SQLSaturday #796 - Minnesota 2018
Event Date: 10/06/2018 00:00:00
Event Location:
- Saint Paul College
- 235 Marshall Avenue
- Saint Paul, Minnesota
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Sessions
This is a list of sessions from the event, based on the schedule in the XML files.
Title: Keeping Your DBA Happy. Why Some Practices Drive Admins Crazy.
Abstract: Ever used a NOLOCK hint, only to find that nothing broke the next day? Odds are most folks reading this have. So if fire and brimstone did not rain from the sky, why do we worry so much about this hint? What could actually go wrong?
SQL Server supports two table types - heaps and tables with clustered indexes. We almost always create a unique clustered index on tables … but why? Since heaps are part of the product they must have a use case but what is it? Any what is the secret sauce in clustered indexes that makes them so popular?
There is a substantial body of best practice information in the SQL Server community. Many of these practices are routinely ignored in some organizations, presumably because the consequences of not following aren’t always clear. Come join this full day session for in-depth explanations of why we give some of the advice that we do.
Query hints, indexing, LINQ to Entities, common table expressions, looping vs set-based operations and more
Speaker(s):
- Rick Lowe
Track and Room: Application Database Development - C
Title: Consumption Based Architecture and MSBI
Abstract: As the tools available for BI and data warehousing continue to improve, it should change the way we ultimately deliver BI solutions. Microsoft’s BI solutions help us keep data closer to the source. As data and BI architects, we need to design solutions that can support this model. Consumption Based Architecture is one such architecture. The goal of this architecture is to plan and design solutions that minimize ongoing maintenance and enable users quicker and more complete access to data. Some highlights are how tabular models and Power BI support this process and where does MDM for BI fit in. Ready to discuss the “death of enterprise data warehouses”? Join the conversation in this session.
Speaker(s):
- Steve Hughes
Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - 2230
Title: Locking and its effects on queries and maintenance tasks
Abstract: Multi-user systems are affected by how SQL Server locks resources to manage concurrent transactions. Understanding how SQL Server uses locks to isolate transactions from one another is important for both writing code and running maintenance tasks.
In this session, we will discuss lock modes in SQL Server and how they impact your queries. We will show how different isolation levels change which locks are taken and for how long they are held. We will look at ways to avoid unnecessary blocking for maintenance tasks like index rebuilds. Assertions will be backed up with demo-based evidence.
After this session, you will have the understanding you need to start writing application code and maintenance jobs suitable for concurrent systems by anticipating blocking issues due to locking.
Speaker(s):
- Jake Manske
Track and Room: Application Database Development - 3190
Title: SSIS Project Deployment: The T-SQL Way
Abstract: Do you deploy SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) Projects using the Integration Services Deployment Wizard? If you’re looking for a repeatable deployment method that can be source controlled, there’s another way…the T-SQL way! In this session, you will see a demonstration of T-SQL script deployment of SSIS projects, using stored procedures in the SSISDB database. You’ll learn how to query the SSIS catalog to find your project configurations so they can be captured and source controlled. Take control of your SSIS deployments…the T-SQL way!
Prerequisites: You should have previous experience with SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) package deployment and/or development.
Speaker(s):
- Peter Kral
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 2220
Title: Understanding your ETL and SQL performance with a Power BI dashboard
Abstract: Imagine a simple and free, yet very informative dashboard that presents up to the moment performance, dependency and error handling information about your ETL and SQL performance in one spot. You and your business clients will be able to achieve transparency into high level status of operations as well as drilling down into troubleshooting assisting details. In this session we will learn how to build and customize such tool with Power BI. You will learn some SQL metadata intricacies as well as how to deliver this information with Power BI. Common samples will be provided for download.
Speaker(s):
- Anton Rozenson
Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - 2215
Title: Got the Consulting Itch? The Ins and Outs of being a Contractor for a Living
Abstract: Have you ever thought about becoming a Consultant, but just didn’t know if it was the right fit for you? In this session, I touch on various aspects of what being a consultant means, be it working for a consulting firm or independently for yourself. I’ll cover some skills that are necessary to succeed in this field, touch on aspects of owning your own business, discuss ways to build up a network, and draw attention to some questions you should be asking yourself and others before you make the leap. By the end of the session, I hope you have enough information to know if becoming a consultant is the right choice for you or not.
Speaker(s):
- John Eisbrener
Track and Room: Professional Development - 2225
Title: The Modern Enterprise Data Warehouse in Azure
Abstract: With the smorgasbord of Azure service available, how do you approaching building a modern enterprise data warehouse?
In this pre-con we will be covering architecture patterns from Microsoft and that we are seeing in the industry on how to move to Azure for you data warehousing needs. We’ll cover the various offerings of Azure including storage, data ingestion and orchestration, databases , NoSQL, and streaming.
We’ll also cover how to analyze all of this data with tools and services like Power BI and Databricks. Finally, we’ll cover strategies on how you get there; Lift-and-shift, hybrid, or brand new implementations will all be discussed.
By the end of this pre-con you should have a thorough understanding of the architecting a modern enterprise data warehouse in Azure including getting those services to work together and how to use that data effectively!
Speaker(s):
- Joshuha Owen
Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - A
Title: Power BI Premium Use Cases
Abstract: We will walk through all the various Power BI (PBI) deployments and data sourcing methods. I will discuss actual use cases so you will know when each solution is appropriate. Deployment topics to be covered include a PBI loaded model, PBI direct connect, and PBI live connect. On-premises data sourcing topics include SQL databases, Oracle databases, Analysis Services Tabular, and Excel files. Cloud data sourcing topics include Azure Data Lake, Azure Analysis Services, and Snowflake on Azure. There will be a few demos regarding the developer approaches for the actual use cases. I will start the session by introducing the basics of Power BI Premium, and work our way into complexities necessary to support an enterprise.
