Speaking again at SSSLUG

I was scheduled to speak at this user group meeting (That's today.) I am ready with the presentation. However, after having a small hickup on some personal issues, I asked Dinesh Asanka to do it. He too was ready with the presentation, but at our office he got something. He presence was needed at office at that time. So, I am back to square one is doing the presentation.
I am speaking on SQL Server 2008 R2 StreamInsight. This session gives an introduction to Stream Insight.
by the way, we are planning to have live tweets of the session. If you are unable to come please watch the tweets Follow SqlSvrUniverse. 

Resources on Denali

onYesterday, Microsoft has announced the release of Product Guide v1 for SQL Server Code Name “Denali” Community Technology Preview 3 (CTP3). This is a single download that organizes Denali related content for easier viewing. It is available for download at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=225814. 

The SQL Server Code Name “Denali” CTP3 Product Guide includes useful resources and demos that will help IT Professionals better evaluate of CTP3.  This includes:

-          14 Product Datasheets

-          8 PowerPoint Presentations

-          5 Technical White Papers

-          13 Hands-On Lab Preview Documents

-          6 Click-Through Demonstrations

-          13 Self-Running Demonstrations

-          26 Links to On-Line References

-          44 Links to On-Line Videos including 26 Presentations from North America TechEd 2011

Microsoft also stated that they have a short windows of opportunity to shape the final release, so itmay be one of the rare opportunities to provide feedback on the features, usability and effectiveness. Microsoft expects the customers, communities and organizations to provide feedback on SQL Server CTP3 release in the next 60 days.

More to come, stay tuned.

SQL Server 2008 Microsoft Certified Master (MCM) Readiness Videos

Thanks to Brad McGehee. (Linkedin)
He is the one who first mentioned about this link. (or that is where I saw it)
When I went to the site I was able to discover some more content deep and simple.
Do you want to know about the internals, and like to analyze various ways of handling things, this is something great to visit.

http://www.microsoft.com/feeds/TechNet/en-us/How-to-videos/SQL_Server_2008_Microsoft_Certified_Master_%28MCM%29_Readiness_Videos.xml

I am speaking today at SSSLUG on Excution Plans

Today the sessions include an introduction to Denali and the second part of Execution Plans Explained. Today's session focuses on specific items in the execution plan:  Seeks, Scans and Physical Join operators.

Susantha's Presentation on Powershell

As you may know, Susantha Bathige, a fellow DBA at eCollege, gave a great presentation on Windows Powershell 2.0 at the last SQL Server User Group meeting. He had a few hick-ups when he was starting as the laptop couldn't communicate well with the projector. Gogula shared his laptop, but it refused to listen to his commands properly.

On content, presentation style and confidence level Susantha made an impression. I recommend it to all DBAs, developers and IT pro members.

For those who couldn't participate can view the sample code and presentation at here.  The pictures taken were available at here (If you are wondering what I was doing when he was presenting, I was working as his assistant during his presentation.  I hope it would have helped Susantha to concentrate on the presentation while I was controlling Gogula's laptop.)


Congratulations Susantha.  It is very difficult to say that it was your first presentation.  Keep it up.

Born to Learn ?

Frequently I hear people asking "What are the good resources to learn SQL Server stuff?" Honestly speaking I still do not know how to answer. Some sites I feel as great may not be that great for some one else.  (I can even start with the famous phrase "It Depends...." lol.)  Some may want to learn things from webcasts, some may like simple articles while some others like lab sessions,where some do have the patience to read huge books both printed and digital.

As I am still learning, I was thinking what is my favorite? The fact is I do not have a favorite.  I read almost everything, both good and bad. (I remember, when I was visiting a friend of mine,  I even started reading a query he wrote on his computer.  Those days, we didn't enjoy internet, He has just bought a computer.  He used books online and wrote a multi-statement query. That is the first time I saw a multi statement query. All those days, I was breaking my brain to some how write a complex process in single statement. )

Okay,  Now for those who love to learn, Some of the sites I like to recommend:

• Books online.  Whether you have SQL Server or not (you can have SQL Server Express Edition for free) you can have books online for free.  For me this was the only source of information when SQL Server 6.0 was there.  (was it the same name at that time?)
• Learning resources from Microsoft.  Whenever a new version is released, Microsoft also releases a set of web casts and lab sessions.  Please refer them at  http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/learning.aspx
• Dedicated SLQ Server sites. Some of them are: 
• http://www.SQlServerCentral.com.  I believe this is most popular site.  It has a wide range of topics, for both novice and advanced users.  
• http://www.sql-server-performance.com.  Another wonderful site, dedicated to performance tuning and optimization.  If you are a new user,  and not much involved in administration, this may not be the best site for you.  I see less articles now in this site, but this site contains a lot of tips and forums on performance.
• http://www.databasejournal.com/features/mssql/ This article periodically writes articles on various topics.
• http://www.simple-talk.com/sql/ I don't think I can say thing less than "Great" about this site.  It is for those who already use SQL Server.  real meat for SQL Server lovers.
• http://www.mssqltips.com/ A great site for small tips on SQL Server. More beneficial for database developers.
• http://sqlserverpedia.com Another growing site sponsored by quest software.
• Books: http://www.red-gate.com/about/book_store/index.htm is my first choice. If you have membership on safari online book store, you may be able to read a lot of them. I do not know how much it will cost.  eCollege provides me (and all developers and DBAs) a free membership. (Another reason to join eCollege!)  There are other sources for free e-books but I can;t list them here.  There are many.
• Blogs:  I believe now they are the best option for these days.  They are small, and to the point (If you think this blog is an exception, that is not the point and you re going out of the point!) You have the freedom to read as many as possible every day. If you want to know about the blogs available on SQL Server,  PASS has a directory of blogs at http://www.sqlpass.org/Community/BlogDirectory/tabid/66/Default.aspx.  (Those who have not registered here yet, can register. The page contains the information).  This site has many recognized blogs.  (Yes. my blog is listed... ha ha ha)

Enough said. Now you have two important notices:

1. I found a site periodically offering level 400 web casts on performance optimization.  you have web casts ready for downloads http://webcasts.sqlworkshops.com/webcasts.asp
2. Quest software is offering a full day free virtual conference on troubleshooting and performance tuning. Quest announced that this event will happen on March 03rd.  Check this link if you are interested:  Quest Software SQL Server vConference; Troubleshooting and Performance Tuning.  Remember that they have planned to have a session for each for beginners moderately experienced and advanced users.

24 Hours of PASS: you can view the sessions now!

I am not sure how many of you remember about the 24 hours of online sessions which PASS had a few months before the PASS annual summit. I attended a few sessions including Kalen’s topic: “What’s simple about simple recovery model ?” But I couldn’t attend all the sessions and I had a few technical issues in connecting to the site as well. They were online events and initially they were not available for on-demand streaming. A couple of days later a couple of sessions were made available for on-demand streaming and PASS promised that all sessions will be available for on-demand streaming after the PASS annual summit.

The sessions are really valuable and they cover various tracks such as Development (Dev) Database Administration (DBA) Personal Development (PD) and Business Intelligence (BI)
I forget to check them later, but a few days back when I checked the site, they were made available.

Gift from Quest

Yesterday, When I came from home I had a pleasant surprise.
Exactly one month ago, I wrote a post on free online training on SQL Server which was hosted by Quest. As I participated and filled the survey, Quest decided to honer me by thanking for my participation.

Of course I learned from the participation, But Quest surprised me with added stuff. Even though I participated only on two sessions, I received a Cd with all the sessions they had on that day. In addition to that I got two banners one on SQL server dynamic management views and the other on catalog views. To add, I also got a T-shirt on my size.
Of course the packet included some marketing stuff as well, but it gave me some advantage. As it was categorized as marketing material it bypassed the customs.

I went though the CD, it had the presentations and some additional documents. REALLY COOL stuff.

In summary, I gained by participating (the knowledge), I am gaining by participating (the goodies) and I will be gaining by participating. (I filled the survey so that future training programs will be more beneficial.)

Are you guys thinking of participating at the next training program?

Free Online Training on SQL Server

How many of you like to join a really technical deep dive seminar? Well, if you are in US you have a high chance of joining the seminar after paying the registration fee. But for those who are in other places now have a chance to attend one online, for free. Quest Software - a leading provider of tools in windows administration, virtualization and of course, SQL Server - is organizing one.

This training mainly on administration of SQL Server, where resource governor, profiler and other Microsoft tools related to performance optimization will be discussed. The afternoon sessions will be too late for most of the Sri Lankans, but the morning session is a good time to attend. (Do you sleep before 9.30 pm? Can you stay up till 12:30 am?)

Interested? Have a look on the agenda here:

http://www.quest.com/events/listdetails.aspx?ContentID=10219

Recently PASS had a 24 hour free online seminar on various subjects. I was able to attend a few, but due to some issues in my online calendar, I couldn’t attend all. They were really good ones. I was able to gain much from them.

For those who have missed them, they have a chance to view them later. The meetings are being archived, and they’ll be available for replay after the PASS Summit in early November.

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