Upcoming training – Summer 2013

Summer is getting started and we’ve got speaking engagements lined up from here through August.

May 7th

What Developers Need to Know About 1TB Databases

Brent Ozar, Technology Triage Tuesday

If you write code that accesses a database one terabyte or larger, you need to know that things are different around here. When you hit the very large database (VLDB) territory, you need to pay particular attention to statistics, TempDB, and staging tables. Microsoft Certified Master Brent Ozar will share his favorite lessons for developers who work with either OLTP or data warehouses. Register here.

May 9-10

SQL Server Training for Developers

You’re a developer. You’re stuck managing a database server that you don’t understand – but that’s about to change in just two days of learning and fun. Join the upbeat, fun folks of Brent Ozar Unlimited for these sessions. Learn more.

May 14th

The Basics of SQL Server Execution Plans

Jeremiah Peschka, Technology Triage Tuesday

SQL Server execution plans provide a roadmap to query performance. Once you understand how to read the execution plan, you can easily identify bottlenecks and detours. In this high level session, Jeremiah Peschka will introduce you to the concepts of reading SQL Server execution plans including how to get an actual execution plan, how to read the plan, and how to dive deeper into the details of the pieces of the plan. This session is for developers and DBAs who have never looked at SQL Server execution plans before. Register now!

May 21st

How to Manage Vendor Databases

Brent Ozar, Technology Triage Tuesday

Are you frustrated by third party applications that you can’t change, but you have to support? Tired of beating your head against the wall when your users complain about things you can’t fix? In this 30-minute session, Brent Ozar will show you his favorite tricks to get the most performance without losing support. He’ll show you how to interact with vendors and get what you want – without getting heartburn. Register here.

May 28th

Bad DBA Job Detector Test

Kendra Little, Technology Triage Tuesday

Occasionally you check out job listings and wonder, “Could I have a better job?” If you’ve been working as a database administrator for a few years, it’s time to learn how to tell a dream job from a potential nightmare. Join Kendra Little for a 30 minute guide on how to read hidden messages in job listings and find the right next step for your career. Register here.

June 4th

Mirror Mirror on the Server, Who is the Principal of Us All

Jes Schultz Borland, Technology Triage Tuesday

Have you ever wished your SQL Server could have an identical twin, holding the same data, in case you ever needed it? SQL Server mirroring provides just that, and you can choose if you want it for high availability or disaster recovery. If you’ve ever been curious about what mirroring really is, and what the pros and cons are, this is the session for you. Register here.

June 6

Southampton SQL Server User Group – (live via the internet)

Which Queries Are Killing My Server?

Brent Ozar

It’s easy to find out in just a few minutes using ClearTrace, sp_WhoIsActive, and the plan cache. Whether you’re a junior DBA or a senior developer, you can use the three free tools covered in this session to find the culprit.

Completely Legal Performance Enhancements

Jeremiah Peschka

A database is far more than a persistent object store for your application; it is capable of data validation en masse, aggregations, and creating different projections of data. By working with your database, rather than against it, it is possible to leverage all of the capabilities of a relational database to provide rich, high performance interaction with your application through an ORM. This presentation will discuss the finer points of building a full-featured data access layer using an ORM and the features of a relational database.

June 8, Columbus, OH

SQL Saturday Columbus

Jeremiah Peschka

I’m traveling back to Columbus, OH to speak at SQL Saturday 217. The schedule isn’t up yet, but I have received word that I’ll be presenting two sessions at the event. If you can’t make it, never fear, you’ll have a chance to see one or both of these talks at [SQLIntersection][intersection].

Much Ado About Hadoop

By now you’ve probably heard the words “Big Data” and “Hadoop”, but you’re not sure what they mean, much less how to get started. Maybe you’re struggling with storing a lot of data, rapidly processing a huge volume of data, or maybe you’re just curious. There are a bewildering array of options and use cases within the Hadoop ecosystem. Every day I help customers understand their data problems, understand where Hadoop fits into their environment, and determine how they can use Hadoop to solve their problem. This session provides an introduction to what Hadoop is, when it’s appropriate to use Hadoop, and guidance on how to get started.

Reporting in Production: A Hadoop Case Study

You’ve upgraded to better hardware, tuned your queries, and busy seasons is still six months away; you should be resting easy. But reports are running too long, SQL Server is under a heavy load, and you’re not sure how you’ll keep up with the demands of customers, much less the rest of the business. I’ve been there before. By moving functionality into Hadoop, I’ve been able to scale the database bigger and faster than previously possible; small incremental improvements became massive linear improvements and I delivered functionality that was previously thought to be impractical. In this session, I’ll cover patterns, strategies, and use cases to increase reporting and analytics performance using Hadoop.

June 18th

Mirror Mirror on the Server, Who is the Mirror of Us All?

Jes Schultz Borland, Technology Triage Tuesday

Sometimes our identical twin turns out to be evil – and sometimes our SQL Server does, too. When we encounter data corruption, hardware failure, and OS errors, we need to fail over from our principal to our better mirrored twin. Jes will show you how to handle database mirroring failovers in both high safety and high performance setups. Register here.

August 21

How to Think Like the SQL Server Engine

Brent Ozar, South Florida SQL Server User Group

When you pass in a query, how does SQL Server build the results? We’ll role play: Brent Ozar will be an end user sending in queries, and you’ll be the SQL Server engine. Using simple spreadsheets as your tables, you’ll learn how SQL Server builds execution plans, uses indexes, performs joins, and considers statistics. This session is for DBAs and developers who are comfortable writing queries, but not so comfortable when it comes to explaining nonclustered indexes, lookups, and sargability. Register here.

August 28-30, Chattanooga, TN

Jeremiah Peschka, devLink

I’m excited to be speaking at devLink for the fourth year running. This year, I’ve been selected to present 4 talks (down from last year’s five) on a variety of database subjects. Here’s what I’ll be covering:

Defining a Data Strategy

If you’ve worried about outgrowing your current database or wasting countless hours moving to the wrong data platform, listen up. There is an overwhelming array of database options on the market, knowing which to pick is difficult. Before jumping in, it’s important to have a list of questions to make your decision easier. In this session, we’ll cover a set of questions to get your team started in the decision making process. This session is for senior developers and software architects looking to expand their horizons.

Much Ado About Hadoop

By now you’ve probably heard the words “Big Data” and “Hadoop”, but you’re not sure what they mean, much less how to get started. Maybe you’re struggling with storing a lot of data, rapidly processing a huge volume of data, or maybe you’re just curious. There are a bewildering array of options and use cases within the Hadoop ecosystem. Every day I help customers understand their data problems, understand where Hadoop fits into their environment, and determine how they can use Hadoop to solve their problem. This session provides an introduction to what Hadoop is, when it’s appropriate to use Hadoop, and guidance on how to get started.

Riak in a .NET World

Developers have a lot of choices when it comes to storing data. In this session, we’ll introduce .NET developers to Riak, a distributed key-value database. Through a combination of concepts and practical examples, attendees will learn when Riak might be appropriate, how to get started with Riak using CorrugatedIron (a full-featured .NET client for Riak), and how to solve data modeling problems they’re likely to encounter. This talk is for developers who are interested in backing their applications with a fault-tolerant, distributed database.

Scale Up or Scale Out

You need to handle more data and deliver faster queries, but the options are confusing. In this session, you will learn from battle tested techniques used to speed up SQL Server environments both by scaling up and scaling out. We’ll cover which features can save you hundreds of development hours, which features are a struggle to implement, and how you can tell the difference. This workshop is for developers and DBAs who need to plan long term changes to their environment.

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