Monday Morning Humor

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Happy Monday!

Thanks,

Brad

SQL SATURDAY 79

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This weekend Saturday August the 13^th, I will be trekking down to beautiful Ft. Lauderdale to speak at SQL Saturday 79.  I applied to speak back in March, and at the time I submitted 5 different sessions. I was brain storming at the time.  I’ve done a lot of presenting on Compression, and I love to present on it, but I had a couple other topics that I wanted to present on as well.  And that is one of the great things about SQL Saturday, it is all about giving Attendees the chance to learn, and giving Speakers the chance to present.  And will I ever be presenting!  I will be speaking not once, not twice, but THREE times this Saturday!

“So Balls”, you say, “What will you be presenting on?”

So Glad you asked Dear Reader J, and away we go!

PAGE & ROW COMPRESSION HOW, WHY, AND WHEN

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I’ve presented on this topic at SQL Saturday 62 & 74, SQL Rally, MagicPASS, and Tuesday August 9^th at OPASS, the SQL Server User Group for North Orlando.  Compression is a great topic, and is a technology that I believe will only increase in usage.

So often people confusing Compression, with squeezing more into one place.  It is much more like efficiently packing what you have in the best logical order.  Understanding how compression works, and what you should be compressing, and why compression could help you is key to benefiting from the cost of an Enterprise Edition License for SQL 2008 and up.   

I’m presenting a Deep Dive on this topic at the PASS Summit in October, and this presentation is the perfect preparation for that Deep Dive.  If you get a chance to stop by I’d love to have you, here is the abstract for my session.

“Page and Row Compression are powerful new tools. Vardecimal shipped with SQL 2005 SP2, Page & Row with SQL 2008 RTM, and Page & Row with Unicode Compression with SQL 2008 R2. Get an overview into how each version of compression works internally. Learn how your Allocation Units will determine if your data is a candidate for compression. Understand how your tables Update and Scan pattern’s affect the compression types you should consider. And what you should you take into consideration for additional overhead.”

Next up a little Transparent Data Encryption

TRANSPARENT DATA ENCRYPTION INSIDE & OUT

In the wake of all the hacking scandals that we’ve seen recently, Security is at the forefront of many people’s minds.  If you haven’t had your CIO, Bosses Boss, or your Boss ask you about what you can do to “better secure” your databases, you will at some point.

 If you are paying for an Enterprise Edition License for SQL Server 2008 and above you have Transparent Data Encryption available to you.  It is really easy to enable, but you need to understand how it works, what it does and what it doesn’t do, additional backup considerations, what the impact will be to advanced features, and how this will add to disaster recovery scenarios.   We will cover all of that.  I’ve set up TDE with Mirroring, Log Shipping, on Vendor Databases, and on Custom Databases. 

When we talk about TDE it is physical hardening, like Colossus up above, and if you work with sensitive data this could be a real benefit to you.  I’ve got this chocked full of info.  I love questions so if you’ve got them get them ready because I’d love to help with an answer.  And if I don’t have an answer I’ll research it and blog about it!

Here’s the abstract for this presentation.

“Security is a very important part of your job and in how data is utilized. We have many tools to make data more secure, and starting in SQL 2008 we were able to add Transparent Data Encryption to that list. Find out What it does, What it doesn’t do, how it effects Read-Only Filegroups, Performance, Compression (Backup and Row/Page), and other Advance Features as well as some tips on how to manage it.”

And now a little fun with Internals!

SQL INTERNALS, RECOVERY MODELS, & BACKUPS! OH MY!

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Listing to Paul Randal's (@PaulRandal | Blog) MCM videos, he talks about spelunking in the Database engine. 

As someone who has rock climbed, caved, and generally spent a lot of time hiking around the mountains I really like the mental image of a couple guys lowering themselves deep into the SQL Engine with Hard Hat’s and Light’s on their heads. 

“Hey Paul you ever been here before?”  “Yeah, loads of time check out the granite stalagmites by the Access Methods!”  And if you are looking for spelunking that is what I’m doing, but instead of going caving we are spelunking around the kiddie pool.

Why should you come to this session?  Especially after you’ve just sat through my two other sessions J?  Because Dear Reader I want you to learn.  There is so much to learn when it comes to internals that people can spend weeks, and do, learning about one particular section and still have more to learn.  But as you continue your learning there is a lot of vocabulary you will need to know.

You need to know what the internal Data Hierarchy looks like.  You should know what the difference between a record, a page, an extent, an allocation bitmap, and Allocation Units/IAM Chain’s are.  You should know how your Transaction Log effects your Recovery Model.  You should know the different Recovery Model’s and how they relate to the different type of backups, and how backups relate to Service Level Agreements, SAL’s, and Disaster Recovery, DR.

But unlike any other presentation that I have ever done, this is just a talk, a conversation.  You could do demo’s with this, but that is a lot to squeeze into an hour & ½ .  I want to make sure that when you leave the room you know enough to feel informed.  But that you also know enough, to realize how much you do not know.  And you’re not alone. 

I don’t know it all.  Not even close.  But there are a lot of amazing experts out there that I’m still learning from, and probably will continue to learn from until they retire or I do.  But this will set you up with knowledge you might not have already known, and will make sure you are poised for future learning.  Here’s the abstract.

“The more you know about SQL Server the more you understand how it works. SQL Server is a product we use every day, and most of us know the big concepts. At the 10,000 foot view we know what Databases, Tables, and Columns are. But what makes up those Databases, Tables, and Columns. What are Records, Pages, Extents, and Allocation Units? What are Full, Simple, and Bulk-Logged Recovery? What are the differences between Full, Transaction Log, Differential, or Filegroup backups? This is an introduction to these concepts. In this session you will learn about the internal Structure, Recovery Modes, and Backups and be better prepared to for Future Learning and Managing SQL!”

So what are you waiting for Dear Reader, Click HERE to go register, come up and say “Hi!” and I hope to see you there!

Thanks,

Brad

Top 5 Reasons You Should Be on Twitter

Yesterday for Monday Morning Humor I talked a little about how Twitter was a great resource for learning.  But before we do that I wanted to out myself.  The lovely Mrs. Balls still teases me about this, but I used to make fun of Twitter. I thought it was ridiculous when I first heard of it.  And I swore up and down that I would never use it. 

“So Balls”, you say, “What changed your mind?”

Excellent question Dear Reader, SQL Saturday 49 was the start of changing my mind.  I really enjoyed it and was inspired to become more active in the SQL Community.  I looked at what all the top people presenting were doing and wanted to push myself in that direction.  I created a blog, I joined Linkedin, and I joined Twitter.  But my mind wasn’t yet changed.

I fumbled around, added a couple of people that I looked up to or respected.  And by virtue of watching their conversations found more people in our industry, who I respected and were very active in the SQL Community.  Listening SQL MVP’s talk SQL on Twitter is like hearing the CIO tell you what their plans are for the future.  It’s an inside track into a conversation that you wouldn’t be privy to unless you were playing in the Big Leagues.  

A book that Brent Ozar (@BrentO | Blog) had written called The Simple Twitter Book really helped as well.  When my Dad signed up on Twitter I sent him a copy of this and said “You should read this ASAP”.   My Dad isn’t in the tech field but he has always been tech savvy, and Twitter can do a lot of things for a business owner.  There are a lot of good tips on etiquette as well as how to make Twitter interesting to you.  And Dear Reader if you are on Twitter and you haven’t read it, go grab a FREE PDF copy and get to reading!

TOP 5 REASONS YOU SHOULD BE ON TWITTER

1.  Paul Randal’s Twitter Feed

Paul Randal(@PaulRandal | Blog) is one of the Owner & Founders of a company named SQLSkills (@sqlskills), he’s a Regional Mentor for the SQL MVP Program, he lead the team that wrote the Storage Engine for SQL 2005 & the Access Methods for SQL 2008.  In other words he’s wicked smart in ways that most of us would like to be.  He and his company share a lot of information freely on Twitter.  And for a while they were doing a weekly Quiz, chocked full of good info on SQL.  As my cartoon yesterday indicated he will say something smart that you will want to remember.  And you can get a lot of learning from this.

2.  #SQLHelp

If you are having a work Problem and you and your co-workers are stumped, #SQLHelp is a great resource.  In Twitter the Hashtag, aka pound sign #, is used in front of a phrase to make it searchable.  SQL MVP Aaron Nelson (@SQLVariant | Blog) had a brilliant idea that if you need help with SQL throwing this phrase out there would be like our own mini Bat Signal, saying SQL GURU’s HELP OVER HERE, MAN THE LIFE BOATS, or CALL A LOCKSMITH.  However you phrase it, I need some help.  Some of the top minds in our field watch this, and respond during the day with suggestions and answers.  I don’t mind saying I’ve used this more than once and it has been awesome every time.

3.  Blogs

There are so many people whose Blogs I follow, or have learned of because of Twitter.  We as the SQL Community Love to write, we LOVE it like Romeo has this little crush on Juliet.  I’ve got over 240 people that I follow on Twitter, and I would say that around 200 of them Blog.  Whenever I write a new one it goes out on the RSS feed and I announce it on Twitter.  When SQL comes out with a new Service Pack someone blogs about it, when a new CTP comes out for the latest SQL Version 100 people blog on it.  If someone hit’s a bug, they blog on it.  A new technology comes out that your work is looking at, someone probably Blogged on it.  You will find the people you know you can listen to, and you will start watching for their blogs.

4. Events

There is a lot going on out there.  I love Dave Matthews, he’s not touring this year but he is doing a concert for Charity August the 20^th, up in Virginia…..where I moved from….., but it’s not Just Dave Matthews.  SQL Solstice taking place in North Carolina in August.  SQL Saturday's, like SQL Saturday 85 (in Orlando September 24th!),  SQL Rally, and SQL Server User Groups.

5.    #MCMPREP

      This is another brain child of a great SQL Blogger, Thomas Larock (SQLRockstar | Blog).  Back in November last year Microsoft announced changes to the Certification Program for a Microsoft Certified Master.  Tom had the brilliant idea of holding study sessions on Twitter, now in G+.  One day when I'm not at work and can actually hop onto one.  I'm planning on it.  I'm still ways away from this goal.  But I can't help but want to learn from the people that are already there, or are about to be there.  And I hope you would want to learn from them to! 


     So there you have it Dear Reader, my Top 5 Reasons for being on Twitter.  There are a lot more, but I'll let you go and find those reasons out for yourself.  Thanks for stopping by again.

      Thanks,

      Brad