There's Something about SQL! : Microsoft Events

W-Tech 2009 - London, 3rd February 2009!

beatrice — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:52:00 GMT

Next week I am going to present at this year's W-Tech event, which is due to be in London next week, at the Savoy Place.

I am already working an my slide deck, and the title myself and my colleagues from Microsoft have been given is pretty exciting:

Having fun and being a technical professional

"Can working as a female technical professional be challenging and fun? Come and meet some of Microsoft's female engineers and hear about how they are climbing the career ladder working in an exciting, dynamic and diverse working environment"

If you are a woman (sorry, men not allowed for once :)) and you are interested in starting\going back to a career in IT, you should not miss this event!

More info:

Abstract:

BCS and womenintechnology are bringing women, whatever stage of their career, including those looking to get their career back on track, and employers together for the premier networking event of 2009.

Meet with some of the smartest IT professionals, the biggest recruiters in IT, attend career development workshops, revamp and submit your cv, prepare yourself for that next interview or promotion.

This is a fantastic opportunity to hear from high profile women in the industry already succeeding and achieving, you could be one of them?

Agenda:

http://www.wtech-event.co.uk/eventproa.php

More Info:

http://www.wtech-event.co.uk/

Registration:

https://forms.bcs.org/w-tech/prog/index.php

- Beatrice Nicolini -

Are you based in Manchester? Two upcoming FREE SQL events for your agenda!

beatrice — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 14:02:00 GMT

If you are based in Manchester or nearby, there are two interesting FREE SQL Server events planned in town!

5th February: UK SQL Server Usergroup

Agenda has still to be confirmed, and will be posted here: http://www.sqlserverfaq.com/events/147/Manchester-SQL-User-Group-Meeting.aspx

28th March: SQL Bits IV

Agenda (once again) has still to be confirmed, but keep the website monitored for all upcoming news:

http://sqlbits.com/

Both cases - remember to register as soon as possible! Places are limited.

- Beatrice Nicolini -

Reading User Group Meeting - 20th Nov

beatrice — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 13:30:00 GMT

For those which live or work close to Reading - there will be a UserGroup on the 20th Evening held in TVP - Microsoft Offices.

Agenda:

6pm – 6:30 Registration and networking + Tea/Coffee with biscuits.

Meet and greet.

6:30pm – 7 Round Table discussion - ALL

Take stock and get the latest news in the SQL Server field. This is also a great opportunity to ask any burning questions you have, may be a problem at work.

7pm – 7:40 SQL Server 2008 - Data & Backup Compression

Beatrice Nicolini

Premier Field Engineer | SQL Server |Microsoft U.K.

Read my Blog.: http://blogs.technet.com/beatrice

With the 2008 release, SQL Server makes a major advance in scalability for data warehousing. With data and backup compression, SQL Server 2008 reduces the size of tables and indexes by storing fixed-length data types in variable length storage format and allows saving disk media space for your SQL backups. This session will guide you through the new data and backup features of SQL 2008, and will show which options are available for different data warehousing scenarios.

7:40pm – 7:55 BREAK: Sarnies

More time to network and ask questions...

7:55pm – 8.15pm Open Nuggest Session

The Audience - anyone

Bring your 5 minute hint/tip/demo and present it. This worked well at the London User Group.

Please let me know in advance via email to http://sqlserverfaq.com/events/138/tonyrogerson@torver.net.

It's a great way of getting your name know and developing your career! There will be prizes for each person who presents.

8:15pm – 8.45pm Table Expressions and the Optimiser and some SQL 2008 optimisations for Optional Parameters

Tony Rogerson, SQL Server MVP

http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/tonyrogerson

We will look at the theory behind Table Expressions (Derived Tables, Views, Table Valued Functions and Common Table BLOCKED EXPRESSION, we will delve into some traps and suprise you at what the optimiser is doing under the covers. To finish off we will look at some SQL Server 2000 introduced optimiser improvements that certainly if you are using dynamic SQL because of optional parameters will mean you can move away from dynamic SQL back to simple straighforward SQL.

