NYC SQL Server event on September 9

Spend a Day with the Experts

Quest Software is throwing a free day-long seminar on Tuesday, September 9, 2008 at the Microsoft Technology Center in New York City.

The agenda focuses on getting the maximum amount of knowledge possible in the fastest time possible.

• Hit The Ground Running with SQL 2008 (by me) - in 60-90 minutes, I’ll give a fast rundown of how and when to enable some of SQL Server 2008’s new features like the Resource Governor and Policy-Based Management.  My goal is to give you the scripts and the know-how to quickly set this stuff up with confidence and see the benefits.  For example, I’ll give you a few queries that you can use with the new Multi-Server Query feature of SQL Server Management Studio for auditing purposes to help get an inventory of your server configurations.
• Demos of the Quest portfolio (by Jason Hall) - yes, it’s some marketing here, and you’ll have to sit through demos.  But lemme tell you, if you’re going to sit through any demos, Jason is the guy to watch.  He works with a lot of DBAs, hears a lot of customer pains, and he knows how to show you the real highlights of any of our products in a matter of minutes.  If this was going to be boring, I wouldn’t hype it up, but I’ll put my name on the line and say it’s going to be cool.  I haven’t talked to him about it, but he’ll probably be presenting the new LiteSpeed v5 and the new Toad v4 at least.
• SQL 2008 Storage Changes: Encryption & Compression (by me) - I’ve seen a few small reviews and demos of these two features around the web, but I haven’t seen a good all-encompassing demo that shows how the two features work together.  (Here’s a hint: they don’t.)  I’ll show how to mix and match them, show how each one can be used effectively, and give you the scripts to go back and implement it on testbeds.
• Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 for DBAs (by Tom LaRock) - SCOM/MOM has a good reputation as a Wintel admin tool, but out of the box it doesn’t really monitor everything DBAs want to know.  Tom has put the time and effort into building his own set of monitors to really help DBAs take advantage of the SCOM infrastructure.  He’s a member of the Quest Association of SQL Server Experts, a DBA team lead for ING Investments by day, and by night he roams the streets of Gotham fighting bad T-SQL coders.  But more on that later.

The seminars are free, and breakfast and lunch will be provided.  You can register for it here: Become a SQL Server Rock Star with Quest in NYC.

If you can’t make it to the seminar, but you still want to meet up with one of the experts, some of us will be in town the day before & after for meetings.  Drop me an email and we’ll see if we can work out a meetup.  I’m also working in a field trip to Brooklyn Superhero Supply - I’ve wanted to visit that place ever since I read this article about it and saw these pictures.  I’d love to have some of this stuff to give away as swag.