Speaking at SQL Saturday Oslo 2018!

 Speaking, SQL Saturday  No Responses »
May 312018
 

I always feel honored when chosen to present at a SQL Saturday event. Being selected is never a guarantee, especially these days when organizers seemingly have more speakers and abstracts to pick from than ever before. But I am just over-the-moon happy to share that I was picked to speak at SQL Saturday in Oslo, Norway coming up on September 1. Norway has been on my list of places to visit for years, and I really can’t wait. Thank you so much to the SQL Saturday Oslo organizing team for putting together an amazing schedule and for allowing me to be a part of it – this is going to be a fantastic event!

My presentation at this event is entitled “Select Stars: A SQL DBA’s Introduction to Azure Cosmos DB”. I’ve been working with Azure Cosmos DB for a while now, and it’s really an incredible product. It’s been generating lots of buzz as of late, but there are still plenty of DBAs out there who have yet to use it. This is an introductory-level session that focuses on explaining what Azure Cosmos DB is, how it works, what its strengths are, and how they can be leveraged. To anyone curious about Azure Cosmos DB, this is the session for you!

Registration for SQL Saturday Oslo is now open – register today before it fills up! If you would like to extend your SQL Saturday experience even further, they are also offering four pre-conference sessions on Friday August 31.

I am incredibly stoked to visit Norway and I hope I’ll see you there in just three short months!

Speaking at Chicago Suburban SQL Server User Group!

 Speaking  No Responses »
Apr 122018
 

Next week I am happy to be presenting for the Chicago Suburban SQL Server User Group, which meets in Downers Grove, IL.

I will be delivering my session Locks, Blocks, and Snapshots: Maximizing Database Concurrency. This takes a look at SQL Server’s available isolation levels, what they are, how they differ, and why the default setting of “read committed” may not be appropriate for your workload. It should not only be helpful, but lots of fun as well.

I hope you can join us! The meeting is on Tuesday, April 17, and you can register and find further details here!

Speaking at SQL Saturday Madison 2018!

 Speaking, SQL Saturday  No Responses »
Mar 262018
 

I’m very pleased to be returning to Wisconsin in April to speak at SQL Saturday Madison 2018! This has always been one of my favorite events. Not only is it close to home, but it’s in a wonderful location and full of great friends. Thank you so much to the organizing committee for all of the hard work you do!

This year I will be presenting Locks, Blocks, and Snapshots: Maximizing Database Concurrency. This light-hearted and informative session will take a look at SQL Server’s available isolation levels, what they are, how they differ, and why the default setting of “read committed” may not be appropriate for your workload. It should not only be helpful, but lots of fun as well. I hope you will join me!

As of the time of posting, SQL Saturday Madison registration is still open. If you’d like to see some awesome presentations on Microsoft data technologies, register today!

I’m speaking at SQLBits!

 Speaking, SQLBits  No Responses »
Feb 072018
 

I’m so proud to be speaking at SQLBits – Europe’s largest SQL Server conference!

It took me several years of abstract submission before I was accepted to speak at PASS Summit. Once I spoke there, I set my sights on presenting internationally. After some more attempts, I now have the amazing opportunity to present in London and deliver not one but TWO sessions! They are:

VLDBs: Lessons Learned

Whoever coined the term “one size fits all” was not a DBA. Very large databases (VLDBs) have different needs from their smaller counterparts, and the techniques for effectively managing them need to grow along with their contents. In this session, join Microsoft Certified Master Bob Pusateri as he shares lessons learned over years of maintaining databases over 20TB in size. This talk will include techniques for speeding up maintenance operations before they start running unacceptably long, and methods for minimizing user impact for critical administrative processes. You’ll also see how generally-accepted best practices aren’t always the best idea for VLDB environments, and how, when, and why deviating from them can be appropriate. Just because databases are huge doesn’t mean they aren’t manageable, attend this session and see for yourself!

SQL Server Administration on Linux

Times are certainly changing with Microsoft’s recent announcement to adopt the Linux operating system with the SQL Server 2017 release, and you should be prepared to support it. But, what is Linux? Why run your critical databases on an unfamiliar operating system? How do I do the basics, such as backing up to a network share or add additional drives for data, logs, and tempdb files?

This introductory session will help seasoned SQL Server DBAs understand the basics of Linux and how it differs from Windows, all the way from basic management to performance monitoring. By the end of the session, you will be able to launch your own Linux-based SQL Server instance on a production ready VM.

 

I can’t wait to experience this incredible event I’ve been hearing about from other people for years, and am very interested to compare it to my previous experiences at PASS Summit. Expect a full write-up once I return!

24 Hours of PASS: Data Security and Quality Wrapup

 24 Hours of PASS, Community, Speaking  No Responses »
May 112017
 

Thank you to all who attended my session on “Passive Security for Hostile Environments” back on the 3rd of this month. I consider it an honor to be part of such a wonderful lineup. I just received my evaluations and comments, and am very happy to report that the results were extremely positive. Thank you very much to the people who took the time to rate my presentation and offer feedback, which I will include below.

I was also very surprised to hear that my session had 193 attendees, which puts it in the top five in terms of attendance – wow!

If you weren’t able to attend but would like to check it out, a recording is now available.

My slide deck is available for download on the 24 Hours of PASS site.

Demo scripts and other resources are available here.

Feedback

Sessions were evaluated based on four questions, and I received 78 total responses.

  1. How would you rate this session overall?
    Excellent: 60    Good: 18     Average: 0     Fair: 0     Poor: 0
  2. How would you rate the speakers’ presentation skills?
    Excellent: 64     Good: 13     Average: 0     Fair: 0     Poor: 0
  3. How would you rate the speakers’ knowledge of the subject?
    Excellent: 71      Good: 6      Average: 0     Fair: 0     Poor: 0
  4. Did you learn what you expected to learn from this session?
    Agree: 67     Somewhat Agree: 7     Neutral: 3     Somewhat Disagree: 0     Disagree: 0

I also received the following comments:

  • excellent demos and real deep dive into the details of each area he covered.
  • Your demo scenarios were very effective in showing the strengths and weaknesses of each option. Well done.
  • great use of demos!
  • Thank you!
  • Great presentation. Good demos – be great to get a copy of the scripts.
  • I had a lot of familiarity with DDL/DML triggers and Event Notifications. There were some new aspects you showed that I had not considered. Impersonation, for instance. Policy based management is something I haven’t used, but have read about. The session helped reinforce what I’ve learned in the past. Slide decks are great. But I prefer live demos and the code. You had a good, complementary mix of both.
  • Wow, this was incredibly good! So well organized. You covered a lot of territory.
  • Great overview of the different tech
  • Very clear explanations and demos, great pace for a webinar. Packed full of useful examples for real projects. Thank you!

 

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