SQLSaturday #461 - Austin 2016

Event Date: 01/30/2016 00:00:00

Event Location:

Wingate by Wyndham Round Rock Hotel and Conference Center
1209 N IH 35
Round Rock, Texas

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: ColumnStore Index: Microsoft SQL Server 2014 and Beyond

Abstract: Column store technology was first introduced in SQL Server 2012 and has been significantly enhanced for SQL Server 2014 and SQL Server 2016. Column store indexes can not only accelerate data warehouse workloads by an order of magnitude but also reduce storage requirements by an order of magnitude. Column store indexes are a hybrid technology leveraging the best of disk in-memory capabilities. In this session we cover how to take advantage of column store capabilities in your applications and dive into the internals of how column store works in following areas. Business Rationale , Overview, Data Compression, Query Performance, Clustered Column Store Index, Supportability: DMVs, Perfmon, XEvents, High Availability/Supportability,

You will also learn what is available new in SQL Server 2012, SQL Server 2014 and SQL Server 2016.

Speaker(s):

Jayaprakash Jothiraman

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

Title: Introducing Azure Data Factory

Abstract: Who needs to move data around? Everyone, of course. Whether we’re moving data on-premises or in the cloud, Microsoft’s Azure Data Factory (ADF) service is a great way to compose and manage the pipelines that transform data inside and between our systems. ADF integrates well with existing Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) frameworks while closing the gaps left by data-UNaware task schedulers. In this introductory, highly-interactive session, you’ll learn how ADF can help you visualize, define and manage data as it moves around, no matter whether that’s on-premises, in the cloud or in between the two. Even though this is an introductory session, basic familiarity with common ETL and task-scheduling concepts is recommended.

Speaker(s):

Kevin Hazzard

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Cloud

Title: SS2014 In-Memory Tables: Formula 1 Performance Unleashed!

Abstract: Query performance is what it is all about. SQL Server 2014 now has the new in-memory functionality that takes a completely different approach to data access and manipulation. Google “In-Memory Tables” and you’ll get a myriad of results from white papers, blogs, webinars, etc. This session will consolidate the relevant information from all these sources so the production DBA/Developer will be able to understand, create, use, maintain, and trouble-shoot in-memory table functionality. This session will also examine several demo scripts showing performance gains using the in-memory tables over equivalent disk based tables.
This session is all about when and how to apply in-memory tables in a production environment. After this session you will

Understand what in-memory tables are and how to create and maintain them including their limitations
Be able to identify performance gains over equivalent disk back tables
Comprehend the new data monitoring needed for in-memory table

Speaker(s):

Mike Byrd

Track and Room: Application Database Development - Developer

Title: Introduction to Time Series Forecasting

Abstract: Imagine taking historical sales data and using data science to accurately predict future sales values. This is precisely the objective of time series forecasting – to predict future values based on previously observed values.

This session will introduce time series forecasting, and describe how different Microsoft BI products enable forecasting for various audiences, including the business analysts, IT developer, and even the Information Worker.

Topics will include Analysis Services forecasting by using the Microsoft Time Series algorithm with the Excel add-ins (Table Analysis Tools and the Client Tools), SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) and script. This session will also introduce and describe the impressive new forecasting capabilities delivered in Power View with Office 365. As part of Microsoft’s new approach to simplify complex Machine Learning technology, forecasting in Power View enables powerful forecasting capabilities for the unspecialized Information Worker.

Speaker(s):

Peter Myers

Track and Room: Advanced Analysis Techniques - BI

Title: Database Virtualization (Monster VM) – Vsphere 6

Abstract: This presentation is based upon a top 10 presentation “Virtualizing Databases: Doing IT Right given” at VMworld last year in Barcelona and the US. . In this presentation we will teach you how to properly virtualize any business critical application with specifics on databases and VMware newest release vSphere 6.0. A database is a very resource intensive by its very nature a monster VM and one of the most resource intensive applications you will ever virtualize. If it is not done correctly you will not be successful. This presentation will teach you how to do it right. We will discuss why you virtualize a database, using the right hypervisor, installation, Architecting for performance, the storage layer, the processor, Memory considerations, the network layer. Topics include NUMA, Memory reservations, Network details to how to avoid common mistakes.

Speaker(s):

Michael Corey

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Cloud

Title: SQL Server 2014/2016 In Memory Technologies - OLTP (aka Hekaton) ColumnSt

Abstract: With the advent of new hardware servers with hundreds of Gigabytes of RAM memory and incredibly faster CPUs with multi-core dies Microsoft has catapulted SQL Server above competitors with some new In Memory technologies. Did you ever want to have no locking, no blocking, no latch? For highly transactional systems, In Memory OLTP can boost performance 10x by hosting a table in memory and compiling the stored procedure in C code/DLL. Did you ever wanted to have queries return blazing fast for slow changing data? Updatable ColumnStore index allows for quick results to be returned as massive compression on the column exist and data is kept in RAM. Having participated in SQL14/SQL15/Hekaton TAP, I’ll be showing demo on both of these technologies, gotchas, best practices.

