02Nov 2015 by Grant Fritchey 3 Comments

PASS Summit 2015: Wrap-up

PASS
WHOOP! Another PASS Summit is complete. This one was amazing. It's my first time ever as a member of the Board of Directors of the PASS organization to attend the Summit and take part in the full process of making the sausage. It was hard. It was exhausting (more so than usual). It was one the most exhilarating, fascinating and wonderful experiences of my life. First the sad news, Rimma Nehme and Dr. DeWitt have delivered their last presentation at the PASS Summit. It's the end of an era. I was at the first session delivered by Dr. DeWitt. It was one of the most amazing technical keynotes I'd ever seen until the next one that he gave. The two of them became absolute rock stars in the SQL Server…
Read More
29Oct 2015 by Grant Fritchey 1 Comment

PASS Summit 2015: So Far

PASS
It's Kilt Day! I want to give a quick assessment on how the Summit has been for me so far. Monday, as is true for the rest of the week, I served two masters. In the morning I went to the Redgate SQL in the City event. In the afternoon I attended our in-person board meeting. The minutes for the meeting will come out after they're approved. The meeting largely consisted of reporting on how we had done this year and starting the process of getting going for next year. I left that meeting and went back to SQL in the City. Yeah, I've been running all week. Tuesday was my community day. It's been announced that I'm moving from the Chapters portfolio to the SQL Saturday portfolio. I went…
Read More
23Oct 2015 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

Talk to Me at PASS Summit

PASS
If you're going to PASS and you want to have a chat, I want to talk to you. If it's about the Board of Directors for PASS, PASS Chapters, execution plans, crossfit or something else, here are a few places where I'll be doing my best to make myself available: Redgate Booth - I'll be here quite a bunch all next week. Swing by and don't just talk to me, get a demo of one of our fine products. Community Zone - I'll make a point of going here to hang out when I can so you can track me down. Board of Directors Q&A - Thursday in 307/308 at 3:30 PM, I know exactly where I'll be. Receptions - Tuesday night is the welcome reception for Summit. I'll be…
Read More
22Oct 2015 by Grant Fritchey 9 Comments

ZOOMIT!

PASS, Professional Development
Guilty. I'm at least one of the people who yelled Zoomit during a keynote at PASS Summit. I want to take a moment and explain why I did it and why it was wrong. I was frustrated. I'm watching a presentation on a HUGE screen, from about mid-way in the room and the presenter is earnestly showing off a cool new feature of SQL Server in about 3 point font and saying "... As you can see ...". No. No I couldn't. After a little while of staring at the blur on the screen and hearing the person say I could see this or see that, I popped. I was interested. I was paying attention. I really and truly wanted to see what was on the screen and I honestly could…
Read More
20Oct 2015 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

Statistics for the New Data Pro

PASS, SQL Server, SQL Server 2016, T-SQL
Next week at the PASS Summit I'll be presenting a session called Statistics for the New Data Pro. You can read the abstract at the link. I just want to emphasize that this is a beginner level session. I think way too many people who are just starting out with SQL Server don't understand the role that statistics play in determining how your queries are going to behave. What's more, too many people don't know how to get and read statistics to understand how it is that the optimizer thinks you have X number of rows in your database that match a given value. I'm going to make darned sure that the people who attend this session come out with a full understanding of how to read the statistics. This includes…
Read More
14Oct 2015 by Grant Fritchey 2 Comments

Getting Started With DocumentDB

Azure, DocumentDB
I've put this off for too long. It's time to get my feet wet with some new tech. Step 1 is easy. Go to the Azure portal and start the process for creating a DocumentDB: While that's running, let's see what's on the interwebs about getting started in DocumentDB... Nice. I know I'm going to have write a little code to exercise this thing. Here's a great run-through on exactly how to do it. Actually, the first hit when I searched on "Getting Started With DocumentDB." Microsoft has a start page on DocumentDB, but it was clearly put together by someone from marketing. Scroll down to the bottom. There are a couple of interesting links including SQL Query Within DocumentDB. Now we're talking. Here's a Curah! or Docs.com (which is…
Read More
12Oct 2015 by Grant Fritchey 2 Comments

Argenis Without Borders: Fun For a Good Cause

Misc
This is the second year of Argenis Without Borders and the second year that I'm taking part. Last year we hit the fund-raising goal and I wore the rainbow fuzzy leggings at the PASS Summit. This year, it feels like we're a little behind the goal. We need you to get your wallet and fork over a little cash to help out this worthy charity, Doctors Without Borders. This year, the goal will be to get me into a funny hat. But, well, I already wear funny hats all the time: So I'm a little at a loss as to what to do: I mean seriously, where do I go from here? Any suggestions for a good funny hat? Only make them after you've donated though.
Read More
05Oct 2015 by Grant Fritchey 1 Comment

Trace Flags in Azure SQL Database

Azure, SQL Server 2016, T-SQL
One of the ways that you take more direct control over your SQL Server instances is through the use of trace flags. There are a number that people recommend you enable by default. Prior to Extended Events for example, I'd say you should turn on trace flag 1222 in order to capture deadlock information on your server (now I just recommend you use the system_health session). I absolutely think you should turn on trace flag 2371 to get better behavior out of your automated statistics updates. There are others that I'll leave to all the systems experts to advise you on. What about Azure SQL Database? I doubt you'll be shocked, but if I try this: DBCC TRACEON (2371,-1); I get the following error: Msg 2571, Level 14, State 3,…
Read More
02Oct 2015 by Grant Fritchey 5 Comments

Speaker of the Month: October 2015

Professional Development
Working on my third year of "Speaker of the Month" posts now. The good news, I haven't run out of people to award it to. Most months, if I've been able to go to a community event or two, I have three or four candidates.  Same this month. Speaker of the Month for October 2015 is Rob Volk and his presentation, Revenge: THE SQL, at SQL Saturday Las Vegas. What can I say about this presentation? Let me start by saying that you never, ever want to make Rob angry. Next, I think Rob needs a hobby that will help him turn his mind away from EVIL. Next, Rob has to be one of the smarter people that I know. Next, Rob is very funny. Oh yeah, and there was…
Read More
14Sep 2015 by Grant Fritchey 1 Comment

PASS Nominations Committee 2015

PASS
The Nominations Committee has done their job and the final report has been published. Good luck to everyone running. Thank you for stepping up and taking part in this process. This is the first time in a very long time that I don't get to put out a "You should listen to me and vote for..." blog post. Since I'm on the board I feel more than a little squeamish coming out for any candidate. If I openly support Person Y over Person X, have I just yacked off all the supporters of Person X? Have I yacked off Person X? Most importantly, have I potentially poisoned a relationship that I need in order to be effective while on the Board? Add to that the fact that I was ask…
Read More