Speaker(s):
- Ross McNeely
Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - 2220
Title: Intermediate Security in SQL Server
Abstract: How many times have you been told by your customers:
- “just grant db_owner/sysadmin to my application and it will work”
- “I need to be able to issue raw DML against these tables”
- “my login doesn’t work the way it should!”
- “this query that is accessing objects in multiple databases isn’t working”
In this session, we’ll talk about ways to service requests like these without having to give away the world. We’ll start with authentication and authorization, for context.
We will then go into different methods to augment the “normal” means of obtaining permissions that will allow you to help your customers while at the same time not needing to be overly permissive.
In the course of this presentation, you’ll learn about:
* Module signing
* Permission chaining
* Impersonation
and more!
Speaker(s):
- Ben Thul
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 2215
Title: Azure Data Factory V2: The cloud SSIS we have been waiting for?
Abstract: Azure Data Factory V2 recently went GA and has a lot of great new SSIS-like features but is it good enough to replace SSIS? In this session we will go over some of the new control flow, branching, and scheduling features in Azure Data Factory and see how to make a fully cloud capable data orchestration engine. As a bonus we’ll also show how you can run SSIS packages directly in Azure!
Speaker(s):
- Joshuha Owen
Track and Room: Cloud Application Development Deployment - 2
Title: Maximizing SQL Server Management Studio for Developers and DBAs
Abstract: Whether you’re a developer or a DBA, you likely use SSMS (SQL Server Management Studio) a lot. However, are you using all the features and extensions available to maximize your efficiency? This talk will show some of the most useful, yet overlooked, features of SSMS and some of the best (and free) extensions to make life easier for you and your teams. I’ll also include some of my most useful code snippets that I’ve found or written over the years and a quick look at the new SQL Operations Studio. Save yourself some time and headaches!
Speaker(s):
- Nem Schlecht
Track and Room: Application Database Development - 2115
Title: Powering Up with Power BI (Pre-Con)
Abstract: This day-long session will provide instruction on each aspect of Power BI. We will cover:
• Data collection using the Query Editor and the M language • Data modeling • Measures using basic and intermediate DAX formulas • Visualizations with an emphasis on user interactivity including the latest interactive and drill through features • Deployment and management in a secure, shared environment
Along the way we will look at tips and tricks as well as best practices for each of these facets of Power BI. Participants will leave with an understanding of the full range of capabilities of Power BI along with the confidence to use Power BI to create and securely share meaningful analytics.
Speaker(s):
- Brian Larson
Track and Room: Analytics and Visualization - B
Title: Fundamentals That Will Improve Your Query Performance!
Abstract: Time and time again the same misunderstandings by developers and query writers appear when query performance issues arise. In this demo heavy presentation, we will review these specific topics such as data types, implicit conversions, sargability, and some others that all have an impact on query performance. Come join me and by the end of this session you will have the knowledge to boost your query performance!
Speaker(s):
- John Wells
Track and Room: Application Database Development - 3190
Title: Getting Started with Extended Events
Abstract: Few subjects in Microsoft SQL Server inspire the same amount of Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD) as Extended Events. Many DBAs continue to use Profiler and SQL Trace even though they have been deprecated for years. Why is this?
Extended Events started out in SQL Server 2008 with no user interface and only a few voices in the community documenting the features as they found them. Since then, it has blossomed into a full feature of SQL Server and an amazingly low-impact replacement for Profiler and Trace.
Come learn how to get started - the basics of sessions, events, actions, targets, packages, and more. We will look at some base scenarios where Extended Events can be very useful as well as considering a few gotchas along the way. You may never go back to Profiler again!
Speaker(s):
- Andy Galbraith
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 2215
Title: Power BI: Dashboard in an Hour Walk-Through
Abstract: This session will provide a walk-through example showcasing the Power BI tools including the Desktop, Service, and Mobile application. You will see how you can quickly access and explore data and gain insights from any device as well as collaborate and share the content with others. The content and examples will be provided after the session so that you can go through the walk-through examples on your own.
This session is perfect for anyone that is new to Power BI and is looking for an overview and a demonstration of what the toolset can do and provide for reporting and analytics.
Speaker(s):
- Dan English
Track and Room: Analytics and Visualization - Theater
Title: Data Security for the Cloud
Abstract: Have you moved your application to the cloud? Are you thinking about it? Great! Now… how are you securing it?
Security becomes paramount when you move your data to the cloud - after all, it is a much more public resource than the corporate network you’re accustomed to using. Depending on the platform you choose, the vendor may take care of part of the security needs, but they don’t handle all of them. So what, exactly, is your responsibility? And where do you start?
Microsoft MVP Ed Leighton-Dick will answer these questions and more in this full-day workshop on how to best secure your data in the cloud. Topics will include the most common vulnerabilities your data will face on a cloud platform; differences between the current offerings on the major cloud platforms; and the implementation of technical necessities like authentication, encryption, connection security, and monitoring.
Speaker(s):
- Ed Leighton-Dick
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - D
Title: Virtualizing SQL Server
Abstract: An overview of what you need to do to virtualize SQL Server
Speaker(s):
- Marsha Pierce
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 2230
Title: Plan Cache performance tuning
Abstract: In this session, we’ll discuss ways to manage execution plans inside the plan cache of busy and unpredictable SQL Servers. The plan cache keeps SQL Server healthy, but all it takes is one bad execution plan to decrease server performance.
