SQLSaturday #797 - Boston 2018
Event Date: 09/22/2018 00:00:00
Event Location:
- Microsoft (Burlington, MA)
- 5 Wayside Road
- Burlington, Massachusetts
This event has completed. All data shown below is from the historical XML public data available.
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Sessions
This is a list of sessions from the event, based on the schedule in the XML files.
Title: Azure Databricks = Azure + Spark + Machine Learning Collaboration
Abstract: Azure Databricks is the hottest new service being offered on Azure! Designed in collaboration with Microsoft and Databricks, the creators of Apache Spark, Azure Databricks combines the best of Databricks and Azure to help customers accelerate innovation with one-click set up, streamlined workflows and an interactive workspace that enables collaboration between data scientists, data engineers, and business analysts. Databricks was founded by the creators of the Spark big data platform to make creating creating and managing clusters a snap and provide a first class secure data science team collaboration environment. In this presentation, we’ll explain key concepts and features while demonstrating this amazing service.
Speaker(s):
- Bryan Cafferky
Track and Room: Analytics/BI - 2
Title: Effective Data Warehouse Storage Patterns
Abstract: Abstract:
Many companies start off with a simple data mart for reporting. As the company grows, users become dependent on the data mart for monitoring and making decisions on Key Performance Indicators (KPI).
Unexpected information growth in your data mart may lead to a performance impacted reporting system. In short, your users will be lining up at your cube for their daily reports.
How do you reduce the size of your data mart and speed up data retrieval?
This presentation will review the following techniques to fix your woes.
Coverage:
1 – What is horizontal partitioning? 2 – Database sharding for daily information. 3 – Working with files and file groups. 3 – Partitioned views for performance. 4 – Table and Index partitions. 5 – Row Data Compression. 6 – Page Data Compression. 7 – Programming a sliding window. 8 – What is different in Azure SQL database?
Speaker(s):
- John Miner
Track and Room: Development - 4
Title: From (User) Story to Tables: Read Between the Lines to Find Your Data
Abstract: If you work in an agile environment, design requirements often come to us as stories with the phrase: “As a type of user, I want to …”
For example: As a DBA, I want to be able to break down user stories to understand how they translate into our current database design and usage and have an understanding as to how it will affect future needs.
That user story is also the goal for the session. This will present one approach to how we can think about these user stories to find the data that we need to design our databases for. We’ll even work through an example together.
This is for DBAs who are involved in any part of designing databases, who want to practice how to come up with database designs, or who just another way to think about how they approach their database development in general.
Speaker(s):
- Deborah Melkin
Track and Room: Development - 4
Title: A DBAs guide to the proper handling of corruption
Abstract: Corruption can strike at any time. As DBAs how we alert, investigate, and respond can have profound impact on our company. In this session we will learn how to detect and respond to various types of corruption. First we will be focus on ways to detect corruption early. This will include understanding tools available to us like DBCC CheckDB as well as the importance of testing your backups. We’ll also look at some sample scripts to automate corruption checks and common alerts we should have set up on our instances. Then we will move onto how to respond to some common example of corruption. We’ll look at how we can analyze the situation safely as well as point out various pitfalls that trip people up. We’ll also discuss when and how we may be able to fix corruption vs restoring the database.
Speaker(s):
- Brandon Leach
Track and Room: Administration - 6
Title: Extended Events: What are they and How do I use them
Abstract: Extended Events are an essential part of properly monitoring and every DBA should know what they are and how to use them. This session will cover the basics of Extended events as well as an introduction to the system_health session. This session will give someone who has never used Extended events before the skills to start using them!
Speaker(s):
- Dave Bland
Track and Room: Administration - 4
Title: Case study: How we simulated a lights-out data center DR test
Abstract: Traditional DR tests may include application-specific recovery tests, or perhaps your workplace holds an annual “DR weekend” when you test the recoverability of your applications, and measure yourself against your own RPO’s and RTO’s.
With our applications now running in cloud, whether IaaS, PaaS, or SaaS, we typically must trust vendors’ SLA’s, and sometimes must design our own DR plan.
This case study is a real-world story about how we decided to test our DR plans when our various applications run in the cloud. We used Azure Site Recovery, Azure Backup Services, some Inf-as-Code solutions, a lot of automation, and some pre-configured but powered down infrastructure. I’d be happy to share our lessons learned.
Speaker(s):
- Michael O’Leary
Track and Room: Administration - 7
Title: BI Infrastructure in Azure: Points to Consider
Abstract: Success of a good BI infrastructure is measured by two most important factors: a) Better access to data and b) Increased operational efficiency How can you set up your own BI infrastructure in the cloud to address these? What components do we consider? We can do that by proper selection of technology and vendors from Azure Market Place. How do we keep an eye on possible use of Big Data for your BI. We will also look at the best practices for doing so. We will take a fleeting look at some of the storage options for us in Azure and some Big Data concepts as well. We will learn about Copy Data Virtualization in Azure Market Place that can help you provision terabytes worth of information in matter of minutes. We will also learn about setting up teams and ways to train them(and yourself) in this fast evolving world of Azure.
