SQLSaturday #622 - Albany 2017
Event Date: 07/29/2017 00:00:00
Event Location:
- SUNY Albany
- 1400 Washington Ave
- Albany, New York
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Sessions
This is a list of sessions from the event, based on the schedule in the XML files.
Title: Public Preview of SQL Server on Linux
Abstract: Abstract:
There was a lot of excitement at the Connect() developer conference in November 2016. Two major announcements were made at the conference.
First, visual studio code now runs on Windows, Linux and Mac. Second, SQL Server v.Next is coming to Linux. This means a developer can
develop code against SQL Server in a Window less environment. If you are really passionate about Linux, join the hundreds downloading and
testing this preview release.
Coverage:
1 - Core code deployed for multiple environments.
2 - Installs on Red Hat and Ubuntu flavors of linux.
3 - Generate ssh key.
4 - Deploy standard Red Hat image.
5 - Install core engine and tools on linux.
6 - Connect to engine via sqlcmd.
7 - Open firewall for external access.
8 - Create database on Linux via SSMS in windows.
9 - Load data into table via bcp.
10 - Supports docker (container) images.
11 - Current limitations.
12 - Future road map.
Speaker(s):
- John Miner
Track and Room: Database Administration - LC19
Title: Think like the Cardinality Estimator
Abstract: SQL Server uses a phase during query optimization, called cardinality estimation (CE). This process makes estimates bases on the statistics as to how many rows flow from one query plan iterator to the next. Knowing how CE generates these numbers, will enable you to write better TSQL code and in turn influence type of physical operations during a query execution. Based on that estimated rows, the query processor decides how to access an object, which physical join to use, how to sort the data. Do you know how the CE generates these numbers? What happen when you have multiple predicates, range predicates, variable values that are “NOT KNOWN” to the optimizer or you have predicate values increasing in ascending order? Do you know what will happen if your predicate is using a value that is outside of histogram range? In this session, I will show you how CE estimates in all of these scenarios and you will walk out better equipped to tackle those nasty, hard to solve query plans.
Speaker(s):
- Taiob Ali
Track and Room: Database Administration - LC20
Title: SQL Server 2016 Migration:A Technical/Project Management Approach
Abstract: Just imagine that the management has given you an annual goal, to upgrade/migrate a SQL environment to SQL 2016(or 2014) and no project manager is available. After this session you will be able to create a quick dirty project plan and handle similar projects with ease and confidence.
We will start by discussing the ten Knowledge Areas and five Process Groups in a Project Management Framework. Each of these in turn, has multiple inputs/outputs; and each of them has multiple tools. Then we will learn how all these map to a SQL Server upgrade/migration project.
Most projects fail due to ‘Scope Creep’ , bad Stakeholder Management and poor communication. We will learn how to handle each of these along the way towards a successful completion.
Finally we shall discuss a relatively new concept of a ‘Go Live’ environment that will help you save hundreds of hours of work and help you complete your SQL Server migration project “In Time In Budget”.
Speaker(s):
- Paresh Motiwala
Track and Room: Professional/Personal Development - LC19
Title: Leaving the Past Behind: Rewriting Your Checklist for SQL 2016
Abstract: How big should the page file be for Windows Server 2016? How many data files should SQL Server 2016’s TempDB contain? What trace flags should we use by default now?
These are questions you addressed long ago in your setup checklist. You’ve spent a lot of time with that checklist, and you’re sure it’s perfect. Or is it? When was the last time you visited that checklist? Does it make sense for SQL 2014? What about SQL 2016? Change is hard, and DBAs need to constantly challenge yesterday’s best practices to ensure they meet today’s business needs.
Join veteran DBA Mike Hillwig and his list of server administration best practices that need to be revisited for modern versions of SQL Server, especially SQL 2016.
Speaker(s):
- Mike Hillwig
Track and Room: Database Administration - LC21
Title: Managing Azure Resources with PowerShell
Abstract: PowerShell is the robust automation language for Windows. When extended with the Azure modules, you get a robust automation platform for Azure. In this talk, we’ll explain how to create, inquire about, and manage Azure resources with PowerShell. We’ll discuss the greatly improved Azure portal featuring Resource Manager which allows us to group resources together and what that means for our PowerShell development. For those not using Azure Active Directory, we’ll explain how to create a Service Principal which is an application account so unattended PowerShell jobs can authenticate without human interaction. Beyond Azure scripting, we’ll review ways to maximize the extensibility and reusability of your PowerShell code by creating custom modules, functions, and configuration frameworks. If you plan to use Azure, you need PowerShell, the Azure automation language.
Speaker(s):
- Bryan Cafferky
Track and Room: Cloud Application Development Deployment - LC24
Title: Dissecting the Data Flow: Exploring SSIS Transformations, Memory and the Pipeline
Abstract: SQL Server Integrations Services is a robust product, with lots of different options available to the ETL developer. One of the main components in SSIS is the Data Flow task. For someone new to SSIS, it can be daunting to be assigned a project to extract data from a source, transform it and then load it into its intended destination. What components do I use? Why pick one over another? Even if you are new to SSIS, it’s good to have an understanding of what’s going on under the hood when a data flow task is run. Come to this session to learn what non blocking, semi blocking and fully blocking transformations are. We’ll explore how SSIS creates and manages memory buffers. You’ll leave with a better understanding of how certain tasks and transformations can affect your package’s performance.
Speaker(s):
- Matt Batalon
Track and Room: Database Development - LC24
Title: Architecting Availability Groups
Abstract: Are you a DBA familiar with some basic Windows clustering and database mirroring concepts, and now you’re considering AlwaysOn Availability Groups? This session is for you! I’ll cover the pros and cons of four typical configurations of AlwaysOn Availability Groups: stand-alone instances, fail-over cluster instances, multi-subnet configurations, and disaster-recovery-on-the-cheap. I’ll also discuss read-only routing, and implications and limitations of the Availability Group Listener. In addition, you’ll learn why you should be using Windows Server 2012 R2 or above for your Windows clusters. Join me to learn which configuration options you should choose for your Availability Group.
Speaker(s):
- Derik Hammer
Track and Room: Database Administration - LC24
Title: Introduction to Unit-Testing in SQL Server
Abstract: It’s bad enough to spend hours finding and fixing database defects, explaining to the rest of the team what went wrong and trying to clean up the mess. It’s even worse when a defect causes the end-user to make a bad decision. Database defects are far too costly and most testing practices do not adequately detect or prevent them.
In this session you’ll learn techniques to write SQL code that is resilient to defects and is easier to change and maintain. We will cover writing simple unit tests and look into more advanced topics such as faking tables and spying procedures. We will also look at how unit testing improves code quality and maintainability.
You will leave this session ready to write unit tests for your own environment to get started on the way to a defect-free and maintainable SQL Server code base.
Speaker(s):
- Sebastian Meine
Track and Room: Database Development - LC24
Title: Lightning Talks
Abstract: This session will contain a set of 10-minute lighting talks from 5 of our speakers:
Derek Hammer: Launch your database into the cloud! In this lightning talk, I will explain bacpacs and demonstrate how they can be used to launch your database into the cloud.
George Walters: Making Something With Power BI in 10 Minutes Do you think Power BI is hard? We will show you how easy it can be to get value out of data in under 10 minutes.
Paresh Motiwala: Fine Tuning Your Execution Plans In this session, we’ll discuss how best to shorten your backup times using both native SQL and third party tools.
Sunil Kadimdiwan: Graph data processing - SQL Server 2017 In this brief session I will demonstrate how to utilize graph database capabilities in SQL Server 2017.
Kevin Feasel: Learning Languages The purpose of this light-hearted talk is to think a little bit about ways to sharpen our skills while still leaving at least a trace of free time.
Speaker(s):
- Edward Pollack
Track and Room: Lightning Talks - LC21
Title: Network your Way to Success!
Abstract: Did you know that most employers – whether looking for a full time employee, contractor, or consultant – interview people because of their technical skills and experiences, but hire and keep them for their social capital? In times of economic downturn, it’s not the person who is the most competent who stays; it’s the one who’s most competent, likeable, and connected. Socially adept people also get invited to the table more often for big projects and are promoted (or extended) more frequently than purely ‘competent’ individuals.
Whether or not you’ve been in your role for a few months, years, or even decades – or you’re looking for a new job and new opportunities – strategic networking is the way to make yourself more relevant, more attractive for projects and promotion – or more hirable by potential customers.
Join us for an interactive session to strategize the best actions to increase your social capital and network your way to success!
Speaker(s):
- Lisa Margerum
Track and Room: Professional/Personal Development - LC23
Title: SQL Server High Availability in Azure IaaS
Abstract: Deploying mission critical SQL Server in Azure IaaS requires an in-depth understanding of storage, virtual networks, load balancers, SQL Server AlwaysOn and more. To qualify for Azure’s SLA of 99.95% availability, steps must be taken to mitigate downtime by leveraging Fault Domains and Update Domains in conjunction with traditional HA options.
Azure Resource Manager (ARM) replaces Azure “Classic” as the preferred deployment method in Azure. New features such as Deployment Templates and Resource Groups introduced in ARM make it a powerful tool in managing the entire life-cycle of SQL Server in Azure.
In this session attendees will learn how to leverage ARM to deploy SQL AlwaysOn Availability Groups and Failover Cluster Instances. Template Deployments and manual configurations using the Azure Portal and Azure PowerShell will be demonstrated.
Speaker(s):
- David Bermingham
Track and Room: Cloud Application Development Deployment - LC22
Title: SANLess clustering for physical, virtual and cloud environments
Abstract: Microsoft Clusters and Datacenter MVP, Dave Bermingham, will discuss how to create SANLess clusters in environments where traditional shared storage clusters are impractical or impossible. He will be discussing high performance clusters leveraging SSD and Flash-based PCIe storage for faster SQL application response times - no SAN (or SAN Admin required). He will also touch on methods for providing HA protection and native Windows Failover Clustering in Windows Azure or the Amazon Cloud. – Topics covered – High performance storage and accelerating SQL Server without sacrificing availability; AlwaysOn Failover Clustering vs. AlwaysOn Availability Groups; HA and DR strategy for SQL Server in Amazon EC2 and Azure instances; Fast, cost-effective strategies to get HA and DR protection without a SAN.
This is the SIOS sponsored lunch time session.
Speaker(s):
- David Bermingham
Track and Room: Database Administration - LC21
Title: Outsourcing database administration to your users.
Abstract: How outsource administrative tasks to your end user groups in a safe, secure, and repeatable pattern. Now you no longer have to pause and stop what you are doing to create that new login, and replicate it to your Disaster Recovery. You do not have to stop and perform a backup/restore to refresh the development environment. Empower your end users, let them do this on their own without compromising your security.
There will be a demo!
Speaker(s):
- Stephen Mokszycki
Track and Room: Database Administration - LC20
Title: Learn On-premises BI: SSRS 2016 and Power BI
Abstract: Both Power BI and SSRS will help you deliver compelling BI solutions, whether IT managed and/or self-service. For many companies it is important to deliver such solution as on-premises option.
In this session I will give you a tour of enhancements in SSRS 2016 including KPI, mobile paginated reports. Mobile reports can now be viewed on any device; tablet, smartphone and desktop.
I will also show you the newly introduced Power BI Report Server, that allows you to deploy Power BI Reports on-premises.
Speaker(s):
- Sunil Kadimdiwan
Track and Room: Enterprise BI - LC23
Title: Whoa! Backup, what happened?
Abstract: This session will start with performing a basic backup and restore of a database and then discuss the difference between FULL, Differential and Transaction backups. From there I will discuss many of the available options for backups, including backups of specific database files, to multiple files and different restore options.
Many DBAs still setup their backups via a GUI and “fire and forget” and don’t think about backups and restores until too late. This session will show you while that works in many cases, for larger or more complex databases, or databases with specialized HA requirements, the out of the box solution may be far from optimal.
Speaker(s):
- Greg Moore
Track and Room: Database Administration - LC21
Title: Surviving parsing XML with T-SQL
Abstract: Oft times we as developers are required to create queries to extract data from our tables that is fortunately or unfortunately in XML format and deeply layered at that. In this hands on presentation we shall be looking at varied techniques to materialize our data (from XML format) in an efficient and effective manner. We shall begin by tackling the subject within Management Studio and then progress to SQL Server Integration Services and SQL Server Reporting Services. The presentation is based upon true case scenarios and will show many of the pitfalls or gotcha’s of which to be wary.
Speaker(s):
- Steve Simon
Track and Room: Application Development - LC23
Title: SQL Server - R Services
Abstract: SQL Server R Services: Microsoft acquired Revolution Analytics in early 2015, and introduced R services (in-database/stand-alone) with SQL Server 2016 this year. With the first Microsoft Data Science summit behind us this past Sept, in Atlanta, let us review what R Services in SQL Server brings to the table and see how it complements/supersedes features that are available with other R offerings (R GUI, Microsoft R Client [R Studio], Microsoft R Open [RROpen], Microsoft R Server[RREnterprise] etc.,)
Speaker(s):
- Azhagappan Arunachalam
Track and Room: Enterprise BI - LC22
Title: Top 10 Features of a Great Business Intelligence Solution
Abstract: This session will identify and explore the key features of a robust Business Intelligence Solution, including Self Service, Collaboration, Content and Data Security, Metadata Management, Drill Up/Down/Through Dice, Statistical Analysis, Dynamic Text and more.
Speaker(s):
- Rachel Blum
Track and Room: Enterprise BI - LC23
Title: Power BI: Architecture and demo
Abstract: Wonder how to get into “Power BI”? Architecture of Power BI confusing you? Listen to George Walters discuss the architecture of Power BI from rich desktop authoring, to dashboards in the cloud. We will finish with an interactive dashboard of data.
Speaker(s):
- George Walters
Track and Room: Self-Service BI - LC23
Title: Tech Writing for Techies: A Primer
Abstract: Documentation is one of the most critical, yet most blatantly ignored and disrespected tasks when it comes to technology. Businesses and technical professionals ignore documentation at their own risk. This session discusses what tech writing and documentation is about and why it’s critical for business. It also explores possible reasons for why it’s ignored, how documentation can be improved, and how “non-writers” can contribute to the process.
Speaker(s):
- Ray Kim
Track and Room: Professional/Personal Development - LC19
Title: Much Ado About Hadoop
Abstract: If you’re interested in Hadoop but don’t know where to begin, this session will give you an idea of what you can do with the open-source platform. We will see an overview of the Hadoop architecture, becoming familiar with the overall platform and its solutions for warehousing, ETL, streaming data ingest, in-memory processing, and more. We will compare Hadoop to SQL Server to help gain an understanding of when to deploy which technology.
Speaker(s):
- Kevin Feasel
Track and Room: Big Data - LC20
Title: Master Your Data using DQS and MDS
Abstract: Master Data Management is a discipline, Master Data Services and Data Quality Services are tools for implementation. In this presentation you will learn the different types of data mastering. Assuming you have the services installed and configured, the demonstration will walk you through a mastering implementation that requires DQS and MDS integration.
Speaker(s):
- Beth Wolfset
Track and Room: Database Development - LC22
Title: PS > .\Install-SqlServer.ps1 “Automating your SQL Server Install”
Abstract: Learn how to install a new SQL Server instance in less time than it takes to get a latte at Starbucks.
My team manages hundreds of SQL Server instances, and performs dozens of installations every year. By automating our SQL Server install, each new server requires just a few minutes of effort before they are ready for use. Even if you only install a few SQL Server instances every year, introducing automation will save you time, and ensure a more consistent configuration.
I will share my automation script, and show you different methods to add automation to your installation routine.
Speaker(s):
- Andy Mallon
Track and Room: Database Administration - LC22
Title: Learn How to do Predictive Modeling with R
Abstract: The hottest topic in Analytics is predictive modeling because it gives an enterprise a competitive advantage. In this presentation we will explain the steps of creating a predictive model. We’ll discuss preliminary data analysis, determining the model to use, training the model, and using the model to predict outcomes, all with examples in the R programming language. Learn what the excitement is about!
Speaker(s):
- Bryan Cafferky
Track and Room: Big Data - LC20
Title: Painting with PowerShell: SQL Server Administration
Abstract: The SQL Server canvas gives us limitless opportunity for scripting and automation, and PowerShell is the perfect brush to paint with. Configuring our database servers, deploying database code changes, performing backups and restores are just a few examples of a day in the life of a DBA. Automation and scripting bring consistency, simplicity and scalability to many of these sometimes daunting tasks.
Join me to learn how to paint your own SQL Server canvas with PowerShell.
Speaker(s):
- Chris Sommer
Track and Room: Database Administration - LC22
Title: Advanced SQL Server execution plans
Abstract: Tired to look at colored and nice shape plans? Want to go further and see geek stuff? Came to this session to explore the query trees, internals and deep analysis on execution plans on SQL Server. This is a advanced session, so, expect to see lots of traceflags, undocumented and nasty execution plans.
Speaker(s):
- Fabiano Amorim
Track and Room: Optimization/Tuning - LC20
Title: Back to the Basics: T-SQL 101
Abstract: Do you consider yourself a beginner to T-SQL? This session will go over the basic T-SQL syntax for querying data. We’ll break down the fundamental statements to look at the different parts to see how they work together.
This session is designed for the junior DBA or developer who is looking for a better foundation of the basics. The goal is to feel more confident with how to write queries and understand how to build on that knowledge.
Speaker(s):
- Deborah Melkin
Track and Room: Database Development - LC21
Title: # vs @ - it’s not about Social Media it’s about temporary tables and data
Abstract: In this session Thomas will explore and explain the different options that exist in SQL Server to temporary store data and show you when to use which and why not the others. This will cover #, ##, @, Non-Durable Memory Optimized and regular user tables. He will also present alternatives like common table expressions.
Speaker(s):
- Thomas Grohser
Track and Room: Database Administration - LC24
Title: Man vs Machine: Adaptive query processing and auto tune on SQL2017
Abstract: Query optimizer is getting smart, computers are taking DBAs jobs. In this session MVP Fabiano Amorim will talk about new “automatic” optimizations on SQL Server 2017. Adaptive query processing, auto tune and few other features added into the product. Are you taking weekend off? What about turn automatic tune to avoid bad queries to show up after an index rebuild or an ‘unexpected’ change?
