Time for another update. The minutes for the June in-person meeting have been approved and are now ready for your information. We accomplished a lot in the two days and you can read what we did there. I'm pleased about two things. First, while it took until the July meeting to get the vote in, we have defined how the PASS board will deal with PASS-branded and PASS-sponsored events when it comes to payment to members of the Board. Thank you so very much for your feedback to my blog post on this topic. That feedback helped us to come to the conclusion that, for PASS-branded events (these are events that PASS doesn't run, like a SQLSaturday, but that are operating under the PASS brand) a board member can receive payment, say…
I love the Query Store. Seriously. It’s a huge leap forward in the capabilities of Azure SQL Database and SQL Server in support of performance monitoring and query optimization. One of my favorite aspects of the Query Store is the ability to force plans. Frankly though, it’s also the scariest part of the Query Store. I do believe that plan forcing will be one of the most ill-used functions in SQL Server since the multi-statement table-valued user-defined function (don’t get me started). However, unlike the UDF, this ill-use will be because of poor understanding on the part of the user, not a fundamental design issue. No, plan forcing and the Query Store are very well constructed. Let me give you an example of just how well constructed they are. Let’s…
I didn't post an update last month, but I did do something more important: I elicited your feedback on a question the Board needs to act on. Here's what I've been up to. First, based on your feedback (thanks) and conversations that I've had with members of the Board, I'm putting together recommendations for how we deal with payment and PASS-branded (but not PASS run, that's already covered in the By-Laws) events. I'll be presenting that in June at the in-person Board meeting. Speaking of the Board meeting, I've also been soliciting topics (although really, my priceless partner at PASS HQ, Vicki, is doing all the real work). We're also preparing the budget for FY 2017 (again, the real work is being led by an equally priceless Sandy at HQ). Beyond a series of…
This is blog post #2 in support of Tim Ford's (b|t) #iwanttohelp, #entrylevel. If you haven't been working in SQL Server for very long, you may not have got this phone call yet, but you will: Hi, yeah, the server is slow. Thanks. Bye. Let's pretend for a moment that you know which server they're referring to (because just finding out that piece of information can be a challenge). Now what? The list of tools and mechanisms within SQL Server for gathering metrics is extremely long: Performance Monitor Dynamic Management Views & Functions System Views Extended Events Trace Events Activity Monitor Data Collector Execution Plans 3rd Party Tools I'm leaving out lots of stuff in that list. So where do you start when you get this phone call? Where is the server slow?…
Quick little post. I just wanted to share how happy I am with the new "THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO" infographic. An example here: I think it makes things much more clear when you're attempting to figure out what's up with some T-SQL syntax. Well done Microsoft and thank you. Side note, this only exists in documentation that has been updated recently. I first saw it in some documentation that was updated January 11, 2016. It's not there in another piece of documentation I saw that was updated October 15, 2015. Here's hoping it gets put everywhere. It works.
Remember that post I wrote about taking on SQLSaturday events as my new PASS portfolio? Never mind.* Instead, it seems I'll be involved with a completely different role. Starting on January 1, I'll be moving onto the executive committee of the PASS Board and taking on the role of Executive Vice President. You can read the announcement here. While this means that I won't be directly involved in Chapters and SQLSaturday on a day to day basis, I will continue my engagement with Chapters until a new Director comes onboard and portfolio assignments are complete. As EVP, I want to stay engaged as possible in SQLSaturday in every way I can within my new role. I love SQLSaturday (and I don't mind saying, I was excited to receive that portfolio…
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…
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…
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…
Feast or famine. The last several months I just haven't seen that many speakers, let alone that many community speakers. Then, in the last month, I've seen a ton. Contests being what they are though, someone has to win. To everyone I saw speak at SQL Saturday Oklahoma City and SQL Saturday Omaha who doesn't see their name here, apologies. I saw great presentations this month. The winner though is Ryan Adams (b|t) and his presentation: Backup and Restore Tips and Tricks. Ryan started off great, walking around the room, looking people in the eye has he talked and using the slides as a guide, not reading from them at all. He had a bunch of slides that visualized different aspects of backup and restore. I really loved the one…