Speaker(s):
- Paresh Motiwala
Track and Room: Analytics/BI - 7
Title: Supercharging Backups and Restores For Fun and Profit
Abstract: Super-fast queries are an essential part of any business process, but speed will never be more important than during a disaster when you need to restore from backup. Come and see how both backups and restores can be tuned just like a query. In this demo-intensive session, we will discuss the different phases of the backup and restore processes, how to tell how long each of them is taking, and which are the easiest to significantly speed up. You just might be surprised how simple it is to achieve dramatic results - cutting your backup and restore times by 75% or more is absolutely possible using the methods covered here.
Speaker(s):
- Bob Pusateri
Track and Room: Administration - 3
Title: Understanding Power BI Administration and Security
Abstract: When implementing a Power BI project it is important to understand the Administration and Security components of the product to ensure that you have configured Power BI to meet the needs your business. This session will cover those options for all implementations of Power BI: Power BI Report Server, Power BI Pro and Power BI Premier to review what is available in each product so that you can make an informed choice for which product will best meet the needs of your users and how to optimally configure and administer it. After this session attendees will know the encryption and deployment methods used in Power BI and also the best practices for how to create a secure deployment strategy for your Power BI solutions.
Speaker(s):
- Ginger Grant
Track and Room: Analytics/BI - 2
Title: Networking 101: Building professional relationships
Abstract: Networking. You keep hearing that word throughout your career development, but you don’t know much about it, much less, how to do it. You want to connect with technical and data professionals, so you attend events such as SQLSaturday and your local user group. But what about your book club, your gym, your church group, or your kid’s soccer game? Those are prime – and overlooked – opportunities to network!
In this interactive session, we will discuss networking – what it is, why it’s important, and where opportunities exist. You will even have an opportunity to practice networking within the confines of our room. You might even leave this session with new networking contacts that you didn’t previously have!
Speaker(s):
- Ray Kim
Track and Room: Professional Development - 5
Title: How to get your Dream Job: Resume job hunting tips
Abstract: What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be a DBA, a teacher, a blogger, and a world-traveler. I’m living my dream.
In this session, we’ll talk about how I got where I am, and how you can get to where you want to be. In addition to sharing my journey, I’ll give some helpful tricks to getting your next job. You’ll learn how to write a resume that gets you noticed, how to navigate interviews, and learn how to decide if a potential job and employer is right for you.
Bring your own resume to this session, and I’ll provide you some personal (and private) feedback on what I would do to help improve your resume so you can land your Dream Job.
Slides handouts available on GitHub: http://am2.co/dream-job-ppt
Speaker(s):
- Andy Mallon
Track and Room: Professional Development - 7
Title: Database Project Makes Deployment Consistent
Abstract: The deployment process is frustrating; an object is missing, an object is deployed in the wrong order or an incorrect version. Deploying to multiple environments like Dev, QA, UAT, and Prod is a challenge whether on-premise or in the cloud. Source controlling database objects is paramount. Team development is required. Database code will only be deployed when changed. Proper security deployment will be repeatable per environment. Together, let us discover how using Database Project will help us with consistent releases. Deployments can cause you trouble but we will share a reliable deployment and version control process. Let’s see how Database Project can help us accomplish this goal.
Speaker(s):
- Thomas Norman
Track and Room: Administration - 2
Title: Data Protection Privacy in the World of Database DevOps
Abstract: Ensuring the ongoing protection of personally identifiable information is mandatory in today’s business, helping you to guard against data breaches, and comply with the GDPR. In a climate where cyber attacks are all too frequent, and data is spread across a growing number of different environments, the challenge of protecting your data can seem daunting. This session will address the implications of the GDPR on database management, and demonstrate a privacy-first approach to controlling and protecting data as it changes and moves through your SQL Server estate. As well as offering guidance for assessing your data estate for GDPR readiness, this session will include some great tools and tips for building data protection and privacy into your development processes, and dispel the myth that database DevOps and compliance can’t go hand in hand. With the right preparation, you can build compliance into your processes, keep sensitive data safe, and deliver value quickly to your end users.
Speaker(s):
- Grant Fritchey
Track and Room: Development - 4
Title: Python in SQL Server 2017
Abstract: SQL Server 2017 has finally arrived, bringing with it a host of exciting new features. Of particular interest to BI practitioners and data scientists is the integration of the Python programming language into the SQL ecosystem. This integration opens up a number of possibilities for in-database analytics and intelligent database applications, so let’s get started!