Speaker(s):
- Fabiano Amorim
Track and Room: Database Administration - LC19
Title: Organizational Security Compliance with SQL 2012 through 2016
Abstract: You need to deal with more security requirements in your role. How can SQL Server features help you comply? We will delve into Audit, Compliance, and Encryption. New 2016 features like Always Encrypted will be detailed at the end.
Speaker(s):
- George Walters
Track and Room: Database Administration - LC19
Title: Utilizing Docker to create developer instances for SQL Server.
Abstract: SQL Server has come to linux. While there are certainly use cases this on production, the one thing any enterprise can take advantage of immediately is quickly spinning up development servers as docker containers.
In this session we will go over the basics of docker, as well as the SQL Server For Linux docker image. We will talk about how to use docker and docker-compose to create a development instance of our production server as well as loading test data on it. We will go over the challenges of hosting a database server in a docker container.
Speaker(s):
- Justin Dearing
Track and Room: Application Development - LC21
Speakers
This is a list of speakers from the XML Guidebook records. The details and URLs were valid at the time of the event.
Paresh Motiwala
Twitter: - pareshmotiwala
LinkedIn: Paresh Motiwala
Paresh Motiwala a Azure/Big Data enthusiast, Manager of Database Platform teams has led several large SQL implementations, migrations and upgrades. He has managed multi terabyte OLTP databases. He has also been a Sr. SQL DBA and a Solutions Architect in Fortune 100 companies. He helps/organizes and speaks at many SQLSaturdays, Azure Bootcamp, Azure Datafests and User Groups(Boston BI UG, NESQL, PASS PD VG and PASS DBA VG).
He is certified in Big Data Analytics, FinTech, PMP, Public Speaking, Business Communications. He is a avid singer, cook, open networker, and stand-up comedian. He teaches public speaking, debating, interviewing and group discussion skills and mentors children around the globe via www.circlesofgrowth.com
Andy Mallon
Twitter: - AMtwo
LinkedIn: Andy Mallon
Contact: http://www.AM2.co
Andy is a Data Platform MVP and SQL Server DBA that has managed databases in the healthcare, finance, e-commerce, and non-profit sectors. He has been supporting high-volume, highly-available OLTP environments with demanding performance needs since 2003.
Andy is the founder of the BostonSQL User Group, and previous co-organizer of SQLSaturday events in Boston. He blogs at am2.co.
Andy lives just outside Boston, Massachusetts, USA with his husband and their two dogs.
Matt Batalon
Twitter: - @MattBatalon
LinkedIn: Matt Batalon
Contact: http://codebatalon@wordpress.com
Matt holds an MCSE in Data Management Analytics, and has over 15 years of experience in the Information Technology field with a focus on software development and database administration. For over ten years, he has worked extensively with Microsoft SQL Server, including Integration Services, Reporting Services and Analysis Services. He has a Bachelors Degree from Bryant University with a concentration in Computer Information Systems. He is the president of the Rhode Island SQL Server Users Group.
Stephen Mokszycki
Twitter: - mokszs
LinkedIn: Stephen Mokszycki
Stephen.Mokszycki@outlook.com
DBA for ~4+years, IT Professional for 7.5 years.
Currently I am a Data Architect
Worked with SQL 2000/2005/2008/2012/2014
I’m currently working on a small environments: 5 instances, 60 databases, 1TB of data
Previously I worked on a large environment: 300+ Instances, ~6000 databases, 10s TBs of data.
Automation is my favorite tool.
Rachel Blum
LinkedIn: Rachel Blum
Rachel is a Senior Sales Engineer at Pyramid Analytics. She has 20 years of experience in the design, development, implementation and management of business intelligence and data analysis systems for the healthcare and financial services industries. Rachel holds a BA from Brandeis University and an Master of Public Health from Columbia University where she focused on population health, biostatistics and research. She co-authored “Microsoft PerformancePoint for Dummies,” Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2009.
George Walters
Twitter: - https://twitter.com/geo_walters
LinkedIn: George Walters
Contact: https://georgewalters.wordpress.com/
Currently a partner technical strategist, George has been solving customer needs and issues. He can translate customer pain into potential solutions.
A seasoned Microsoft SQL and Azure expert, with over 20 years of experience with Microsoft SQL Server, Sybase, Oracle, and other relational databases.
Specialties: Partner strategy, PreSales Engineering, Cloud Architecture, Enterprise Scalability, SQL Server performance, Business Intelligence, High Availability, Scale. I volunteer and present relevant topics at SQLSaturday and internal Microsoft events
George Walters
Twitter: - https://twitter.com/geo_walters
LinkedIn: George Walters
Contact: https://georgewalters.wordpress.com/
Currently a partner technical strategist, George has been solving customer needs and issues. He can translate customer pain into potential solutions.
A seasoned Microsoft SQL and Azure expert, with over 20 years of experience with Microsoft SQL Server, Sybase, Oracle, and other relational databases.
Specialties: Partner strategy, PreSales Engineering, Cloud Architecture, Enterprise Scalability, SQL Server performance, Business Intelligence, High Availability, Scale. I volunteer and present relevant topics at SQLSaturday and internal Microsoft events
Kevin Feasel
Twitter: - feaselkl
LinkedIn: Kevin Feasel
Contact: http://www.catallaxyservices.com
Kevin Feasel is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP and CTO at Envizage, where he specializes in data analytics with T-SQL and R, forcing Spark clusters to do his bidding, fighting with Kafka, and pulling rabbits out of hats on demand. He is the lead contributor to Curated SQL (https://curatedsql.com), president of the Triangle Area SQL Server Users Group (https://www.meetup.com/tripass), and author of PolyBase Revealed (https://www.apress.com/us/book/9781484254608). A resident of Durham, North Carolina, he can be found cycling the trails along the triangle whenever the weather’s nice enough.
Justin Dearing
Twitter: - zippy1981
LinkedIn: Justin Dearing
Contact: http://www.justaprogrammer.net
Justin Dearing has been working in IT in 2002. He started as a night shift AS/400 operator and rose through the ranks at a series of companies. He currently works as a developer in the capital markets industry.
Justin has served in both the development and production side of the house on Windows, Unix and Midrange Platforms. His database experience includes MongoDB, MySQL, Postgres and Microsoft SQL server. These days he programs in C#, PowerShell and PHP.
Greg Moore
Twitter: - @stridergdm
LinkedIn: Greg Moore
Contact: https://blog.greenms.com
Greg Moore is a graduate of RPI. There, he majored in CompSci, but probably spent as much time hiking, canoeing, caving and rock-climbing as he did studying. He started working with SQL Server 4.21a in 1995 and has survived numerous upgrades. He’s been a Director and later VP of IT at several startups including PowerOne Media, TownNews and Traffiq and now consults. These days, when he’s not busy with playing with SQL Server or spending time with his family, he can often be found underground caving or teaching cave rescue with the NCRC. While his focus is on the operations side of DBA, his interests include DR, performance and general IT problem solving. He is the author of: IT Disaster Response: Lessons Learned in the Field.
Steve Simon
Twitter: - SQLServerBoffin
LinkedIn: Steve Simon
Contact: http://www.sqlservercentral.com/blogs/simon_says/
Steve Simon is a Database Solutions Architect with Business Knowledge Services Inc. He has been involved with database design and analysis for over 35 years. Steve has presented papers at numerous PASS Summits and PASS SQL Rallies. He is also regular presenter on the SQLSaturday circuit and he is a contributor on SQLShack.com
Bryan Cafferky
LinkedIn: Bryan Cafferky
Contact: https://www.youtube.com/user/Bryancutube256123
Bryan Cafferky is a Big Data and AI consultant. Bryan was previously a Senior Data Science Training Content Developer for Microsoft Worldwide Learning. Prior to this he was a Microsoft Data and AI Enabler for healthcare customers. He is a Microsoft 2017 Data Platform MVP and a 2016 Cloud and Data Center Management MVP. Bryan is the author of Pro PowerShell for Database Developers by Apress, available on Amazon. He leads The RI Microsoft BI User Group, and The Greater Boston Area Data Science Group. He has been working with the SQL Server stack since 1997 and implemented projects in the banking, insurance, e-commerce, utility, and health care industries. He holds a bachelor of science in computer information systems and an MBA.
Edward Pollack
Twitter: - EdwardPollack
LinkedIn: Edward Pollack
Contact: https://www.sqlshack.com/author/edward-pollack/
Ed Pollack has over 20 years of experience in database and systems administration, which has developed his passion for performance optimization, database design, and making things go faster. He has spoken at many SQLSaturdays, 24 Hours of PASS, and PASS Summit. This led him to organize SQLSaturday Albany, which has become an annual event for New York’s Capital Region. Sharing these experiences with the community is a top priority, and encouraging everyone to take the leap into public speaking and engaging others, a passion. In his free time, Ed enjoys video games, traveling, cooking exceptionally spicy foods, and hanging out with his amazing wife and sons.
Ray Kim
Twitter: - PianoRayK
LinkedIn: Ray Kim
Contact: https://pianorayk.wordpress.com/
Ray Kim is an advocate for documentation and technical communication. He is a co-founder of the Albany, NY SQL group (CASSUG), a member of the AlbanyUX user group, and has spoken at numerous SQLSaturdays and at PASS Summit. He has worked various positions in technology, including as a developer, webmaster, analyst, technical writer, and instructor. He holds an MS in technical communication from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a BS in computer science from Syracuse University.
A musician in his spare time, Ray plays four different instruments. He also enjoys going to ball games and doing CrossFit, and is a two-time SQLServerCentral.com fantasy football champion. He lives in Troy, NY with his wife, Lianne, and their two cats.
Taiob Ali
Twitter: - https://twitter.com/SqlWorldWide
LinkedIn: Taiob Ali
Contact: http://www.sqlworldwide.com
Taiob Ali, MVP Data Platform, is an accomplished technical leader with a proven record of success. For 14 years, he has worked with the Microsoft Data Platform and MongoDB both on-premise and cloud. His experience includes all three major business sectors: finance, e-commerce, and healthcare. Taiob has hands-on experience in managing large database projects, massive data migration, intricate process design, testing and deployment, performance tuning, long term capacity planning. Taiob is currently working at “GMO LLC” as a Database Solution Manager, focusing on cloud migration, automation, improving, and streamlining operational workflow. He is a regular speaker at local and virtual PASS chapters, SQLSaturdays, and Azure conferences.
Sunil Kadimdiwan
Twitter: - @skadimdiwan
LinkedIn: Sunil Kadimdiwan
Contact: http://www.infotrove.com/events.html
Sunil Kadimdiwan Sunil Kadimdiwan has 25+ years’ experience in architecting and implementing database solutions. He has deep knowledge of the Microsoft SQL Server and Business Intelligence technology stack. He is a frequent speaker at SQLSaturdays, Code Camps, User Group meetings
John Miner
Twitter: - https://twitter.com/JohnMiner3
LinkedIn: John Miner
Contact: https://www.mssqltips.com/sqlserverauthor/154/john-miner/
John Miner is currently a Data Architect at BlueMetal advising corporations on how to solve their business needs with data platform solutions.
He has over twenty five years of data processing experience, and his architecture expertise encompasses all phases of the software project life cycle, including design, development, implementation, and maintenance of systems.
He has an undergraduate and graduate degrees in Computer Science from the University of Rhode Island. Other credentials include an up to date MCSE certificate and currently taking the Data Science program from EDX.
Before joining BlueMetal, John won the Data Platform MVP award in 2014 and 2015 for his outstanding contributions to the SQL Server community.
David Bermingham
Twitter: - https://twitter.com/daveberm
LinkedIn: David Bermingham
Contact: http://clusteringformeremortals.com/
David Bermingham is recognized within the community as a high availability expert and has been honored by his peers by being elected to be a MVP in Clustering since 2010 and most recently has been recognized as a Cloud and Datacenter MVP. David’s work as technical evangelist at SIOS has him focused on evangelizing Microsoft high availability and disaster recovery solutions for both on premise and cloud deployments. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and three kids where he a school board member, scout leader and musical director of an 8-piece jazz band, M-Town.
Sebastian Meine
Twitter: - @sqlity
LinkedIn: Sebastian Meine
Contact: http://sqlity.net/en/blog/
Sebastian Meine, Ph.D. is the SQL Stylist behind sqlity.net llc. In 2010 he founded sqlity.net to fully engage in his passion for SQL Server. Armed with a Ph.D. in Computer Science and years of experience in architecting DBs for a global Fortune 50 company, Sebastian now provides training and consulting services for his clients, specializing in SQL Server Security, Test Driven Development and Performance. Sebastian is an experienced public speaker, published author, president of the Philly PASS Chapter, PASS Regional Mentor and coauthor lead developer of tSQLt.
David Bermingham
Twitter: - https://twitter.com/daveberm
LinkedIn: David Bermingham
Contact: http://clusteringformeremortals.com/
David Bermingham is recognized within the community as a high availability expert and has been honored by his peers by being elected to be a MVP in Clustering since 2010 and most recently has been recognized as a Cloud and Datacenter MVP. David’s work as technical evangelist at SIOS has him focused on evangelizing Microsoft high availability and disaster recovery solutions for both on premise and cloud deployments. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and three kids where he a school board member, scout leader and musical director of an 8-piece jazz band, M-Town.
Derik Hammer
Twitter: - https://twitter.com/sqlhammer
LinkedIn: Derik Hammer
Contact: http://www.sqlhammer.com
I am currently working as a Database Operations Team Lead with Subway World Headquarters. Server configuration, architecture, disaster recovery, high-availability, performance tuning, and maintenance automation form the bulk of my responsibilities. Almost all of my previous experience has resided firmly in the traditional / production DBA realm. I also spend as much time as I can spare attending SQL Server community functions. Currently chapter leader for FairfieldPASS.
Fabiano Amorim
Twitter: - mcflyamorim
LinkedIn: Fabiano Amorim
Contact: http:\blogfabiano.com
Fabiano Amorim is a Data Platform MVP that loves to conquer complex, challenging problems—especially ones that others aren’t able to solve. He first became interested in technology when his older brother would bring him to his work meetings at the age of 14. With over a decade of experience, Fabiano is well known in the database community for his performance tuning abilities. When he isn’t working, he loves to read and spend time with his family.
Lisa Margerum
Lisa is a coach, educator, and networking expert who helps people make the changes they need to succeed. She is a Principal Consultant for Contacts Count, LLC, the premier networking training company, and has a Ph.D. in leadership and from Andrews University an M.Ed. in Instructional Systems from Pennsylvania State University and received her coaching certification in leadership and transition from the prestigious Hudson Institute of Coaching. For over 20 years, Lisa worked as a leader and innovator within the fields of healthcare and IT. Passionate, goal-oriented, and motivated, Lisa believes that everyone should have the opportunity to become the phenomenal person they want to be. She is also adjunct faculty at Wilmington University’s G
Deborah Melkin
Twitter: - dgmelkin
LinkedIn: Deborah Melkin
Contact: http://debthedba.wordpress.com
Deborah Melkin has been working as a database professional with SQL Server for almost 20 years. She spends her days helping programmers with all aspects of database design, queries, performance, and deployment. In 2016, she began her blog, Deb the DBA. Soon after that, she began speaking at SQLSaturdays and user groups. Deborah is a board member of the New England SQL Server User group (NESQL) and was recently named as an IDERA ACE Class of 2020. She also won Speaker Idol at PASS Summit 2019. In her spare time, Deborah can usually be found doing something musical.
Beth Wolfset
Twitter: - @beth_wolfset
LinkedIn: Beth Wolfset
Beth Wolfset has more than twenty-five years of data architecture, analysis, modeling, development and administration experience. She has presented at several conferences and user groups. She has worked primarily in the Healthcare and Defense industries. Beth strives to create practical data solutions that balance current requirements with the needs of the future. She has a MS in CS from Northeastern University, a BA in CS and Psychology from Clark University, and a Data Science Certification from Johns Hopkins University.
Bryan Cafferky
LinkedIn: Bryan Cafferky
Contact: https://www.youtube.com/user/Bryancutube256123
Bryan Cafferky is a Big Data and AI consultant. Bryan was previously a Senior Data Science Training Content Developer for Microsoft Worldwide Learning. Prior to this he was a Microsoft Data and AI Enabler for healthcare customers. He is a Microsoft 2017 Data Platform MVP and a 2016 Cloud and Data Center Management MVP. Bryan is the author of Pro PowerShell for Database Developers by Apress, available on Amazon. He leads The RI Microsoft BI User Group, and The Greater Boston Area Data Science Group. He has been working with the SQL Server stack since 1997 and implemented projects in the banking, insurance, e-commerce, utility, and health care industries. He holds a bachelor of science in computer information systems and an MBA.
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.
Azhagappan Arunachalam
Az Arunachalam has been working with SQL server since v4.21/SQLNT. He started his career with troubleshooting at chip level, worked as a network engineer managing Novell NetWare networks, graduated into managing Windows NT, moved onto development, administered databases, and is currently working as a database architect. He#39;s excited about all the cloud offerings that Microsoft and others have made possible, and in sharing his findings with aspiring data enthusiasts.
Mike Hillwig
Twitter: - @mikehillwig
LinkedIn: Mike Hillwig
Contact: http://www.mikehillwig.com
Veteran DBA Mike Hillwig is a native Pittsburgher and resident of the Boston Suburbs. He’s a DBA Manager for a financial software company that’s owned by one of the world’s largest bank. Mike has been working with SQL Server since version 7 and has a background in infrastructure and network. Today, he manages a team of DBAs around the globe.
Chris Sommer
Twitter: - @cjsommer
LinkedIn: Chris Sommer
Contact: http://www.cjsommer.com
Chris started in computing and I.T. in the mid to late 1990’s. After the dust had settled from Y2K, he found himself a bit more focused and working with database servers on the Unix platform. His first exposure to SQL Server was in 2007 and he has been working on that platform ever since. Chris is currently a Senior SQL DBA with a focus on reliability, stability and performance. He truly enjoys the building tools with PowerShell to help his fellow DBA#39;s manage their ever growing environment.
Fabiano Amorim
Twitter: - mcflyamorim
LinkedIn: Fabiano Amorim
Contact: http:\blogfabiano.com
Fabiano Amorim is a Data Platform MVP that loves to conquer complex, challenging problems—especially ones that others aren’t able to solve. He first became interested in technology when his older brother would bring him to his work meetings at the age of 14. With over a decade of experience, Fabiano is well known in the database community for his performance tuning abilities. When he isn’t working, he loves to read and spend time with his family.
Sponsors
The following is a list of sponsors that helped fund the event: