SQLSaturday #645 - Manchester 2017
Event Date: 07/15/2017 00:00:00
Event Location:
- Business School, Manchester Metropolitan University
- All Saints Campus, Oxford Rd, Manchester
- Manchester, England, United Kingdom
This event has completed. All data shown below is from the historical XML public data available.
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Sessions
This is a list of sessions from the event, based on the schedule in the XML files.
Title: Azure Data Lake - The Services. The SQL. The Sharp.
Abstract: How do we implement Azure Data Lake? How does a lake fit into our data platform architecture? Is Data Lake going to run in isolation or be part of a larger pipeline? How do we use and work with USQL? Does size matter?!
The answers to all these questions and more in this session as we immerse ourselves in the lake, that’s in a cloud.
We’ll take an end to end look at the components and understand why the compute and storage are separate services.
For the developers, what tools should we be using and where should we deploy our USQL scripts. Also, what options are available for handling our C# code behind and supporting assemblies.
We’ll cover everything you need to know to get started developing data solutions with Azure Data Lake.
Speaker(s):
- Paul Andrew
Track and Room: Azure Data Services - Theatre 2
Title: A lazy data scientist’s toolkit
Abstract: The client has some burning business questions and you have the client’s data. So which tools will help you to understand that data and tell your client something they did not know already? In this session, I’ll take you through my personal choice, demo each of them and explain their value. These include Excel; Tableau; R and RStudio and my favourite packages; Power BI and especially the fabulous Query Editor; SQL; cubes and Azure Machine Learning.
I will also demo the tools I expect to be using soon as my projects propel me into the new world of Azure cloud and big data, of Spark and Hadoop. I hope to show “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose” and that old friends such as R and SQL are also useful in this new world.
Speaker(s):
- Mark Wilcock
Track and Room: Business Intelligence Data Science - Theatre 2
Title: BI Application Lifecycle Management with TFS
Abstract: Come round to talk about Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) and deployment/delivery of Business Intelligence (BI) Applications! You will learn how to manage and deploy a full stack BI solution with Team Foundation Server (TFS). I will share my view of end-to-end architecture of MS BI ALM and practical tips on how to make it happen with TFS toolkit, with specific examples for every MS BI project type. The presentation will also compare features of Release Manager and Octopus Deploy for your deployment needs will show a demo of continuous deployment for a typical BI project using TFS. The material does not assume prior knowledge of TFS administration, but some experience using Visual Studio database projects and general TFS terminology will be helpful.
Speaker(s):
- Dmytro Andriychenko
Track and Room: Database Development, Continuous Integration - Theatre 4
Title: Effective Unit Testing for SQL Server
Abstract: There are tools available from Microsoft, as well as from a number of third party vendors, to ease the process of integrating database unit testing into your development environments and your continuous delivery pipeline.
This session isn’t about any of those tools, but is an attempt to get back to basics - with the open source tSQLt framework - and address questions such as
Why is database unit testing difficult? What do I need to test? What do I not need to test? What does a “good” unit test look like? What tests should I be writing anwyay?
This session will incorporate real-life experiences with tSQLt, as well as lessons that can be learned from other testing framworks and other programming languages.
Speaker(s):
- Gavin Campbell
Track and Room: Database Development, Continuous Integration - Theatre 4
Title: Exploring Dark Data with SQL Server 2016 and R [EN]
Abstract: With the addition of R into SQL Server 2016, Microsoft have provided a few extra degrees of freedom for the standard SQL developer. You can now use the R language to wrangle, clean and collect external data, using libraries and functionality that simply wasn’t available to you before with regular T-SQL. Performing data enrichment at scale with SQL Server or even Microsoft R Server can provide extremely valuable new insights for your clients and start reaping the benefits of big data.
In this session, Consolidata’s Oliver Frost shows you how to develop your own application for tapping into ‘dark data’. Ollie will demonstrate how to stream live tweets, perform aggregations in R and pipe the output to a Power BI dashboard, giving you a full end-to-end experience of the importance of learning some basic R code in 2016.
This session is for anyone who is new to R and is interesting expanding their skill set beyond their comfort zone in SQL Server.
Speaker(s):
- Oliver Frost
Track and Room: Business Intelligence Data Science - Theatre 3
Title: What to do before your Power BI report starts getting slow
Abstract: When building a report or dashboard in Power BI and using DirectQuery or Live connection it is important to take into account what will happen when reports are being adopted by the business and the audience grows.
Working with IT there is nothing worse when the business starts complaining. During this session I will show you how to approach the situation when the business already started complaining, what the most common pains appear and where you should be looking before the performance starts degrading.
We will be looking into measuring different timings, what is important when building reports, investigating logs and what options you have to this in a structured fashion.
Speaker(s):
- Bent Pedersen
Track and Room: Business Intelligence Data Science - Theatre 3
Title: Administrating SQL Server with PowerShell dbatools
Abstract: Let me show you how easy it is to use PowerShell to accomplish many everyday tasks straight from the command line with the community developed module dbatools.
Afraid of PowerShell? Worried its too complicated? Don’t want to go through the learning curve?
Let me show you with plenty of demos how easy and straight forward it can be and I will save you time starting Monday
Want to restore an entire servers databases to the latest available point in time of the backups in just one line? Be useful to know the Last DBCC Check for your entire estate in only one line of code? Need to test your restores but its complicated? and many many more All this in a fast paced, fun session
Speaker(s):
- Rob Sewell
Track and Room: Database Administration Development - Theatre 5
Title: JSON before and after SQL Server 2016
Abstract: The JavaScript Object Notation format, known simply as JSON, has now become a standard in data interchange between client-server applications, it is also used to store information in non-relational databases and the SQL Server 2016 engine handles it natively . However, today, not everyone has passed to the latest version of SQL Server, however, it is possible to process the JSON format even with earlier versions: in this session, it is confident with this format and illustrates the non-native mode that allows you to be ready in the moment of the upgrade to 2016 (or later) with a few simple moves. Finally, with a few simple examples, you will find some tips on how to use JSON in an advanced way with SQL Server 2016.
Speaker(s):
- Emanuele Zanchettin
Track and Room: Database Administration Development - Theatre 5
Title: Understand the Transaction Log, Unlock Greater Throughput
Abstract: Does your application suffer from performance problems even though you followed best practices on schema design? Have you looked at your transaction log? There’s no doubt about it, the transaction log is treated like a poor cousin. The poor thing does not receive much love. The transaction log, however, is a very essential and misunderstood part of your database. There will be a team of developers creating an absolutely awesome elegant design the likes of which have never been seen before, but the leave the transaction log using default settings. It’s as if it doesn’t matter, an afterthought, a relic of the platform architecture. In this session, you will learn to appreciate how the transaction log works and how you can improve the performance of your applications by making the right architectural choices.
Speaker(s):
- Lord Richard Douglas
Track and Room: Database Administration Development - Theatre 1
Title: Teaching the IT Pro how to Dev - PowerShell, Source Control Unit Testing
Abstract: In this session we will look at how IT Pros (and developers) could be completing their day to day tasks in a more efficient manner with effective Unit Testing and Source Control of their Scripts.
This is a session where there will be chance to follow along (if you bring your own laptop) and learn in real time from the co-ordinator of the UK PowerShell User Groups - however you will also be lead to further community resources if you require further time after the session to get this built into your current day to day workflow.
As this session will be focused towards SQL Professionals we will take a look at SQL Specifics that can be used within PowerShell Scripts Unit Testing.
Speaker(s):
- Ryan Yates
Track and Room: Database Development, Continuous Integration - Theatre 4
Title: Database version control and deployment: model or migration scripts?
Abstract: For the last few years Microsoft have been promoting declarative, model-based database development with tools like SSDT. For many this is the way forward – gone are the days of managing endless upgrade scripts and manual deployments.
At the same time, leaders and shakers of our industry including Jez Humble, Pramod Sadalge and Paul Stovell promote an iterative, migration script driven approach asserting that deployment scripts should be tested early and not generated by a tool.
I’m irritated whenever I go to a “how to do database continuous delivery” session and the speaker presents one way as good and the other as bad. Like most things, it depends.
I’ll illustrate the limitations of each approach with a simple scenario. I’ll describe which projects are better suited to a model or a migrations approach, and whether it’s possible to get the best of both worlds.
Speaker(s):
- Alex Yates
Track and Room: Database Development, Continuous Integration - Theatre 4
Title: Enhancing relational models with graph processing In SQL Server 2017.
Abstract: Analysing highly connected data using SQL is hard! Relational databases were simply not designed to handle this, but graph databases were. Built from the ground up to understand interconnectivity, graph databases enable a flexible performant way to analyse relationships, and one has just landed in SQL Server 2017! SQL Server supports two new table types NODE and EDGE and a new function MATCH, which enables deeper exploration of the relationships in your data than ever before.
In this session, we seek to explore, what is a graph database, why you should be interested, what query patterns does they solve and how does SQL Server compare with competitors. We will explore each of these based on real data shredded from IMDB.
Speaker(s):
- Terry McCann
Track and Room: Business Intelligence Data Science - Theatre 3
Title: Getting started with Powershell for the DBA
Abstract: Do you spend your day running the same routine tasks? Does it irk you when you do the same thing more than once? I (sadly) still have to answer yes to one of those questions. However, whilst I do still carry out some of the same routine tasks, learning Powershell has enabled me to automate the majority. The potential for automation that Powershell brings, can have a huge impact on regaining precious time for a busy DBA. The ability to create a codebase of cmdlets that sits outside your SQL Server instances allows you to introduce easy frameworks for standardisation, inventory collection and access to external processes that would be clunky in SSIS or require using the dreaded xp_cmdshell. In this presentation, I’m going to demonstrate some of the features I use to make my life easier, from the basics of creating a Powershell profile and how different objects and inbuilt cmdlets work, to creating my own cmdlets and modules.
Speaker(s):
- Matthew Darwin
Track and Room: Database Administration Development - Theatre 5
Title: Always On Multi-Site Patterns
Abstract: Building robust and resilient Data Platform solutions can be complex and costly, building out for both High Availability and Disaster Recovery. The Always On technologies incorporated in the Microsoft SQL Server stack help Data Platform Engineers to do just this. Creating solutions that span multiple locations, in an effort to protect the data that we are tasked to manage on a daily basis.