In this introductory session we’ll briefly introduce the Python language and then look at how to install and administer Machine Learning Services. We’ll start to demonstrate the power of Python by showing you how to create and run simple scripts from within T-SQL. We’ll then discuss some of the powerful open source packages that are available to aid your data analyses. Finally, we’ll go through some examples of how to use Python to integrate data analytical methods in real-world situations, and wow your customers with the power of analytics!
Speaker(s):
- Chris Hyde
Track and Room: Analytics/BI - 6
Title: Tracking Index Usage Like a Pro!
Abstract: Effective indexing is key to query tuning, performance optimization, and resource management.
Knowing which indexes are used most (or least) often can help us determine which are no longer needed, or which could use some tweaking. Keeping track of indexes that are missing and could greatly help performance allows us to solve related performance problems before they become disasters.
In this session, we will discuss how SQL Server tracks index utilization and the ways that we can persist this data for future use. Once we have a collection process in place, we can easily report on it and make smart decisions using months of collected data.
Speaker(s):
- Edward Pollack
Track and Room: Administration - 1
Title: Tune Like a Guru - The Big Three!
Abstract: EVERY client I engage with is taught to RUN 3 SCRIPTS IMMEDIATELY, WITHOUT THOUGHT AND WITHOUT DELAY as soon as a performance problem is noted. I am exceptionally good at performance tuning and forensics, but I (nor anyone else out there) cannot get at the root cause of a problem without information about the occurrence. These scripts will give you said information, which is very often transient in nature! I could be putting myself out of work teaching stuff like this! :-D
Speaker(s):
- Kevin Boles
Track and Room: Administration - 1
Title: What’s new in SQL Server 2017
Abstract: SQL Server 2017 has great new additions and features. If you are a developer, you want to learn about new Graph tables, new M.O.T enhancements, and new functions. If you are a BI developer, you want to learn about how to run R and Python in SQL Server. If you are a DBA, you might want to learn about new features like Resumable Online Indexes, Automatic Query Optimization and how to monitor R and Python scripts. This session will have overall information about new features of SQL Server 2017
Speaker(s):
- Hasan Savran
Track and Room: Development - 3
Title: The Case for Change: Identifying and Remedying Bad Code
Abstract: There is no organization that is immune from performance issues with their SQL Server queries. Sometimes all it takes is one “perfect storm” that kills your server performance and lands you in the hot seat with everyone asking you what happened. While many performance issues can be addressed with an index or configuration change, what about when the root of the problem is the code itself? Whether it’s a stored procedure or dynamic T-SQL generated by an ORM, the burden of proof lies with the DBA to demonstrate how the code is negatively impacting performance.
How do you capture those bad queries? When you have this data what do you look at besides the query itself? How do you make the case to the business that a code change is necessary? In this session we will explore capturing and identifying those problem queries, the analysis of the performance data, and how to effectively communicate your findings to the business to get your proposed code change approved and implemented.
Speaker(s):
- Amy Herold
Track and Room: Development - 1
Title: Power up SSRS 2017 with Power BI Report Server
Abstract: Power BI Report Server is a superset of SSRS 2017 that includes on-premise hosting of Power BI reports.
PBIRS provides us a modern solution for enterprise reporting and mobile business intelligence where you can apply your own terms of governance and distribute reports behind your organizations firewall.
In this session you will learn how to develop and publish Power BI reports (.PBIX) in Power BI Report Server, including custom visuals.
I will also show how you can develop and host Mobile reports, KPI and Paginated reports. You can view these on your browser or on any device (iOS, Android and Windows). I will round off this session with custom branding, add sharable comments, and (yes!!) the newest feature addition of Excel Workbooks.
Speaker(s):
- Sunil Kadimdiwan
Track and Room: Analytics/BI - 5
Title: Azure Data Factory V2 /ETL in the clouds
Abstract: Azure Data Factory (ADF) has done some mileage since it’s beginning in 2015. It has evolved and is now able to integrate your SSIS loads and do lots of work with your data in Azure. In this session, you will learn the new features of Azure Data Factory V2 and how SSIS packages can be triggered from it. This session will also introduce concepts like the modern data warehouse and what are the new challenges that comes with data integration both on-premise and cloud based.
Speaker(s):
- Christian Cote
Track and Room: Analytics/BI - 6
Title: Architecting SQL Server on VMware vSphere - Doing it Right!
Abstract: Let us connect DBAs and Infrastructure Admins providing to DBAs vital information how to get best SQL Server deployment on top of VMware virtual platform.
The session will cover both the design and the configuration of a SQL Server virtual machine with the special focus on:
vCPU allocation and deep dive in vNUMA
Memory allocation and configurations options
Storage configuration best practices including PMem/NFS/Snapshots
Network configuration myths and best practices
It all that you want to know about virtual platform configuration but hesitated to ask! Directly from the source with the tom of hands-on from the Professional Services
Speaker(s):
- Oleg Ulyanov
Track and Room: Sponsor - 2
Title: Organizational Security Compliance with SQL 2012 through 2016/2017
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. SQL 2016/2017 features like Always Encrypted will be detailed at the end.
