19Dec 2014 by Grant Fritchey 20 Comments

“Pretty Plans vs. Performance” or “Grant Gets Pwned”

SQL Server
If you get an execution plan that looks like this: I wouldn't blame you for immediately thinking about query tuning. Especially if the code that generated it looks like this: SELECT soh.OrderDate, sod.OrderQty, sod.LineTotal FROM Sales.SalesOrderHeader AS soh INNER JOIN Sales.SalesOrderDetail AS sod ON sod.SalesOrderID = soh.SalesOrderID WHERE soh.SalesOrderID IN (@p1, @p2, @p3, @p4, @p5, @p6, @p7, @p8, @p9, @p10, @p11, @p12, @p13, @p14, @p15, @p16, @p17, @p18, @p19, @p20, @p21, @p22, @p23, @p24, @p25, @p26, @p27, @p28, @p29, @p30, @p31, @p32, @p33, @p34, @p35, @p36, @p37, @p38, @p39, @p40, @p41, @p42, @p43, @p44, @p45, @p46, @p47, @p48, @p49, @p50, @p51, @p52, @p53, @p54, @p55, @p56, @p57, @p58, @p59, @p60, @p61, @p62, @p63, @p64, @p65, @p66, @p67, @p68, @p69, @p70, @p71, @p72, @p73, @p74, @p75, @p76, @p77, @p78, @p79, @p80,…
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08Dec 2014 by Grant Fritchey 3 Comments

Speaker of the Month: December 2014

Professional Development
For the month of November I was at the PASS Summit and Live360, so I didn’t get to find new speakers to see (heck, I didn’t get to see any sessions at Summit this year). But, that didn’t mean I didn’t get to see great speakers. I did (Rimma! Rimma! Rimma!). Live360 had some amazing presentations. I do like the mixed events like Live360 because I enjoy crossing into dev sessions as well as database sessions. My speaker of the month for December 2014 is Bradley Ball (b|t) and his session “Inside the Query Optimizer” Oh, before I go any further: HEY BALLS! Sorry, but Brad had us do that at the start of the session. I figured I’d just carry it on. Anyway, wow. What a great session. Brad’s delivery…
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05Dec 2014 by Grant Fritchey 1 Comment

Speaker of the Month: November 2014

Professional Development
I have been very remiss in my blogging of late. Apologies. One thing I haven’t blogged about is Speaker of the Month. I’m behind. So, I’ll be posting two of them over the next few days in order to catch up. First up, Speaker of the Month for November. I went to quite a few events in October, but I actually didn’t get to see too many sessions. However, the few I saw were actually quite good. Speaker quality is just going up and up. I finally got to see someone present that I’ve known for years and years, but just never had the opportunity to sit in on a class. Well, I sat in on one, and this is the result. My speaker of the month is Kathi Kellenburger(b)…
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13Nov 2014 by Grant Fritchey 3 Comments

PASS Summit 2014 Speaker Idol

PASS
For the first time ever at the PASS Summit, a competition was held to select a speaker for the 2015 Summit. This competition was organized and run by Denny Cherry. You can read all about what he thought of the event right here. I was asked to take part as a judge. I was on the panel for all the preliminaries and then sat in the room for the final. Here's what I thought of the event. First off, thank you to the PASS organization for taking a chance. This is a deviation from the way things have been done. Trying new things can be difficult, but the organization stepped right up and supported this addition to the rich pageant that is the Summit. Second, I want to thank Denny…
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11Nov 2014 by Grant Fritchey 1 Comment

I’m Still Not on the Board

PASS
I'm just back from the PASS Summit 2014. What a great event. But this year, it was a little different. I did a lot of the usual things, presented a pre-conference seminar to about 130 people, helped out at the Red Gate booth, presented a session on execution plans on Friday, went to a few after hours events (that included karaoke). You know, the Summit. My tenth one. But, I am starting the process of transitioning onto the board. This will be my first report on the work I've been doing around that. However, please let me point out something, that was made very obvious to me during the event, I'm coming on to the board, but I'm not yet on the board. I say this because whatever work I…
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06Nov 2014 by Grant Fritchey 7 Comments

PASS Summit 2014: WIT Luncheon

PASS
Since I'm starting on the board in January, I've stopped taking part in the bloggers table during keynotes. First time since they had a bloggers. But, I am going to blog through the Women in Technology (WIT) Luncheon because I just love getting to take part in this amazing event. For the luncheon this year, they have changed the format. Instead of a panel, they're just talking to some really interesting people who have been doing amazing stuff supporting growth of women within STEM types of work and education. First up is Kimberly Bryant, the founder of a non-profit organization called Black Girls Code. She started out trying to build a for-profit startup, but when she found that there just weren't that many women in technology. But when her daughter…
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20Oct 2014 by Grant Fritchey 4 Comments

Database Lifecycle Management

Redgate Software
There are lots of people who talk about Application Lifecycle Management. But, the database is a major part of every application and if you do a similar search, there aren't very many people talking about Database Lifecycle Management at all. Why not? I'm positive you're deploying a database with your applications. I'm also positive, because of the unique problems that databases present, primarily around data persistence, that you need to think about how to get your database(s) deployed. Unfortunately, even for strong, capable data professionals, deployment is something thought about later. Or, you're still doing the old school method of waiting until there's a deployment script that you're going to review, line-by-line, before you run it against production. There's a better way. What you need to do is start thinking…
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17Oct 2014 by Grant Fritchey 7 Comments

Why Haven’t You Changed Everything?

PASS
The first in what I hope will be many regular reports on what I'm doing on the PASS board. To answer the question that I've already been asked (who had 47 hours in the pool?), first, I'm not on the board yet. I was elected to it and my term starts in January. So, don't expect a lot in the way of ongoing structural changes at the organization instigated by me. Second, I'm the lowest of the low on the board (after I'm actually on the board), so I won't be making a whole lot of changes at all (whether I wanted to or not). Third, the board is a board, a bunch of people, who get to vote on things, so even if I were able to call a…
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16Oct 2014 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

Query Performance Tuning in SQL Server

SQL Server
I have a pre-con coming up at the PASS Summit. You can read about it here. I named it "Query Performance Tuning in SQL Server 2014" because it seemed like a good idea to bring out the aspects of 2014, and we will. But, I need to tell you, this is primarily a session about query performance tuning in SQL Server, full stop. I'm going to cover information that's applicable all the way back to SQL Server 2000 and 2005. The majority of the information will be applicable to 2008 and up. I'm going to go over the things you can do with dynamic management views to pull information about queries to tune right out of the cache. That's applicable to more than 2014. We're also going to go over…
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15Oct 2014 by Grant Fritchey 8 Comments

Thank You: #passvotes

PASS
The results are in and it seems that I've been elected to a place on the PASS Board. Thank you. I will strive to be worthy of the position you've placed in my hands. I will do my best to make a difference on the board. Watch this space for regular updates on what I'm doing as your representative. If you don't see updates here, feel free to call for them. It's the one promise I made during the election and I think you should hold me to it. Worth noting, I'll be speaking for myself, as a member of the board, not as an official spokesman for the PASS organization. It might be a distinction without a difference, but it's worth noting. Thank you to Sri Sridharan for your…
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