Together we will walk through the architecture patterns, technology requirements, and configuration options that you need to know in order to build a solid Data Platform. Understanding the implementation differences between on-premises and cloud based deployments is important. Especially as there are specific requirements that need to be met for up-time SLAs to be applicable, as well as mitigating for region failures.
All of these elements mean that it is more than just simple wizards to follow in order to have a solid, reliable, and robust SQL Server Data Platform.
Speaker(s):
- John Martin
Track and Room: Database Administration Development - Theatre 1
Title: SQL Server 2017 New Features (Not Linux support!)
Abstract: This session covers the new features in SQL Server 2017 - apart from Linux support
-
Using Query Store for automatic tuning of querys which have bad plans (multiple plans with regressions)
-
Additional information stored in actual execution plans
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New DMVs e.g. log information, statistics histograms
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Interleaved Execution for multi-statement T-SQL TVFs
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Adapative joins for queries
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Resumable online index rebuild
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Faster non-cluster index builds on memory optimized tables.
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Additional in-memory SQL Surface Area e.g. Computed columns, JSON, CROSS APPLY,sp_spaceused,sp_rename,CASE,TOP N with TIES
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Parallel Redo for memory optimized tables, increases throughput for Always On Availability Groups
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DTC support for Always On Availability Groups
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Cluster-less Availability Groups
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Minimum Replica Commit Availability Groups
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New CLR strict security
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Graph database queries
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Running Python scripts in SQL Server
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BULK INSERT directly from CSV files
Speaker(s):
- David Williams
Track and Room: Database Administration Development - Theatre 1
Title: SQLOS Scheduling From the Inside
Abstract: The SQLOS scheduler has been a core feature of SQL Server ever since its appearance as the User Mode Scheduler in version 7.0. In this session you will learn what makes it tick, where lines of responsibility are drawn between schedulers, workers and tasks, and how everybody has their own selfish ideas about fairness.
We’ll pay particular attention to synchronisation: the need to synchronise, the balancing act between busy waiting and context switching, and examples of internal SQLOS synchronisation primitives. All of this will complement your existing mental model of SQL Server waits.
It is a deep session, but not a broad one. As long as you have an interest in either SQL Server or operating system internals, no specific background knowledge is assumed - we will build from the ground up.
Speaker(s):
- Ewald Cress
Track and Room: Database Administration Development - Theatre 1
Title: What is DevOps?
Abstract: We believe if you are in a competitive market, the companies that have a DevOps culture will have the best chance of succeeding. But what is a DevOps Culture?
DevOps is one of those terms that has transcended its initial use. You still see people talk about being DevOps Engineer or do DevOps for SQL, but you also hear about a company being a DevOps company, having a DevOps Culture. What does it all mean? In this talk we will discuss and probably argue what DevOps is and isn’t. I’ll put forward what we consider a DevOps culture, what are the core elements, who does what and importantly what breaks it.
You will gain an understanding of why companies with such a culture can get solutions to market quicker and can respond to changes better than their competition.
Speaker(s):
- Simon Sabin
Track and Room: Database Development, Continuous Integration - Theatre 4
Title: Modern Data Warehousing: Analytics in Azure
Abstract: Sponsor Session with Simon Whiteley and Terry McCann from Adatis.
Technology changes quickly – patterns and approaches less so. As people move towards the cloud, there are clear benefits of adopting a distributed cloud architecture employing a range of disparate tools.
This session will attempt to help you understand 5 of the key technologies underpinning the Modern Data Warehouse. We’ll run through:
- Data Lake (Store Analytics)
- Azure SQL DataWarehouse
- Logic Apps
- Data Factory
- Streaming Analytics
We’ll then briefly show you how they all fit together into a coherent reference pattern for performing data analytics in Azure. This session is aimed as a primer for people considering moving to the cloud or for anyone looking to understand the current data analytics architecture.
Speaker(s):
- Sponsor Session
Track and Room: Other - Theatre 4
Title: PowerBI your way to understand your SQL Server Estate
Abstract: Sponsor Session with Neil Hambly from Data Movements.
Would having a good understanding of all the different versions, editions, OS Builds, CPU Memory and database details in a single reporting place be useful? Many of my previous clients have found that just to be the case…. Well now you can too and it’s totally FREE
· Come Discover what really exists in your environments
Visualise valuable details about your SQL Servers [Do you even know about all of them]
· Claim your FREE PowerBI SQL Server Estate Report
Every Attendee can sign-up for their free report
· Useful for Capacity Planning, Migrations, Consolidations and Licensing and more.
· Extend the report to add additional reports and information
In this session, we showcase a sample report, giving you a flavour of what we can report on. This is just the beginning of the journey, if you want to know more then ask us about our SQL Server BI Health-Checks that expand on these reports.
Speaker(s):
- Sponsor Session
Track and Room: Other - Theatre 3
Title: Collaborative BI with Governance and Security
Abstract: Sponsor Session with Ian Macdonald from Pyramid Analytics.
We will show you how easy it is to collaborate, integrate, share and publish content on-premises or in the cloud, and to unlock insights that might otherwise be trapped on individual computers.
We will discuss how by using BI Office and Power BI Desktop together, you get a governed, secure, enterprise platform that can demonstrate personal productivity gains. Come and see for yourself!