Speaker(s):
- George Walters
Track and Room: Administration - 1
Title: Going Beyond Monitoring With SentryOne
Abstract: Hopefully you are monitoring your SQL Servers using DIY scripts or a 3rd party tool. Active monitoring is invaluable to enable the operational DBA to identify and address issues quickly.
But did you know that SentryOne offers capabilities beyond just monitoring?
Join me and I’ll show you how SentryOne provides environment wide visibility and aids in managing cross-server activities. I’ll showcase how alerting can be tuned to be effective and not noise. And you’ll discover how SentryOne can give you both operational and business value to address your application challenges.
Speaker(s):
- Andy Yun
Track and Room: Sponsor - 4
Title: Introduction to Azure SQL Data Warehouse
Abstract: On-premises data warehouse solutions are typically a large up-front capital expense which expensive boundaries to expansion. This led my organization to look to the cloud. In this session, I cover the basics of Azure SQL Data Warehouse, its architecture, and why you should be interested in combining the flexibility and scalability of the cloud with a massively parallel processing data warehouse.
Speaker(s):
- Derik Hammer
Track and Room: Cloud - 5
Title: Documenting your SQL Server environment with PowerShell
Abstract: Do you know what your SQL Server environment looks like? Using PowerShell along with dbatools and PowerBI we will cover how to collect, store, and document this information.
Finding a free and simple method to gather information about my SQL Server environment was difficult. Using a combination of PowerShell, the dbatools module, and a PowerBI report I finally found something that works for me. I hope it can be helpful for you as well.
Speaker(s):
- Matthew Anderson
Track and Room: Administration - 2
Title: Shaving off Microseconds
Abstract: This session is a compilation of extreme techniques I had to use over time to make very fast operations go a bit faster. It will cover multiple areas (indexing, table design, data access layer, schemas, object naming, datatypes, collations physical data placement and more. All examples given in this session are from real world cases of some of the most demaning workloads in the world.
Speaker(s):
- Thomas Grohser
Track and Room: Development - 2
Title: Faster SSIS
Abstract: Ever wonder why SSIS runs so slow? Watch SSIS author Andy Leonard as he runs test loads using sample and real-world data and shows you how to tune SQL Server 2017 Integration Services (SSIS 2017) packages.
We’ll start by experimenting with SSIS design patterns to improve performance loading AdventureWorks data. We will implement different change detection patterns and compare execution performance for each. Then, we’ll explain a Data Flow Task’s bottleneck when loading binary large objects - or Blobs.
Finally, we’ll demonstrate a design pattern that uses a Script Component in a Data Flow to boost load performance to MySql, whether on-premises or in the cloud.
Speaker(s):
- Andy Leonard
Track and Room: Analytics/BI - 3
Title: Delivering SQL Server High Availability on Microsoft Azure
Abstract: You can use Microsoft Azure to quickly build, deploy, scale and manage your SQL Server databases, while seamlessly integrating SIOS DataKeeper for synchronized data and high availability.
Speaker(s):
- Michael Traudt
Track and Room: Sponsor - 6
Title: SQL Server on Amazon Web Services - Elastic Compute Cloud vs Relational Database Service?
Abstract: Amazon web services offers a befuddling number of of different services. Among these are the two major options for running SQL Server on AWS - Elastic Compute Cloud and Relational Database Services. Why would one be picked over the other? What are the limitations and trade offs? We will discuss these questions among others while working through the process of restoring a sample database under both services.
Speaker(s):
- Rick Lowe
Track and Room: Cloud - 7
Title: 10 Years of Highs and Lows as an Independent Consultant
Abstract: 2017 marked the 10th anniversary of when I left the world of being a full time employee to being an independent consultant. Back then I was just trying to make it to year two. Ten years later, I’ve learned a lot and I’m still standing with a few battle scars to prove it. Join me as I discuss what it takes to be (and survive as) a consultant, lessons learned - both good and bad, and how you can apply the principles of consulting even if you are a full time employee to step up your game.
Speaker(s):
- Allan Hirt
Track and Room: Professional Development - 1
Title: Containerized databases: SQL Server and DevOps
Abstract: What are containers? When would you use them? Are they supported for production? Do they run on Windows? Do they run on Linux? Can they persist data?
These are just a few of the questions we will answer in this session. Containers are all the rage today - don’t get left behind!
Speaker(s):
- Ned Otter
Track and Room: Administration - 4
Title: WIT panel discussion
Abstract: Join us for a WIT panel discussion with some of today’s #PASSWIT speakers. We’ll talk about being seen and heard in the community.
