SQLSaturday #636 - Pittsburgh 2017
Event Date: 09/30/2017 00:00:00
Event Location:
- Pittsburgh Technical College
- 1111 McKee Road, Oakdale, PA
- Oakdale, Pennsylvania
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: Refresh a 1TB+ database in under 10 seconds
Abstract: The presentation covers recoverability options in SQL Server over time. It will take us through many different ways of recovering a large 1TB+ database. It will also walk us through many different options for creating development/test/uat environments. It will highlight the benefits and shortcomings of these options while delivering a business value of each. It will also evaluate a high level ROI of each of these options. Finally, the presentation will focus on an architecture based on SAN technologies with respect to SQL Server. I will demonstrate an architecture put in place resolving many business needs in a financial trading environment, working with large data sets and many different environments. This section will highlight the benefits of using SQL Server together with newer SAN solutions and show the potential for reliability, scalability, and the delivery of a high quality HA/DR solution. That is where things get interesting…
Speaker(s):
- Andrzej Pilacik
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 603
Title: DBA 102: Now What
Abstract: Things happened, you got a knock on the head and when you awoke your boss said “congratulations” you are our new DBA, perhaps you came to the role in a more intentional manner or are just DBA curious. Your environment is running but you are wondering “now what” or “what’s next”. In this session we will give an overview of a few things that could, perhaps even should be next and give some recommendations as to where you can find more resources on-line and maybe even suggest a few sessions to attend at this very SQLSaturday. So, what will be covered, recovery strategy (you think I mean backups, I don’t, you’ll see why), a touch on performance tuning with a hint of indexing thrown in, add a pinch of high availability and a smattering of security all of which will give you some idea how to answer “now what”.
Speaker(s):
- Peter Shore
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 604C (Wanna Be A DBA?)
Title: Got stress? Sometimes the SQL Server needs some too
Abstract: We hear it in every session and every webinar “…test…” regardless of it being upgrades, new code, performance tuning or any of a thousand changes. Once we confirm nothing breaks., we don’t need to check anything else, nothing could possibly change the results, right? What about load on the database(s) in question or the server as a whole? In this session four readily available tools, distributed replay, Hammer DB, SQL Query Stress and oStress will be introduced. The session will cover how to use the tools as well as which situations they shine in. Once introductions are made, we will spend a little time with two of my favorites, HammerDB and SQL Query Stress. Join me as we apply a little heat to our SQL Servers.
Speaker(s):
- Peter Shore
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 612
Title: DBAs vs Developers: JSON in SQL Server 2016
Abstract: The war between DBAs and developers has been raging since the dawn of relational databases. One reason for disagreement comes from developers who want to store their data in JSON because it is fast, standard, and flexible. DBAs cringe when they hear of long text strings being stored in their SQL databases; they cry with concern, “No data validation? No schema binding?”. Is there any hope for these two warring factions to see eye-to-eye?
This session will explore the new JSON functionality introduced in SQL Server 2016. We will use T-SQL examples to learn how these functions can be used to parse, create, and modify JSON data. More importantly, we will discuss how to optimize performance when using these functions.
By the end of this session DBAs and developers will know how to efficiently work with JSON in SQL Server 2016. It will also usher in an era of peace between DBAs and developers…
… at least until someone brings up the topics of cursors, NOLOCKs, or Entity Framework.
Speaker(s):
- Bert Wagner
Track and Room: Application Database Development - 602
Title: Machine Learning Melee: AWS vs Azure
Abstract: The world is drowning in data and there’s a gold rush in the business of turning data into actionable insight. In one corner, stands AWS, a long time cloud services innovator, that wants to leverage its PaaS dominance to take it into the next decade. In the other corner, stands a scrappy re-invigorated Microsoft with a new focus on making the cloud smarter.
Both are feverishly working on creating compelling solutions for developers to build intelligent solutions upon. Is one better than the other? What are each one’s strengths and weaknesses?
And what does Google have up its sleeve?
Come to this session to get a first hand account of a former Microsoft evangelist now working at an AWS partner startup, who promises to keep it a good clean fight!
Speaker(s):
- Frank La Vigne
Track and Room: Analytics and Visualization - 612
Title: Cross Tabs Pivots - Much More Than Just Converting Rows to Columns
Abstract: This session covers and compares the PIVOT operator to an ancient but very high performance pivoting method known as CROSS TABs. Single and double column pivots will be covered and the “secret” to quickly making CROSS TABs is “Copy’n’Paste” easy. We’ll also introduce a couple of “Black Arts” techniques called “Pre-Aggregation” and “Divide’n’Conquer” to build a quarterly report for 1 year from 10 years and 10 MILLION rows of data in just half a second.
If time allows, we’ll also discover that you can very quickly format reports as pretty as you’ll see in SSRS without using SSRS.
Don’t let the “Intermediate” rating of this session scare you beginners away because we start at the ground floor and work our way up to some very high performance code. Even if you already know how to use PIVOT or CROSS TABs, you won’t want to miss this one.
Speaker(s):
- Jeff Moden
Track and Room: Application Database Development - 613
Title: Geo Location of Twitter messages in Power BI
Abstract: There are several custom solutions that make Twitter messages analysis possible in Power BI. And with a recent addition of the Campaign/Brand Management for Twitter solution template for Power BI (https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/solution-templates/brand-management-twitter/) it’s getting even less complicated to get into this social media mainstream data exploration.
