This early in the game we’re still working out the schedule, but the following abstracts have currently been submitted for the 2012 SQL Cruises.
Scaling SQL with Solid State
SQL Cruise Alaska 2011 Training Session
Brent Ozar
SSD prices are coming down and adoption is going up. My clients have used them to solve all kinds of performance problems, and we’ve found some surprising results. In this session, I’ll explain the internals of these fast drives and show the pros and cons of the various connection methods (SATA, PCI Express, SAN). Then we’ll switch over to the SQL Server world to see how to tell when and where you need SSDs. You’ll even get real-world before-and-after metrics to help make the case to management. Miami, Alaska
Procedure Cache BI
Brent Ozar
SQL Server stores tons of data about SQL statements and execution plans in memory, but unfortunately a lot of it is hard-to-query XML. I’ve got the fix: we’ll treat it like a BI project. We’ll build an ETL process to get the data out, normalize it into a reporting structure, and then make smart tuning decisions based on the aggregated findings. You’ll step off the boat armed with ready-to-go scripts to do consultant-style analysis right away. Miami, Alaska
SAN Features for Senior DBAs
Brent Ozar
SAN snapshots and SAN replication can be the DBA’s best friend. They bring one-click disaster recovery options to antiquated SQL Server 2000 instances, and one-minute backup options to even the largest data warehouses. In this session, we’ll cover how my clients have saved time, money, and manpower with these features. We’ll briefly dig into the “how” using NetApp as an example SAN, and then cover the SQL Server management techniques that work regardless of the SAN vendor. Miami, Alaska
Making You Look Smarter: One Dynamic Management Object at a Time
Tim Ford
Dynamic Management Objects are a great tool for learning about your SQL instances, resolving perfomance issues, and identifying problems (sometimes) before they happen. Tim takes you through some of the most important DMOs that you have at your disposal for identifying issues before users realize they have a problem and fixing issues when they do catch you by surprise. Miami
The Lazy DBA
Tim Ford
Have more things to do than you have hours in the day? This has been Tim’s life since he started down the path to being a DBA over 12 years ago. Join him as he discusses how to automate the repeatable and what tools are available to simplify all the things rob you of valuable time. Templates, dynamic T/SQL, SSIS, Dynamic Management Objects, and Reporting Services are all tools in the Lazy DBA’s arsenal and they will all be covered here. Alaska
What’s New In SQL Server “Denali”
Aaron Bertrand
SQL Server “Denali” delivers many highly anticipated features that some feel are long overdue. In this session you will get a first-hand look at many of these new features relating to the engine (contained databases, AlwaysOn, and T-SQL enhancements), client tools (Management Studio, Books Online, and “Juneau”), and changes to setup and system requirements. You’ll also learn about some of the features that will not be making it into Denali, and deprecated functionality that will stop working in this or the next release. Miami
T-SQL: Bad Habits to Kick
Aaron Bertrand
Bad habits: we all have them. SELECT * is the obvious one; but in this session you will learn about various other habits and why they can be bad for performance or maintainability. Come learn how these habits develop, what kind of problems they can lead to, and how you can avoid them. Eliminating these habits will lead to more efficient code, a more productive work environment, and – in a lot of cases – both. Miami
Leadership Skills for the Database Professional
Kevin Kline
The skills that made you a successful IT professional are NOT the skills that will make you a top-notch manager. This presentation will teach you the fundamental management skills needed to lead a team of technologists and will take you from motivating and coaching your team, to approaching communications in an organized fashion, to handling common difficult management scenarios. Leaving this seminar, you’ll feel equiped for the challenges of team leadership and ready to lead. Miami
Real World Database Configuration and Tuning
Kevin Kline
This multi-module seminar covers the spectrum of best practices as they relate to database and application design and configuration, implementation, maintenance and performance tuning. With a special focus on IT organizations with large SQL Server deployments, MVP Kevin Kline will discuss:
- Bare metal tuning of server and disk configuration
- Benchmarking performance
- Physical machine versus virtual machine deployment
- Database conceptual design and normalization through to physical deployment of databases, indexing and partitioning
- Understanding SQL Server query performance
- Identifying performance bottlenecks and resolving performance issues
- Automating as much as possible so that life gets easier!
Miami
SQL Server in Amazon’s Cloud
Jeremiah Peschka
The lure of cloud computing is growing stronger for many businesses. While it’s possible to push your existing infrastructure up into the cloud, is that really the right move? Our clients have successfully, and not so successfully, used Amazon’s cloud to solve business needs. In this session we will discuss several business scenarios, define objectives for each one, talk about potential pitfalls, and cover the steps you’ll need to undertake to ensure that you can successfully move your SQL Servers to the cloud. We’ll cover gathering real world metrics, building a matrix to determine which servers can move, and cover several critical differences to managing SQL Server in Amazon’s cloud. Alaska
SQL Server Internals
Jeremiah Peschka
There’s a lot of information about SQL Server’s inner workings. Much of the material is highly focused and highly specialized. Before diving deep into the secrets of a particular feature, it’s important to understand how all of the pieces of SQL Server work together. During this session we’ll journey from the query parser to the storage engine and talk about how the different parts of SQL Server interact. Along the way we’ll will cover theoretical and practical knowledge about databases and SQL Server in specific. Although there is a lot of theoretical and esoteric knowledge available, this presentation will focus on the practical and immediate – wherever possible knowledge of SQL Server’s internals will be related improving to real world performance. Alaska
Faking Big Data
Kendra Little
How do you develop and test changes for terabytes of data when you’re in a gigabyte world? I’ll give you techniques for faking scale in a development database and how to know where issues may creep up that you can’t test in a small world. Whether you’re already working with big data or want to learn how without buying a SAN, this boat ride won’t be a small world after all. Alaska
Everyone Wants a Piece of This
Kendra Little
Highly concurrent OLTP applications have unique problems: everyone wants something, right now. Several of my clients have to code new features quickly to serve high volume web applications. But how do they deliver new code quickly and keep the system performing well? Here’s a look at the biggest challenges of hundreds of connections, thousands of batches, and one database. Alaska