Speaker(s):
- Deborah Melkin
Track and Room: WIT - 1
Title: Inventory your data with Azure Data Catalog
Abstract: Data, data, everywhere - how do you keep track of what data you have and let your consumers know? In the library, the card catalog has been replaced with an online searches. In this talk, we will show how Azure Data Catalog tops Dewey when searching for your data sources, and how this is a component of your Data Governance strategy.
Speaker(s):
- Beth Wolfset
Track and Room: Administration - 5
Title: A Different Dimension to Performance Tuning: Resource Governor
Abstract: Would you like to fix database performance issues without changing code, adding indexes or changing system resources? SQL Server database engine doesn’t differentiate between workloads but Resource Governor can and gives flexibility for resource allocation preference. You can prioritize you workload based upon importance. In this session we will deep dive to learn how to use Resource Governor to cap different facets of CPU, Memory, IOPs utilization with demos and examples.
Speaker(s):
- Surbhi Pokharna
Track and Room: Administration - 7
Title: Azure CosmosDB and Tools
Abstract: What is CosmosDB and why should I care about it? It is a schema-less JSON documents database engine with rich SQL querying capabilities. We will go over Cosmos database, collections, and documents creation. CosmoDB’s SQL API supports relational and hierarchical queries. Azure CosmosDB Emulator is a free tool which provides local development with CosmosDB without connecting to the Azure portal. This session will also cover CosmosDB Explorer in Public View. It can be used to access the database with read-only or read-write permissions without requiring access to Azure subscription.
Speaker(s):
- Bhavna Mangal
Track and Room: Development - 6
Title: Master your tools: SSMS
Abstract: SSMS (SQL Server Management Studio) is probably the most used application for working with SQL Server. Many of us use it on a daily basis. SSMS is a complex application and it has many ‘hidden’ features that some of us are not aware of. Yet using them will allow us to be achieve more and be more efficient. During the session I will demonstrate many such ‘hidden’ features that could be very useful.
Speaker(s):
- Varsham Papikian
Track and Room: Development - 6
Title: DAX and the tabular model
Abstract: With the advent of the tabular model in SQL Server 2012, another analytical option has opened to the BI Specialist. We shall be looking at what critical factors should be analyzed prior to opting for the model and that done, how to extract data from a tabular model using Data Analysis Expressions (DAX). We shall discuss many of the often used functions, discuss their ‘overloads’ (utilizing several practical examples) and see how to turn the extracted data into valuable information that may be used by decision makers to help the enterprise achieve its corporate goals.
Speaker(s):
- Steve Simon
Track and Room: Analytics/BI - 5
Title: Exploring Execution Plans
Abstract: Getting started reading execution plans is very straight forward. The real issue is understanding the plans as they grow in size and complexity. This session will show you how to explore the nooks and crannies of an execution plan in order to more easily find the necessary information needed to make what the plan is telling you crystal clear. The information presented here will better empower you to traverse the execution plans you’ll see on your own servers. That knowledge will make it possible to more efficiently and accurately tune and troubleshoot your queries.
Speaker(s):
- Grant Fritchey
Track and Room: Development - 3
Title: SQL Server running with VMware , Rich History ; Brilliant Future
Abstract: Over the last decade VMware vSphere has developed into the perfect platform for running Microsoft SQL Server. And now with the new features of vSphere 6.7 and the introduction of the VMware Cloud on AWS, VMware offers not only virtualization but the premier Hybrid Cloud solution for all database implementations. Come to this Keynote and discover these new and brilliant VMware capabilities and how they perfectly compliment your SQL Server architectures.
Speaker(s):
- Mike Adams
Track and Room: Keynote - 1
Title: How to Get Management Buy-In for Compliant Provisioning Software
Abstract: As a DBA you are aware of the ever-growing challenge of protecting your Production data when being leveraged outside of your Production environment. You understand the need for third-party software to protect this sensitive data but might not be trained in the arts of influencing the management decision process to ensure that essentials get purchased. Redgate will show you how to get management support for crucial software purchases in your organization.
Speaker(s):
- Dustin Abney
Track and Room: Sponsor - 7
Title: Rubrik-Simplifying SQL Data Protection
Abstract: When you think about backups in your environment, how many servers scripts do you have to manage? Or have you ever needed to get a table back from a large database and didn’t want to argue with the storage admins about space for the restore? With Rubrik, we empower you to backup and restore your databases quickly and with ease. Come see how you can quickly protect hundreds of databases with just a few clicks or bring back a database in minutes to satisfy your most demanding executives. With Rubrik, it’s not about backing up, it’s about going forward!
Speaker(s):
- Chris Lumnah
Track and Room: Sponsor - 3
Title: T-SQL Tips Tricks to Make Your Life Easier!
Abstract: Do you spend your days slinging T-SQL code? Want to improve your T-SQL game? If you answered yes, then this session is for you.
This demo-intensive session will showcase a collection of my favorite beginner and intermediate level tips and tricks. We will explore how to identify and fix some common T-SQL anti-patterns, my favorite SSMS productivity tricks, and clever solutions to some common but not easily-coded challenges.
This session targets both developers and DBAs; the only prerequisites are the desire to write better T-SQL code and aim of living an easier life!
Speaker(s):
- Andy Yun
Track and Room: Development - 3
Speakers
This is a list of speakers from the XML Guidebook records. The details and URLs were valid at the time of the event.
Rick Lowe
Twitter: - DataFLowe
LinkedIn: Rick Lowe
Contact: http://dataflowe.wordpress.com/
Rick is a Microsoft Certified Master with more than 20 years of SQL Server experience in a variety of roles. He currently lives in Washington state and works as an independent consultant providing remote performance DBA and performance tuning services for clients in the USA and Canada. His first exposure to SQL Server was as a database developer, but over time he became more and more interested in how the database engine operated… eventually specializing more on performance issues than code.
Rick will work with all things relational, but most enjoys helping smaller companies get better performance from MSSQL, as well as smoothing over relationships between DBA and development teams.
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.
Allan Hirt
Twitter: - SQLHA
LinkedIn: Allan Hirt
Contact: http://www.sqlha.com/blog
SQLHA, LLC founder, consultant, trainer, author, and business continuity, infrastructure, and virtualization expert Allan Hirt has been working with SQL Server since 1992 when it was still a Sybase product. He has also been clustering in Windows Server since the late 1990s when it was known as Wolfpack. Currently a dual Microsoft MVP (Data Platform; Cloud and Datacenter Management) as well as a VMware vExpert, Allan works with all sizes of customers, no matter if they are on premises or in the public cloud. He also delivers training and speaks at events over the world.
Brandon Leach
Twitter: - SQLServerNerd
LinkedIn: Brandon Leach
A Microsoft Data Platform MVP, Brandon manages the DB Operations team for financial company x. With a data estate of several petabytes, he puts a high focus on performance tuning and automation. He is a frequent speaker at events like conferences and user groups.
Andy Leonard
Twitter: - AndyLeonard
LinkedIn: Andy Leonard
Contact: https://andyleonard.blog
Andy Leonard is founder and Chief Data Engineer at Enterprise Data Analytics, Microsoft Data Platform MVP, creator of the DILM (Data Integration Lifecycle Management) Suite, an SSIS trainer, consultant, developer, Business Intelligence Markup Language (Biml) developer and BimlHero, SQL Server database and data warehouse developer, community mentor, engineer, and farmer. He is a co-author of “The Biml Book and SQL Server Integration Services Design Patterns” and author of “Managing Geeks - A Journey of Leading by Doing”, “Data Integration Lifecycle Management with SSIS”, “Building Custom Tasks for SSIS”, and the “Stairway to Integration Services”. Andy blogs at andyleonard.blog where you can learn more on the About Andy page.
Grant Fritchey
Twitter: - @gfritchey
LinkedIn: Grant Fritchey
Contact: http://scarydba.com
Grant Fritchey is a Data Platform MVP with over 20 years’ experience in IT, including time spent in support and development. He has worked with SQL Server since 6.0 back in 1995. He has also developed in VB, VB.NET, C#, and Java. Grant has written books for Apress and Simple-Talk. Grant presents at conferences and user groups, large and small, all over the world. He joined Redgate Software as a product evangelist in January 2011.
Michael Traudt
Michael Traudt, SIOS Senior Solutions Architect, brings 16 years of experience in high availability, DR, and backup and recovery. Focused on tier one application use cases he has hands-on experience building environments from the ground up based on needs to demonstrate applied features, run performance and scalability testing, or collect competitive analysis metrics
Matthew Anderson
Twitter: - @matholamew
LinkedIn: Matthew Anderson
Matt is a new speaker and Microsoft SQL Server DBA with almost 10 years experience. He has managed databases for healthcare, manufacturing, and entertainment companies on traditional DBA teams and on BI teams.
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.
Bob Pusateri
Twitter: - @SQLBob
LinkedIn: Bob Pusateri
Contact: http://www.BobPusateri.com
Bob Pusateri is a Microsoft Certified Master, DBA, and systems architect with over 10 years of experience on SQL Server. His interests involve internals, performance optimization, and cloud technologies. He is an active member of two Chicago-area PASS Local Groups, a community speaker, and maintains a web presence through both Twitter (@SQLBob) and his blog (bobpusateri.com).
Ginger Grant
Twitter: - desertislesql
LinkedIn: Ginger Grant
Contact: http://www.DesertIsleSQL.com
Ginger Grant manages the consultancy Desert Isle Group and shares what she has learned while working with data technology to people around the world. As a Microsoft MVP in Data Platform, Microsoft Certified Trainer and an instructor on DataCamp, she focuses on guiding clients to create solutions using the entire Microsoft Data Stack, which includes SQL Server, Power BI, and Azure Data Cloud components. When not working, she protypes the latest pre-release data technologies, maintains her blog http://www.desertislesql.com, and spends time on twitter @desertislesql.