To register:

http://sqlserverfaq.com/events/138/UK-SQL-Server-User-Group-Evening-Meeting-Agenda-TBC.aspx

- Beatrice Nicolini -

Resource Governor - How to get started?

beatrice — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 12:30:00 GMT

Here we are, as promised, with some rumblings on SQL Server 2008 Resource Governor.

I've played a lot with the various options which this features provides, especially in preparation of my TechEd presentation last week! Did I ever mention how much I loved it :-)? Yeah, I guess too much already. Ok, so this is the last time. Maybe. Umh…

Moving on, so what if you want to start using Resource Governor, let's say… today? :-)

As usual, I don't like to repeat what others have already been posting, possibly in a better way that I would do really, so here are first some resources to check out to start learning about it:

First place, of course, Technet: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb933866.aspx

A bit more advanced, from PSS Engineers: http://blogs.msdn.com/psssql/archive/2008/01/10/sql-server-2008-resource-governor-questions.aspx

So what to add on that?

I guess the tricky bit would be to understand how to effectively implement Resource Governor on your specific scenarios.

Of course there are some typical scenarios in which you'll most likely use it. Amongst the ones I use to mention:

SQL Server 2008 Backup Compression - as I posted some time ago (http://blogs.technet.com/beatrice/archive/2008/06/11/data-backup-compression-in-sql-2008.aspx), backup compression is a brilliant new feature which comes with SQL Server 2008 (yep - always enterprise - though you can restore on whichever version). It saves you money (for third party products), storage space, and it allows you to reduce the run time required from your backups and restores. Yeah… and…??? And you pay all these benefits in terms of CPU. So. If CPU is a issue on your implementation, or better, if CPU is a resource which you want to govern on your implementation and you're not bothered on having your backup\restores taking a little bit longer, well Resource Governor is your friend. Set up a pool and specify a max memory, call it however you want (Backup Compression Pool I guess is a good idea :-)), and run your compressed backups with a specific user which you can isolate through your Classifier Function. Deal done.

Reporting Scenarios. Does this ring a bell? Correct - Resource Governor governs only the Database Engine, not SQL Server Integration Services, Analysis Services, Reporting Services. OK. BUT. Your Reporting Services or Reporting Application (oh no - are you NOT using Reporting Services yet? - we'll have a word about this maybe in another post) well you'll have to retrieve data from the Database Engine at some time. Correct. And what if that reporting application is very critical to your business or especially - what if you want a quiet day without your customers phoning you to complain that the application is slow? Nearly the same as before. This time though your pool will have a minimum CPU and Memory, and again the deal is done by isolating the user name or the application name in the classifier function.

DBAs. Ohhhhhh yeah. DBAs have LOADs of work to do during the day (of course, I am nearly a DBA so I better save my job :-)). So, what do they have to do? Troubleshoot and monitor, so they really need a minimum amount of CPU and Memory to play around but also we still want our business users to be happy with our implementation, so we do not want DBAs to take up all the resources on our server. So this time we'll be using MAX and MIN values for our CPU and Memory.

LOL - I love this - and what if you have a "crap application"? I've been asked this question at TechEd. I'm afraid a crap application will still remain a crap application. FIX IT! But yeah, whilst fixing it, if your application is so crap to fill up all you resources, TEMPORARLY you can assign max values for it in the Pool, or if for example you have to deal with locking, you can grant MINIMUM values to have your applications queries to run as fast as they can, to leave other workload free to run asap. Again, this is not the way Resource Governor is meant to be used and especially, I am talking generally, so TEST before doing anything in production.

So what if you have anything else? I mean most of your SQL Server implementations will not just be about Backups, Reporting and DBAs (I'm not even considering crap apps :-)). How can you understand how to benefit from Resource Governor in your specific scenario?