Ian Macdonald - Principal Technologist, Pyramid Analytics Bio: A ‘hands-on’, product oriented technical marketing professional with extensive experience of the international software market. Primary focus has been on the database, development and query tools, data mining, business intelligence applications and IT infrastructure management solutions, setting product strategy, marketing, partnering and selling to senior positions within Fortune 2000 companies.
Speaker(s):
- Sponsor Session
Track and Room: Other - Theatre 4
Title: Exploring the Tiger toolbox
Abstract: Have you heard about the SQL Tiger Team? Do you know they provide a free set of SQL scripts to help you administer your SQL Server? In this session we explore the scripts in Tiger Team Toolbox. Can’t wait for the session? Download the scripts from here. https://github.com/Microsoft/tigertoolbox
Speaker(s):
- Mark Pryce-Maher
Track and Room: Database Administration Development - Theatre 1
Title: SQL Server and Docker. What, How and Why
Abstract: Docker has come to windows, and also SQL Server is coming to Linux. Can you run SQL Server in Docker? Why would you? In this session I’ll show you what Docker is, what you can use it for and what the use case is regarding SQL Server. I’m using SQL Server on Docker for Windows myself in test environments for instance, it turns out to be very usefull in Continuous Integration and database upgrade testing scenarios. We’ll discuss production scenarios as well.
Speaker(s):
- André Kamman
Track and Room: Database Administration Development - Theatre 5
Title: Window functions are your friends
Abstract: What does SUM(Salary) OVER (ORDER BY EmployeeID RANGE BETWEEN CURRENT ROW AND UNBOUNDED FOLLOWING) do exactly? Did you know that you can delete all duplicates in a table with just one query?
Window functions are great! They open a whole new world of elegant data analysis. Their only problem is that they seem complicated at first glance. In this session we will get OVER() them and see how can we use them together with aggregation, analytic and ranking functions. After this session creating queries with things like running totals will be a piece of cake!
Speaker(s):
- Dejan Dular
Track and Room: Database Administration Development - Theatre 5
Title: Revolution R models in SQL 2016 Reporting Services
Abstract: As we have always seen a steady growth in SSRS since 2005, we now have much more advanced brand new features in 2016 SQL Server Reporting Services, beyond our imagination. Sit tight and buckle up for an amazing roller coaster ride, to not only briefly see the advanced SSRS killer features but also some of the R statistical charts within SSRS 2016 and the new user interface of Report Builder.
Speaker(s):
- Dr. Subramani Paramasivam
Track and Room: Business Intelligence Data Science - Theatre 3
Title: BI in Azure
Abstract: Azure offers many great tools and services, but how to they fit together and what are your options when trying to architect an end to end Azure BI platform? We’ll take a high level look at the available Azure services, discussing what their capabilities are and how they fit together. Covering Azure Data Factory, Data Lake, Table Storage, Blob Storage, U-SQL, HDInsight, SQL Data Warehouse, Machine Learning, Power BI, Event Hub, Stream Analytics and more.
Speaker(s):
- Alex Whittles
Track and Room: Azure Data Services - Theatre 2
Title: Microsoft Azure for the DBA
Abstract: Although Microsoft Azure and the concept of Cloud Computing has been around for a number of years it is still a mystery to many. This talk takes offers an introduction to Microsoft Azure and the many services it has to offer. We will then go onto look in depth at SQL Azure Database; creating, configuring, scaling, connecting, using, securing, monitoring, uploading, scheduling, high availability and DR.
Speaker(s):
- David Postlethwaite
Track and Room: Azure Data Services - Theatre 2
Title: Session Details not available
Abstract: Session Details not available
Speaker(s):
- n/a n/a
Track and Room: Azure Data Services - Theatre 2
Title: Through the looking glass on Agile Database Development
Abstract: A few of you have heard of SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT), you may have started using it but not entirely sure where to start and you’re being pushed to make sure it’s “Agile”, “DevOps”, “CI/CD” etc etc. This is more of a beginners session on how I’ve gone about getting monolithic old databases into an Agile practice so you can hit the ground running should you require to do so.
Speaker(s):
- Craig Ottley-Thistlethwaite
Track and Room: Database Development, Continuous Integration - Theatre 4
Title: Extending SQL Server Master Data Services
Abstract: Sponsor Session with Aidan King from Profisee The presentation will cover Current MDS functionality Making MDS Enterprise Grade Applications of Enterprise Grade MDS
Speaker(s):
- Sponsor Session
Track and Room: Other - Theatre 2
Title: Logic Apps: SSIS for Azure?
Abstract: For a long time we’ve dreamed of full-functioned SSIS in the cloud. If you’ve wrestled with Data Factory, well… It’s not quite there yet. Logic Apps fills a huge gap in the Azure story and if you’ve not tried it yet - you should.
Logic Apps provides control-flow style functionality and can orchestrate data from a huge range of common sources. Want to scrape twitter, perform sentiment analysis and write to PowerBI? Its now possible with zero coding.
This session will introduce Logic Apps how it fits into the Modern Azure Warehouse then demonstrate building a twitter scraper step by step.
Speaker(s):
- Simon Whiteley
Track and Room: Azure Data Services - Theatre 3
Title: An Artistic Dimwit Learns Data Visualisation
Abstract: PowERBI goes Bananas
I’m scared of visualisations and I wanted to fix it. This is a talk by an artistic dimwit who is quite good at data.