This solution has several components:
- Logic App passes tweet into an Azure Function
- Azure Function enriches tweet and writes it to Azure SQL
- Azure Function also calls Azure ML experiment running Python script to work out sentiment of tweet
- Power BI imports data into it from Azure SQL and renders pre-defined reports
However, Geo location for twitter messages is not available (if we want to filter them by a particular country). Let’s try to explore with live demos if we can customize this Azure solution and add a Country filter to our Power BI reports based on live tweet data.
Speaker(s):
- Rayis Imayev
Track and Room: BI Information Delivery - Gallery
Title: Tools for the DBA Newbie: What I Wish I Had Known Years Ago
Abstract: Are you an DBA newbie looking for tools to improve your product and client experience?
In this session, you’ll be equipped with tools to improve query tuning, indexing tuning, and naming standards. You’ll understand helpful built-in technologies that often go unused, server setup practices, and performance logging. And you’ll hear about the best blogs to follow and where to get help from the community.
I’ve learned all of this gradually, but I’m happy to give you a head start. I’ll share insights that I’ve gained transforming our 18-year old, single-tenant database into a thriving multi-tenant SaaS environment. This talk is intentionally broad, demonstrating how we retooled our database and the wealth of information we discovered along the way. If you are just starting your SQL Server performance journey, this talk will give you at least one thing to dig into on Monday morning.
Speaker(s):
- Ryan Booz
Track and Room: Application Database Development - 612
Title: Getting Noticed: Strategies for Your Resume and LinkedIn
Abstract: You know you are well qualified for the jobs that you search for on any major job site. You know that if you just get to that next step that they will see it for themselves. This lightning talk focuses on strategies for your resume and LinkedIn profile to help get you noticed and reach that next step. Interaction with the audience is encouraged throughout the discussion.
Speaker(s):
- Rick Heiges
Track and Room: Professional Development - 604C (Wanna Be A DBA?)
Title: Using Filetables
Abstract: The FileStream feature allows BLOBs to be managed by the DB. FileTable expands on this feature by using specific tables for storing these BLOBs. This allows Windows apps to access these items as if there were stored on the file system but with benefits only a database can offer, such as text searching and querying.
Speaker(s):
- Sam Nasr
Track and Room: Application Database Development - 602
Title: Stop Doing That! Common T-SQL Anti-Patterns
Abstract: There are several programming design patterns that work great in object oriented code but do not scale inside SQL Server. Things like Scalar-Value functions, Unions, CTEs, and row by row processing can make for more work then you would expect.
In this session, we will focus on several anti-patterns like these and show how to rework them to improve scale in the database engine.
By the end of the session, you will be able to quickly identify these common anti-patterns and analyze their sometimes unclear cost to the engine. Heading back to the office, you’ll be able to identify pain points in your longest running queries from a T-SQL perspective and become a code tuning rockstar!
Speaker(s):
- William Wolf
Track and Room: Application Database Development - 605
Title: Maintain SQL Server Performance Baseline w/PowerShell
Abstract: Maintaining a solid set of information about our servers and their performance is critical when issues arise, and often help us see a problem before it occurs. Building a baseline of performance metrics allows us to know when something is wrong and help us to track it down and fix the problem. This session will walk you through a series of PowerShell scripts you can schedule which will capture the most important data and a set of reports to show you how to use that data to keep your server running smoothly.
Speaker(s):
- Allen White
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 603
Title: An introduction to the magical world of BIML!
Abstract: Ever feel like you are just doing busy work while creating new SSIS packages? Feel like you are doing the same thing over and over while changing the names to protect the innocent? Ever wonder if there is a better way? Well wonder no more. Come learn about the magical world of BIML and how it can help transform your environment by increasing your productivity while reducing the possibility of errors. Come with intrigue and leave with a fundamental understanding of BIML!
Speaker(s):
- Jonathan Stewart
Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - 613
Title: Excel with DAX
Abstract: DAX is the new formula language (builds upon Excel’s) supporting PowerPivot and Analysis Services Tabular mode. If you know Excel, you already know the basics of DAX (without even knowing it). PowerBI also uses DAX for all the formula expressions. We’ll cover the basics of DAX, and go over some time intelligence functions.
Speaker(s):
- Azhagappan Arunachalam
Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - 605
Title: SSMS Tips and Tricks
Abstract: Most of us do not have a lot of spare time at work. In this session we will share favorite shortcuts, tips, and tricks for using SQL Server and Management Studio. Learn how to manage your server and write code quickly to help you save a few minutes every day.
Speaker(s):
- Eric Blinn
Track and Room: Application Database Development - 603
Title: Getting Involved and Getting Ahead
Abstract: Learn how getting involved in the SQL Community can help you get ahead within your organization, improve you skill set as well as help provide career stability. PASS and other organizations practically give you all the tools you need to succeed in the DBA field, learn about the events that help make this possible as well as how you can get involved to help others who are starting out. The rewards of the SQL Community are endless.
Speaker(s):
- Tim Radney
Track and Room: Professional Development - 613
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: Application Database Development - 605
Title: SQL Games
Abstract: This session will rely on Audience Participation as we play games like Charades with SQL / BI/ Azure related terms.
Speaker(s):
- Rick Heiges
Track and Room: Professional Development - Gallery
Title: How to talk to your Storage Admin
Abstract: A general discussion for DBAs about what they need to consider when using storage. I cover how to monitor performance, how storage can affect SQL server, what DBAs can do to mitigate storage issues, and also misconceptions DBAs have about SANs.
Speaker(s):
- Marsha Pierce
Track and Room: Strategy and Architecture - 613
Title: Does This Look Weird? The Importance Of Baselining
Abstract: How do you know when your server is on fire? Without a set of known-good measurements to compare against, you don’t. This session will show you how to capture a performance baseline for a SQL Server instance and help you decide what to capture, and where to store it. Finally we will put it all together by walking through a scenario using the captured baseline data to identify a problem.
Speaker(s):
- Tracy Boggiano
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 603
Title: Enabling Familiar, Powerful Business Intelligence
Abstract: This session focuses on Microsoft’s BI technologies and its abilities to make advanced easy to use, accessible, insightful, and actionable decisions, all while helping clients increase organizational performance. With the recent release of SQL Server, Microsoft dramatically enhanced the Microsoft BI platform. During this session you will explore the improvements to SQL Server reporting services and Power BI to show you how to create a blended value from your BI platform.
Speaker(s):
- Sayed Saeed
Track and Room: BI Information Delivery - Gallery
Title: Managing Up: The Art of Managing your Manager
Abstract: Everyone has a boss. Part of your success depends on keeping your manager successful.
In this session, veteran IT professional Mike Hillwig will teach you how to manage your manager. You’ll learn to understand what her/his motivations are, how to understand what’s being measured, and how success is defined. Taking that to the next level, you’ll start to play to your manager’s strengths and understand the value of making your manager look good.
Speaker(s):
- Mike Hillwig
Track and Room: Professional Development - 604A
Title: New Horizons lunchtime chat
Abstract: After lunch, come learn more about New Horizons training programs and services. No food is allowed in the classroom, please eat in the gallery or cafe first.
Speaker(s):
- Matt Nelson
Track and Room: Other - 602
Title: SQL Server and PowerShell: Let’s Get Serious
Abstract: Whether you’ve dabbled in PowerShell or wondered what all the fuss is about, make no mistake: PowerShell is something worth learning to make your life as a SQL Server professional easier. Whether you’re a DBA, a SSIS developer, or security professional, In this session you’ll see practical, real world examples of how you can blend SQL Server and PowerShell together, and not just a bunch of regular T-SQL tasks that have been made more complicated.
Speaker(s):
- Drew Furgiuele
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 603
Title: Access, Users, Permissions for Beginners!
Abstract: Who, What, and Why are important when allowing access to anything in SQL server. Who needs the access, why they need it, and what they will be doing with it, are key factors to think about when assigning permissions. Join me in learning about the different levels of permissions allowed in SQL server, from the server level to the database level and more. You will leave with a better idea and plan of how to say “NO” to that one developer that NEEDS sysadmin access.
Speaker(s):
- Dummea Vincent
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 604C (Wanna Be A DBA?)
Title: Indexing Fundamentals
Abstract: What are indexes and how does SQL Server use them? Discuss the types of indexes that are available, and go in depth into heaps, clustered indexes and nonclustered indexes. Why does SQL Server choose an index, and how does it make your queries run faster? If you’re a good fit to be in this session then columnstore, hash, and XML indexes aren’t a good fit for you, so they will not get much more than an honorable mention.
Speaker(s):
- Steve Hood
Track and Room: Application Database Development - 605
Title: Plus Consulting lunchtime chat
Abstract: After lunch, come learn more about Plus Consulting’s services. No food is allowed in the classroom, please eat in the gallery or cafe first.
Speaker(s):
- Matt Nelson
Track and Room: Other - 603
Title: Recovery and Backup for Beginners
Abstract: We all know that backups are important. But are we building a backup strategy that can recover in a manner that meets business needs? All too often, we plan a backup strategy without a recovery strategy.
In this session, veteran DBA Mike Hillwig will start with understanding the recovery strategy and work toward implementing the right backups to meet that recovery strategy. He’ll also set the record straight around some very common myths around database recovery and backups.
Speaker(s):
- Mike Hillwig
Track and Room: Other - 604C (Wanna Be A DBA?)
Title: Lunch break
Abstract: lunch break
Speaker(s):
- Matt Nelson
Track and Room: Advanced Analysis Techniques - Gallery
Title: SQL Server on Linux for SQL DBA.
Abstract: For the last 25 years SQL Server DBAs administered SQL databases using only Windows GUI. For majority of them even Windows Core is too hard to accept. In the situation, when Microsoft invaded Linux territory with it’s flagship product, as SQL DBA, you must not outsource SQL Server administration to some Linux geeks. You can do it yourself! Your way! And I show you how to do it.
Speaker(s):
- Slava Murygin
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 605
Title: Tackling Technical Blogging
Abstract: Ever thought of writing a technical blog? This session will cover the Ws (who, what, when, where, why, how) of getting a technical blog started. Answer the question of how it can be done for free. Discuss why pay for your own domain name. Explain how to be on the first page of a search engine. Learn how to determine the time commitment. And finally determine topics to write about.
Speaker(s):
- Mike Hays
Track and Room: Professional Development - 612
Title: New Instance, Now what?
Abstract: Congratulations, you’re now our DBA! A new SQL instance is like a blank canvas, you stare at it and wonder where to start. As an accidental dba, this session will help you learn how to survive in your new role.
In this session, you will be supplied with the beginning brush strokes to make your server a master piece. To do so, we will review best practices for standard configurations, backups, maintenance, and disaster recovery.
By the end of this session, you will have developed a pallet of tools to help you create your SQL Server Masterpiece and be able to use it as a print for others.