It's always very difficult to talk generally, but I would personally approach the problem in the following way:

As I will generally know my implementation and the users and apps which are connecting to it, I will set up pools (remember max 18 user-defined) and workload groups (1:1 relationship) with default parameters, plus classifier function to assign each workload to a specific pool.
In this way - with default parameters - I will obtain SQL 2005 behavior BUT I will be able to monitor pools usage (and therefore CPU and Memory Usage per Pool) with the new events available in PerfMon and the new DMVs dedicated to Resource Governor
I can then start changing my default parameters based on monitoring, benchmark and monitor once again till I will achieve the desired results.

I will soon post about some other questions I've been asked during TechEd! Stay tuned!

- Beatrice Nicolini -

TechEd ItPro - SQL Server 2008 Resource Governor!

beatrice — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:10:00 GMT

Wow! Presenting at TechEd yesterday had been one of the best experiences of my life!

Being in front of different customers, which work with SQL Server every day, and being able to share my experience on the field with the new great features included with SQL 2008 had been fantastic, and a great learning experience for me as well!

I'm still pretty busy here in Barcelona, so for today I just want to quickly post my slide deck on SQL Server 2008 Resource Governor (http://blogs.technet.com/beatrice/attachment/3147812.ashx) and one nice picture with myself and my colleague Andrew Fryer http://blogs.technet.com/andrew/ - which helped me out with the Q&As bit of my session.

In the next days I will post a bit more in detail about Resource Governor - and how you can effectively benefit of its features in your specific organizations.

Also - I've received pretty interesting questions during the Ask the Experts session - of which I want to post about as soon as I can!

Thanks again to all the participants (feel free to drop me an email), and stay tuned with my next posts!

- Beatrice Nicolini -

I'm at TechEd ItPro - Barcelona!

beatrice — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 16:50:00 GMT

This week I'm presenting on SQL Server 2008 Resource Governor @TechEd Barcelona http://www.microsoft.com/emea/teched2008/itpro!

My session is on Tuesday, 10:45 - 12:00, make sure to come along if you want to learn about this cool new feature in SQL Server 2008 or if you simply have some questions to ask!

- Beatrice Nicolini -

Madagascar - We need your Help!

beatrice — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:42:00 GMT

I don't often blog about our team initiatives, but here's one which is very important and we need the most help with.

It's like that famous slogan... "every little helps" ;-)

Local Software Engineer to race through tropical rainforest on a bicycle

15 PFEs of Microsoft are pedalling a massive 420km across Madagascar to raise funds for the charity Computer Aid International by participating in the Madagascar Cycle Challenge (27th September – 5th October).

The grueling bike ride will take them across one of the most ecologically rich and unique countries on the planet, racing on tarmac roads and dusty red-earth off road trails. Far away from the modern comforts of daily life, this will be an unforgettable experience, which is also helping Computer Aid International deliver refurbished computers to schools in the area.

Madagascar is the 4th largest island in the world, located in the Indian Ocean, 400km west of Mozambique on the coast of Africa. Famous for its evergreen rainforests, Madagascar has a diverse animal, plant and aquatic life, said to rival the Amazon in its diversity.

During the 5 day cycle challenge the 15 will take time out to visit a rural school in the village of Isaingy, where Microsoft engineers are helping to deploy 10 computers donated by the Digital Pipeline, a charity which champions the refurbishment and redeployment of donated PCs to serve the educational needs of communities in the developing world.

The Microsoft team’s goal is to raise over £40,000 (€50,000) in sponsorship monies; enough to fully equip 15 schools in Madagascar with a purpose built Computer Lab.

To help this initiative you can refer to:

http://www.justgiving.com/msmadagascar

- Beatrice Nicolini -

SQL 2008 OpsDay - Data and Backup Compression

beatrice — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 10:52:00 GMT

Hi all,

Just wanted to thank all the attendees that participated to yesterday's event on SQL Server 2008 in TVP - Reading.

We've received great feedback on the content of the day, and I really hope everybody went back home (for some of you I heard it was quite a long way) sure that SQL Server 2008 is a great product full of new features and enhancements which are just what you need for your business activities.

I just want to follow-up some questions which I've received during the event, and leave some links to review if you want to further learn about Data and Backup Compression.

Questions:

"Data compression is an enterprise only feature. Is it possible though to restore compressed backup on standard?"

Though creating compressed backups is supported only in SQL Server 2008 Enterprise Edition and later, every SQL Server 2008 or later edition can restore a compressed backup.

"Are there some guidelines to tune performances of backup compression"?

Yes, one interesting article from Technet and from SQL CAT:

Tuning the Performance of Backup Compression in SQL Server 2008

http://sqlcat.com/technicalnotes/archive/2008/04/21/tuning-the-performance-of-backup-compression-in-sql-server-2008.aspx

How to: Use Resource Governor to Limit CPU Usage by Backup Compression (Transact-SQL)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc280384(SQL.100).aspx

Useful information:

Reducing Database Size by Using Vardecimal Storage Format

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb508963.aspx

Creating Compressed Tables and Indexes

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc280449(SQL.100).aspx

SQL Server Storage Engine - Data Compression Series

http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlserverstorageengine/archive/tags/Data+Compression/default.aspx

Backup Compression (SQL Server)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb964719(SQL.100).aspx

SQL Server 2008: Backup Compression

http://www.sqlskills.com/blogs/paul/2007/09/20/SQLServer2008BackupCompression.aspx

SQL Server 2008: Backup Compression CPU Cost

http://www.sqlskills.com/blogs/paul/2008/01/09/SQLServer2008BackupCompressionCPUCost.aspx

Download the last CTP

https://connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer/content/content.aspx?ContentID=5395

For any additional question, please contact myself directly at beatrice.nicolini@microsoft.com and read our team blog at http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/thepremiers/default.aspx.

- Beatrice Nicolini -

UK SQL UG April Events – London and Edinburgh

beatrice — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 19:21:00 GMT

A new series of events is coming soon in London and Edinburgh, from the UK SQL Server User Group.

Amongst the speakers there will be my friend and ex-colleague Christian Bolton (http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/christian/), which will present on the evening of the 17th Apr in London - so make sure not to miss this date!

More information about the events:

7th April :: London :: 2.30 - 5.30
Rob Farley
For more info and to reserve your place: http://sqlserverfaq.com?eid=113

2:30pm - 3:00pm Round Table Discussion
3:00pm - 4.00pm Understanding the OVER clause in SQL 2005
4:30pm - 5.:30pm SQL Server 2008 Resource Governor - no its not the new recruitment agent

17th April :: London :: 6 - 9
Christian Bolton
Eric Alsop
For more info and to reserve your place: http://sqlserverfaq.com?eid=110

6pm - 6.30pm Round Table Discussion
6.30pm – 7.30pm Will you still want me, when I''m 64? - Christian Bolton (COEO)
An in-depth look at the move toward 64-bit computing with SQL Server covering where and why it will help, what the caveats are and the most up to date best practices gathered from global SQL Server deployments.
7.50pm - 9.00pm The cursors of SQLStein - Eric Alsop (IM Group)
Nothing divides the SQL community like a cursor, so why are they still around? In this session we are going to look at how to use cursors and when they are most applicable.

23rd April :: Edinburgh :: 6.30 - 9
Alistair Board
Satya Shyam K Jayanty

For more info and to reserve your place: http://sqlserverfaq.com?eid=111

Alistair Board The 6 W''s of SQLDiag
SaSatya Shyam K Jayanty SQL Server 2008 - Declarative Management Framework concepts & database problem solutions with policy management

- Beatrice Nicolini -

Coming Soon: SQL Server SoundBytes!

beatrice — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 20:24:00 GMT

The U.K. SQL Server PFE team is preparing, starting from September 2007, a series of SQL Server SoundBytes aimed to deliver proactive content to our Premier customer via Livemeeting.

Premier SoundByte sessions will be ideal for customers who need proactive information, for whom it may not be convenient to leave the office to come to a workshop.

Agenda is as follows:

Date	Title
3rd September 2007	SQL Server 2005 Database Clustering
17th September 2007	SQL Server 2005 Database Mirroring: Let the witness take the stand.
1st October 2007	SQL Server 2005 Configuration Best Practices
15th October 2007	Partitioned Tables and Indexes in SQL Server 2005
29th October 2007	SQL Server 2005 Memory Architecture
12th November 2007	SQL Server on SAN environment
26th November 2007	SQL Server 2005: Corruption Detection and Recovery
10th December 2007	SQL Server 2008

Please contact your TAM if you are interested in attending a SoundByte and they will nominate you to attend.

This is a UK delivery so the this is limited to UK Customer attendance.

If a customer has a global contract with local representation in the UK then the local TAM could book them onto the session.

Two SQL Server Events for Microsoft Premier Customers! Microsoft TVP - Reading - U.K.

beatrice — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 23:42:00 GMT

If you are a Microsoft Premier customer involved with SQL Server, there are two great events scheduled that you can't miss:

SQL Server 2005 Developer Productivity Day

Thursday 19th April

The event is designed for Database Developers who are experienced in using SQL Server 2000 and have had some experience with SQL Server 2005. The day would also provide attendees NOT experienced with SQL Server an insight into the new Developer related features and enhancements.

The SQL Server 2005 Developer Productivity Operations day provides participants with information that will enable them to:

· Create more secure, more robust applications at a lower cost

· Take advantage of existing skills across a variety of development languages

· Build new classes of connected applications across any platform or device

The following is an outline of the subjects to be covered on the day.

· Transact-SQL Enhancements

· Reliable Messaging with the SQL Server 2005 Service Broker

· Web Services and XML Support

· Visual Studio Integration and Hosted Common Language Runtime

· Visual Studio Team System For Database Professionals

· Multiple Active Result sets

· SQL Management Objects

· Security Enhancements

SQL Server 2005 Operations and Performance Day

Friday 25th May

This SQL Server 2005 Operations Day is designed for experienced SQL Server Database Administrators. The day would also provide attendees NOT experienced with SQL Server an insight into operational related features and enhancements with SQL Server 2005.

The SQL Server 2005 Operations and Performance day provides participants with information that will enable them to:

· Make an Informed decision regarding choice of 32 bit / 64 bit hardware / software

· Use new SQL Server 2005 Features to troubleshoot performance issues

· Implementing and Managing CLR Functionality and Security within SQL Server 2005

· Learn about the SQL Server Management Pack For MOM

The following is an outline of the subjects to be covered on the day. It is not intended as an exhaustive list of all the topics to be discussed.

· Troubleshooting performance with DMV’s

· Profiler / Database Tuning Advisor

· 32 bit versus 64 bit

· Using MOM to Manage SQL Server

· Introduction to CLR for SQL Administrators

To register to those events, you will need to contact your assigned TAM.

Both events will take place in Microsoft - Thames Valley Park - Reading.

We are looking forward to see you all!

Join the Microsoft BI Conference 2007!

beatrice — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 19:51:00 GMT

It's official: Microsoft will host its first Business Intelligence conference in Seattle, at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center from May 9-11, 2007, where Microsoft expects approximately 2,000 conference attendees including CEOs, CFOs, IT professionals, partners and financial analysts.

The conference will feature technical tracks and sessions, customer and partner presentations, executive keynotes, presentations by industry analysts, customer awards presentation, and an exhibit hall showcasing Microsoft partners. Attendees will learn about customer and partner BI implementations, best practices and successes.

The conference website is online at http://www.microsoftbiconference.com/, to help you to find out more about this event.

During the conference, Microsoft will be recognizing customers for their outstanding solutions built on the Microsoft Business Intelligence product family and the benefits their company has realized as a result. Nominations are due April 1, 2007. Click here for more information.