With a Trello-based Kanban board* as my muse and PowerBI as my canvass, I built a series of progressively less bad visualisations until I felt like an artist.
As with all art, you be the judge.
Tags: Power BI, Data Viz, Data Visualisation
Speaker(s):
- Pete Moore
Track and Room: Business Intelligence Data Science - Theatre 3
Title: An introduction to SQL Server Parallelism
Abstract: Sponsor Session with Christian Bolton from COEO.
In this session you’ll learn what parallelism is and how it affects your servers and your queries as well as how to troubleshoot and optimise your queries for parallelism. The technical content is very accessible and aimed at beginner level.
Speaker(s):
- Sponsor Session
Track and Room: Other - Theatre 5
Title: Lockless in Seattle: Using In-Memory OLTP Transaction Processing
Abstract: Locks and latches have long been the mechanism used to implement SQL Server concurrency control, but with the introduction of In-Memory OLTP the paradigm has shifted. Are we really looking at the Brave New World of Transaction Processing or a dystopian nightmare?
In this session, we will understand how In-Memory OLTP architecture is implemented and how its mechanics function. We will learn what transactional bad dependencies and other considerations are introduced by its use and what capabilities are provided by SQL Server 2016.
Speaker(s):
- Mark Broadbent
Track and Room: Database Administration Development - Theatre 1
Title: Overview of the IT market and emerging recruitment salary trends
Abstract: Sponsor Session from Robert Walters.
This will be an overview of the IT market and emerging recruitment salary trends within IT delivered by Robert Walters.
Speaker(s):
- Sponsor Session
Track and Room: Other - Theatre 3
Title: Query Plans Deep Dive
Abstract: In this session we will take an in depth look at how query plans work. We will go under the covers and see what happens when you run that query. We will also take a look at various operators, how they work, why they are chosen and how to avoid them being used in the wrong place / context,. Attendees of this session will walk away with a greater understanding of query plans and the operators, which will enable them to both better interpret their query plans and also write more efficient SQL code
Speaker(s):
- David Morrison
Track and Room: Database Administration Development - Theatre 5
Title: Sponsor Session
Abstract: Sponsor Session from Microsoft.
Speaker(s):
- Sponsor Session
Track and Room: Other - Theatre 5
Title: Solving Power BI pain points with R
Abstract: This session will look at how PowerBI dashboard developers can use R to solve data import and data visualisation challenges.
By the end of this session, you’ll know how you can use R to connect to more data sources, do sophisticated data transformation easily, avoid spatial data point limitations, and build custom graphics.
Speaker(s):
- Stephanie Locke
Track and Room: Business Intelligence Data Science - Theatre 3
Title: SAy our Security Right (or Not)
Abstract: During this session, we will examine how to put in the right level of security, evaluate and define an appropriate database security model that is right for the environment. We will be covering SQL Server’s security hierarchy and terminology, identify security risks (know your security responsibilities), determine when SA usage is appropriate and not and more.
Speaker(s):
- Neil Hambly
Track and Room: Database Administration Development - Theatre 1
Title: Azure SQL Data Warehouse – Performance, Optimizing and Maintaining
Abstract: In this talk we will discuss best practices around how to design and maintain an Azure SQL Data Warehouse for best throughput and query performance.
We will look at distribution types, index considerations, execution plans, workload management and loading patterns.
At the end of this talk you will understand the common pitfalls and be empowered to either construct a highly performant Azure SQL Data Warehouse or address performance issues in an existing deployment.
Speaker(s):
- Robin Lester
Track and Room: Azure Data Services - Theatre 2
Speakers
This is a list of speakers from the XML Guidebook records. The details and URLs were valid at the time of the event.
Rob Sewell
Twitter: - sqldbawithbeard
LinkedIn: Rob Sewell
Contact: http://sqldbawithabeard.com
Rob was once a production SQL Server DBA, but is now generally found automating the Data Platform and providing training for clients. He has a passion for PowerShell, Data, and DevOps. He is an MVP, an officer for the DevOps PowerShell VG, and has spoken and volunteered at many PowerShell and Data events. He is a member of the committee that organises Data In Devon and the European PowerShell Conference. He is a proud supporter of the Data and PowerShell communities.
He relishes sharing and learning and can be found doing both via Twitter @sqldbawithbeard and his blog sqldbawithabeard.com. He spends most of his time looking at a screen and loves to solve problems.
Simon Sabin
Twitter: - @simon_sabin
LinkedIn: Simon Sabin
Contact: http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons
Simon runs a Data Consultancy Sabin.io enabling companies to make the most of the data they have. He has worked with data for all his career and worked with companies across all industry sectors including online retail, insurance, finance, motor sport. He works with companies to help them
- Improve their data development practices including implementation of devops, agile methodologies and continuous integration.
- Understand and define a cloud data platform strategy.
- Optimise their data platform, including performance, scalability, security and certification Education of people is at the heart of what Simon and his company sabin.io stand for. It is epitomised by SQLBits, which Simon founded in 2007.
Pete Moore
Twitter: - https://twitter.com/thedatabloke
LinkedIn: Pete Moore
Contact: https://lookatyourdata.org/databackwriter/
Data bloke. Keeps it simple. Gets it done.
Bent Pedersen
Twitter: - https://twitter.com/SQLBent
LinkedIn: Bent Pedersen
Contact: http://www.biblog.eu
Bent is a Data Platform MVP and working as Senior Business Analytics Architect at Kapacity A/S, where he have been working with enterprise customers on solutions with SSAS Tabular, SQL Server and in general Azure Data Platform services for the last years. During the past years, he concentrated on working with architecturing, devOps, Automation, testing and simplifying development processes for the Azure Data Platform.
Neil Hambly
Twitter: - Neil_Hambly
LinkedIn: Neil Hambly
Contact: http://dataidol.com/NeilHambly
Neil Hambly is a SQL Server consultant, founder and consultant at Datamovements, a Gold Microsoft Data Analytics Consulting company. Neil has 20+ years in a variety of SQL Server roles and is an MCT. He is a regular presenter (200+ events) at user groups, and PASS events, including PASS Summit and SQLSaturday, and many UK events (SQLBits, SQLRelay). Neil is the leader of PASS London (UK), a Professional Development VC, a Melissa Data MVP, and a SQL Cruise Technical Lead, who loves Guinness, whisky, and dancing.
Alex Yates
Twitter: - @alexyates
LinkedIn: Alex Yates
Contact: http://www.workingwithdevs.com
Alex Yates has been helping organisations to apply DevOps principles to relational database development and deployment since 2010. He’s most proud of helping Skyscanner develop the ability to deploy 95 times a day. Originally for Redgate, later for DLM Consultants, Alex has worked with clients on every continent except Antarctica – so he’s keen to meet anyone who researches penguins.
A keen community member, he co-organises SQL Relay, is the founder of www.SpeakingMentors.com and has been recognised as a Microsoft Data Platform MVP since 2017.
Sponsor Session
Manchester SQL Server User group
Ryan Yates
Twitter: - ryanyates1990
Contact: http://www.kilasuit.org/blog
SharePoint amp; PowerShell Specialist - moving more into a dedicated PowerShell focus to help coach organisations in methods that they can use to improve their configuration management on a larger scale allowing them to deploy production ready code quicker, easier and with more confidence and importantly at scale in a repeatable manner.
Co-Ordinator of the UK PowerShell User Groups - with groups in Manchester amp; London but with a view to expand this across the UK in 2016 - If interested in getting one going in your area then lets talk about it :-)
Oliver Frost
Twitter: - @OFrost
LinkedIn: Oliver Frost
I currently work predominantly as a Data Engineer for Consolidata Ltd with side roles in Engagement, Marketing and Sales. My background is in Neuroscience and so I would like to cover cross-over topics in the future (machine learning, deep learning and developing algorithms).
My tool set includes: SQL Server, R, Microsoft R Server and Azure. I have a good knowledge of other NoSQL technologies including Hadoop, Spark and Neo4j.
I also have an unconventiona background - I am also a current world record holder for solving the 4x4x4 blindfolded Rubik’sCube blindfolded!
John Martin
Twitter: - SQLDiplomat
LinkedIn: John Martin
Contact: https://www.mssqltips.com/sqlserverauthor/291/john-martin/
John Martin is a Data Platform Engineer working in the financial sector, as well as Vice President Marketing for the PASS organization and currently a Microsoft Data Platform MVP. Previously John has worked as a product manager for SentryOne and a Premier Field Engineer with Microsoft UK.
John has over a decade of experience working with SQL Server and the Microsoft Data Platform. Working as a DBA, developer and consultant for Microsoft, he has been lucky enough to see how best, and how not, to use SQL Server and the Data Platform effectively.
Sponsor Session
Manchester SQL Server User group
Lord Richard Douglas
Twitter: - SQLRich
LinkedIn: Lord Richard Douglas
Contact: http://SQL.RichardDouglas.co.uk
Lord Richard Douglas is a Principal Solutions Engineer at SentryOne, where he specialises in the SQL Server product range. He has worked with SQL Server since version 7.0 in various developer and DBA roles and holds a number of Microsoft certifications. Richard is a keen member of the SQL Server community, having run a PASS Chapter in the UK and having served on the organizing committee for SQLRelay. Richard is on Twitter as @SQLRich.
Emanuele Zanchettin
Twitter: - @thinkIT
LinkedIn: Emanuele Zanchettin
Emanuele Zanchettin, after studying in Computer Engineering, began his career with DB2 in the banking sector in 1998. After a few years and a change of scope of application, he encountered Access and Oracle with which he subsequently worked for several years in data access tuning and database design for new application features. Since 2007 he has also launched into the SQLServer world 2K, 2005, 2008* and 201* and more importantly, since 2011, into Azure SQL Database (SQL Azure). In order to have a greater capacity for assessment and familiarity with the various technologies that the market offers, he has deepened his knowledge to include MySQL and DocumentDB. Today Emanuele is mainly involved in IT projects and database management.
Mark Broadbent
Twitter: - @retracement
LinkedIn: Mark Broadbent
Contact: http://tenbulls.co.uk
Mark Broadbent is a Data Platform MVP and SQL Server MCM with more than 20 years of experience working with SQL Server and principal of SQLCloud, a consultancy specializing in concurrency control and highly available solutions. He is the founder of the UK’s SQLSaturday Cambridge (its first and largest), SharePoint Saturday Cambridge, the Hybrid Virtual Chapter and the East Anglia SQL User Group.
Mark Pryce-Maher
Twitter: - tsqltidy
Contact: http://tsqltidy.blogspot.com
Mark Pryce-Maher is an Azure SQL Data Warehouse Architect at Microsoft with lots of database /azure experience.
Sponsor Session
Manchester SQL Server User group
David Williams
Twitter: - @smooth1x1
LinkedIn: David Williams
Contact: http://justdave.info
David is a cross product DBA (SQL Server, DB2, Oracle, Informix, Sybase) who has worked for 25 years as a DBA for both private, local/central government customers including a Fortune 50 investment bank. Certifications include MCSE 2014 Data Platform, MCTS SQL Server 2008 DBA and Developer as well as certifcations in other products. David has spoken at multiple SQLSaturdays as well as local usergroups and is a regular volunteer at events including SQLBits.
Matthew Darwin
Twitter: - https://twitter.com/EvoDBA
LinkedIn: Matthew Darwin
Contact: https://naturalselectiondba.wordpress.com/
Matthew Darwin is a Microsoft SQL Server Administrator working in the Manchester area of the UK. He began working with SQL Server in 2008 and since this time has gained significant experience in performance tuning, bulk operations, disaster recovery and automation, working in the private finance and retail sector. He has worked in both the development and database administration fields, and firmly believes that this well rounded background allows him to provide complete and performant solutions.
When not working with SQL Server, he can be found playing the tenor saxophone, or in the mountains snowboarding.
Sponsor Session
Manchester SQL Server User group
Dmytro Andriychenko
Twitter: - @dataunited
LinkedIn: Dmytro Andriychenko
Contact: http://www.data-united.co.uk
Dmytro Andriychenko has over 10 years of SQL Server experience working as analyst, admin, developer and designer. Dmytro is a Microsoft Certified BI Expert with plenty of experience in all components of SQL Server in a variety of business settings (Betting, Banking, Legal, NHS and Bio-Pharma). His most recent focus is on BI architecture and delivery.
David Morrison
Twitter: - @TSQLNinja
Contact: http://tsqlninja.wordpress.com
David is a senior BI consultant at Coeo. Having worked in some for of database development or another for around 14 years his areas of specialisation are sql server engine internals, tsql and query performance tuning.
David has spoken at numerous conferences including several SQLBits and SQLSaturday events as well as user group meetings. He is a a confident speaker who uses humor and a down to earth approach to make even the most technical subject matters easily attainable and engagin
Dr. Subramani Paramasivam
Twitter: - https://twitter.com/dageop
LinkedIn: Dr. Subramani Paramasivam
Contact: http://www.yoursqlman.com/index.php/blogs
Dr.SubraMANI Paramasivam is a Microsoft MVP, PhD, Microsoft Certified Trainer and Head of Data AI at DAGEOP Ltd having 21 years of DB, BI, Analytics and AI experience. Mani has also spoken in various events like MS IGNITE, PASS Summit, MS Inspire, SQLBITS, Power Platform Summit, Global AI Bootcamp, Data BI Summit, SQLRelay, Power BI World Tour, Data Platform Summit, INSIDESQL UK, Global AI Nights, SQLServerGeeks Summit, MCT Global Summits, Data Day Events and various user group events. Mani also believes in Empowering Every Person in the planet and spreads the awareness on Global challenges via www.EmpoweringEveryPerson.com. He is also a co-owner of 1 Global AI Meetup and 3 Power BI PUG PASS local / user groups.
Simon Whiteley
Twitter: - MrSiWhiteley
LinkedIn: Simon Whiteley
Contact: http://blogs.adatis.co.uk/blogs/simonwhiteley/
Simon Whiteley is the Director of Engineering for Advancing Analytics Ltd and a Microsoft Data Platform MVP. Simon is a seasoned solution architect and technical lead with well over a decade of Microsoft Analytics experience. A deep techie with a focus on emerging cloud technologies and applying “big data” thinking to traditional analytics problems, Simon also has a passion for bringing it back to the high level and making sense of the bigger picture. When not tinkering with tech, Simon is a death-dodging London cyclist, a sampler of craft beers, an avid chef, and a generally nerdy person.
Paul Andrew
Twitter: - mrpaulandrew
LinkedIn: Paul Andrew
Contact: https://mrpaulandrew.com/
Paul Andrew is a principal consultant and architect, specializing in big data solutions on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform. Paul’s data engineering competencies include Azure Data Factory, Data Lake, Databricks, Stream Analytics, Event Hub, IoT Hub, Functions, Automation, Logic Apps, and of course the complete SQL Server Business Intelligence stack.
He has many years’ experience working within healthcare, retail, and gaming verticals, delivering analytics using industry leading methods and technical design patterns.
Paul is a STEM ambassador and a very active member of the data platform community delivering training and technical sessions at conferences both nationally and internationally.
He is a father, husband, swimmer, cyclist, r
Alex Whittles
Twitter: - @PurpleFrogSys
LinkedIn: Alex Whittles
Contact: http://www.PurpleFrogSystems.com/blog
Alex is a Data Platform MVP, and is the owner and lead consultant at Purple Frog, a SQL Server Business Intelligence consultancy in the UK. He specializes in Data Warehouse modelling, ETL, Cubes, MDX amp; DAX. He#39;s a chartered engineer amp; has an MSc in Business Intelligence.
He runs the Birmingham (UK) SQL Pass chapter amp; Azure user groups, and is on the SQLBits and SQL Relay committees in the UK.
Alex is a regular speaker at global events including SQLBits, PASS Summit, SQL Relay, SQLSaturdays as well as numerous SQL Pass chapters around Europe
Sponsor Session
Manchester SQL Server User group
Ewald Cress
Twitter: - @sqlonice
LinkedIn: Ewald Cress
Contact: http://sqlonice.com
Ewald is a software developer with particular interest in SQLOS and SQL Server internals. He spends an unseemly amount of time engaged with x64 assembly language. In a previous life he earned his bread as a musician, but then discovered the joys of databases, regular working hours, and middle age.
André Kamman
Twitter: - @andrekamman
Contact: http://andrekamman.com
André Kamman is a DBA and SQL Server Solutions Architect for CloudDBA. He has done a lot of DBA work on 1000’s of servers where he discovered his love for Powershell, architecting SQL Server solutions, building and tuning ETL processes (with BIML). He also likes to work with MPP platforms APS and AzureDW. André is a Data Platform MVP, Dutch PASS Chapter Leader and organiser of SQLSaturday Holland.
Robin Lester
LinkedIn: Robin Lester
Contact: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/robinlester/
I am a Cloud / Data Solutions Architect with Microsoft. Based in the UK and working closely with partners across the Azure data stack.
I have been working with data systems since SQL 6.5 but now I focus the majority of my time on modern database warehousing, advanced analytics and IoT workloads.
Stephanie Locke
Twitter: - @stefflocke
LinkedIn: Stephanie Locke
Contact: https://itsalocke.com
Steph Locke leads a life of data, coffee, books and board games. During the day, Steph runs her own consultancy helping people start doing data science. Steph enjoys being her own gal as it means she gets to spend plenty of time building communities to provide platforms for people to help each other be better with data.
Sponsor Session
Manchester SQL Server User group
n/a n/a
Craig Ottley-Thistlethwaite
LinkedIn: Craig Ottley-Thistlethwaite
Contact: http://sql.limited/blog/
Craig has worked on small databases to petabyte data warehouses. Primarily focused on performance optimization and has an unhealthy obsession with the internals of database engines. Technologies include, SQL Server, Vertica, and VoltDB.
Gavin Campbell
LinkedIn: Gavin Campbell
Contact: http://arapaima.uk
Gavin Campbell is a recovering Business Intelligence developer specialised in improving working practices in database delivery through the use of tools such as SQL Server Data Tools, tSQLt, Visual Studio Team Services, Git and Jenkins, on platforms such as AWS and Microsoft Azure, and methodologies such as Continuous Delivery and Agile.
Dejan Dular
Twitter: - @dejandular
LinkedIn: Dejan Dular
Dejan is an independent .NET and SQL developer. During his career he developed applications mainly in the area of Customer Management Systems and Supply Chain Management. In the last years he specialized as a back-end developer and data specialist. He is also a Microsoft Dynamics CRM expert.
In his free time he is working with IoT and calls himself a DIY freak.
Sponsor Session
Manchester SQL Server User group
Terry McCann
Twitter: - @SQLShark
LinkedIn: Terry McCann
Contact: https://www.advancinganalytics.co.uk/blog
Microsoft MVP. Principal Consultant and Owner of Advancing Analytics Limited, an Advanced Analytics consultancy in the UK. Advancing Analytics helps businesses advance their analytical capabilities. Our focus is on Data Science, Data Engineering, DataOps and applied AI. Terry holds a Master’s degree in Data Science - with a focus on DataOps for Machine Learning. Speaker at conferences across the world and the host of the Data Science in Production Podcast.
Mark Wilcock
Twitter: - @LonBizAnalytics
LinkedIn: Mark Wilcock
Contact: http://zomalex.co.uk
Mark is an independent consultant specializing in the analysis, reporting and visualization of financial data. Over the last 20 years, he worked on many systems to measure and monitor financial performance and manage market risks that arise from banking and trading activities. He is the organizer of the London Business Analytics Group, a popular community group that holds monthly talks on topics ranging from Predictive Analytics to Power Query to Personalized Medicine. He blogs at zomalex.co.uk
David Postlethwaite
Twitter: - @postledm
LinkedIn: David Postlethwaite
Contact: http://www.gethynellis.com/
David Postlethwaite has been a DBA for Liverpool Victoria in Bournemouth, England since 2008 He supports both Oracle and SQL Server from 2000 to 2017, DBMS, SSIS, SSAS and Reporting Services. In 2015 David built and deployed the company’s first cloud solution using Microsoft Azure SQL Database and web services
Before becoming a DBA David was a .NET developer and way back in history a Windows and Netware administrator.
He is an occasional blogger on www.gethynellis.com
David is a regular speaker for SQLSaturday. Most of his presentations can be found on his YouTube channel www.youtube.com/c/DavidPostlethwaiteSQL
Sponsors
The following is a list of sponsors that helped fund the event: