Tagged: Meetings

Event link at our Meetup page.

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

Securing your Azure SQL Database using TDE, Always Encrypted and more

Protecting the data is one of the prime responsibilities of the DBA. During this session we will cover some of the features of Azure and Azure SQL Database that will help make our data more secure. We will cover how to implement TDE, Always Encrypted, Always Encrypted with Secure Enclaves, Azure Locks and a brief introduction to firewalls.

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

How database security changes when moving to the cloud

The cloud is secure, right? So if we move our data to the cloud, we don’t need to worry about security, right?

WRONG.

No matter where your data is housed, security needs to be a top concern. Cloud providers like Azure and AWS provide security to a point, but it’s not complete. There’s still a lot that you, as a developer or DBA, must do. In this session, we’ll discuss the security concepts that apply to all database systems, and we’ll dive into how those concepts apply specifically to the cloud.

Ed Leighton-Dick

Ed Leighton-Dick is a Microsoft MVP, SQL Server performance and architecture specialist, and Founder/Principal Consultant of Kingfisher Technologies. He is a frequent volunteer with PASS, including roles as regional mentor, chapter leader of I-380 PASS SQL Server User Group, and organizer of SQLSaturday Iowa City. He can often be found teaching sessions at local, regional, and national events, including user groups, SQLSaturday, and PASS Summit. 

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Event link at our Meetup page.

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

What is Power BI?

You’ve heard all the buzz about Power BI, but you have no idea what it is or how it works. This session explains what Power BI is, who can use it and why you would want to. It’s an introductory session that gives you the information you need to determine if Power BI is right for you and your organization.

Level: Beginner/Intro

Target Audience: Anyone who is interested in learning more about what Power BI is and if it’s right for you. For people with both technical and non-technical backgrounds.

Angela Henry

Angela is a Principal Consultant, living in High Point, NC and loves what she does. She’s worked with all versions of SQL Server & worn all the hats that come with dealing with SQL Server throughout the years: developer, administrator, data architect and BI developer. She has her MSCE in Data and Analytics (f.k.a., Business Intelligence), is a Data Platform MVP, and a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT). She is the former chapter leader for the PASS Triad SQL User Group in Greensboro, NC. In her spare time you can probably find her in or at the pool, she’s an avid US Masters Swimmer, Coach, Instructor and Official.

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Event link at our Meetup page.

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

10 Things You Might Have Forgotten About Query Tuning

Have you ever wondered why your SQL Server report queries feel like they should run faster – but don’t? Query performance is as much an art form as a science, but there are some easy wins you can take away to quickly get some performance in your custom queries, such as how to read an execution plan, implicit conversions, and more! Some of these tips might be new to you, and some you might have just forgotten over time, but all are useful so you can speed up your reports. Come learn from this technical session about ten major areas of query performance tuning that you might not know (or have forgotten).

David Klee

David Klee is a Microsoft MVP and VMware vExpert with a passion for the convergence of data, cloud, and infrastructure. David spends his days handling performance and HA/DR architecture of mission-critical SQL Servers as the Founder of Heraflux Technologies. His areas of expertise are virtualization and performance, datacenter architecture, and risk mitigation through high availability and disaster recovery. You can read his blog at davidklee.net, and reach him on Twitter at @kleegeek.

David speaks at a number of national and regional technology related events, including the PASS Summit, VMworld, IT/Dev Connections, SQL Saturday events, SQL Cruise, PASS virtual chapter webinars, and many SQL Server User Groups.

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Event link at our Meetup page.

Creating CrossTab Queries and Pivot Tables in SQL
a.k.a. Reporting on Steroids

“Data” is useless. It tells you nothing until it’s converted to “Information”.

Knowing how to convert “Data” to “Information” is an absolutely critical skill in the multiple worlds of Data Analytics, Predictive Analysis, and related disciplines.

One of the most common and extremely useful methods of converting “Data” into “Information” is to transform the data into a “Cross Tabulation” or “Contingency Table” or, as it is more commonly known, a “Pivot” or “CrossTab” table. The conversion process is also commonly referred to as a “Pivot” or “CrossTab”.

This session is for newbies and highly experienced folks alike. Here’s a short synopsis and the killer end result:

· Purpose and Basics of CrossTabs (a.k.a. Pivots)
· Create a “Single Column” CrossTab
· Create a “Multi Column” CrossTab
· Why the PIVOT Operator is NOT Your Friend
· Intro to Creating Voluminous Test Data and “Minimal Logging”
· 3 Pre-Aggregation Methods for Serious Increases in Performance
· The “Ultimate Pre-Aggregation”
o “Impossible” Reports on 100 Million rows in Milli-Seconds
o Eliminates ETL
o Always Up to Date
o Tiny Footprint

Jeff Moden

Jeff Moden is an “Accidental DBA” with more than 26 years of SQL Server experience. Jeff helped make the advanced technique known as the “Tally” or “Numbers” Table a household word and coined the term “RBAR”, which stands for “Row By Agonizing Row”. He’s written 44 mostly five star articles for SQLServerCentral.com and, having more than 58,000 posts, is one of the leading contributors on that site. Jeff is renowned for being able to teach extremely complex concepts and techniques in such a manner that even beginners can understand without boring the experts. He’s also a 9 year SQL Server MVP veteran, won the Red Gate exceptional DBA award in 2011, has spoken at the PASS Summit, many SQL Saturdays, and many local PASS chapter meetings on many different SQL Server subjects.

His mantra is “Performance is in the code”.

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Event link at our Meetup page.

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

How to Troubleshoot SQL Server CPU Problems

CPU is the workhorse of any SQL Server and Azure SQL. CPU handles not only core processing but also worker thread management and parallelism. And yet many of us don’t know the fundamentals beyond “SQL Server take cares of that for me”. So what happens to those CPUs when things go wrong? In this session, we’ll go deep into the internal behavior of SQL Server CPU, including the internal and external memory pressure, worker thread management, and how to troubleshoot CPU problems.

Kevin Kline

Kevin Kline is a noted database expert and software industry veteran. A 20-year Microsoft Data Platform MVP and noted community leader in the IT industry, Kevin is a founder and former president of the Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS.ORG), as well as the author of popular IT books including the bestseller “SQL in a Nutshell”. Kevin is a top-rated speaker at industry trade shows worldwide and has a monthly column at Database Trends & Applications magazine (DBTA.com). His product designs for database tools have won numerous awards at industry trade shows and from a variety of trade magazines. He is on social media as @kekline and blogs regularly.

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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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