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T-SQL Tuesday 121: Gifts

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T-SQL Tuesday is a monthly blog party for the SQL Server community. It is the brainchild of Adam Machanic (b|t) and this month’s edition is hosted by Mala (b|t) who has asked us to write about “Gifts received this year” – which is appropriate for the last month of the decade!

So…many…gifts!

Aside from faith, family and friends which are the truest gifts in my life, I had a fantastic year, SQL Server-wise.

In somewhat order:

  • Dallas DBAs is doing very well and will hit a record for sales in 2019!
  • We hired Jeff and he’s been great…
  • SQLDork continues to contribute and learn every afternoon…
  • Got to go to Summit again this year!
  • SQL 2019!
  • New clients helping me pay Jeff and the Dork…
  • Ellipses, bullet points and exclamation points went on sale…!
  • On-site sponsor at SQL Saturday Cincinnati, Dallas and Austin!
  • Existing clients that trust us with their data and projects…
  • 2 freelance DBAs that I can offload small projects to!
  • New prospects for 2020!!!

I could go into lots of detail on each…but nah…go read some more T-SQL Tuesday posts!

Thanks for reading!

Kevin3NF

PASS Summit 2019 thoughts and wrapup

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Holy smokes my brain hurts!  And at the same time it is feeling the joy of learning things I can actually use!

If you are a Dallas DBAs client…you will soon very likely be reaping the benefits of my trip to Seattle for the 2019 PASS Summit.

Its rare, but when I’m really excited I pop for the in-flight WiFi, which is where I sit now typing this up. If you look to my right you can see…clouds.

Stream of consciousness in near chronological order, accompanied by notes where possible:

Day 1

What’s new in SQL Server Tools – Vicky Harp (t) and Udeesha Gautam

Most of this was Azure Data Studio (watch me embarrass myself here), which was clear in the abstract. Very cool tool mostly for devs, but the Notebooks aspect has lots of ways I can send something useful to my clients to review, in one format.  Has a little One Note with code and results feel to it.  Great demo. SSMS is not going away!

Improving Availability with Accelerated Data recovery and Resumable Operations – Pam Lahoud (b|t)

Ever tried to roll back a runaway query that took 4 hours to notice? Reboot the server trying to kill it and that didn’t help?

This is the fix to that nonsense! Off by default, rewrite of the SQL Server Recovery process.  Bang…instant recovery.  Of course there’s some overhead. SQL 2019 and Azure only feature.

Also, “Resumable Index Operations” are now a thing. A cool thing.

After the KeyNote and these 2 sessions, I managed to score a massive headache so no more sessions.

Game night! – sponsored by PASS (Thanks Joe!)

Day 2

DBA Tools – Jack Corbett (b|t)

I’ve already thanked Jack in person twice and online at least that much for this class. If I can only tell you one thing from 3 days of classes its this: “YOU DONT NEED TO KNOW POWERSHELL TO USE THE DBATOOLS COMMAND!!!”  I paid extra for the caps and 2 bonus exclamation points, just for you. That sentence alone has never sunk in to my head.  A whole lot of goodness will flow from that to you.  Thanks Jack!

If you are a junior DBA, you still need to learn the concepts and how to do things in the SSMS GUI/T-SQL, but these tools are a great step for some of the more complex tasks.  Best session of the week for me.

SQL Server in Containers – Grant Fritchey (b|t) – Red Gate vendor session

Awesome – Grant told us early and often that the 1st 2/3 of the session would be vendor agnostic, then move to RG tools.  Many thanks for that clarity!

I tried out Docker 2 years ago in test/dev and had no use case for it. Now I do and saw that some things have gotten easier. I spin up Azure VMs to play with stuff all the time. Now I can accomplish the tasks locally and faster and cheaper! I also learned the difference between images, layers, containers and VMs,  Greatness in a confusing tech stack.

Azure DR strategy – John Morehouse (b|t), with Denny Cherry in the back for additional flavor when needed.