Speaker(s):
- Jim Donahoe
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 602
Title: Running SQL Server in AWS
Abstract: Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the world’s largest public cloud hosting provider with many companies successfully running SQL server on AWS infrastructure. In this session, we explore the options available to you for running SQL server in AWS, either as an RDS managed service or using dedicated EC2 instances. We document the different storage options, HA strategies, security and maintenance caveats to be aware of. We will also detail various approaches to licensing you can take when running SQL server in AWS.
Speaker(s):
- Brian Carrig
Track and Room: Cloud Application Development Deployment - 612
Title: Configuring DBaaS for the first time!
Abstract: Are you new to Azure? Are you new to DBaaS? This is the perfect session for you! We will discuss the deployment of the server, as well as how to template it. We will cover what you configure once the server is deployed(resource locks, firewall, etc). What maintenance does Microsoft provide? What is an elastic pool? What maintenance is still your responsibility? Overwhelmed yet? Don’t be, by the end of this session, you will have enough knowledge on how to create your very first DBaaS instance. This session is geared towards new users of Azure DBaaS and future users of Azure DBaaS.
Speaker(s):
- Jim Donahoe
Track and Room: Cloud Application Development Deployment - Gallery
Title: Finding more space for your tight environment.
Abstract: If you do not have enough space in your hard disk and do not want buy more space, one way to get more space is compress the tables and also do some house keeping.
I will use T-SQL script to generate script to compress each tables and release the free space by shrinking the datafiles. And in the final I will defragment the indexes and update the statistics, since shrink datafile is not fragmentation aware task.
Speaker(s):
- Thomas Chan
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 603
Title: Drinking From the Firehose: a Guide to Keeping Up with Technology
Abstract: Keeping up with technology can feel like a treadmill; you keep running but never get anywhere. We’ll take a look at ways to keep up with technology without pulling your hair out. We’ll balance cost versus benefit for the different types of learning. We will also talk about learning goals.
Speaker(s):
- Eugene Meidinger
Track and Room: Professional Development - 613
Title: DBA - What’s Most Important
Abstract: In this second session of the WBADBA track, we’ll examine what’s most important for a DBA. There are many topics to deal with, but this session with deal with the top five for a beginning DBA.
Speaker(s):
- Ed Wagner
Track and Room: Other - 604C (Wanna Be A DBA?)
Title: How to get Microsoft Certified
Abstract: Microsoft has recently streamlined the certification process and this session focuses on what you need to know to get Microsoft Certified on SQL Server. The session is led by an expert Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) and Microsoft MVP who regularly teaches the SQL Server certification courses. The presenter walks you through the certifications, exams, and resources available to get you ready for success.
Speaker(s):
- John Deardurff
Track and Room: Professional Development - 604A
Title: The DBA Survival Guide for In-Memory OLTP
Abstract: You know it’s coming . . . one day soon, you’ll be asked to take ownership of a database that uses In-Memory OLTP. Then what?
Deploying In-Memory OLTP affects the database ecosystem, including monitoring, data migration, logging, capacity planning, backup, restore, recovery, and more.
DBAs need to know optimal methods of migrating large data sets from disk to In-Memory, the differences between restore and recovery for memory-optimized databases, and many other facets of the In-Memory world.
Attendees will gain a clear understanding of the knowledge and skills required to administer In-Memory OLTP environments.
Speaker(s):
- Ned Otter
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Gallery
Title: CONVERT_IMPLICIT is a hidden danger
Abstract: Abstract: The CONVERT_IMPLICIT operator is part of an execution plan. When an execution plan has a CONVERT_IMPLICIT operator, this is a signal that “your statement has a problem”. This presentation will show you how to detect the Execution Plans with CONVERT_IMPLICIT operator; how to find the statement that causes conversion, and what DMVs can help to solve the problem. It will also show you the solution to collect the Execution Plans with CONVERT_IMPLICIT operator across the servers.
Speaker(s):
- Alex Grinberg
Track and Room: Advanced Analysis Techniques - 602
Title: What is a DBA?
Abstract: Starting the day for the Wanna Be A DBA track, Michael John and Ed Wagner will discuss what a DBA is, requirements for working as a DBA, what a typical day as a DBA looks like, and answer your questions about starting a career as a DBA.
Speaker(s):
- Michael John
Track and Room: Other - 604C (Wanna Be A DBA?)
Title: Crash Course on Better SQL Development
Abstract: SQL Development is a broad subject with many roads to choose from. Often times SQL Developers feel overwhelmed and unsure which areas they need to focus on. The purpose of this session is to give a high-level overview and present paths for further study and growth. Subjects reviewed in this session will include coding patterns, error handling, and execution plans. Demonstrations of free tools will also help developers find ways of simplifying their daily tasks. Attendees will leave this session empowered with knowledge and directions for further growth.
Speaker(s):
- Vladimir Oselsky
Track and Room: Application Database Development - 602
Title: SSIS Incremental Loading: The Tortoise and The Hare
Abstract: Extracting, transforming and loading data has become a major component to satisfying business requirements and needs. Depending on the size of the data you are working with, the way you design your SSIS packages can have an impact on performance and run times.
In this session, we will cover a variety of incremental design approaches centered around large data sets using SSIS. We will look at the architecture of each ETL strategy to determine the pros and cons and generate specific use cases to decide which strategy yields optimal results.
Speaker(s):
- Jeremy Frye
Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - 602
Title: SSAS 2016 Tabular - Diving into the new features
Abstract: Taking a looking at all the new features of SSAS 2016 Tabular, how to use them effectively and avoid pitfalls. Features include Bi-Directional Cross Filtering, Parallel Partition Processing, Calculated Tables, etc.
Speaker(s):
- Brian Beswick
Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - 605
Title: SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) Basics
Abstract: In this session, we will dive into SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) features. SSDT can be used to manage database development. This session covers creating a database project, extracting a database project from an existing database, interacting with a database project to change object definitions, and deploying a database project to a SQL Server environment.
Speaker(s):
- Steve Grier
Track and Room: Application Database Development - 613
Title: Cassandra for SQL Server Professionals
Abstract: Recently, there’s been a big shift towards Big Data and event-driven architectures with eventual consistency. Tech leaders in your organizations may even be using words like Hadoop or Spark or ElasticSearch as answers to these Big Data problems. In this session, we’ll look at Cassandra, what it is, how it works, and how it compares to SQL Server. We’ll walk through use cases and highlight some places where SQL Server is still a better choice.
Speaker(s):
- Dan Mallott
Track and Room: Strategy and Architecture - 612
Speakers
This is a list of speakers from the XML Guidebook records. The details and URLs were valid at the time of the event.
Peter Shore
Twitter: - pshore73
LinkedIn: Peter Shore
Peter Shore is a seasoned IT professional with over 25 years of experience. He took the accidentally intentional DBA plunge in 2013 and has discovered that he loves to find the stories the data has to tell. Peter is comfortable working with both physical and virtual servers, where he tries to apply best practices to attain performance improvements. He is also adept at bridging the gap between technical and business language in order to bring technology solutions to business needs.
Eric Blinn
Twitter: - @SQL2TheSequel
LinkedIn: Eric Blinn
Contact: https://ericblinn.com/
Eric has been a SQL Server DBA in the legal, software, transportation, and insurance industries for over 10 years. Currently he is the Sr Data Architect for Squire Patton Boggs, a leading provider of legal services with 47 offices in 20 countries.
Eric is a 2018-2019 Idera Ace and has co-authored 2 Idera Whitepapers.
He has been a presenter at PASS Summit, SQLSaturdays, the in.sight transportation conference, and the Ohio North SQL Server User’s Group.
Frank La Vigne
Twitter: - https://twitter.com/Tableteer
LinkedIn: Frank La Vigne
Contact: http://www.franksworld.com
Frank La Vigne is a software engineer and UX geek turned data scientist, who saw the light about Data Science at an internal Microsoft Data Science Summit in 2016. Frank currently leads the Data and Analytics practice at Wintellect, where he helps customers leverage data science to create smarter solutions and happier customers. He co-hosts the Data Driven podcast with Andy Leonard. He has been blogging regularly at FranksWorld.com since 2004. You can find him on Twitter at @tableteer.
Jonathan Stewart
Twitter: - sqllocks
LinkedIn: Jonathan Stewart
Contact: https://sqllocks.net/
Jonathan Stewart is a Business Intelligence consultant specializing in data visualization, data warehousing, and data management technologies. An advocate for educating others, he is a public speaker, teacher and blogger, continually teaching people about the Microsoft BI Stack. Since 2000, he has been working in the database field with industry leaders in healthcare, manufacturing, financial, insurance and federal, state and local governments.
Jonathan is very active in the community. He has presented on SQL Server, SSIS, Reporting Services, Power BI and Business Intelligence at numerous SQLSaturday events, local user groups, and conferences throughout the United States and around the world. He participates in webcasts, podcasts, and on
William Wolf
Twitter: - sqlwarewolf
LinkedIn: William Wolf
Contact: http://www.sqlwarewolf.com
Bill is the Manager of SQL Server Performance Tuning for RDX. He works with over 400 customers on solutions within the SQL Server environment and specialized in code tuning and mentoring the team within RDX. He has become a SQLSaturday veteran speaking at nearly 40 SQLSaturdays in the last 3 years. He has also spoken at Summit and is an Idera Ace class of 2018. Bill is active in the Pittsburgh SQL Server User Group. He is also the chapter lead for the DevOps Virtual User Group. He is passionate about educating users on SQL Server and mentoring others.
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.
Rick Heiges
Twitter: - heigesr2
LinkedIn: Rick Heiges
Contact: http://sqlblog.com/blogs/rick_heiges/default.aspx
Rick is a Former Data Platfrom MVP and Sr. Consultant for Microsoft where he focuses on working with customers on their data estate. His career includes work as a DBA, University full-time faculty member, Systems Analyst, Project Leader, and Developer. He has found his passion in working with data and the community. Rick served nine years on the PASS Board of Directors and spearheaded the popular 24 Hours of PASS event. He also started his local User Group in 2002. Today, he spends much of his time with his head in the clouds.
Ed Wagner
Ed is a Senior DBA with more than 27 years experience in database development and administration. He enjoys high-performance and “black arts” SQL. He’s a member of SQL PASS In Detroit (SPID) and a frequent poster on SQLServerCentral.com. He’s passionate about SQL Server and actually enjoys it.
Jeremy Frye
Twitter: - SQLBInstein
LinkedIn: Jeremy Frye
Contact: https://jeremyfrye.net
Jeremy Frye is the manager of the Business Intelligence and data warehousing team at RDX. He is a Business Intelligence architect and developer with a background in database administration as well. Jeremy has over 9 years of experience in SQL Server. He has spoken on BI topics at many SQLSaturday’s throughout the country, webinars, and local and remote SQL user groups. In his spare time, Jeremy often spends time trying to bridge the gap between keyboard strokes and workout reps.
John Deardurff
Twitter: - SQLMCT
LinkedIn: John Deardurff
Contact: https://www.sqlmct.com
John has been a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) for over 20 years teaching Azure, SQL Server, Exchange Server, and Windows Server networking courses. He is currently a SQL Premier Field Engineer for Microsoft. He is an MCT Regional Lead for the Eastern United States and a former Data Platform MVP.