Speaker(s):

Reinaldo Kibel

Track and Room: Application Database Development - DBA2

Title: Azure Machine Learning: From Design to Integration

Abstract: Machine Learning is a subfield of computer science concerned with systems that learn from data. In this session, 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, and then finally to the integration and integration of predictive insights.

This session has been specifically designed to describe machine learning fundamentals, and to help enable and inspire existing developers taking their first steps to leverage cloud-based predictive models delivered with Azure Machine Learning. It is guaranteed to thrill you with potential, and excite you with the relative ease in which it can be accomplished.

Speaker(s):

Peter Myers

Track and Room: Advanced Analysis Techniques - Cloud

Title: Mission Possible: Interactive Performance Troubleshooting - Index

Abstract: Performance troubleshooting is detective work. We’ll have a lab system being assaulted by PowerShell scripts (to simulate live users), and simulated performance problems like those that can make your on-call cell phone ring too much! Do you think you have what it takes to find these “needle in the haystack” issues and resolve them quickly? This will be a highly interactive session where we will locate the rogue queries together, work through solutions, implement them and measure the results. In this episode we’ll focus primarily on improper indexing as a common underlying problem and all will walk away with much better troubleshooting skills and an upgraded knowledge of performance tuning!

Speaker(s):

Jim Murphy

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - DBA2

Title: The Data Warehouse of the Future

Abstract: So you think you have the ultimate Data Warehouse…well think again. The landscape or should I say the data lake is changing constantly. We are getting data from all over the place. How do we make it available and relevant for the consumers of a data warehouse. Is Kimbell obsolete now, what about unstructured data, how about the gazillioin rows of click data, etc. So the data and BI architects are all on suicide watch. Well its not really that bad. Microsoft has woken up and seen all that is going and has brought functionality to SQL Server to solve some of these issues. This presentation provides an overview of technologies such as Polybase, Temoporal Tables, Columnstore Index, In memory tables, JSON support, etc. that can be utilized to build the data warehouse of the future.

Speaker(s):

Stan Geiger

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

Title: Configuring SQL Server for Mission Critical and Scalable Deployments

Abstract: SQL Server offers various configuration settings and tuning parameters. As hardware capabilities increase rapidly, choosing the proper configuration settings is extremely important to scale SQL Server for the required application throughput rates. In the last two years, SQL Server Escalation Team has helped many systems administrators and database administrators scale their SQL Server with several configuration parameters and application patterns. In this session you will hear directly from an experienced member of the Microsoft SQL Server escalation team [Suresh Kandoth], about these specific learnings, configurations and approaches for scaling SQL Server on the largest hardware systems available on the planet. The goal of this session to help you and guide you to perform successful deployment of SQL Server for your largest SQL Server installations.

Speaker(s):

Suresh Kandoth

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Big Room

Title: Overview of Security Investments in SQL Server 2016 and Azure SQL Database

Abstract: Join me for an overview of the most recent security investments for SQL Server 2016 and Azure SQL Database in the areas of encryption, data filtering and data masking. I will showcase a real-life user scenario with examples and demos of Always Encrypted, Row Level Security and Dynamic Data Masking. The demos include a real working .NET application with source code for testing. This is based on the session and demos I co-presented with Microsoft at SQL Summit 2015 so if you missed Summit or the presentation and are interested in learning what Microsoft is doing in the area of security in SQL Server 2016 and Azure SQL DB then this is the session for you.

Speaker(s):

Jamey Johnston

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Cloud

Title: Introduction to Biml

Abstract: Have you ever needed to generate dozens (or even hundreds) of similar SSIS packages? Do you ever find yourself needing to regenerate a lot of packages when some piece of the upstream data format changes? Using native SSIS, this can be a tedious and error prone exercise. However, using Biml (Business Intelligence Markup Language) can greatly increase your productivity as an ETL developer.

In this session, we’ll cover the essentials of Biml. I’ll discuss what it is and what it can do for SSIS, demonstrating how it can easily generate dozens or even hundreds of packages in just a few minutes. I’ll also demonstrate some realistic examples and discuss how Biml fits into the enterprise ETL picture.

Speaker(s):

Tim Mitchell

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

Title: Monster Text Manipulation: Regular Expressions for the DBA

Abstract: Regular expressions can help you perform incredible tasks with very little effort. Need to create 1700 logins from an email request? Developers give you a single script with 300 stored procedures filled with table variables instead of temp tables? Need to move 500 databases to a different drive? Any of these tasks can take a long time to code, but regular expressions cuts that work from hours to seconds. I use regular expressions all the time and I have taken many tasks down from several days to just a few minutes. Stop writing code manually and let regular expressions do it for you. Here you’ll learn: • The most useful regular expression commands. • The appropriate times to use regular expressions. • How to use regular expressions to write code for you. • How to incorporate regular expressions into large tasks and combine them with other methods.

Speaker(s):

Sean McCown

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - DBA

Title: “Can I Get A Report of This?”: Introduction to SSRS

Abstract: In the day-to-day operations of business, how often have we heard or even asked someone the question ourselves, “Can I get a report of this?” Regardless of your area of expertise, reporting has become a necessity and requirement among businesses and is impacting our roles as IT professionals. With the huge wave of trendy reporting tools and software surrounding the BI industry, many people are unaware or often overlook SSRS as a reporting solution. In this session, we will look at the features and capabilities of SSRS, as well as supply you with the tools to begin fulfilling basic report requests. At the conclusion of this session, you will know the difference between Report Builder and SQL Server Data Tools to determine which one is suitable for your needs. You will also be able to create and deploy a basic report consisting of a data source, data set, a parameter and a row group.

Speaker(s):

Jeremy Frye

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

Title: Testing SSIS Packages

Abstract: Senior developer: “How do you test your code?” Junior developer: “I compile it.” It’s an old joke, but too often this reflects the reality of testing. If the code compiles, it has passed its test. Sadly, this principle is sometimes applied to Extract-Transform-Load (ETL) processes as well: “When the SSIS package runs without error, testing is complete.”

As in software development, testing of SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) packages should not end at when the package executes successfully. You must also confirm that the package does what it was intended to do without placing an undue performance burden on the system.

This session walks through design patterns for testing SSIS packages during and after the development process. The session covers topics such as these:

Performance testing
Patterns for validating execution results at runtime
Validating package metadata before execution
Design time versus runtime testing
Making a graceful exit: testing for error handling

Speaker(s):

Tim Mitchell

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

Title: Designing Stored Procedure Solutions

Abstract: With a little T-SQL experience, you can create a stored procedure that completes a task. But it’s harder to formulate a stored procedure solution with the big picture in mind. In this session, we will work through a real world scenario to develop a thorough solution. You will learn about:

Asking the right questions to set yourself up for success Making the case for stored procedures over ad hoc code and other objects Pro tips for standardization and cross-version compliance Reevaluating and expanding on your solution Limiting inputs to reduce unexpected behaviors and errors Choosing between alternate solutions Evaluating for performance

This session is for data professionals who can write T-SQL, but haven’t spent a lot of time in SQL development.

Speaker(s):

Jennifer McCown

Track and Room: Application Database Development - Developer

Title: SQL Server Database Encryption (TDE)

Abstract: Have you ever wanted to know how Transparent Database Encryption (TDE) works or how you set it up? This session will go over all the steps and caveats that go with this technology. This is a topic that is an Enterprise Feature, but allows you to have your database encrypted on disk. We will discuss the Encryption Hierarchy which is used for encryption in SQL Server. Become a SQL Server Encryption Master when you are done with this session.

Speaker(s):

Ben Miller

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Cloud

Title: Changing Your Habits to Improve the Performance of Your T-SQL

Abstract: Do you dread handing your T-SQL over for code review? Do your queries run slower than you expect? Does the DBA always want to tweak your T-SQL? In this demo heavy session, we’ll take a look at various ways to improve your T-SQL. You’ll learn about formatting T-SQL for readability and why top down design is not the best solution for writing T-SQL. You’ll learn why implicit conversions slow queries down and how to leverage simple techniques for minimizing the performance impact of explicit conversions. By changing some of your T-SQL writing habits you can improve performance of queries from the very beginning.

Speaker(s):

Mickey Stuewe

Track and Room: Application Database Development - Developer

Title: Using Power BI when Implementing Data Analytics Management Practices

Abstract: Providing the tools to implement data analytics is only one part of a successful project. Collaboration policies, data management roles, security, and training are all necessary to ensure the wide adoption of data based decision making throughout your organization. Business Analytics projects regularly require interaction with the technical teams who are responsible for ensuring the security, access and storage of the data. During this session we will discuss practices and methods learned to foster and continue good collaborative relationships between technical and analytics teams. The Power BI collaboration tools are used to illustrate the methods needed to encourage users to adopt data driven decision making in your organization. Attendees will leave the session with a methodology which they can implement in their environments to promote successful data based decision making based on proven methods provided to a number of clients in a number of industries.

Speaker(s):

Ginger Grant

Track and Room: BI Information Delivery - BI

Title: Enforce Best Practices with CMS and Policy Based Management

Abstract: You have a lot of servers and need to make sure you have consistent settings configured like disabling auto shrink, disabling extended stored procedures, or enabling database mail. I’ll show you how to check those settings across all your servers with Central Management Server and how you can manage a disperse environment. You will learn how to leverage the power of Policy Based Management to enforce those settings and standards in your enterprise. Best of all, you will see how to get alerts sent to you when one of your settings is changed.

Speaker(s):

Ryan Adams

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Big Room

Title: Analyze your query plan like a Microsoft Engineer!

Abstract: This session is a deep dive into query plans and is presented by a former Microsoft PFE (Field Engineer). Learn how a Microsoft Engineer looks at plans and go beyond the typical! There will be plenty of demos and a lot to learn. Join me as I cover the “noteworthy” query plan patterns that go beyond the normal areas that customer tend to investigate. This session covers SQL Server 2005 forward and includes the new SQL Server 2016 Query Store and Live Query Statistics.

Speaker(s):

Daniel Janik

Track and Room: Advanced Analysis Techniques - DBA

Title: Database Design Throwdown

Abstract: Everyone agrees that great database performance starts with a great database design. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees which design options are best. Data architects and DBAs have debated database design best practices for decades. Systems built to handle current workloads are unable to maintain performance as workloads increase.

Attend this new and improved session and join the debate about the pros and cons of database design decisions. This debate includes topics such as logical design, datatypes, primary keys, indexes, refactoring, code-first generators, and even the cloud. Learn about the contentious issues that most affect your end users and how to avoid them.

Speaker(s):

Karen Lopez

Track and Room: Application Database Development - Big Room

Title: Know what your machines are doing besides SQL Server - WMI, WQL, and PoSH

Abstract: There’s far more happening on your Windows servers than just SQL Server, and looking at ERRORLOG won’t show you the whole story: other applications stealing your memory, OS issues, hardware errors, and more. We’ll start by looking at different ways to collect Event Logs. From there we’ll delve into WMI and WQL, which allow us to query servers (remotely or locally) to get information such as performance statistics, System and Event Logs, and even changes within SQL Server.

We’ll finish it off with two immediately-usable implementations you can set up on Monday.

Speaker(s):

Michael Bourgon

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - DBA

Title: Making the Leap from Developer to DBA

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

Speaker(s):

Amy Herold

Track and Room: Professional Development - DBA2

Title: From Here to Azure

Abstract: As the concept of Hybrid Datacenter becomes more mainstream data professionals will need to understand how to effectively manage and migrate data between on-premises and cloud servers. Attend this interactive session and learn how to create, deploy, and migrate data from your on-premises instance of SQL Server to Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines and Microsoft Azure SQL Database.

Attendees of this session will learn (1) How to decide if IaaS of PaaS is the right option, (2) How to prepare your database for migration to SQL Azure, (3) How to best migrate data to Microsoft Azure.

Speaker(s):

Thomas LaRock

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Cloud

Title: Parameter Sniffing the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Abstract: Parameter sniffing is something that more than often helps performance on your servers; however, there are times when it can hinder performance as well. In this session we will define exactly what parameter sniffing is, and examine when it is good and when it is bad. Lastly, we will explore the different options available to fix bad parameter sniffing. After this session, you will be able to locate and fix bad parameter sniffing when it occurs on your servers.

Speaker(s):

Lance Tidwell

Track and Room: Application Database Development - Developer

Title: Strategies for Working with Texas-sized Databases

Abstract: Very large databases (VLDBs), or just “databases” as they’re known in Texas, are just like regular databases, right? There’s just more of them to love.

Working with very large databases can be difficult and tricky at times. Everything takes longer, there’s more locking, more logging, and minor issues become major very quickly. In this session you will learn some strategies for working with VLDBs such as how to speed up backups and restores, how to fit index maintenance and integrity checks into a thin maintenance window, and how to efficiently and quickly set up failover partners and replicas.

Speaker(s):

Robert Davis

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Big Room

Title: Backup and Restore Tips and Tricks

Abstract: Do you need to devise a backup and restore plan to meet the Recovery Point Objective (RPO) and Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of your business? I’ll show you how to pick the right backup type, method, and recovery model to meet your business needs. You’ll learn how the network and drive format can have an effect on your backups and avoid the pitfalls that slow down your backup and restore plan. You’ll also learn how to keep your transaction log from growing uncontrollably while speeding up your backups and restores using the native tools without any added cost!

Speaker(s):

Ryan Adams

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - DBA

Title: Introducing SQL Server 2016 (Part One)

Abstract: SQL Server 2016 is one of the largest SQL Server releases of all time. This talk will give an overview of the features we are introducing to give you a primer on how this release of SQL can help you and your business succeed.

Speaker(s):

Conor Cunningham

Track and Room: DBA Track - Big Room

Title: Branding Yourself for a Dream Job

Abstract: Everyone wants a dream job that they enjoy going to each week. However finding that job, and getting yourself hired can be hard for most people. Steve Jones will give you practical tips and suggestions in this session that show you how to better market yourself, how to get the attention of employers, and help improve the chances that the job you want will get offered to you. Learn about networking, blogging, and more.

Speaker(s):

Steve Jones

Track and Room: Professional Development - DBA2

Title: Service Broker: Coach your processes asynchronously

Abstract: This session is an introduction to Service Broker basics. Service Broker is your way to process your data asynchronously in a single instance setting as well as use as a near real time ETL. At the end of this session, you will have the knowledge to use Service Broker for batch processing, ETL or even an alternative to replication.

Speaker(s):

William Wolf

Track and Room: Application Database Development - DBA2

Title: Introducing SQL Server 2016 (Part Two)

Speaker(s):

Conor Cunningham

Track and Room: DBA Track - Big Room

Title: Fun Facts about Availability Groups

Abstract: Discussion regarding “Fun Facts” pertaining to AGs For Example “max worker threads” minus 40 or Cross database ownership chaining support in AGs

Speaker(s):

Joe Hellsten

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - DBA

Title: Make Your SQL Server Queries Go Faster

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

Speaker(s):

John Sterrett

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - DBA

Title: Transform SQL Server Agility with XtremIO

Abstract: All-Flash Arrays deliver IOPS in abundance. XtremIO goes further to provide predictable, consistent sub-millisecond latency and unleash agility for your SQL Server databases. Our unique XtremIO Virtual Copies (XVC) capabilities allow for fully writable copies for production, test/dev, reporting/analytics workloads on our market leading consolidation platform. This allows for consolidation of your SQL Server based environments onto a single array to maximize efficiency.

Speaker(s):

Bryan Walsh

Track and Room: Other - DBA2

Title: Continuous Deployments using SSDT

Abstract: DevOps is a word that gets thrown around a lot these days and is the way most shops will operate in the future. In my presentation I’ll show you how to fast forward to the future by automating your deployments from SSDT using Powershell and SQLPackage.exe.

Speaker(s):

Christopher Wolff

Track and Room: Application Database Development - Developer

Title: SQL Server Deprecated and Discontinued Features

Abstract: Support for SQL Server 2005 ends in April 2016 - do you still need to upgrade? Each version of SQL Server provides a list of features which are deprecated – meaning they will be removed in a future version – and a list of features previously deprecated which are discontinued in that version. This session will discuss the deprecated\discontinued features starting with SQL 2008 and will show you how to identify deprecated features so that you can upgrade with ease when those features are discontinued in the version to which you are upgrading.

Speaker(s):

Nancy Hidy Wilson

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - DBA2

Speakers

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

Christopher Wolff

Twitter: - @tickytong

LinkedIn: Christopher Wolff

Contact: http://sqlred.blogspot.com/

Chris Wolff has been a developer, report writer, and an admin in Microsoft and SQL Server Space since SQL Server 2000 in industries such as telecommunications, green energy, money transfers, and online accounting. He has been an active member of the Denver SQL User Group since 2011 and enjoys learning new things about computers. His interests includes video games, movies, and enjoying time with his wife and 2 kids.

Lance Tidwell

Twitter: - @Lance_LT

Contact: http://lancetidwell.com

Lance Tidwell, from the Austin, TX, area, has worked as a SQL Server DBA for the last 11 years. During his time as a DBA he has found his passion for all things SQL, but specifically for performance tuning. He has a life-long quest to always be learning new things; currently this quest has lead him to explore more about the Data Analytics/ Data Science areas.

Conor Cunningham

Conor has been at Microsoft for over 17 years – all of that building database engines. He currently serves as the architect for the SQL Server core engine for the upcoming SQL Server 2016 release. Previously he worked on the SQL Azure V12 (Sterling) release and versions of SQL Server starting with SQL Server 7.0. His areas of expertise include query processing and optimization, data warehousing, distributed systems, performance and scaling, and building large scale data-driven applications that scale effectively. Conor is a co-author of the book “Inside SQL Server 2012” where he wrote the query optimization chapter, co-author of a number of academic papers on database systems design, and has been granted 13 patents on database design.

Stan Geiger

Data Architect and BI Architect. Experience building Data Warehouse and ETL platforms, BI Analytics and OLTP systems. He is currently a Director of Product Manager at Idera, responsible for the development of the multi-platform tools.

John Sterrett

Twitter: - JohnSterrett

LinkedIn: John Sterrett

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

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

Conor Cunningham

Daniel Janik

Twitter: - @SQLSME

LinkedIn: Daniel Janik

Contact: http://www.sqltechblog.com

Daniel Janik has been supporting SQL Server for 18 years. Six of those years were at Microsoft Corporation supporting SQL Server as a Senior Premier Field Engineer (PFE) where he supported over 287 different clients with both reactive and proactive database needs. Daniel has presented at many community events and SQLSaturdays.

Jayaprakash Jothiraman

Jayaprakash Jothiraman (Jay) has worked with Microsoft SQL Server Escalation support team for 12 years. Jay has tremendous experience in troubleshooting, solving complex and challenging SQL Server issues. Jay has experience in Database corruption, Upgrades and Migration, Database Backup and Recovery, Installation, data warehouse related issues. Jay has created KB article, training documents for Microsoft engineers.

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.

Steve Jones

Twitter: - way0utwest

LinkedIn: Steve Jones

Contact: http://www.voiceofthedba.com/

Steve Jones is a Microsoft SQL Server MVP and has been working with SQL Server since version 4.2 on OS/2. After working as a DBA and developer for a variety of companies, Steve co-founded the community website SQLServerCentral.com in 2001. Since 2004, Steve has been the full-time editor of the site, ensuring it continues to be a great resource for SQL Server professionals. Over the last decade, Steve has written hundreds of articles about SQL Server for SQLServerCentral.com, SQL Server Standard magazine, SQL Server Magazine, and Database Journal.

Jamey Johnston

Twitter: - STATCowboy

LinkedIn: Jamey Johnston

Contact: http://STATCowboy.com

Jamey Johnston is a Senior Data Scientist/Engineer for a large independent OG company. For over 25 years, he has worked for Fortune 500 companies architecting successful platforms in the cloud, on the edge, and on-premises for BI reporting, statistical analysis, ML, and AI. Lately, he spends his time in Azure, Python, R, Power BI, MS SQL, and SAS JMP. He holds a BS in Spatial Analysis from LSU and a Masters of Science in Analytics from Texas AM. He is a professor at the Mays Business School at Texas AM in the MS Analytics program. He is active in his PASS Local Group in Houston, co-leader of the local Power BI users group and data analytics group. He regularly speaks and volunteers at PASS events. He is also a Microsoft Data Platform MVP.

Kevin Hazzard

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

LinkedIn: Kevin Hazzard

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

Kevin Hazzard is a Partner at Linchpin People LLC, leaders in the data integration and database wellness space. He was a long-time Microsoft MVP and the author of a book entitled Metaprogramming in .NET. Kevin also serves as an elected member of his local School Board and dedicates most of his non-professional time promoting public education.

Jennifer McCown

Twitter: - http://www.Twitter.com/MidnightDBA

LinkedIn: Jennifer McCown

Contact: http://www.MidnightDBA.com/Jen

Jen McCown is CEO of MinionWare, LLC; a Microsoft Certified Master for SQL Server; and an independent consultant. She is Senior Editor at MidnightDBA.com, where she creates training videos, the DBAs at Midnight webshow, blogs, reviews, and podcasts. Jen is a member, volunteer, and speaker in PASS, and the PASS Women in Technology Virtual Group.

Karen Lopez

Twitter: - @datachick

LinkedIn: Karen Lopez

Contact: http://datamodel.com

Karen Lopez is a Sr. Project Manager and Architect for InfoAdvisors. A frequent speaker at conferences and local user groups, she has 20+ years of experience in project and data management on large, multi-project programs. Karen is a chronic volunteer, a Data Platform MVP, and an active advocate for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and data quality.

Karen’s presentations are known for their lively and interactive approach to learning. Her motto: “Love Your Data!”

Reinaldo Kibel

Twitter: - @sqlmii

LinkedIn: Reinaldo Kibel

With over 20 years of experience in Microsoft SQL Server technology, working in one of the largest MS SQL installation in the world at Dell and having worked at Microsoft, Reinaldo is a consultant, an architect and leader in the database technology area. Reinaldo is an advisory and provides direct feedback to Microsoft SQL Server Product team part of Technology Adoption Program with MS on versions 2005, 2008, 2008R2, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2017 leader at Dell. Reinaldo has written case studies, white papers and videos on Data technology available at Microsoft and Dell web sites. Reinaldo has presented at Ignite, SQL Summit, SQLSaturdays, and 24HOP as well as local users group in TX.

Sean McCown

Twitter: - @KenpoDBA

Contact: http://www.midnightdba.com/dbarant

Sean McCown is a Certified Master with 23 years of experience in databases. He is also founder and co-owner of the MidnightDBA.com website, where he records free SQL Server training videos. He also writes the popular Minion Maintenance suite, the most configurable maintenance solution on the planet.

Bryan Walsh

Twitter: - @BryanJWalsh

20 years into a career focused on Microsoft technologies and the impact of they make for companies across all industries and verticals. Started at EMC in 2006 and have held numerous leadership roles that champion Microsoft to our field, partners and customers. In my current role at XtremIO, my primary focus is SQL Server and how to unlock agility and end storage inefficiency.

Tim Mitchell

Twitter: - @Tim_Mitchell

LinkedIn: Tim Mitchell

Contact: http://www.TimMitchell.net

Tim Mitchell is a business intelligence architect, author, and trainer. He has worked with SQL Server for over a decade, specializing in data warehousing, ETL/SSIS, and reporting. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science from Texas AM at Commerce, and is recognized as a Microsoft Data Platform MVP. Tim is a business intelligence consultant and principal at Tyleris Data Solutions.

Tim is an active community speaker and volunteer, having spoken at over 100 events including the PASS Summit, SQLBits, Dev Connections, SQL Intersection, and scores of SQLSaturdays. He blogs at TimMitchell.net, and tweets at @Tim_Mitchell.

Ben Miller

Twitter: - DBAduck

LinkedIn: Ben Miller

Contact: https://dbaduck.com

Ben has been a member of the SQL Server Community since 2000. He loves a challenge and has fixed many SQL Servers and helped hundreds of people get more out of their DBA jobs. He is a Data Platform MVP a SQL Server Certified Master (MCM). He has worked at various companies throughout the USA, as well as at Microsoft for 7 years. He is passionate about SQL Server Infrastructure, High Availability, Automation and Integration using SMO and PowerShell. He teaches DBAs how to use PowerShell to do their job and teaches SQL Server Internals. He is @DBAduck all around the web (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Blog) so let’s catch up.

Michael Bourgon

Twitter: - @mbourgon

LinkedIn: Michael Bourgon

Contact: http://thebakingdba.blogspot.com

Michael Bourgon started his IT career by performing tech support and managing Sybase databases on Unix starting in 1995, before moving to SQL Server 7… continuing all the way to SQL Server 2017. His focus on automation has led him to such diverse topics as Service Broker, WMI, Table Partitioning, Shell scripting, In-Memory Tables, and Powershell. He’s currently a senior DBA with a large healthcare company, dealing with millions of transactions of day and managing hundreds of servers. In his spare time he rides a bicycle, reads science fiction, blogs about SQL Server and Baking, and tries to raise his daughter to be a geek, too.

William Wolf

Twitter: - sqlwarewolf

LinkedIn: William Wolf

Contact: http://www.sqlwarewolf.com

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

Ginger Grant

Twitter: - desertislesql

LinkedIn: Ginger Grant

Contact: http://www.DesertIsleSQL.com

Ginger Grant manages the consultancy Desert Isle Group and shares what she has learned while working with data technology to people around the world. As a Microsoft MVP in Data Platform, Microsoft Certified Trainer and an instructor on DataCamp, she focuses on guiding clients to create solutions using the entire Microsoft Data Stack, which includes SQL Server, Power BI, and Azure Data Cloud components. When not working, she protypes the latest pre-release data technologies, maintains her blog http://www.desertislesql.com, and spends time on twitter @desertislesql.

Peter Myers

LinkedIn: Peter Myers

Peter Myers is a consultant, trainer and presenter, and has worked with Microsoft database and development products since 1997. Today he specializes in all Microsoft Business Intelligence products and also authors training course content for Microsoft products and services.

He has a broad business background supported by a bachelor’s degree in applied economics and accounting, and he extends this with extensive experience backed by current MCSE certifications. He has been a Data Platform MVP since 2007.

Mike Byrd

Twitter: - ByrdNest_TX

LinkedIn: Mike Byrd

Contact: http://logicalread.solarwinds.com/?s=byrd, www.TSQLMentoring.com and SQLServerCentral.com

Former rocket scientist and USAF Fighter Pilot – now a SQL Server geek (24 years)! Past opportunities include free-lance technical writer for PC Magazine, Senior Software Manager for government sponsored munitions effectiveness committee, and insurance company CTO. Currently senior database engineer consultant for several Austin companies.

Presenter at many SQLSaturdays over last 6 years in United States, Europe, and Australia.

Specialize in SQL Server performance tuning; database (OLTP OLAP) architecture; trouble-shooting; teaching TSQL (Basic through Advanced).

Video presentations (for local SQL Server user groups or SQLSaturdays) can be found at http://usergroup.tv/videos/category/speaker/mike-byrd

Joe Hellsten

MS SQL server professional with 15 years experience. MCTS

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.

Peter Myers

LinkedIn: Peter Myers

Ryan Adams

Twitter: - @ryanjadams

LinkedIn: Ryan Adams

Contact: http://www.ryanjadams.com

Ryan Adams is a Senior Premier Field Engineer for Microsoft. He works directly with customers to help them realize their business potential and accelerate their digital transformation on premises and in the cloud.

Previously, Ryan was a Microsoft Data Platform MVP and spent 19 years working for a fortune 100 company. His passion is the SQL Server Engine, High Availability, and Disaster Recovery. He also served on the Board of Directors for the North Texas SQL Server User Group, was President of the PASS Performance Virtual Chapter, was a PASS Regional Mentor, and served as a Director for the PASS organization.

Suresh Kandoth

LinkedIn: Suresh Kandoth

Suresh Kandoth is a Technology Lead in the Microsoft Data Platform support team in Dallas, Texas. He has worked with Microsoft since 2001 and worked on SQL Server releases all the way from SQL Server 6.5 to SQL Server 2016. Suresh works on solving many complex issues for customers who deploy SQL Server for mission critical applications and environments. Suresh also works with the SQL Server development team constantly to improve the quality and customer experience of SQL Server features and components. Suresh has written many Knowledge Base articles, blog posts and whitepapers. Suresh also presents in SQLSaturdays and local conferences in Texas.

Tim Mitchell

Twitter: - @Tim_Mitchell

LinkedIn: Tim Mitchell

Contact: http://www.TimMitchell.net

Jeremy Frye

Twitter: - SQLBInstein

LinkedIn: Jeremy Frye

Contact: https://jeremyfrye.net

Jeremy Frye is the manager of the Business Intelligence and data warehousing team at RDX. He is a Business Intelligence architect and developer with a background in database administration as well. Jeremy has over 9 years of experience in SQL Server. He has spoken on BI topics at many SQLSaturday’s throughout the country, webinars, and local and remote SQL user groups. In his spare time, Jeremy often spends time trying to bridge the gap between keyboard strokes and workout reps.

Nancy Hidy Wilson

Twitter: - @NancyHidyWilson

LinkedIn: Nancy Hidy Wilson

Contact: http://nancyhidywilson.wordpress.com

Nancy Hidy Wilson has been working with Microsoft SQL Server since 1994. She originally volunteered for PASS at the first Community Summit held in Chicago in 1999 and has served on various PASS Committees since that time. Nancy was a PASS Community Summit speaker from 2000-2007. Nancy led the Houston Area SQL Server User Group (HASSUG) from 2001-15 and presents there and at SQLSaturday events. She also currently volunteers as an editor for the SQL Server Benchmarks with CIS.

Michael Corey

Twitter: - Michael_corey

LinkedIn: Michael Corey

Contact: http://michaelcorey.com/

Michael is a Director Cloud Computing Evangelist for Spectrum Enterprise Navisite. In 2017, was recognized as #42 of the top 100 most influential people in the “cloud industry”. Michael’s a recognized Microsoft Data Platform MVP formerly (Microsoft SQL Server MVP), recognized Oracle ACE, a recognized VMware vExpert and has worked with relational databases for over 30 years starting with Oracle Version 3. Michael is a Past President of the Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG), A Founder of the Professional Association of SQL Server and current President of the IOUG VMware Special Interest Group. Michael is the original Oracle Press author, frequent blogger http://michaelcorey.com/, a regular columnist for the Big Data Quarterly

Ryan Adams

Twitter: - @ryanjadams

LinkedIn: Ryan Adams

Contact: http://www.ryanjadams.com

Thomas LaRock

Twitter: - @SQLRockstar

LinkedIn: Thomas LaRock

Contact: http://thomaslarock.com

Thomas LaRock is a Head Geek at SolarWinds and a Microsoft Certified Master, Data Platform MVP, VMware vExpert, and a Microsoft Certified Trainer. He has over 15 years’ experience in the IT industry in roles including programmer, developer, analyst, and database administrator.

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.

Jim Murphy

Twitter: - http://www.twitter.com/sqlmurph

LinkedIn: Jim Murphy

Contact: http://sqlwatchmen.com/blogs/jim/

Jim Murphy has been using Microsoft SQL Server since version 6.0 back in the 90#39;s. He is the CEO of SQLWatchmen, LLC., a managed DBA service provider. He runs the Austin SQL Server User Group: CACTUSS Central. He has been a professional DBA and developer for over 25 years and has run a consulting company full time since 2001.

SQLSaturday #461 - Austin 2016

Sessions

Title: ColumnStore Index: Microsoft SQL Server 2014 and Beyond

Title: Introducing Azure Data Factory

Title: SS2014 In-Memory Tables: Formula 1 Performance Unleashed!

Title: Introduction to Time Series Forecasting

Title: Database Virtualization (Monster VM) – Vsphere 6

Title: SQL Server 2014/2016 In Memory Technologies - OLTP (aka Hekaton) ColumnSt

Title: Azure Machine Learning: From Design to Integration

Title: Mission Possible: Interactive Performance Troubleshooting - Index

Title: The Data Warehouse of the Future

Title: Configuring SQL Server for Mission Critical and Scalable Deployments

Title: Overview of Security Investments in SQL Server 2016 and Azure SQL Database

Title: Introduction to Biml

Title: Monster Text Manipulation: Regular Expressions for the DBA

Title: “Can I Get A Report of This?”: Introduction to SSRS

Title: Testing SSIS Packages

Title: Designing Stored Procedure Solutions

Title: SQL Server Database Encryption (TDE)

Title: Changing Your Habits to Improve the Performance of Your T-SQL

Title: Using Power BI when Implementing Data Analytics Management Practices

Title: Enforce Best Practices with CMS and Policy Based Management

Title: Analyze your query plan like a Microsoft Engineer!

Title: Database Design Throwdown

Title: Know what your machines are doing besides SQL Server - WMI, WQL, and PoSH

Title: Making the Leap from Developer to DBA

Title: From Here to Azure

Title: Parameter Sniffing the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Title: Strategies for Working with Texas-sized Databases

Title: Backup and Restore Tips and Tricks

Title: Introducing SQL Server 2016 (Part One)

Title: Branding Yourself for a Dream Job

Title: Service Broker: Coach your processes asynchronously

Title: Introducing SQL Server 2016 (Part Two)

Title: Fun Facts about Availability Groups

Title: Make Your SQL Server Queries Go Faster

Title: Transform SQL Server Agility with XtremIO

Title: Continuous Deployments using SSDT

Title: SQL Server Deprecated and Discontinued Features

Speakers

Sponsors