I’ve known conceptually about much of what John presented for a while…but now I have a lot more clarity and insight from a true pro. Plus, some of what I learned at a DeepPockets™ client 2 years ago is out of date or enhanced in Azure

Exhibitor Hall and Beanbag sessions. I got to meet one of my freelancers for lunch so that was cool. Thanks Brendan.

HA/DR – Too many choices – Mike Walsh (b|t)

I go to sessions I know nothing about and sessions I do…this one I knew, and I still learned stuff. Sometimes I go just to see friends speak.  This was that as well as learning. Mike is a great guy running a great company. If you need SQL help, call me first.  If Dallas DBAs isn’t the right fit, Straight Path is.

Game night again!

Day 3 – Friday

Batch Execution Mode on Rowstore – Niko Neugebauer (b|t)

Learned a ton, saw great demos, super fun slides and WOW! Niko is a brilliant and highly entertaining presenter. If you present, go find something he’s done and watch his style.  Its crazy fun.  And the technical content is very solid.

Best Practices for Branching Database Code in Git – Kendra Little and the Corgi Crew (b|t)

I don’t do much in the Git/OSS world and was hoping this would help me pick some of that up along the way, even though this was not a “learn Git” presentation.  It did, and I now feel good about bringing some DallasDBAs internal scripts into a Git/GitHub type repository so the whole team can contribute to them. Maybe then I’ll start contributing to other open source projects.

Great lunch with a good friend I only see at conferences. We solved a few world problems.  Again.

More bean bag time.

Upgrading SQL Server – Mike Walsh again!

I’ve done more than a few upgrades, but I knew Mike and team at StraightPath have a more formal and streamlined process, so I wanted to steal info from a competitor. Is it stealing if he’s up front giving it away and I’m hiding in the front row?

Tap house for dinner, then back to the Sheraton to pack and chill.

I’m over Colorado now✈ .  If this was readable and no spelling errors, that happened at my desk in Dallas.

Look out clients…your stuff is going to get better.  And YES, YOU NEED TO MOVE TO AZURE OR SQL SERVER 2019. There, I said it.  “Mr. Wait and See” is pushing a product 6 days into formal release!

Thanks for reading!

Kevin3NF

The Value of Training- Summit 2019

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I sit here writing this on a Sunday morning with coffee nearby, eagerly anticipating this week’s annual PASS Summit. This is my 5th Summit, and 4th in a row. And yes, I pay my own way happily to this conference every year, to the tune about $4000. That’s for everything – conference fee, travel, lodging, food, airport parking. And yes, I bump for better seats on the plane, to avoid being cramped and miserable for 4 hours each way.

But why do I do this? As a self-employed DBA, that’s a lot of money!

Because training.

I’m 50+ (just added the “+” last month) years old. Things in the SQL world are changing faster than ever. In 1999 with SQL 7 there was no cloud. There was a 5 year gap between SQL 2000 and 2005 releases. And to be quite honest, I never had a mentor guiding me. My entire workday was reactive to whatever ticket came along and Yahoo (before Google) or Books Online to figure things out.

That all changed when I got laid off from Verizon Managed Hosting (Now IBM) in 2015. I re-entered the job market with 15 years of DBA history, but severely lacking current skills, and under developed in other areas. RDX confirmed this by not hiring me after some interview rounds.

I had a conversation with myself and decided I needed to get a LOT more structured, develop a plan to get back on track and be as current as I can. I had been on Twitter, MSDN Forums, and other sites long enough to know who some of the more accomplished folks on the DBA side of the world are – specifically I chose to look at what Brent Ozar (b|t), Paul Randal (b|t) and Pinal Dave (b|t) were doing. I had already met (very briefly) the first two and now call Pinal a friend.

I had always shied away from the deeper performance tuning issues, aside from throwing indexes at things and maybe running sp_updatestats (which worked more often than not). Slow performance is one of the most common problems SQL Server customers have. And Availability Groups. I knew nothing about them at the time. So I took a position as a team lead with a small project team in a deep pockets type company and started learning. I read a lot of things. I watched a few webinars. I went to a performance tuning class from Brent that changed everything (I do best in-person, no distractions) for me.

All of this created a new habit in me – seeking out new knowledge and going deeper than the surface level “just get it back online and close the ticket” work I had been doing for years.

Training is critical!

If the folks you report to aren’t allowing you to get training on the job, I submit that either they are desperately starved for cash, or they just really don’t care about your future nearly as much as they should. So, its up to you to train yourself. Read blogs. Help out on forums. Set up a test box in Azure so you can break things and fix them. If you have a local user group go to it, regardless of the topic. Attend a SQL Saturday. Become a member (for free) of PASS to take advantage of webinars and tons of free video content! If you have a few dollars a month, get a Pluralsight subscription. Take charge of your training and your career!

So here I sit. Looking forward to Summit and possibly my last visit to Seattle (next year is in Houston).

While retirement is still 10+ years off I owe it myself, my employees, and my clients to be as knowledgeable as I can be. 3 days of full immersion in Database Administration, Azure and SQL 2019 features. 3 days of getting my steps in by noon and scanning the Community Zone for an empty bean bag. 3 days of seeing friends I only see once a year. 3 days of networking, talking to vendors (Come sponsor SQL Saturday Dallas, yo!), and having a good time. 3 days of #SQLFamily.

Worth. Every. Penny.

Thanks for reading!

Kevin3NF

PASS Summit 2018 – My Schedule

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If you are going to PASS Summit in Seattle and want someone to sit with, check out my schedule (primary and backup sessions) – very much subject to change:

 

Wednesday, November 7, 2018

============================

10:15 AM – 11:30 AM Room: 2AB

dbatools Powershell Library – The Complete Introduction (Yes, my very first session is Powershell, lol)

https://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=85712

10:15 AM – 11:30 AM Room: 612

Uncovering Duplicate, Redundant, & Missing Indexes

https://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=77036

1:30 PM – 2:45 PM Room: 606

Improving Availability in SQL Server and Azure SQL Database

https://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=84728

1:30 PM – 4:00 PM Room: 6E

SQL Server Migrations Done the Right Way

https://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=84219

4:45 PM – 6:00 PM Room: 6A

SSMS & T-SQL Tricks: Working Smarter, Not Harder

https://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=78153

Thursday, November 8, 2018

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10:45 AM – 12:00 PM Room: 6B

Containers, Pods, and Databases- The Future of Infrastructure

https://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=78022

1:30 PM – 4:00 PMRoom: 606

Query Tuning Internals for the Advanced SQL Developer

https://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=78050

1:30 PM – 2:45 PM Room: TCC Tahoma 2

Top 5 Power BI Custom Visuals

https://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=82110

1:30 PM – 2:45 PM Room: 6C

Top Tips for Deploying AGs and FCIs On Premises or In the Cloud

https://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=78041

3:15 PM – 4:30 PM Room: 618

An Introduction to Partitioning

https://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=77002

4:45 PM – 6:00 PM Room: 604

Data Science 101 for the SQL DBA

https://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=86521

4:45 PM – 6:00 PM Room: 6C

Validate Your SQL Server Estate with Ease Using dbachecks

https://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=78382

Friday, November 9, 2018

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8:00 AM – 9:15 AM Room: 6C

T-SQL Habits and Practices That Can Kill Performance

https://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=78111

9:30 AM – 12:00 PM Room: 6E

Migrating to SQL Server 2017

https://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=78285

11:00 AM – 12:15 PM Room: 3AB

BI Power Hour

https://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=86517

2:00 PM – 3:15 PM Room: 3AB

Lightning Talks: DBA

https://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=85592

2:00 PM – 3:15 PM Room: 618

What’s New With Adaptive Query Processing?

https://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=78238

3:30 PM – 4:45 PM Room: TCC Yakima 1

A DBAs Guide to the Proper Handling of Corruption

https://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=78274

3:30 PM – 4:45 PM Room: TCC Tahoma 4

SQL Server Performance Monitoring Made Easy

https://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=85138

 

PLEASE feel free to come introduce yourself like we are old friends.  My brain is defective in remembering names and where we met, so you may have to remind me if in fact we have met before 🙂  Fair warning…I may ask you to take a selfie with me.  I suck at selfies so I may actually get a shot of your shoes, or the ceiling 🙂

Thanks for reading!

Kevin3NF

PASS Summit 2017

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PASS Summit 2017

PASS Summit is the largest gathering of SQL Server developers, admins, vendors and MS product people in the world.

I’m making my third trip to Seattle next week for this festival of brain-melting, best friends making insanity.   For those not in the know, there is FAR more going on over the 3 official days of the conference than any person can possibly consume.  From all day pre-conferences, to multiple sessions across multiple time slots, to just chilling in the community zone, there is ALWAYS something to do, see or learn.  Plus the vendor area and their unofficial evening events.

As with last year, I have planned out my schedule, knowing full well that I will probably skip at least one session a day to just network with other members of the #sqlfamily, or even just be a new friend to someone that is on their first trip and looking very overwhelmed.

I have also volunteered to be the “host” of the Thursday night Game Night…set up for those that either are not into or just need a night off from the bar scene but still want to be around others.   Lots of board and card games available, or bring your own and teach your new friends.

I might even attend the unofficial #SQLRun on Wednesday morning.

I think so highly of this conference and the opportunities available that I pay my own way.   As with last year, I will not be paid while there (contractor blues), unless a client needs me to resolve an emergency.   Conference fee, airfare, parking, Uber, hotel, food, beverages, etc.   This will cost me several thousand in non-income and expenses.

Worth. Every. Penny.

A short list of people I want to meet or see again:

  • Jen and Sean
  • Shane
  • Brent
  • Pinal
  • Dave M
  • David K
  • Ola Last Name not needed
  • Bob Ward
  • Rie
  • Andy
  • Alex
  • Sooooo many others 🙂

And I’ll do it again next year, Lord willing and the clients don’t dry up in between 🙂

Thanks for reading!

Kevin3NF

PASS Summit Game Night poll

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Hello fellow SQL Server people!

I have volunteered to coordinate some of the activities for the 2017 Game Night at PASS Summit in Seattle on November 2, 2017.   Please take a second to help me compile a “top 10” list of games that PASS can invest in to get the evening started.

Pick any three you like.  If you have a favorite game that you think should be on the list, please add in the comments, send an email to DallasBikr@gmail.com, or DM me on Twitter: @Kevin3NF.   You can also contact to me to volunteer with setup and cleanup!

A good game here is likely going to be one that 4 or more can enjoy, is relatively easy to learn, and doesn’t take a huge amount of space.  All suggestions do need to adhere to the PASS Anti-Harassment Policy.  I am pretty sure gambling is out as well 🙂

Register for the game night

Poll closes 3pm Central, September 8.

Thanks!

What game(s) would you most like to see at Summit Game Night?

  • Pandemic (10%, 8 Votes)
  • Exploding Kittens (10%, 8 Votes)
  • Card Games (generic decks) (9%, 7 Votes)
  • Ticket to Ride (7%, 6 Votes)
  • 7 Wonders (7%, 6 Votes)
  • Apples to Apples (6%, 5 Votes)
  • Catan (6%, 5 Votes)
  • Munchkin (6%, 5 Votes)
  • Codenames (6%, 5 Votes)
  • Fluxx (5%, 4 Votes)
  • Dominion (5%, 4 Votes)
  • Carcasonne (5%, 4 Votes)
  • King of Tokyo/New York (4%, 3 Votes)
  • SpyFall (4%, 3 Votes)
  • SuperFights (2%, 2 Votes)
  • Taboo (1%, 1 Votes)
  • Sushi Go (1%, 1 Votes)
  • Love Letter (1%, 1 Votes)
  • Chess (1%, 1 Votes)
  • Power Grid (1%, 1 Votes)
  • Qwirkle (1%, 1 Votes)
  • Gang of Four (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Tiny Epic Galaxies (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Dead Man's Draw (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Captain Sonar (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Pokémon Go (gather and go catch 'em all) (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 29

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