Hasan Savran
Twitter: - Savranweb
LinkedIn: Hasan Savran
Contact: http://h-savran.blogspot.com/
Hasan Savran is a BI Architect at Progressive Insurance Company. He spends his days architecting cutting edge business solutions by using the latest Web and Database technologies. He is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP, Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer. Hasan has spoken at many SQLSaturdays, Code Camps and User groups. He is an active member of the HTML5 and WebAssembly W3C groups. He likes to write about SQL, CosmosDB, C#, and Front End development on his blog.
Dave Bland
Twitter: - @SQLDave29
LinkedIn: Dave Bland
Contact: https://www.davebland.com
Over 20 years of SQL Server experience that includes being a DBA, BI development and Application development using VB.NET. Dave currently is the Manager of the DBA team at Stericycle. Dave is a Friend of Red-Gate for 2019. He is a frequent presenter at SQLSaturday events and user groups around the country. Has been teaching SQL Server since version 2000 and is the SQL Server instructor at Harper College in Palatine, IL. Current certifications include: • Microsoft Certified Trainer • MCTS: SQL Server 2008, Implementation and Maintenance • MCTS: SQL Server 2008, BI Development and Maintenance • MCSA: SQL Server 2008 • MCSA: SQL Server 2016 • MCSE: SQL Server 2016 - BI • MCDBA: SQL Server 2000 • MCSD • MCSE: Data Management and Analytics
Michael O’Leary
Michael works for a Boston-based global financial services firm. Most of his time is spent implement architecture principles and governance controls in Azure. For the past 2 years Michael has been closely involved with lift-n-shift datacenter migration project, VDI in the public cloud, and off-the-shelf applications. Michael enjoys automation, typically using Powershell, REST and 3rd party orchestration tools.
Mike Adams
Michael Adams joined VMware in June of 2007 and is responsible for global product marketing for the company’s flagship offering known as VMware vSphere™, bringing more than 15 years of experience in IT. Most recently Adams worked at Symantec/Veritas for seven years as product marketing manager for the Veritas NetBackup product family. He also worked at Giga Information Group (now Forrester Research) as an open storage market analyst. Adams holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Michigan.
Christian Cote
Twitter: - Christian_SQL
LinkedIn: Christian Cote
Contact: http://bi-blogger.typepad.com/
Christian Coté is an IT professional with more than 15 years of experience working in data warehouse and business intelligence projects. Christian developed an expertise in data warehousing over the years and designed many ETL/BI processes using a range of tools on multiple platforms. He’s been presenting at several conferences and code camps. He currently co-leads the SQL Server PASS chapter in Montreal as well as Global French SQL PASS Chapter. He is also a Microsoft Data Platform Most Valuable Professional (MVP).
Oleg Ulyanov
LinkedIn: Oleg Ulyanov
Contact: https://blogs.vmware.com/apps/
Oleg Ulyanov is a Sr. Solution Architect in VMware Technical Marketing focused on database virtualization and monitoring. He previously spend more than 6 years within VMware Professional Services (PSO) and have more than 15 years of experience in IT. He is a Subject Matter Expert in both monitoring and virtualization of business critical applications with tons of hands-on experience directly from customer sites. He holds a broad range of industry certificates including VMware VCP 4/5, VCAP5-DCD/DCA/CID/CIA, VCAP6-DCV, SNIA, Microsoft, and speaks regularly at the official events like VMworld, VMware User Group, SQLSaturdays.
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.
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.
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.
Kevin Boles
Twitter: - @TheSQLGuru
LinkedIn: Kevin Boles
Kevin Boles is a SQL Server expert, working exclusively with the product since v6.5. With over 25 years of database experience and over 45,000 man hours of SQL Server engine experience, he holds many related certifications, is an MCT and was a SQL Server MVP from 2007 to 2012. Kevin has been a very successful independent consultant for over 20 years. His passion is the relational engine, especially designing, building, analyzing and tuning high-performance database applications.
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.
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
Andy Yun
Twitter: - SQLBek
LinkedIn: Andy Yun
Contact: http://sqlbek.wordpress.com
Andy Yun is a SentryOne Principal Solutions Engineer and a former Microsoft MVP. He has been working with SQL Server for nearly 20 years as both a Database Developer and Administrator. Leveraging knowledge of SQL Server Internals and extensive experience in highly transactional environments, he strives to make T-SQL leaner and meaner. Andy is extremely passionate about passing knowledge onto others, regularly speaking at User Groups, SQLSaturdays, and PASS Summit. Andy is a co-founder of the Chicago SQL Association, co-Chapter Leader of the Chicago Suburban User Group, and part of the Chicago SQLSaturday Organizing Committee.