Peter Shore
Twitter: - pshore73
LinkedIn: Peter Shore
Peter Shore is a seasoned IT professional with over 25 years of experience. He took the accidentally intentional DBA plunge in 2013 and has discovered that he loves to find the stories the data has to tell. Peter is comfortable working with both physical and virtual servers, where he tries to apply best practices to attain performance improvements. He is also adept at bridging the gap between technical and business language in order to bring technology solutions to business needs.
Rick Heiges
Twitter: - heigesr2
LinkedIn: Rick Heiges
Contact: http://sqlblog.com/blogs/rick_heiges/default.aspx
Rick is a Former Data Platfrom MVP and Sr. Consultant for Microsoft where he focuses on working with customers on their data estate. His career includes work as a DBA, University full-time faculty member, Systems Analyst, Project Leader, and Developer. He has found his passion in working with data and the community. Rick served nine years on the PASS Board of Directors and spearheaded the popular 24 Hours of PASS event. He also started his local User Group in 2002. Today, he spends much of his time with his head in the clouds.
Bert Wagner
Twitter: - bertwagner
LinkedIn: Bert Wagner
Contact: https://bertwagner.com
Bert Wagner teaches data-focused developers how to use SQL Server efficiently every week on his YouTube channel “SQL with Bert.” When not filming episodes, he gains inspiration for his content through his work as a Principal Business Intelligence Developer for Progressive Insurance in Cleveland, OH.
Starting his career as an SSIS and SSRS developer, Bert fell in love with SQL Server query writing and performance tuning. Nowadays, he focuses on full stack web development and uses his database tuning skills to ensure that his applications run at peak performance.
Dummea Vincent
My name is Dummea, I just moved to pittsburgh not too long ago to work for a great company. In a way you could say I was an accidental DBA who came to fall in love with the industry. I have 4-5yrs of experience and I love sharing my knowledge with others as well as learning new things.
Rayis Imayev
Twitter: - rayisimayev
LinkedIn: Rayis Imayev
Contact: http://datanrg.blogspot.ca/
Database professional with hands-on database design, data analysis, and reporting skills. I believe that I can help to make this intricate world of data to be more structured and well understood. Born in USSR; graduated and started my IT journey in Ukraine; now I work and live with my family in Toronto, Canada.
Sayed Saeed
LinkedIn: Sayed Saeed
Contact: http://www.plusconsulting.com/blog/
Sayed Saeed is the Business Intelligence Practice Director at Plus Consulting. He is highly proficient in developing targeted BI solutions for clients and offers solid knowledge and experience in BI products that help organizations better leverage information to effectively manage business. He is a Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert in Business Intelligence as well as Oracle Certified Professional.
Vladimir Oselsky
Twitter: - @VladyOselsky
LinkedIn: Vladimir Oselsky
Vladimir Oselsky (Vlady) is an IT Professional with over 15 years of experience in various IT Jobs. Born and raised in Siberia, moved to United States in late 90s. Passion for computer and programming started with DOS games and learning Borland Paschal in 8th grade as a hobby. IT career consisted of everything from hardware and software support to server administration. Current focus on SQL Server Database Development and .NET programming
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.
Matt Nelson
Twitter: - http://twitter.com/mattpgh
LinkedIn: Matt Nelson
Contact: http://wwww.nelsonsweb.net
Matt Nelson is a Database Administrator and Business Intelligence developer for RDX (Remote DBA Experts) in Pittsburgh, PA. With over 10 years of experience, He works with more than 200 clients on general database administration needs and BI projects. Matt is also the Chapter Leader of the Pittsburgh SQL Server Users Group, and an organizer of Pittsburgh SQLSaturday. He occasionally blogs at www.nelsonsweb.net and http://www.rdx.com/Blog/
Alex Grinberg
LinkedIn: Alex Grinberg
I have more than 20 years of IT experience. My primary focus is with the latest Microsoft technologies including .NET (VB and C#), SSRS and SSIS. I provide services in tuning, optimization, analysis and development for the creation of new applications, converting legacy technologies (SQL Server, VB.NET and C# ) and site training. I have worked for CSC, VerticalNet, IDP, LSAC , and TMNAS (to name a few) and I am currently employed with Cox Automotive. I am Apress author book “XML and JSON Recipes for SQL Server”, also wrote number of articles for Simple-Talk and SQLServerCentral.com
Tracy Boggiano
Twitter: - TracyBoggiano
LinkedIn: Tracy Boggiano
Contact: http://databasesuperhero.com
Tracy Boggiano is a Senior Database Administrator for DocuSIgn. She has spent over 20 years in IT, using SQL Server since 1999, and is currently certified as an MCSE Data Platform. Tracy has worked on SQL Server since 6.5. She has spoken at local user groups and numerous SQLSaturdays. She is currently a co-leader of a TriPASS Local Group in Raleigh, NC.
Tracy also tinkered with databases in middle school to keep her sports card collection organized. She blogs at databasesuperhero.com.
Her passion outside of SQL Server is volunteering with foster children as their advocate in court through volunteerforgal.org and being a mental health advocate as part of the PAIMI NC Advisory Council.
Brian Beswick
LinkedIn: Brian Beswick
Contact: http://brianbeswick.com/
Brian is a Managing Consultant at Allegient. He has many years of experience in database architecture and development across multiple versions of SQL Server. He’s an accomplished Database Architect with a specialty in Business Intelligence. He’s particularly strong at understanding and designing solutions for complex requirements.
Matt Nelson
Twitter: - http://twitter.com/mattpgh
LinkedIn: Matt Nelson
Contact: http://wwww.nelsonsweb.net
Matt Nelson is a Database Administrator and Business Intelligence developer for RDX (Remote DBA Experts) in Pittsburgh, PA. With over 10 years of experience, He works with more than 200 clients on general database administration needs and BI projects. Matt is also the Chapter Leader of the Pittsburgh SQL Server Users Group, and an organizer of Pittsburgh SQLSaturday. He occasionally blogs at www.nelsonsweb.net and http://www.rdx.com/Blog/
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.
Ryan Booz
Twitter: - @ryanbooz
LinkedIn: Ryan Booz
Contact: http://www.softwareandbooz.com
Ryan is the VP of Business Intelligence CTO at EnergyCAP, Inc. where he has led both IT and development over the last 14 years. Most recently, Ryan has been spearheading a team tasked with bringing the power of BI to staff and clients through industry leading DevOps practices. His mission is to provide the confidence and freedom to explore data in new and tangible ways. Ryan is a long-time DBA, starting with MySQL and Postgres in the late 90s. He has been working with SQL Server since 2004, supporting an international client base and a thriving SaaS application that hosts thousands of users. He’s at the top of his game when he’s learning something new about the data platform or teaching others about the technology he loves.
Brian Carrig
Twitter: - @briancarrig
Brian Carrig is a Microsoft Certified Master of SQL Server and is currently a Senior Program Manager on the SQL Server Tiger Team at Microsoft focusing primarily on persistent memory technology and replication. In a previous life, Brian spent some time as an academic and holds a PhD in Computer Science. He is a native of Dublin, Ireland but now lives with his wife and two daughters in Redmond, Washington. If he is not talking about, thinking about or working with technology you will usually find him watching Chelsea FC.
Marsha Pierce
Twitter: - MarshaPierceDBA
LinkedIn: Marsha Pierce
Marsha Pierce lives in Nashville, TN. She studied Computer Science, Mathematics, and French at Belmont University. She has 23 years of experience as a DBA, which means she has broken and fixed a lot of stuff. Before joining Pure Storage, she was an architect at HCA and Asurion. She is passionate about DevOps, Storage, Performance Tuning, and Standardization.
Sam Nasr
Twitter: - SamNasr
LinkedIn: Sam Nasr
Contact: http://samnasr.blogspot.com/
Sam Nasr has been a software developer since 1995, focusing mostly on Microsoft technologies. He’s a Sr. Software Engineer with NIS Technologies where he consults and teaches clients about the latest .Net technologies. Sam has achieved multiple certifications from Microsoft (MCSA, MCAD, MCTS, MCT), and is the leader of the Cleveland C#/VB.Net User Group since 2003. In addition, he’s the leader of the .Net Study Group, an author for Visual Studio Magazine, and a Microsoft MVP since 2013. When not coding, Sam loves spending time with his family and friends or volunteering at his local church.
Jeff Moden
With more than 51,000 posts and 39 mostly 5 star articles, Jeff Moden is a strong contributor on SQLServerCentral.com where he coined the term “RBAR” (Row By Agonizing Row) and helped make the “Tally Table” a household name. Jeff has more than 2 decades of experience with SQL Server and is mostly self-trained in what he calls the “Black Arts” of T-SQL. He’s known worldwide for his informative articles, high performance T-SQL coding methods, and methods of mentoring. His dedication to helping others earned him the MS SQL Server MVP award for nine years and the RedGate Exceptional DBA Award in 2011. His mantra is “Performance is in the code”.
Mike Hays
LinkedIn: Mike Hays
Contact: http://www.thesqlreport.com/
Mike has been working with Microsoft SQL Server for the last twenty years. Currently working as a Database Administrator for a diversified energy company, he has also worked in the retail, manufacturing, banking sectors. He holds a Master’s degree in Computer Information Science from Cleveland State University. He currently resides in Ohio with his girlfriend Alexia, her two children and their dog Lanna.
Steve Grier
LinkedIn: Steve Grier
Steve is an Associate Architect at Computer Enterprises, Inc. (CEI) in Pittsburgh (www.ceiamerica.com). He focuses on database systems and custom integration for enterprise scale solutions. At CEI, Steve is responsible for team mentoring and knowledge sharing for the Microsoft SQL Server platform for both on premise and cloud solutions. Steve has over 10 years experience, and has successfully delivered solutions across a number of industry verticals.
Andrzej Pilacik
Twitter: - cypisek77
LinkedIn: Andrzej Pilacik
Database Manger / Solution Architect at BraceBridge Capital 15 years of experience in Database Platforms, SQL Server 7.0 - 2019, PostgreSQL, Redis, Oracle Microsoft Certified Professional - SQL Server Working with large data in Healthcare, Insurance, and Financial Sectors Architecting HA/DR solutions Developing frameworks around DEVOPS Working with DW, SSIS, SSRS
Tim Radney
Twitter: - @tradney
LinkedIn: Tim Radney
Contact: http://www.timradney.com
Tim is a Data Platform MVP and has a whole collection of Microsoft and other industry certifications. His experience includes HA/DR, virtualization, SSIS, SSRS, and performance tuning, among everything else SQL Server-related. Tim is very active and passionate in the SQL Community. He runs the Columbus GA SQL Users Group, has been a PASS Regional Mentor for a number of years, was named a PASS Outstanding Volunteer in 2012, and is a frequent speaker at user groups, SQLSaturdays and PASS Summits. Tim is one of the top ranked in karma on ask.sqlservercentral.com, answers questions as @tradney on Twitter, and blogs at http://timradney.com and SQLskills blog at http://www.SQLskills.com/blogs/tim.
Dan Mallott
Twitter: - https://twitter.com/DanielMallott
LinkedIn: Dan Mallott
Contact: https://www.danielmallott.com
Dan Mallott is a Chicago-based consultant for West Monroe Partners in their Technology Practice. His passion is for service-layer development, particularly database technologies, including Microsoft SQL Server and Apache Cassandra.
Recent projects have included designing a new integration architecture for a mid-sized health insurer, designing a full technical architecture for a large health insurer, building a new member portal for a healthcare-related association, and developing threat hunting software for use by West Monroe.
In his spare time, Dan can be found writing his own libraries instead of using package solutions, or on the ice as a hockey player and referee.
Ned Otter
Twitter: - @NedOtter
LinkedIn: Ned Otter
Contact: http://www.nedotter.com
DBA with vast experience administering Microsoft SQL Server since version 4.21 to the present.
Certifications:
MCSE SQL Server 2012 Data Platform
MCTS SQL Server 2008
Overall computer experience: 25 years
SQL Server experience: 23 years
Currently obsessed with In-Memory technology.
Please see LinkedIn profile for more details.
Thomas Chan
LinkedIn: Thomas Chan
I work with SQL Server since 2001 with version 7.
Jim Donahoe
Twitter: - SQLFlipFlopsDBA
Contact: http://www.sqlflipflopsdba.com
Jim is a Premier Field Engineer for Microsoft in the Data/AI space. He lives in Pittsburgh in a small suburb. He loves working with all things Azure(ARM templates, DBaaS, SQL on IaaS). He is an avid collector of retro video games! He is a member of the Idera ACE program for 2018.
Slava Murygin
Twitter: - SlavaSQL
LinkedIn: Slava Murygin
Contact: http://slavasql.blogspot.com/
Started working with SQL Server 7.0 as DBA and Developer. Since then went through all SQL Server versions, migrations and multiple companies of different sizes and industries. Currently working as a contractor with all aspects of SQL Server, including, but not limited to: troubleshooting performance, designing/developing: databases, systems, processes, data warehouses, cubes, reports, ETLs; Refactoring old code; Migrating data from other systems to SQL Server; Securing the data on enterprise level.
Jim Donahoe
Twitter: - SQLFlipFlopsDBA
Contact: http://www.sqlflipflopsdba.com
Jim is a Premier Field Engineer for Microsoft in the Data/AI space. He lives in Pittsburgh in a small suburb. He loves working with all things Azure(ARM templates, DBaaS, SQL on IaaS). He is an avid collector of retro video games! He is a member of the Idera ACE program for 2018.
Eugene Meidinger
Twitter: - @sqlgene
Contact: http://www.sqlgene.com
Eugene Meidinger works as a BI consultant and full time Pluralsight author. He currently focuses on content on Power BI and related products. He also leads the Pittsburgh Power BI User Group. He is certified in querying and administering SQL Server.
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.
Michael John
Twitter: - #Progeek11
LinkedIn: Michael John
With 20 years experience in all aspects of development and administration of SQL Server, from version 6.5 to 2016, I have seen, broken, and fixed just about everything in SQL Server!
Steve Hood
Twitter: - @SteveHoodSQL
LinkedIn: Steve Hood
Contact: http://simplesqlserver.com
I#39;m a DBA who has gone through most of my career with few people to learn and unsure of where to find great help until I found a real mentor. When I started at a company with a great, knowledgeable manager and learned to find others speaking about SQL Server online my skills boomed. This is especially true in my most passionate area, SQL Server performance.
Knowing that my knowledge came from others, I now have a second passion of sharing my knowledge with others.
Matt Nelson
Twitter: - http://twitter.com/mattpgh
LinkedIn: Matt Nelson
Contact: http://wwww.nelsonsweb.net
Matt Nelson is a Database Administrator and Business Intelligence developer for RDX (Remote DBA Experts) in Pittsburgh, PA. With over 10 years of experience, He works with more than 200 clients on general database administration needs and BI projects. Matt is also the Chapter Leader of the Pittsburgh SQL Server Users Group, and an organizer of Pittsburgh SQLSaturday. He occasionally blogs at www.nelsonsweb.net and http://www.rdx.com/Blog/
Allen White
Twitter: - SQLRunr
LinkedIn: Allen White
Contact: http://dataperfpro.com/blog/
Allen White is a Data Platform consultant. He has been both a developer and an administrator, so he understands both perspectives towards database technology. He loves sharing his experiences and helping people learn how to use SQL Server. Allen has spent over 40 years in IT, using SQL Server since 1992, and has been awarded Microsoft’s MVP Award for the last 13 years. Allen was a PASS Director from 2016 - 2018.
Drew Furgiuele
Twitter: - pittfurg
LinkedIn: Drew Furgiuele
Contact: http://www.port1433.com
Drew Furgiuele is a senior DBA that lives in Dublin, Ohio who is passionate about SQL Server and PowerShell. He’s been working with SQL Server since 2002. When he’s not accidentally dropping tables in production, he likes writing automation scripts, blogging about SQL Server Replication, wiring electronics, playing board games, and spending time with his dog. He’s also not embarrassed by his Spotify playlists.
Sponsors
The following is a list of sponsors that helped fund the event: