. He is a SQL Server MVP, MCT and an experienced conference presenter, having presented at PASS Summit, SQLBits, and SQLSaturday events and User Groups round the world

Julie Koesmarno

Twitter: - @mssqlgirl

LinkedIn: Julie Koesmarno

Contact: http://www.mssqlgirl.com

Julie Koesmarno, MCSE Data Platform, and MCSE Business Intelligence, MCT, is a Senior Program Manager at Microsoft, with a Bachelor’s degree in IT. She has over 10 years of experience working with SQL Server for large-scale and multi-million-dollar OLTP and ETL projects as a SQL Server developer and system analyst/designer. Her past projects include delivering a SQL Server 2012 data warehouse and BI solutions in the US and Australia. She now works with hybrid, cloud and on-prem SQL projects.

John McAbel

LinkedIn: John McAbel

Mr. McAbel is currently managing the Microsoft solution offerings on the Cisco Unified Computing System. His responsibilities cover a wide range of areas including charting solution roadmaps with Microsoft, determining benchmark and proof point focus, providing sales and customer education, and currently focusing on driving the Cisco Integrated Solution for Microsoft Azure Stack Offering. Prior to joining Cisco, Mr. McAbel held a similar position with IBM for their System x server product line (now Lenovo), and prior to that managed the operating system product requirements for Sequent Computer Systems, Inc. He holds a MBA from the University of Oregon and a BS in Business from Oregon State University.

Seth Washeck

Twitter: - @swasheck

LinkedIn: Seth Washeck

Contact: http://swasheck.wordpress.com

Seth Washeck, SentryOne senior solutions engineer, is a longtime SQL Server DBA, active member of the Denver SQL Server User Group, and frequent speaker at SentryOne events. He was formerly senior SQL Server DBA at OppenheimerFunds, and DBA of Baxter Healthcare.

Anthony van Gemert

Anthony has more than 14 years in IT leadership positions, including 8 years of program management with Microsoft leading and managing diverse teams globally. He currently works with the SQL data systems engineering team on SQL Stretch database, part of the SQL Server 2016 release. His focusing on front end UX, customer engagement, and the upgrade experience.

Niko Neugebauer

Twitter: - NikoNeugebauer

LinkedIn: Niko Neugebauer

Contact: http://www.nikoport.com

Niko Neugebauer is a Data Platform Consultant. A SQL Server MVP with over 20 years of experience in IT, he is passionate about the Microsoft Data Platform and community. Founder of the Portuguese SQL Server User Group and the main organizer of the first SQLSaturday event outside of North America (#78 Portugal), Niko speaks regularly at events such as PASS Summit, SQLRally, SQLBits, and SQLSaturday events around the world. Niko loves sharing information and knowledge and has authored over 130 blog posts on Columnstore Indexes, and regularly contributes to the open-sourced CISL library focused on Columnstore Indexes.

Theresa Iserman

Twitter: - @TheresaIserman

LinkedIn: Theresa Iserman

Theresa Iserman is a SQL Server Premier Field Engineer at Microsoft. She’s been working with databases for over 15 years and has held roles working with transactional amp; data warehouse systems, web application development, amp; technical project management. Theresa tweets at www.twitter.com/theresaiserman

Prakash Heda

Twitter: - @prakashheda

LinkedIn: Prakash Heda

Contact: http://www.sqlfeatures.com/

Prakash Heda works as Manager (Data-IT) at SSC Advent. His expertise encompasses the work of automation, performance tuning/troubleshooting, high availability, san configuration and windows administration. Heda has 13+ years of experience managing enterprise-wide data needs in both high volume transactional and data warehouse environments. Heda holds certifications for MCDBA and MCITP. His background includes administration development using VB/ASP/SSIS with SQL server 2000 to 2017. He is an active member of PASS, SQLSaturday, and as well a frequent presenter at user groups, SQLSaturdays, and other community events. He is also an avid tweeter, blogger and runner.

Frank Geisler

Twitter: - @Frank Geisler

LinkedIn: Frank Geisler

Contact: http://www.gdsbi.de

Frank Geisler is owner and CEO of GDS Business Intelligence GmbH. He is SQL Server MVP, MCT, MCSE – Business Intelligence, MCSE – Data Plattform and MCSE - Azure Solutions Architect. In his Job he is building Business Intelligence Systems based on Microsoft Technology, mainly on SQL Server and SharePoint.

Wolfgang Strasser

Twitter: - wstrasser

LinkedIn: Wolfgang Strasser

Contact: http://workingondata.wordpress.com/

Wolfgang Strasser creates solutions based on the Microsoft Data Platform tools in his day-to-day job as Business Intelligence consultant. Either using SQL Server Database Engine, SSIS, reporting with SSAS and SSRS, implementing Power BI solutions or cloud tools for data analysis - the data-tools-landscape is broadening every day! Based on his professional careers as a software developer he likes to work on structured development processes. Wolfgang shares his knowledge with the community at many national and international events. For his community work, Wolfgang has been awarded with the Microsoft MVP Award for Data Platform in October 2015

Misc Speakers

Oregon SQL provides opportunities for SQL Server developers, .NET and other developers accessing SQL Servers, SQL Server administrators, and Business Intelligence professionals to meet and discuss SQL Server technologies that are of specific interest to the developer community. Discussion topics include ‘Best Practices’, T-SQL code, Query Optimization, Reporting, ETL, Indexing, and new (as well as undiscovered ‘old’) features.

Misc Speakers

Oregon SQL provides opportunities for SQL Server developers, .NET and other developers accessing SQL Servers, SQL Server administrators, and Business Intelligence professionals to meet and discuss SQL Server technologies that are of specific interest to the developer community. Discussion topics include ‘Best Practices’, T-SQL code, Query Optimization, Reporting, ETL, Indexing, and new (as well as undiscovered ‘old’) features.

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.

Frank Gill

Twitter: - skreebydba

LinkedIn: Frank Gill

Contact: http://skreebydba.com/

Frank Gill is a Senior Data Engineer at Concurrency With 21 years of IT experience, the first 8 as a mainframe programmer, he has developed a love of all things internal. Over the past several years, he has worked extensively with SQL Server solution in Azure, including Managed Instance. When not administering databases or geeking out on internals, Frank volunteers at the Art Institute of Chicago and reads voraciously.

Bob Pusateri

Twitter: - @SQLBob

LinkedIn: Bob Pusateri

Contact: http://www.BobPusateri.com

Bob Pusateri is a Microsoft Certified Master, DBA, and systems architect with over 10 years of experience on SQL Server. His interests involve internals, performance optimization, and cloud technologies. He is an active member of two Chicago-area PASS Local Groups, a community speaker, and maintains a web presence through both Twitter (@SQLBob) and his blog (bobpusateri.com).

Carlos L Chacon

Twitter: - @CarlosLChacon

LinkedIn: Carlos L Chacon

Contact: http://sqldatapartners.com/blog

Carlos Chacon is the managing partner of SQL Data Partners LLC and co-host of the popular SQL Data Partners Podcast. While getting his start as a typical accidental DBA, Carlos has sat on Microsoft exam review panels, served as regional mentor and chapter leader. He enjoys traveling and has been to four continents, speaks Spanish and can eat his weight in raspberries (not yet proven). He and his family live in Richmond, Virginia.

OJ Ngo

Thanh quot;OJquot; Ngo is a Co-Founder of DH2i Company and is one of the principal architects for its core technology. Prior to DH2i, OJ was a software architect for Hewlett-Packard working on Windows software solutions. OJ was also a software architect at PolyServe Inc., where he was responsible for the design of the world#39;s first application virtualization solution for Microsoft SQL Server. From 2002-2008 he was a Microsoft SQL Server MVP. OJ earned his degree in Chemical Engineering degree from OSU.

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.

Sponsors

The following is a list of sponsors that helped fund the event:

• Microsoft Corporation (GAP)

• Cisco

• Idera

• SanDisk

• PernixData

• Profisee

• WhereScape

• Melissa Data Corp.

• Cisco

• Redgate Software (GAP)

• Micron

• DH2i

• SolidQ

• PASS

• COZYROC

• HushHush

• Serverlogic

• Comunidad Windows Costa Rica

• Robert L Davis

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