Surbhi Pokharna
Twitter: - Surbhi_Pokharna
LinkedIn: Surbhi Pokharna
Surbhi Pokharna has been working with SQL Server since 6.5. She is currently working as a Principal Database Administrator for Charles River Development. Surbhi loves deep diving into SQL Server internals and solving database performance issues. Over the years Surbhi h.as managed thousands of SQL Server instances on petabytes of storage. In her current role, she focuses on planning and building SaaS infrastructure solutions for SQL Server and Azure. She has spoken a SQLSaturday and User Groups in the Boston Area.
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.
Amy Herold
Twitter: - @texasamy
LinkedIn: Amy Herold
Contact: http://www.sqlkitten.com/
Amy Herold is currently a Premier Field Engineer with Microsoft, specializing in APS. Prior to this, she was a Sr. Database Administrator, focusing on PowerShell and automation. She is also currently the Director of Programs for the North Texas SQL Server User Group (NTSSUG). She frequently speaks at SQLSaturday and user group events across the United States and has also participated in numerous Women in Technology sessions as a panelist. Amy currently blogs at sqlkitten.com.
Andy Yun
Twitter: - SQLBek
LinkedIn: Andy Yun
Contact: http://sqlbek.wordpress.com
Andy Yun is a SentryOne Principal Solutions Engineer and a former Microsoft MVP. He has been working with SQL Server for nearly 20 years as both a Database Developer and Administrator. Leveraging knowledge of SQL Server Internals and extensive experience in highly transactional environments, he strives to make T-SQL leaner and meaner. Andy is extremely passionate about passing knowledge onto others, regularly speaking at User Groups, SQLSaturdays, and PASS Summit. Andy is a co-founder of the Chicago SQL Association, co-Chapter Leader of the Chicago Suburban User Group, and part of the Chicago SQLSaturday Organizing Committee.
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
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
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.
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
Bhavna Mangal
Bhavna Mangal is a MCP and works as a Sr. Software Engineer at SGT Inc. She has been working on Web and Windows applications development in government and financial services industries.
Dustin Abney
LinkedIn: Dustin Abney
I have a passion for assisting SQL Server professionals become more efficient with their database lifecycle management processes. With a focus on implementation of Compliant DevOps for the database and SQL Server performance monitoring, I seek to help organizations by encouraging their teams to work together to improve the efficiency and quality of software delivery and start adding more value to the business.
Grant Fritchey
Twitter: - @gfritchey
LinkedIn: Grant Fritchey
Contact: http://scarydba.com
Grant Fritchey is a Data Platform MVP with over 20 years’ experience in IT, including time spent in support and development. He has worked with SQL Server since 6.0 back in 1995. He has also developed in VB, VB.NET, C#, and Java. Grant has written books for Apress and Simple-Talk. Grant presents at conferences and user groups, large and small, all over the world. He joined Redgate Software as a product evangelist in January 2011.
Varsham Papikian
Twitter: - https://twitter.com/SQLVAR
LinkedIn: Varsham Papikian
Varsham Papikian has 20+ years of experience working with databases and different Microsoft technologies. He works as a Principal Database Architect, Developer and DBA at Wolters Kluwer Financial Services. He speaks at different events like SQLSaturday or user group meetings. Varsham helped to start and then run ‘Boston Business Intelligence’ user group for some time. Previously he was also involved in running ‘New England SQL Server’ user group.
Thomas Norman
Twitter: - ArmorDba
LinkedIn: Thomas Norman
Contact: https://armordba.com/
Tom Norman is a Database Architect at KPA with a strong fervor to protect data. He works daily to review and improve data protection methodologies while reviewing governing laws affecting finance, healthcare, and personal data. His areas of expertise include encryption, auditing, data identification, and database object deployment. He is the current leader of the PASS Virtualization Group and Vice President of the TRIPASS user group. You can read his blog at https://armordba.com/ and reach him on twitter at @armordba. Tom speaks at a number of SQLSaturday events and SQL Server user groups.
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.
Chris Lumnah
Twitter: - @lumnah
LinkedIn: Chris Lumnah
Chris Lumnah began working in the IT as a programmer in 1996. He ended up becoming a SQL DBA out of necessity 15 years ago. He has worked on SQL Server version 2000 thru 2017. He likes to continue to use his knowledge of programming to create more automated solutions to assist him and his team to be more proactive. Chris lives in Providence, RI and is currently a SQL Server Solutions Architect at Rubrik Inc.
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.
Chris Hyde
Twitter: - ChrisHyde325
LinkedIn: Chris Hyde
Chris Hyde is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP and Microsoft Certified Trainer based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He works as an independent SQL Server BI and DBA consultant, and is the leader of the Albuquerque PASS local user group. He is also part of the Friends of Redgate program and was a member of the Idera ACE class of 2018. He loves loud music and cricket, but usually not at the same time.
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.
Sponsors
The following is a list of sponsors that helped fund the event: