Month: October 2023

Event link at our Meetup page.

• 5:30 pm Networking
• 6:00 pm Meeting

Mastering TempDB

Have you experienced performance problems caused by contention in TempDB? Have you ever wondered why your TempDB is suddenly 3 TB? In this session, you will learn about all the various components of SQL Server that use TempDB. Whether it be AlwaysOn Availability Groups, Read Committed Snapshot version stores, spills, or simply temporary tables, learn about how to identify what SQL Server or your applications are doing in TempDB. Once you understand all the ways SQL Server uses this critical resource, and how to proper configure it, you’ll be better prepared for your workloads whether it be an Azure VM, a physical server, or a container.

Monica Rathbun

Monica lives in Virginia and is a Microsoft MVP for Data Platform. She has over 15 years of experience working with a wide variety of database platforms with a focus on SQL Server. She is a frequent speaker at IT industry conferences on topics including performance tuning and configuration management. She is the Leader of the Hampton Roads SQL Server User Group and a Mid‐Atlantic PASS Regional Mentor. She is passionate about SQL Server and the SQL Server community, doing anything she can to give back. Monica can always be found on Twitter (@sqlespresso) handing out helpful tips.

You can find Monica blogging at sqlespresso.com or via email at monica@dcac.com.

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Event link at our Meetup page.

• 5:30 pm Networking
• 6:00 pm Meeting

Parameter Sniffing: Everything You Have Been Told is Wrong!

Execution plan reuse is one of the most misunderstood aspects of SQL Server. While it serves us well 99.99% of the time, it is very easy to trip up when parameter sniffing results in performance problems.

In this session, we will thoroughly dissect how plan reuse works, discuss parameter sniffing, and the many potential solutions available to resolve it. We will examine the many poor solutions that are found on blogs and web pages all over the internet and why applying a quick-fix may result in long-term performance headaches if not thoroughly researched prior to implementation.

Ed Pollack

Ed Pollack has 20+ years of experience in database administration and architecture, which has developed his passion for performance optimization, database design, and security. He has spoken at many SQLSaturdays, 24 Hours of PASS, and PASS Summit. This led him to organize many SQL Saturday and other Microsoft data platform events. Ed is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP.

In his free time, Ed enjoys video games, traveling, cooking exceptionally spicy foods, and hanging out with his amazing wife and sons.

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Event link at our Meetup page.

• 5:30 pm Networking
• 6:00 pm Meeting

PowerShell for Beginners

During this session we will cover the basics of PowerShell and how we can use it to help us do our job. We will go over the fundamentals of PowerShell including some basic commands. We will also go over the places in the SQL Server environment that PowerShell can be used. This session is for the DBA who has little or no knowledge of PowerShell.

Dave Bland

Manager of Database Administrators, Stericycle

Over 20 years of SQL Server experience that includes being a DBA, BI development and Application development using VB.NET. Dave currently is the Manager of the DBA team at Stericycle. Dave is a Friend of Red-Gate for 2019. He is a frequent presenter at SQL Saturday events and user groups around the country. Has been teaching SQL Server since version 2000 and is the SQL Server instructor at Harper College in Palatine, IL. Current certifications include: Microsoft Certified Trainer; MCTS: SQL Server 2008, Implementation and Maintenance; MCTS: SQL Server 2008, BI Development and Maintenance; MCSA: SQL Server 2008; MCSA: SQL Server 2016; MCSE: SQL Server 2016 – BI; MCDBA: SQL Server 2000; MCSD; MCSE: Data Management and Analytics.

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Event link at our Meetup page.

• 5:30 pm Networking
• 6:00 pm Meeting

OpenAI in Azure Synapse

You have probably heard of AI and ChatGPT with Microsoft’s BIG investments in OpenAI, see how you can use some amazing new AI technology in your own Azure Synapse environment with a live demo! Discussions on other uses for AI in other Azure solutions as well, including Azure Cognitive Search.

Steve Wake

Steve Wake is currently the Principal BI Developer at Brown and Caldwell and has experience in consulting, advertising, media, manufacturing, retail, charities, telecommunications and financial services organizations using the full on-premises Microsoft BI stack. Recent experience with the Azure services: Microsoft Fabric, OpenAI, Azure Synapse Analytics, Azure Analysis Services, Azure Logic Apps, Azure Data Factory, Azure Databricks, Snowflake and Power BI. Steve is also very involved in the SQL community, speaking at events around the world.

AI is the big buzz right now, so I figure others probably want to know how they might be able to leverage it in their applications.

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