Just like gardening, keeping a database healthy requires pruning. Techniques to manage, remove, and improve performance in the Plan Cache will be shown. The Query Store gives us power tools for this work, but it’s not the entire solution.
Speaker(s):
- Arthur Daniels III
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 2220
Title: You are more than a DBA: Expanding your career into Big Data
Abstract: Streaming. Containerization. Hadoop. The Cloud. New Database storage types.
The IT Landscape continues to advance at a furious pace and shows no signs of stopping. What’s a DBA/SQL Developer to do?
In this session we will identify the big picture IT changes going on around us distill them down to their core concepts technologies. We will discuss how these changes affect our current careers job roles. We will present learning plans to address current gaps and branch out into the new. The end goal: to gain an understanding that will allow us to embrace these changes to the advancement of our careers.
Speaker(s):
- Bill Preachuk
Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - 2225
Title: Power BI Embedding – Ecolab’s Story
Abstract: The business intelligence team at Ecolab has ridden a wave of evolving features and capabilities of Power BI, hanging ten through several permutations of embedding architecture, to provide customer and internal users with excellent and secure Power BI reports and dashboards, through its employee and customer portals. If you’re considering Power BI content delivery in the context of a web application or portal, It’s quite likely that our story will offer something that will help you avoid a few spilled marbles and backaches. We will describe the architecture we use, steps we took to get here, how and why we did certain things, and let you ask questions pertinent to your situation.
Speaker(s):
- Mark Davis
Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - 2230
Title: Building Better Tabular Models
Abstract: Do you need to start building Tabular models but don’t know SSDT from SSMS? Have you looked at Azure Analysis Services but don’t know where to start? Did your company just upgrade from SQL 2012 to SQL 2017, and you want to best leverage the new features? In this demo heavy session we’ll cover how to create a new Tabular model with a solid foundation to support happy users. In addition to step by step instructions and best practices on loading data, formatting your columns and measures, clean model design, and making the DBA’s life easier when it’s time to deploy, we will cover the two most important properties you can set to save yourself a headache.
Speaker(s):
- Alex Barbeau
Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - 2215
Title: Little and Large - Cubes to Scale
Abstract: In 2018 creating a cube is one of the easier tasks in BI, however what happens when the cube you inherit is so big that it officially becomes the biggest cube in the Midwest, and therefore one of the biggest cubes in the country? This session shows how to handle tabular models of size and scale. It also delves into what assistance and considerations are required when considering moving, or even building, your cubes in Azure.
Speaker(s):
- George Bryant
Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - 2230
Title: Why should I care about … the plan cache?
Abstract: SQL Server is a huge product, with many different places a DBA can go to look for information on how the server is performing. So many in fact that they can often overlap, which sometimes makes it hard to understand why tackling a new tool is worth the effort. In this installment of Rick’s “Why should I care” series, he lays out a case for why working knowledge of the plan cache is critical for performance tuning efforts in real world environments. A review of relevant views and functions is included for the (newly?) motivated audience.
Perfect for those who are relatively new to performance tuning concerns, or advanced DBAs trying to figure out how to have a similar conversation with their less experienced peers, or developers who are curious as to why their DBAs often seem so frazzled. This is not a deep dive into the cache, it really is primarily a session exploring why these DMOs are worth slogging through.
Speaker(s):
- Rick Lowe
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 2215
Title: Azure Data Studio Extension Development
Abstract: Cross-platform, open source, and approachably extensible, Azure Data Studio is more than just another SQL Server tool. Previously known as SQL Operations Studio, Azure Data Studio is highly customizable and constantly evolving through extensions published by Microsoft and the community. This session will take the audience through the fundamentals of custom extension development for Azure Data Studio. Our discussion will include available internal APIs, hosting your extension on GitHub, and sharing your work through the extension marketplace.
Speaker(s):
- Drew Skwiers-Koballa
Track and Room: Application Database Development - 2115
Title: Three Steps to Lasting Encryption
Abstract: You’ve encrypted your data! You’ve used the latest techniques. It’s strong. It’s safe. You’re done, right? Not so fast. Encryption gets weaker with age - keys are lost, algorithms are cracked, techniques become obsolete. In time, the system breaks down, rendering your data either irretrievable or unprotected.
To keep your encryption at full strength, you need to add three practices to your regular maintenance schedule. First, backup your keys frequently and securely to ensure you can always retrieve the data you’ve encrypted. Second, rotate your keys regularly to limit your exposure due to a lost or compromised key. Third, add an encryption key management solution (like Azure Key Vault) to make managing large numbers of keys easier or to enable someone else to manage the keys. In this session, we’ll discuss how you can implement each of these practices in your own environment.
Speaker(s):
- Ed Leighton-Dick
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Theater
Title: Processing Streaming Data with KSQL
Abstract: Apache Kafka is a de facto standard streaming data processing platform, being widely deployed as a messaging system, and having a robust data integration framework (Kafka Connect) and stream processing API (Kafka Streams) to meet the needs that common attend real-time message processing. But there’s more!
Kafka now offers KSQL, a declarative, SQL-like stream processing language that lets you define powerful stream-processing applications easily. What once took some moderately sophisticated Java code can now be done at the command line with a familiar and eminently approachable syntax. Come to this talk for an overview of KSQL with live coding on live streaming data.
Speaker(s):
- Viktor Gamov
Track and Room: Application Database Development - 3190
Title: Custom Activities in Azure Data Factory
Abstract: There are a lot of impressive out of the box capabilities with Azure Data Factory. Also, just like in SSIS, you can extend these capabilities using custom code (.Net in V1 or any executable in V2). We’ll discuss the prerequisites for Azure needed to implement these activities, as well as step through some code examples in C#, including how to setup your development environment. Prior experience with Azure Data Factory is highly recommend for this session.
Speaker(s):
- Jared Zagelbaum
Track and Room: Cloud Application Development Deployment - 2225
Title: DB Options on Azure – Which One Should I Use?
Abstract: So many ways to handle database information on Azure: Table Storage, NoSQL, CosmosDB, SQL as VM’s, multiple flavors of SQL-as-a-service, open-source SQL-as-a-service, data lake, Azure Data Warehouse, etc. How and why should I choose one (or a particular combination) over the others? What’s so special about each one?
Speaker(s):
- Tim Plas
Track and Room: Cloud Application Development Deployment - 2220
Title: 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! [Sponsored by Rubrik]
Speaker(s):
- Michael Fal
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 2200
Title: Hyper-Interactivity in Power BI and SSRS Reports
Abstract: Power BI and SQL Server Reporting Services both provide numerous features to enabling data interactivity. This session combines the more advanced interactive features to demonstrate a truly dynamic report viewing experience. Together we will explore the use of custom visualizations, bookmarks, advanced DAX and more, to dynamically change chart axes and even visualization measures with a selection from a slicer. We will even see how to completely change the presentation on a Power BI tab with the single click of a button. Come see how to take your reports from interactive to hyper-interactivity.
Speaker(s):
- Brian Larson
Track and Room: Analytics and Visualization - Theater
Title: Let’s build a data app with Azure Functions!
Abstract: Are you interested in learning how to leverage Azure Functions to create an app that can scale to demand?
In this session, we will walk through the architecture and components of creating an Azure-facing video processing application that can scan videos for text and provide that information in CSV files for analysis. We will cover the architecture, data flow, and Azure technology pieces including Azure Functions, Blob Storage, Storage Queues, Azure Data Lake Storage Analytics, and Power BI.
Speaker(s):
- Joshuha Owen
Track and Room: Cloud Application Development Deployment - 2220
Title: Dell EMC SQL Server Solutions
Abstract: Selecting and sizing hardware for SQL Server can be challenging at times, especially when you don’t do it every day. Come learn about the latest SQL Server hardware solutions and reference architectures, as well as a joint effort with Microsoft called “Data Warehouse Fast Track” which provides hardware solutions certified by Microsoft for SQL Server.
Speaker(s):
- Doug Bernhardt
Track and Room: General - Theater
Title: I’m a DBA. Now what?
Abstract: If you are a developer+DBA, consultant+DBA, IT Manager+DBA, Intern+DBA, technical support+DBA or just a DBA, this session will be useful to you. After working for many years as developer and consultant, the SQL Server MVP Fabiano Amorim has being working with many day-by-day DBA tasks. In this session he will speak a little about the DBA job and show some very good tips about how to do it with efficiency.
Speaker(s):
- Fabiano Amorim
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 1
Title: SQL Sprawl - How to get a handle on your Infrastructure
Abstract:
This Session will give you the tools to assess your existing SQL Deployments, physical or virtual.
Determine what’s being installed without (or without) your knowledge.
How are they being utilized resource wise and how are they licensed.
Then determine what can be combined, right sized or retired and does your existing licensing make sense.
This will provide a road-map to make a case for virtualization (if you’re not there yet) or just to get a handle on your SQL Sprawl.
Speaker(s):
- Phil Ekins
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Theater
Title: Database Backup and Restore Best Practices
Abstract: Backups are a vital part of any DBA’s job. Acting as the “last line of defense”, we rely on backups to safeguard the company’s most important asset: the data. But how do we know we’re managing our backups appropriately? This session will cover the fundamental principles of building out our backup (and restore strategy), covering the “why” of backups and best practices for our data protection. [Sponsored by Rubrik]
Speaker(s):
- Michael Fal
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 2200
Title: Welcome to SQLSaturday #796 (Theather)
Abstract: Welcome to SQLSaturday #796 (Theather)
Speaker(s):
- Riley Major
Track and Room: General - Theater
Title: I deleted 1 billion records, what happened next will shock you!
Abstract: In this session we will give an overview of what Table Partitioning is, how can it be used to move large amounts of data quickly and how can it be used with a data archiving strategy to quickly and easily drop archived data from a table. We will discuss the practical applications of table partitioning using scripts to generate new table partitions, move a partition to another table and discussion on how this can benefit you. In this demo heavy session, attendees will be provided with scripts to get setup quickly so they can begin using the strategies to take control of rapid data archival
Speaker(s):
- Eric Zierdt
Track and Room: Application Database Development - 2115
Title: Implementing security inside SQL Server
Abstract: Having a good understanding what security features are available and what configurations are considered best practice can be crucial to your company’s data security. Learn to view security differently and how key builtin security features can be leveraged to make your systems both more maintainable and more secure. This is very much a HOW TO session, both in terms of how to decide what feature combinations work best for your environment and how to implement those features.
Speaker(s):
- Rick Bielawski
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 3190
Title: SQL Server 2017 on Containers
Abstract: What are these docker things my developers keep talking about? What’s with all the excitement for SQL Server 2017 on Linux? What’s Kubernetes?
In this session, we take a look at the current state of container technology, how it applies to SQL Server 2017, and what changes you can expect to see in the future of managing your SQL Server installations upgrades.
Speaker(s):
- Chris Kramer
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - 2230
Title: Designing SSIS Packages for Performance
Abstract: SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) is a powerful tool to help businesses standardize, consolidate, and automate their ETL processes. In this session, you will learn the basics of how to build an SSIS package while keeping in mind package performance, including parallelism, blocking, and data selectivity. Come join us and learn how to build a fast and efficient ETL process.
Speaker(s):
- Eleanor Stahura
Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - 2225
Title: Decoding the Cardinality Estimator to Speed Up Queries
Abstract: The cardinality estimator in SQL Server is a massively complex piece of software that is responsible for calculating the estimated number of rows for query plans. We will derive some of the simplest and most important rules for cardinality estimation. Armed with that knowledge, we will address errors in cardinality estimates which can cause poor query performance. Demos include filtering on multiple columns, using local variables, dealing with ascending keys, and more.
Speaker(s):
- Joe Obbish
Track and Room: Application Database Development - 3190
Title: If I Only Had a Brain!
Abstract: We’re going to explore the Azure Cognitive services such as Vision, Language, Speech and Search. Azure Cognitive Services are perfect when you just need to borrow some extra processing!
Speaker(s):
- Rowland Gosling
Track and Room: Application Database Development - Theater
Title: How to navigate through the cornucopia of power BI architecture options
Abstract: How has your organization determined the Power BI architecture(s) you are using or want to move to? Items like Power BI report server, Direct Query, Composite models, Imported models, AAS, SSAS Tabular, Embedding, Premium SKUs (A, EM, or P), licensing requirements, are your users internal or external, cost, etc. are things to consider. All of these can have a significant impact on your implementations. Join us for a review of common Power BI architectures and when they could be used, what we did and why. This is a very interactive session designed to discuss the audiences scenarios and questions.
Speaker(s):
- Greg Sharrow
Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - 2225
Title: Closing Remarks Raffle
Abstract: Closing Remarks Raffle
Speaker(s):
- Cecil Spivey
Track and Room: General - Theater
Title: Data Engineering - The Hottest New Job
Abstract: I bet you thought all the cool kids were the “data scientists”… Be even cooler and be a data engineer! You can’t have any predictions or cool visualizations without having the data in a useful form. In this session we will use Azure Databricks with Spark SQL to transform data and put it into a form that BI tools can handle with ease. Come see how you can enable data scientists and be part of the cool kid club!
Speaker(s):
- Matt Stenzel
Track and Room: Application Database Development - 2115
Title: Agile Data warehouse
Abstract: Join me for this session and learn how easily migrate and maintain a SQL data warehouse in the cloud. We’d cover CDC on SQL server, full load, incremental loads, and more.
Speaker(s):
- Fru N
Track and Room: Application Database Development - 2115
Speakers
This is a list of speakers from the XML Guidebook records. The details and URLs were valid at the time of the event.
Viktor Gamov
Twitter: - gamussa
LinkedIn: Viktor Gamov
Contact: https://gamov.io
Viktor Gamov is a Developer Advocate at Confluent, the company that makes a streaming platform based on Apache Kafka. Working in the field, Viktor Gamov developed comprehensive expertise in building enterprise application architectures using open source technologies. He enjoys helping different organizations design and develop low latency, scalable and highly available distributed systems. Back in his consultancy days, he co-authored O’Reilly’s «Enterprise Web Development.» He is a professional conference speaker on distributed systems, Java, and JavaScript topics, and is regular on events including JavaOne, Devoxx, OSCON, QCon, and others. Occasionally, he blogs and produces the podcasts.
Ben Thul
Twitter: - @spartansql
Contact: http://www.spartansql.com
Born naked and defenseless, he overcame these obstacles to become a mender of broken things, seeker of magic rings, and occasional watcher of slow pings.
Riley Major
Twitter: - RileyMajor
LinkedIn: Riley Major
Contact: http://www.Scribnasium.com/
Riley Major is an Enterprise Architect based in the Twin Cities, MN metro area who enjoys collaborating with business leaders to design technical solutions and working with technology professionals to build them. He’s been programming and designing databases since he was a kid and doing so professionally for 20 years. He has a special place in his heart for T-SQL in SQL Server and loves to share that enthusiasm.
Rick Bielawski
LinkedIn: Rick Bielawski
Rick has 35 years experience as a systems, applications and database architect having designed major systems for such institutions as NASDAQ, Bank of America, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Ecolab and Emperex. He holds multiple certifications including MCITP and MCSE in Business Intelligence and Data Platform. Rick currently designs database systems for custom software applications and likes speaking at local user groups and SQLSaturday events.
John Wells
Twitter: - @SQLServerDBA318
LinkedIn: John Wells
Contact: https://sqlrookieinthe318.wordpress.com/
I’m a DBA at Lamar Advertising in Baton Rouge. I’m a member of the Baton Rouge User Groups Board as well as a co-organizer for the ONLY SQLSaturday that serves Jambalaya for lunch! I started speaking in 2018 and enjoy everything about this powerful community! I enjoy performance tuning, helping developers with best practices and DBATools.
Andy Galbraith
Twitter: - https://twitter.com/DBA_ANDY
LinkedIn: Andy Galbraith
Contact: http://nebraskasql.blogspot.com/
I’m a forty-something Microsoft SQL Server DBA of 18+ years, a devoted husband, and a father of three young boys (all aged eight and under!) I have been a DBA at a public university, at a major bank, at a healthcare system, and I now work as a consultant with customers across the United States. I write and speak primarily about the tips and tricks that I discover along my SQL Server journey.
Peter Kral
Twitter: - https://twitter.com/pkral
LinkedIn: Peter Kral
Peter Kral is a Premier Field Engineer (Data AI) at Microsoft. He holds SQL Server MCSA 2012/2014/2016 and Data Platform MCSE certifications, and was the winner of the Speaker Idol Award at PASS Summit 2016. Peter lives in the San Diego area where he is an active member of the local PASS chapter. He has spoken at many SQLSaturdays, SoCal Code Camps, and at PASS Summit 2017 and 2018.
Cecil Spivey
Cecil is a DBA Engineer in the Twin Cities. He has been working in IT for over 20 years and was a consultant and a programmer/developer for many years until he was converted to the dark side.
Michael Fal
Twitter: - @Mike_Fal
LinkedIn: Michael Fal
Contact: http://mikefal.net
Mike is a specialist in data management technologies. As a community advocate, public speaker, and blogger, Mike is a practicing thought leader for data and automation. He is passionate about DevOps and data, building platforms to optimize, protect, and use data efficiently.
Since 1999, Mike has been working in the database field, focusing primarily on SQL Server and specializes in automating data solutions to improve the reliability and efficiency of his environments. He has been caught playing trombone in public on more than one occasion.
Brian Larson
Twitter: - @Brian_Larson
LinkedIn: Brian Larson
Contact: http://sqlmag.com/author/brian-larson
Brian Larson is Chief Creative Officer/Partner at Superior Consulting Services and has presented at SQL Server Connections, PASS Summit, and the Microsoft BI Conference. As a consultant to Microsoft, Brian contributed to the original code base of Reporting Services. Brian is the author of “Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Reporting Services: 5th Edition” and “Delivering Business Intelligence with SQL Server 2016: 4th Edition”, as well as the forthcoming “Data Analysis with Microsoft Power BI.”
Alex Barbeau
LinkedIn: Alex Barbeau
Alex Barbeau is a BI Consultant with Nihilent Technologies, Inc., focusing on SSAS Tabular, data modeling, Power BI, and EDW design. Alex has extensive experience in designing and developing analytics and reporting solutions in Sales, Manufacturing, Healthcare, and Commodities verticals across the span of the Microsoft BI platform. He has previously spoken at SQLSaturday #453 and at user groups on Power BI.
George Bryant
Twitter: - Azure_George0
LinkedIn: George Bryant
George has over a decade of experience in the Business Intelligence industry and is an active member of the BI community across the Midwest. His knowledge spans multiple industries including, retail, manufacturing, finance, and medical, however recent years has seen him focus on the analytics in sports.
George specializes in BI architecture and end to end development in order to deliver advanced analytics and metrics to multiple organizations across the country. In recent years George has focused on and worked primarily in the Azure cloud, utilizing both established and recent offerings.
Joshuha Owen
Twitter: - SQLJosh
LinkedIn: Joshuha Owen
A Data and AI Premier Field Engineer by day and tech geek at all times. I enjoy working with data technologies as well as dabbling in other areas such as VR programming.
Nem Schlecht
Twitter: - nemws1
I’ve been a Server Administrator and DBA for 20+ years and have worked with multiple operating systems (UNIX variants, Mac OS X and Windows) and database engines (MySQL/MariaDB, Oracle, PostgreSQL, SQLite, and MSSQL). I currently work a lot with PowerShell and automation as well as supervising a group of awesome systems administrators. I’ve worked for a large state university system, a start-up company, and everything in-between (including my own consulting company). I currently work for Border States Electric as an I.T. Supervisor.
Drew Skwiers-Koballa
Twitter: - SysAdminDrew
LinkedIn: Drew Skwiers-Koballa
Contact: https://www.drewsk.tech/
Drew Skwiers-Koballa is a program manager for SQL tools at Microsoft and an open source advocate. He spent nearly a decade as a database administrator and developer, building several extensions for Azure Data Studio prior to joining Microsoft. He is currently working on experiences for DBAs and database developers.
Ed Leighton-Dick
Twitter: - eleightondick
LinkedIn: Ed Leighton-Dick
Contact: http://www.edleightondick.com
Ed Leighton-Dick is a Microsoft MVP, SQL Server performance and architecture specialist, and Founder/Principal Consultant of Kingfisher Technologies. He is a frequent volunteer with PASS, including current roles as a Regional Mentor, co-leader of I-380 PASS local group, and co-leader of the HA/DR virtual group. He can often be found teaching sessions at local, regional, and national events, including user groups, SQLSaturday, and PASS Summit.
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.
Doug Bernhardt
Twitter: - @DougBern
LinkedIn: Doug Bernhardt
SQL Server professional since 1995. Over the course of my career I’ve worked in various roles including reporting, dev, DBA, architect, troubleshooter, etc. Currently I work at Dell EMC where I develop and test storage solutions for SQL Server in terms of white papers, best practices, and reference architectures for running SQL Server on Dell EMC storage. In my spare time I like to unplug and play with muscle cars, do some cycling, or throw weights around at the gym.
Jake Manske
Twitter: - @jmanske
Contact: https://concurrencyexchange.com
Jake has been a T-SQL developer since 2013, starting after he jumped ship from an academic life as a mathematics professor to the software industry. He focuses on solving difficult concurrency problems, large scale data warehouse ETL processes, data conversions, and understanding SQL Server optimizer behavior.
Joshuha Owen
Twitter: - SQLJosh
LinkedIn: Joshuha Owen
A Data and AI Premier Field Engineer by day and tech geek at all times. I enjoy working with data technologies as well as dabbling in other areas such as VR programming.
Phil Ekins
Twitter: - @SQLPhilUK
LinkedIn: Phil Ekins
Phil Ekins is a Principal Architect at House of Brick Technologies. With over two decades of experience in SQL Server, Automation, Migrations, Virtualization and HA/DR Solutions. Phil has presented at SQLSaturday’s and Local Chapters. As a AWS Certified Solutions Architect and a seasoned SQL Server Professional Phil brings a DBA’s needs to the world of cloud computing.
Ross McNeely
Twitter: - Ross_McNeely
LinkedIn: Ross McNeely
Contact: https://rossmcneely.com
Ross McNeely is a Tail Wind Principal Consultant in Data Management, and the Practice Manager of Business Intelligence. He works with external vendors, customers, and partners to integrate disperse data sources. Throughout most of his 15 year career he has been specializing in Information Management, and implementing solutions for Information Strategy, Information Asset Management, Enterprise Data Management, and Business Intelligence.
John Eisbrener
Twitter: - @johnedba
LinkedIn: John Eisbrener
Contact: http://www.dbatlas.com
John is a DBA (Default Blame Assignee) with over a decade of experience breaking and subsequently fixing, database solutions. He maintains separate swear jars for Oracle, Postgres, and Greenplum, but keeps the largest container reserved for SQL Server. When not accumulating loose change for his children’s college funds, John can be found trying to help others with their database solutions as the Principal Consultant for DB Atlas, speaking at various SQLSaturdays throughout the Midwest, or helping out with his local PASS chapter meetings in Madison, WI.
Matt Stenzel
Twitter: - sqlstenz
LinkedIn: Matt Stenzel
Matt Stenzel is a Data Platform Technical Specialist at Microsoft. He has been using Microsoft tools for over 10 years. He is a Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate and has held positions as a Developer, DBA and Architect with several Fortune 500 companies before joining Microsoft. He now works with customers across the North Central District to implement data platform solutions that will provide business value.
Matt is passionate about helping businesses turn data into insights and realizing the value of their data. He has helped numerous customers realize value from on-prem and cloud solutions dealing with structured and unstructured data using the Microsoft Data Platform and Azure.
Chris Kramer
Twitter: - @Kramer_SQL
LinkedIn: Chris Kramer
Chris Kramer is a Senior Database Administrator at Digi-Key Electronics in Thief River Falls, MN. He started working with SQL Server in 2009 dealing with SQL 2000 and up dealing with clustering, architecture, backups, and virtualization. He mainly focuses on performance and architecture but also deals with other technology stacks including Hadoop, MongoDB and MemSQL. He graduated from North Dakota State University with a BS in Computer Science. In his free time, he enjoys golf, video games, watching football, and riding motorcycles.
Michael Fal
Twitter: - @Mike_Fal
LinkedIn: Michael Fal
Contact: http://mikefal.net
Mike is a specialist in data management technologies. As a community advocate, public speaker, and blogger, Mike is a practicing thought leader for data and automation. He is passionate about DevOps and data, building platforms to optimize, protect, and use data efficiently.
Since 1999, Mike has been working in the database field, focusing primarily on SQL Server and specializes in automating data solutions to improve the reliability and efficiency of his environments. He has been caught playing trombone in public on more than one occasion.
Anton Rozenson
LinkedIn: Anton Rozenson
Anton Rozenson has over 17 years of information technology experience, focusing in the business intelligence arena. He has worked both in the consulting industry as well as directly with companies in various roles from Programmer Analyst, Developer, Data Architect, Manager and Solutions Architect.
Joe Obbish
Contact: https://orderbyselectnull.com
Joe Obbish has nearly a decade of experience with SQL Server and other database platforms. He works as a query tuning, columnstore, and scalability expert within Epic, a large EHR and analytics vendor in Madison, WI. In less than two years, he became one of the top contributors for SQL Server on the DBA StackExchange community. Joe blogs about advanced columnstore and query tuning topics on his blog, http://www.orderbyselectnull.com. In his spare time, Joe enjoys baking and sharing these treats with his coworkers.
Jared Zagelbaum
Twitter: - @JaredZagelbaum
LinkedIn: Jared Zagelbaum
Contact: https://jaredzagelbaum.wordpress.com
With over 10 years of experience using the Microsoft Data Platform suite, Jared’s main areas of focus include data lake architecture, machine learning, and application embedded analytics. Jared regularly speaks at user groups and events across the Midwest, as well as blogs and provides technical review for SQL Server publications.
Tim Plas
Twitter: - tjplas
LinkedIn: Tim Plas
Tim is a Principal Consultant at Virteva, in Mpls MN. His current focus areas are cloud architecture / engineering / migration, operational-DBA services (esp. HA/DR), server migrations, server virtualization, and storage. His experience over the past 25+ years has been primarily with server / data-center infrastructure, including being CTO / co-founder of a successful hosting company. Tim has held a variety of MS certifications since 1994.
Mark Davis
Twitter: - @DavisHQ
As the career-long specialist in business intelligence and data warehouse, Mark Davis has worked on all aspects of BI. He is the co-author of the book “Visualizing Data with Microsoft Power View,” an MCITP: Business Intelligence Developer, and a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist for Microsoft SQL Server Business Intelligence, Implementation and Maintenance. An accomplished IT professional, Mark began his career as a contract programmer 27 years ago and soon discovered his niche in BI as a software developer, consultant, and trainer throughout the US and abroad. He has remained on the leading edge of technological BI innovation across a wide spectrum of industries, including health care, finance, manufacturing, insurance.
Eleanor Stahura
LinkedIn: Eleanor Stahura
Eleanor Stahura is a Business Intelligence Consultant at Superior Consulting Services. She has extensive experience building data solutions across the Microsoft BI stack including SQL Server, SSIS, SSRS, SSAS, and Power BI. Passionate about building partnerships between business and technology teams, she has worked with a variety of industries including insurance, finance, retail, and education.
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.
Fabiano Amorim
Twitter: - mcflyamorim
LinkedIn: Fabiano Amorim
Contact: http:\blogfabiano.com
Fabiano Amorim is a Data Platform MVP that loves to conquer complex, challenging problems—especially ones that others aren’t able to solve. He first became interested in technology when his older brother would bring him to his work meetings at the age of 14. With over a decade of experience, Fabiano is well known in the database community for his performance tuning abilities. When he isn’t working, he loves to read and spend time with his family.
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.
Arthur Daniels III
Twitter: - ArthurDanSQL
Contact: https://www.DBA-Art.com
Arthur Daniels is a Premier Field Engineer (PFE) at Microsoft. He has focused on diagnosing and optimizing performance on very large databases in mission critical environments.
Bill Preachuk
Twitter: - @BillPreachuk
LinkedIn: Bill Preachuk
Bill Preachuk is employed by Hortonworks as a Hadoop Solutions Engineer. He is also a SQL Server MCTS with plenty of years spent in the SQL Server DBA/Developer/DW trenches.
Bill has been in IT since 1991 and has presented at PASS Summit , multiple SQLSaturdays, and PASS/Hadoop/Analytics user group meetings in the Twin Cities, Wisconsin, Iowa, Winnipeg, and Ukraine. He also served 2 years on the Board of PASSMN - The Minnesota SQL Server User Group.
Brian Larson
Twitter: - @Brian_Larson
LinkedIn: Brian Larson
Contact: http://sqlmag.com/author/brian-larson
Brian Larson is Chief Creative Officer/Partner at Superior Consulting Services and has presented at SQL Server Connections, PASS Summit, and the Microsoft BI Conference. As a consultant to Microsoft, Brian contributed to the original code base of Reporting Services. Brian is the author of “Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Reporting Services: 5th Edition” and “Delivering Business Intelligence with SQL Server 2016: 4th Edition”, as well as the forthcoming “Data Analysis with Microsoft Power BI.”
Rowland Gosling
Twitter: - @BigSQL
LinkedIn: Rowland Gosling
I’ve worked on a variety of data platforms including SQL Server, Oracle, DB 2 and Hadoop. SQL Server has been my choice OLTP/Data Warehouse platform for many business needs. These days I’m working almost exclusively in the cloud using Microsoft’s Azure and a variety of new products like Azure Data Warehouse, Azure Cosmos DB and Data Factory. As a Microsoft employee, my focus is working on our data platform for our financial services customers.
Fru N
Twitter: - https://twitter.com/FruLouis
Technologist and Data Professional.
Greg Sharrow
LinkedIn: Greg Sharrow
Greg Sharrow is a Director of Business Intelligence and Data Warehouse solutions at Ecolab. He is part of the Commencial Digital Solutions group focused on customer facing solutions. He has over 25 years in Data Warehousing and BI solutions. He has been an Enterprise architect, Data Warehouse architect, and consultant.
He a member of the Power BI champions forum.
Steve Hughes
Twitter: - dataonwheels
LinkedIn: Steve Hughes
Contact: http://www.dataonwheels.com
Steve Hughes is the Director of Consulting at Pragmatic Works. In his current role, Steve manages the consultant team at Pragmatic Works and directs implementation of our cloud practices for customers. He focuses on team development and company growth with this role. In his previous role as a Principal Consultant Lead, he focused designing solutions for customers on Microsoft technologies including SQL Server, Power BI, and Azure. He has been working with technology for over 20 years with much of that time spent on creating business intelligence solutions and helping customers implement leading BI and cloud solutions. He is passionate about using data effectively and helping customers understand that data is valuable and profitable.
Joshuha Owen
Twitter: - SQLJosh
LinkedIn: Joshuha Owen
A Data and AI Premier Field Engineer by day and tech geek at all times. I enjoy working with data technologies as well as dabbling in other areas such as VR programming.
Dan English
Twitter: - @denglishbi
LinkedIn: Dan English
Contact: http://denglishbi.wordpress.com
Dan is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP, author, technical editor, and community leader. He has been developing with Microsoft technologies for over 20 years, and over 15 years with Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence. He has been working with SQL Server since version 6.5 and now using 2017 and in Azure. Dan is the chapter leader for the PASS Business Analytics virtual group and on the executive leadership team for the MN Microsoft BI user group.
Ed Leighton-Dick
Twitter: - eleightondick
LinkedIn: Ed Leighton-Dick
Contact: http://www.edleightondick.com
Ed Leighton-Dick is a Microsoft MVP, SQL Server performance and architecture specialist, and Founder/Principal Consultant of Kingfisher Technologies. He is a frequent volunteer with PASS, including current roles as a Regional Mentor, co-leader of I-380 PASS local group, and co-leader of the HA/DR virtual group. He can often be found teaching sessions at local, regional, and national events, including user groups, SQLSaturday, and PASS Summit.
Eric Zierdt
Twitter: - @EricZierdt
LinkedIn: Eric Zierdt
Contact: http://ericemployed.blogspot.com
Eric is a level 70 Data Slayer, who has worked with SQL Server since 2000. Eric has worked with benefit systems, real estate data, marketing, game data, and medical device data. Eric enjoys performance tuning, T-SQL programming, and SQL Server Administration.
Sponsors
The following is a list of sponsors that helped fund the event: