SQLSaturday #493 - Silicon Valley 2016

Event Date: 04/09/2016 00:00:00

Event Location:

  • Microsoft Technology Center
  • 1065 La Avenida
  • Mountain View, California

PDF of Schedule

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Sessions

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


Title: DBaaS Overview Migration - A Practical Guide

Abstract: Amazon, Microsoft, VMWare, and many other companies are opening up Database-as-a-Service to the general public. These new database offerings can be perceived as a threat as well as a source of confusion to a DBA, but they’re coming and you need to be ready.

In this presentation, Scott McCormick will cover Amazon’s and Microsoft’s DBaaS products. These are the leading SQL Server DBaaS vendors, and they have the most complete offerings to date.

You’ll learn about: * Current DBaaS flavors and their future * Use cases for DBaaS instances * Security Best Practices for a DBaaS environment * Pros Cons of Amazon Microsoft DBaaS ** Including a cost comparison of each performance tier * How to migrate your database ** A walk through of Amazon’s AWS Migration tool *** A walk through of migrating to Microsoft’s Azure SQL DB using replication

Speaker(s):

  • Scott McCormick

Track and Room: Cloud Application Development Deployment - Saturn (BI Dev)


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: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Nebula (Bonus)


Title: Increase your SSIS productivity with Biml

Abstract: Business Intelligence Markup Language (Biml) is an XML language for Microsoft Business Intelligence that can take your Integration Services package development to the next level. Creating template packages added productivity to your Integration Services development effort. If the template design changes after development begins, a fair amount of rework to packages could be needed. See how Biml can help create template packages that can better adapt to changing business needs and allow for more comprehensive design or redesign.

This session will be a demo based session that will inspire you to make Biml your number one integration services development tool. Learn how to use Biml scripts to create staging tables and integration services packages. Add metadata to your Biml scripts and really watch the possibilities expand.

Speaker(s):

  • Reeves Smith

Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - Saturn (BI Dev)


Title: Table Partitioning -Beyond the Basics

Abstract: You’ve read about table partitioning; you know that partitioning ‘promises’ to solve some performance issues, make backups -and even restores, faster, and, wait, wait, there’s more! Perhaps you have worked through demo code and set up a POC scenario. It looks good, like maybe it would solve some of the problems your organization faces.

But …

You’re just not sure how to pull it off. Sure, the demo code made it seem easy -and it will always be realtively simple for new tables, new data. You have a handle on the ‘basics’. However, your production database has very large tables, hundreds of millions, or even billions, of rows. The SLA does not allow much, if any, downtime.

This session will look at how Table Partitioning can be introduced into existing production environments with little or no downtime And we will explore the ‘real’ performance and maintenance benefits that can be harvested. So, if you want to move beyond the ‘Basics’, don’t miss this session.

Speaker(s):

  • Arnie Rowland

Track and Room: Strategy and Architecture - Exec Conf (SQL Server Fundamentals)


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

Abstract: Understanding how SQL Server organizes your data under the hood can seem like a daunting task. In this session we’ll take a look at how objects such as tables and indexes are stored in the data file. We’ll also look at how these concepts tie in to your work as a DBA or developer. We’ll see these concepts in action using demos and see how we can use this knowledge to better design solutions.

We’ll start off by looking at the structure of a row and then move on the concept of a data page. From there we’ll cover a few special page types like the index allocation map. Then we’ll look at index structures and talk about the differences between heaps and clustered indexes.

Speaker(s):

  • Brandon Leach

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Nebula (Bonus)


Title: The New Revolution in Data Science, R Integrated into SQL Server

Abstract: Data Science is an ever increasing topic in the Data Analytics space and the R language is at the center of most conversations. R is an open source statistical language that is rapidly gaining popularity due to a robust set of machine learning functionality and a never-ending set of R packages that are used to increase functionality of the core R language. The R language is run as a desktop application and was not built with performance and scale required to accommodate Big Data. Revolution Analytics, a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft, has solved the performance and scaling issues of a desktop application by creating a more robust enterprise architecture. SQL Server 2016 brings the power of R and Revolution Analytics into the industry leading relational database.

This session will demo the functionality and power of using R within SQL Server.

Speaker(s):

  • Reeves Smith

Track and Room: Advanced Analysis Techniques - Saturn (BI Dev)


Title: PolyBase in SQL Server 2016: Query Hadoop with ease

Abstract: With the increased volumes of unstructured and semi-structured data , organizations are adopting heterogeneous data stores like Hadoop and cloud, requiring new skill sets to operate and making it harder for DBAs to build applications over them. This session will describe PolyBase, a new feature in SQL Server 2016, that will open the doors to data stored outside of SQL Server. PolyBase allows customers to use T-SQL to access and query data residing in Hadoop or Azure blob storage. It can intelligently push-down computation to Hadoop by generating Map jobs on-the-fly as well as scale-out query processing in SQL Server to enable highly performant queries on massive Hadoop data sets.

This session will cover the PolyBase fundamentals of what the feature is, how customers are using it and how it works under-the-covers. In addition, the session will include a Live Demonstration of how PolyBase can be used to bring relational and semi-structured data together using SQL skill sets.

Speaker(s):

  • Sahaj Saini

Track and Room: Analytics Visualization - Mercury (Cloud Big Data)


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: Application Database Development - Mercury (Cloud Big Data)


Title: Lightning Talks - Sacramento SQL Server User Group

Abstract: LT1: Title: SSRS report development for SSMS Description: Have you ever used the standard Microsoft reports in SSMS, reports that help show server activity, performance counters or missing indexes? Ever thought you could make a better looking report, or just wanted to visualize something else in your environment? This session will outline how to develop SSRS reports for use in SSMS, showing some of the default parameters that SSMS uses. We’ll also see some live reports visualizing jobs and databases as an example.

LT2: Title: Getting Started with SQL Server Data Compression Description: The Enterprise Edition of SQL Server has offered native data compression since the 2008 version, but are you using it?

LT3: Title: Hidden Gems of SSMS Description: We will show you some of the unknown features of SSMS that will make your life easier.

LT4: Title: Auditing using SQL Audit Description: This session will provide a quick overview of auditing user actions using SQL Server Audit

Speaker(s):

  • Mitchell Bottel

Track and Room: Bonus - Nebula (Bonus)


Title: The Key to Keys

Abstract: So many of us have learned database design approaches from working with one database or data technology. We may have used only one data modeling or development tool. That means our vocabularies around identifiers and keys tend to be product specific. Do you know the difference between a unique index and a unique key? What about the difference between RI, FK and AK?

These concepts span data activities and it’s important that your team understand each other and where they, their tools and approaches need to support these features.

We’ll look at the generic and proprietary terms for these concepts, as well as where they fit in the database design process. We’ll also look at implementation options in SQL Server and other DBMSs.

Speaker(s):

  • Karen Lopez

Track and Room: Application Database Development - Exec Conf (SQL Server Fundamentals)


Title: Plugging Data Quality as a Service into Big Data

Abstract: Mr. Bertucci will present the architecture, implementation, and provide a live demo of how he plugged the SQL Server based MDS (Master Data Management) into a Hadoop based Big Data Platform at one of the largest Silicon Valley chip manufacturers in the world. This will include a step-by-step explanation of this complex architecture which includes the Hadoop/Cloudera big data platform, Data Quality as a Service (DQaaS) web service capabilities, Profisee’s Maestro master data tools, and Microsoft SQL Server’s MDS Master Data Management capabilities. Presentation will also include a live demo of how big data is cleansed (Mastered) and the lessons learned along the way. Mr. Bertucci is one of the world’ leading database and master data management authorities, the author of the SQL Server Unleashed series of books and a frequent speaker at industry database and data quality conferences around the world.

Speaker(s):

  • Paul Bertucci

Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - Galileo (Big Stage)


Title: Metadata-driven schema evolution - building robust ELT workflows

Abstract: Hadoop excels at running many large ETL/ELT workflows that previously ran on more expensive proprietary platforms. But when legacy tools and techniques are simply ported to work with Hadoop, they often bring the same legacy issues - brittleness due to their inability to support rapidly changing data sources and structures. And when more resilient processes are built to support an agile data lake, they often forgo metadata management, which makes later consumption by applications and users more difficult.

This presentation will discuss combining a metadata-driven schema evolution platform with existing tools in the Hadoop ecosystem (especially Hive and Impala) to:

  • Gracefully handle schema evolution of data sources during extraction
  • Drive more robust ingestion and processing workflows
  • Lower effort and cost of integrating new data sources
  • Enable first class metadata query operations / applications
  • Support data governance requirements

Speaker(s):

  • Mark Kidwell

Track and Room: Big Data and Cloud - Mercury (Cloud Big Data)


Title: Manage SQL Server performance with Spotlight on SQL Server

Abstract: Trent will show you to get real-time notification and rapid diagnoses of your SQL Server performance problems using Dell Software’s Spotlight on SQL Server. Spotlight on SQL Server gives real-time alerts and brings together all of your critical SQL Server metrics onto a single dashboard-type screen, color-coded for problem severity and clickable for drilling down to the details and root causes of problems.

Speaker(s):

  • Trent Mera

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Galileo (Big Stage)


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 - Exec Conf (SQL Server Fundamentals)


Title: SQL Server 2016 AlwaysOn AGs Break-through Perf Enhancements

Abstract: SQL Server 2012 AlwaysOn Availability Groups shipped with two built-in bottlenecks: the network transport and log redo mechanisms compromised performance and availability of high performance environments. SQL Server 2014 failed to remediate these challenges. However, SQL Server 2016 provides significant performance enhancements which permit us to more fully leverage hardware and licensing investments including processors, storage, network, and core licensing.

Speaker(s):

  • J May

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Jupiter (Database Administration)


Title: Real-time data delivery may be easier than you think

Abstract: Join this session to learn how quickly you can integrate - in real-time - data from SQL Server and other relational databases into a SQL Server database, on premises or in Azure. This session will show a live, end-to-end demonstration of a Business Intelligence scenario.

Speaker(s):

  • Mark Van de Wiel

Track and Room: BI Information Delivery - Nebula (Bonus)


Title: Reduce deployment + management costs and make your employees more

Abstract: 77% reduction in time of your employees for deployment; 68% reduction in time of your employees for management; 96% reduction of your employees time dealing with down time; 368% ROI;$5 million reduction in costs over 5 years for your Data Center. Come and listen to how all of this is possible and why choosing the right platform can make these differences.

Speaker(s):

  • Reesha Dedhia

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Jupiter (Database Administration)


Title: Cardinality Estimates in Microsoft SQL Server 2014

Abstract: SQL Server 2014 includes a new cardinality estimator. This feature allows for statistics to be updated more frequently than previous versions of SQL Server, resulting in better query performance. Attend this session and understand how, why, and when SQL Server uses statistics and how this new feature will help improve performance.

Speaker(s):

  • Thomas LaRock

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Jupiter (Database Administration)


Title: Best Practice for ETL - How to use minimal logging, and when?

Abstract: This session is designed for production DBAs and Developers who are working on high volume data transfer. I prepare many common mistakes people make with their ETL jobs, and how to do it right. I will introduce Minimal Logging, and discuss how to determine when minimal logging is appropriate. Wewill compare logs that are fully logged and minimal logged.

Speaker(s):

  • Simon Cho

Track and Room: BI Information Delivery - Mercury (Cloud Big Data)


Title: IoT For Data Guys

Abstract: Introduction to IoT Strategy for IoT IoT Use Cases IoT Analytics

Speaker(s):

  • Rajesh Agadi

Track and Room: Strategy and Architecture - Mercury (Cloud Big Data)


Title: Tabular Modeling for Power BI

Abstract: In this session, we’ll learn how to make Tabular models intuitive and useful for your end users of Power BI. We’ll focus on the Power BI interface and the capabilities within Tabular model that can enable end users to build dynamic reports and dashboards. We’ll also review the prerequisites for setting up a secure hybrid cloud environment for your enterprise.

Speaker(s):

  • Angel Abundez

Track and Room: BI Information Delivery - Galileo (Big Stage)


Title: In BI, one size does not fit all

Abstract: Don’t be fooled by a vendor’s claims that their BI tool is all you need to solve your organization’s business intelligence needs. In this session we will discuss the varied business intelligence needs of an organization and how to solve them. Understand the differences between reporting and analytics and between self-service needs and the needs of IT. We will see examples of using the best tools for the best job and bringing them together in a unified interface.

Speaker(s):

  • Jason Picker

Track and Room: BI Information Delivery - Saturn (BI Dev)


Title: Phone Book Phun - Learning database concepts with the White Pages

Abstract: Come with me back to a simpler time - a time where children played outside by light from a streetlamp, people still listened to music on a cassette tape, and if you wanted to call someone, you looked up their phone number in the phone book (all the while learning some important database concepts).

Wait… what was that last part? In this session, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of key indexing concepts such as clustering, included columns, sargability, and more through the lens of the good old White Pages.

Speaker(s):

  • Ben Thul

Track and Room: Application Database Development - Nebula (Bonus)


Title: Microsoft Visual Analytics: painting the picture

Abstract: Come learn about the evolving landscape of Microsoft Visual Analytics. We’ll cover Power BI, reporting services and the new mobile dashboarding functionality. Watch the product in action as we build live, integrated dashboards together.

Speaker(s):

  • Joshua Vickery

Track and Room: Analytics Visualization - Galileo (Big Stage)


Title: Hardware for Nothing, Get Your Flash for Free

Abstract: By now, Tier 1 apps deployed on flash is ubiquitous. However, Tier 2 apps often remain relegated to spinning media. This presentation explains the economics of consolidating on flash. Owing to the SQL Server core licensing model, licensing a 2-socket commodity server can cost up to $500,000 or more! Consolidating instances on flash can—and does—save hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. This presentation provides real-life case studies showing such real-life savings.

Speaker(s):

  • J May

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Mercury (Cloud Big Data)


Title: Cortana Analytics Suite: acceleration of intelligent solutions

Abstract: A new era of business analytics is emerging, driven by an explosion of new data sources, an accelerated adoption of cloud computing, and a rise of machine learning and advanced analytics methods. Cortana Analytics, a fully managed big data and advanced analytics suite, embodies this paradigm shift. During the session, we will outline Microsoft’s advanced analytics vision, take a deep dive into the core components of Cortana Analytics Suite and demonstrate how Cortana Analytics streamlines data science processes and accelerates development of the state-of-the-art, intelligent solutions.

Speaker(s):

  • Jarek Kazmierczak

Track and Room: Analytics Visualization - Galileo (Big Stage)


Title: Transform Database 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: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Exec Conf (SQL Server Fundamentals)


Title: Intro to DAX Patterns

Abstract: Whether you are an Excel Pro, BI Developer, or Data Architect, sooner or later you’re going to find it helpful to know a little DAX and a few DAX Patterns. DAX, the Data Analysis Expression Language is the future of insight development in tools such as: Excel, Analysis Services Tabular, and the new Power BI Desktop. Using DAX and these DAX Patterns, you’ll be able to define both centralized and ad hoc metrics for blazing fast data analysis!

Speaker(s):

  • Eric Bragas

Track and Room: Analytics Visualization - Saturn (BI Dev)


Title: Establishing a SLA

Abstract: Most DBA’s rarely establish Service Level Agreements (SLA) with the Management and if they do they sometimes just come up with some random numbers for availability. Then when at some point something goes really wrong everybody wonders why it takes so long to bring everything back online. #160; This Session will teach you how to ask the right questions, analyze your databases and servers and generate from the gathered data a realistic SLA.

Speaker(s):

  • Thomas Grohser

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Jupiter (Database Administration)


Title: In Memory Tables; Not Just For OLTP

Abstract: In Memory OLTP is one of the most popular features of SQL Server 2014. Many BI professionals are finding memory optimized objects make excellent tools in the quiver of the ETL developer as well. Attend this session to see how “hekaton”, memory optimized objects, native stored procedures, and schema only designs can be applied to staging and transformations to achieve incredible performance gains over traditional models.

Speaker(s):

  • Russ Thomas

Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - Saturn (BI Dev)


Title: Transaction Log Fundamentals

Abstract: ACID anyone?

Over time SQL Server management has become more and more automated and wizard-driven. With this automation there is less understanding of the fundamentals of the database, starting with the transaction log.

This session will remind the audience about the function of the transaction log, as well as what does (or doesn’t) get written to the transaction log. This session will touch on topics such as SQL Server Replication and the impact it has on the transaction log, as well as the truncation point.

And acronyms such as ACID will be clarified.

Speaker(s):

  • Mark Van de Wiel

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Exec Conf (SQL Server Fundamentals)


Title: Developing for Mobile with Azure Mobile App Service

Abstract: We will discuss the various methods of presentation of data in applications, connectivity and services available in the Azure Mobile Apps suite. We will create a database and webserver and discuss the options available to the novice mobile developer to get started quickly with a limited set of knowledge about mobile applications. We will specifically use C# and Swift 2 for development and XCode and Visual Studio to demonstrate the mentioned functions. We will also briefly discuss Xamarin, Android, Android for Work and Hybrid Technologies.

Speaker(s):

  • Kimate Richards

Track and Room: Application Database Development - Saturn (BI Dev)


Title: SQL Server 2016 - New DBMS Features and examples

Abstract: Microsoft has released an advanced version of SQL Server 2016.

My job as lead architect is to implement these new features, and see how they actually work. The session will cover the following subject areas and include examples of usage:

  • Server Setup Changes
  • Temporal Data Tables
  • Masking Data Columns
  • Row Level Security
  • Always Encrypted
  • Stretch Database
  • Always On Enhancements
  • In Memory Enhancements
  • JSON Support
  • Polybase into SQL Server
  • more

Speaker(s):

  • Eric Peterson

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Jupiter (Database Administration)


Title: Query Plan Deep Drive

Abstract: Another in TheSQLGuru’s Deep Dive series! Query plans - the roadmaps of how your query will be handled by the engine. TONs of information for the asute SQL Server user. Lets dig into them and see what we can learn from and about them and also talk about how they can be used to aid our query tuning efforts.

Speaker(s):

  • Kevin Boles

Track and Room: Application Database Development - Exec Conf (SQL Server Fundamentals)


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 - Nebula (Bonus)


Title: How Good Is Your Indexing Strategy?

Abstract: Like Frankenstein’s Monster (or our teenagers) things get released into the wild and behave differently than planned - database usage patterns are no different. Join Tim as he reviews what to look for when tweaking your index strategy: poor clustering key decisions, underutilized indexes, covering indexes gone wrong, overlooked heaps and fill factor failures are just a few of the blunders to be identified.

A working knowledge of Dynamic Management Objects, indexing internals, and eagerness to experiment with metadata is a prerequisite!

Speaker(s):

  • Tim Ford

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Jupiter (Database Administration)


Title: Common TSQL Mistakes

Abstract: We are going to examine a variety of oopsies MANY developers fall prey too - some obvious, some pretty subtle and some down right sneaky! Lots of code examples with the bad AND good code presented. I GUARANTEE that you will find things here that will either prevent you from getting bad data, throwing unwanted errors or vastly improving your database application’s performance. I have given this talk over SEVENTY times now and it is always very highly rated!

Speaker(s):

  • Kevin Boles

Track and Room: Application Database Development - Exec Conf (SQL Server Fundamentals)


Speakers

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

Tim Ford

Twitter: - @SQLAgentMan

LinkedIn: Tim Ford

Contact: http://thesqlagentman.com

Tim Ford is a Data Professional, Author and Community Leader whose technical passions lie in creative solutions for managing and presenting data. He#39;s been a healthcare DBA since 2000 and leads SQL Agent Man Consultancy and SQL Cruise. He takes 25 students and leaders in the SQL Community and places them on cruise ships for technical and professional development training without the distractions of the office and internet twice a year on SQL Cruises (www.sqlcruise.com). Currently Tim serves on the Board of Directors for PASS and is passionate about taking fellow Data Professionals to the next level in their careers. He enjoys telling stories with data.

Mark Van de Wiel

LinkedIn: Mark Van de Wiel

Mark has well over 15 years of hands-on experience with multiple relational database, data warehouse and data replication technologies including SQL Server. In his current role as technical lead for an independent database replication company HVR Software Mark comes across many SQL Server deployments, on premises and in the Azure Cloud. Mark holds and MsC degree in Business Administration from the Eindhoven University of Technology.

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!”

Paul Bertucci

Twitter: - @ptbertucci

LinkedIn: Paul Bertucci

Paul Bertucci is the founder of Data by Design, LLC (www.dataxdesign.com – formerly Database Architechs), a global database consulting firm with offices in the United States and Paris, France. Former Chief Architect/Shared Services Director for Autodesk (BI/DW/ODS, Big Data, Identity Management, SOA, Integration (EAI amp; ETL), MDM, Collaboration/Social, SaaS platforms, and Enterprise Architecture). Former Chief Data Architect at Symantec. Author SQL Server Unleashed book series, SQL Server High Availability, and SQL Performance and Tuning. Frequent speaker at Database and MDM conferences around the globe. Formal education: UC. Berkeley, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Kevin Boles

Twitter: - @TheSQLGuru

LinkedIn: Kevin Boles

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

Kimate Richards

LinkedIn: Kimate Richards

New Yorker/ California transplant/ UCSB and CSU Chico allum…Dad, converted Warriors fan. Mobile first strategist/architect/developer with an urge to product manage and design clean and effective mobile applications.

In my past I have been a Senior mobile solutions engineer/architect, I play well with others to deliver a high expectation of value. Net, C# threading security and presentation, BizTalk, WPF, WCF, Oracle Certified Professional. B2B, Java. Software i/o device and mobile technology including Android, iPhone and Windows Mobile.

Trent Mera

Trent Mera has been a database performance Systems Consultant with Quest Software for 11 years. He specializes in showing customers how to identify and resolve performance bottlenecks in their SQL Server systems. His experience prior to Quest includes 7 years as a Database Developer and Administrator in the Real Estate, Finance and Defense Industries.

Reeves Smith

Twitter: - SQLReeves

LinkedIn: Reeves Smith

Contact: http://reevessmith.wordpress.com

Reeves Smith, owner and principal architect of Macer Consulting, is passionate about applying data technologies that empower organizations. Reeves wields his knowledge and experience to lead, design, architect, and teach, working with both data center and business project teams. He approaches every project by first understanding the organization’s business challenges, and then developing a unique approach that targets those business needs accurately and effectively.

Reeves Smith has more than 20 years of experience working on the SQL Server stack. He is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP and Microsoft Certified Master, and regularly delivers technical presentations at international, regional, and local conferences and user groups.

Angel Abundez

Twitter: - AngelStreamline

LinkedIn: Angel Abundez

Contact: http://angelstreamline.com

Angel leads the Solutions Architecture team at DesignMind, helping design and build world class data-related systems. His expertise includes Microsoft SQL Server BI tools, Power BI, Azure-based database services, and Tableau. His team develops Proofs of Concept, Pilots, and highly scalable production systems. Angel co-leads the Bay Area Microsoft Business Intelligence User Group and the San Francisco Power BI User Group. He speaks at Data Analytics events throughout the U.S. and writes for SQL Server Central. He is a graduate of Cal Poly SLO with a BS in Mechanical Engineering.

Jarek Kazmierczak

Twitter: - https://twitter.com/jarekk64

LinkedIn: Jarek Kazmierczak

Jarek is a Principal Enterprise Strategist in the Canadian Microsoft Technology Center. He is an accomplished architect with over 20 years of experience in enterprise architecture, technology strategy, solution architecture, enterprise solutions, product management, program management, and software development. His industry expertise spans healthcare, public sector, financial, and telecommunications sectors.

Simon Cho

LinkedIn: Simon Cho

Contact: http://simonsql.com

Simon Cho is one of the founders of SQLAngeles.com, which is a Los Angeles Korean Tech PASS community group.

As a Local Group leader, he is a Microsoft SQL community speaker. He has presented many times at SQLSaturdays and to PASS Local Groups.

He moved his passion to VISA Inc, the largest credit card provider in the world, where he used database technology to build a strong solution and a secure environment, with new strategies and features to maintain thousands of SQL Servers.

He has now joined the Nowcom Corp, as a Director of DevOps, where he leads the DevOps team and DBA team.

He is pretty much working on SQL server running on kubernetes.

Joshua Vickery

Joshua Vickery has been with Microsoft for eight years, first as a SQL Premier Field Engineer, and now as a BI Technical Specialist focusing on Visual Analytics. He is based in Oakland, and when not geeking out over data, enjoys exploring the foodie options in the Bay Area and abroad.

Kevin Boles

Twitter: - @TheSQLGuru

LinkedIn: Kevin Boles

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

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.

Mark Kidwell

Mark Kidwell is VP, Big Data at DesignMind. He specializes in Hadoop and related technologies, Data Warehousing, and Technical and Project Leadership. Before joining DesignMind, Mark spent two years at Western Union Digital Ventures where he transformed Western Union data processing capabilities with the introduction of a new Cloudera Hadoop-based Big Data processing platform for risk and customer analytics uses cases.

Russ Thomas

Twitter: - @SQLJudo

LinkedIn: Russ Thomas

Contact: http://www.sqljudo.com

Prior to focusing full time on IT Management and Database Administration in the Denver Colorado financial sector, Russ spent several years in law enforcement including four as a training Sergeant and Washington CJTC Instructor specializing in Emergency Vehicle Driving at Portland Intl Raceway. An experienced public speaker and trainer, Russ also has two decades of hands on IT work and leadership experience. Russ is a SQL Server Data Platform MCSE and is active in the SQLSaturday community.

Sahaj Saini

Sahaj is a Program Manager in the SQL Server team at Microsoft. Sahaj works on PolyBase, a big data technology in SQL Server 2016 and other features in Microsoft’s data warehouse offerings Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Analytics Platform System (APS).

Eric Bragas

Twitter: - @ericbragas

LinkedIn: Eric Bragas

Contact: http://ericbragas.io

Business Intelligence Consultant passionate about leveraging new and cutting edge technologies to discover new data insights.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Mark Van de Wiel

LinkedIn: Mark Van de Wiel

Mark has well over 15 years of hands-on experience with multiple relational database, data warehouse and data replication technologies including SQL Server. In his current role as technical lead for an independent database replication company HVR Software Mark comes across many SQL Server deployments, on premises and in the Azure Cloud. Mark holds and MsC degree in Business Administration from the Eindhoven University of Technology.

Scott McCormick

LinkedIn: Scott McCormick

Scott is a SQL Server DBA with over 10 years of experience in SQL Server 2000 to 2014.

I have extensive experience with SQL Server mirroring and Availability Groups, Log Shipping, upgrades, performance tuning, and troubleshooting.

He’s currently focused on cloud offerings and how they can help ensure instance uptime and recoverability.

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.

Reesha Dedhia

Twitter: - reeshadedhia

LinkedIn: Reesha Dedhia

Contact: http://blogs.cisco.com/author/reeshadedhia

Solutions Marketing Manager at Cisco Systems, focused on Microsoft application solutions based on the Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS).

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.

Jason Picker

LinkedIn: Jason Picker

Jason has over 20 years of BI experience developing datawarehouses, SSAS cubes, and end-user solutions using SQL Server Reporting Services, PerformancePoint, ProClarity and now Pyramid Analytics#39; BI Office. He has spent time as the BI Architect and Lead Developer for a major computer hardware manufacturer, a national home builder, and a regional hospital system. Jason also worked as an independent consultant and trainer on the Microsoft SQL stack. He loves to read and write MDX! Ask him to show you how to parameterize your MDX statements and queries.

Ben Thul

Twitter: - @spartansql

Contact: http://www.spartansql.com

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

Eric Peterson

Twitter: - @SQLeap

LinkedIn: Eric Peterson

Contact: http://www.SQLeap.com

Eric Peterson is a consultant specializing in database architecture with experience in demanding Fortune 100 company environments. He has a Computer Science degree complemented with an MBA, which meshes well with his jobs integrating business information with the systems that process it. He has worked with SQL Server since its inception and was an instructor of SQL courses at a national technical training company. He also speaks are regional SQLSaturday events.

Rajesh Agadi

LinkedIn: Rajesh Agadi

Contact: http://rajeshagadi.blogspot.com/

Rajesh is an Enterprise Architect at Microsoft Technology Center. Evangelizing Microsoft Azure Cloud Platform with focus on App Plat, IoT and Dev Ops, SharePoint and O365, Net Architecture. Rajesh advises global CXOs and foreign delegates on Strategy, architecture and guides on PoCs. With breadth of Consulting Skills Rajesh has over twenty years of technical and business experience.

Arnie Rowland

Twitter: - @ArnieRowland

LinkedIn: Arnie Rowland

Contact: http://sqlblog.com/blogs/arnie_rowland/

Arnie long ago realized that most issues between Developer and DBA comes from incomplete communication and a misunderstanding of each other’s objectives. He is a frequent Trainer and Mentor for Developers and DBAs, bringing both sets of skills to better communicate with teams to create a working solution. For over a decade, Arnie has been a SQL Server MVP, Certified Trainer, technical editor for several publishers, including MOC, and has served as University and Community College adjunct faculty. Clients include Fortune 500 and Multi-Nationals, Federal and State agencies, Foreign governments, and local enterprises –both public and private.

Reeves Smith

Twitter: - SQLReeves

LinkedIn: Reeves Smith

Contact: http://reevessmith.wordpress.com

Reeves Smith, owner and principal architect of Macer Consulting, is passionate about applying data technologies that empower organizations. Reeves wields his knowledge and experience to lead, design, architect, and teach, working with both data center and business project teams. He approaches every project by first understanding the organization’s business challenges, and then developing a unique approach that targets those business needs accurately and effectively.

Reeves Smith has more than 20 years of experience working on the SQL Server stack. He is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP and Microsoft Certified Master, and regularly delivers technical presentations at international, regional, and local conferences and user groups.

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.

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.

Mitchell Bottel

Twitter: - @SacSQLDude

Contact: http://www.mitchespitch.com

Mitchell Bottel is a senior database administrator with Sutter Physician Services, owner of Innovative IT Consulting and President of the Sacramento SQL Sevrer User Group. He has 14 years of IT experience, focusing on SQL Server for the last ten years with an emphasis on database administration and high availability solutions. He has authored blog posts on the SQLServerPerformance website and written White Papers on using Dynamic Management Views.

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.

Sponsors

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

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