Come get your learn on. Our Tech Triage Tuesday webcasts have taken off – we’ve got over 250 registrants for this week’s pin-the-blame-on-the-SAN-guy session – so we’re adding even more webcast options. In addition to our regular 30-minute Tuesday 11:30AM Central webcasts, we’re adding two four-hour sessions in September. Here’s what’s coming up:
August 30 – How to Prove It’s a SAN Problem
Brent Ozar, Technology Triage Tuesday Webcast
Years ago, when Brent was frustrated with his SQL Server’s performance, the SAN admin kept saying it was a SQL Server problem. When the SAN admin quit, Brent took his job – and discovered the ugly truth. In the years since, Brent’s done a lot of projects with SQL Server and VMware on SAN storage, and he knows how to find out right away if it’s really a SAN problem. Learn how to use disk testing tools in this 30-minute session.
September 6 – Does This Transaction Log Make My Database Look Big?
Tim Ford – Tech Triage Tuesday
Face it; your database doesn’t get much exercise. It spends its day sitting on the same old server in the same old rack eating garbage all day long. Sure once in a while it may go for a spin, but SSDs are chipping away at that. They may hop around in a VM farm, but for the most part they sit there lazily wasting away the day. What goes into the log? What settings affect the size of the log and what can you do to keep it lean? Join Tim to find out.
September 7 – SAN Basics for DBAs
Brent Ozar, 24 Hours of PASS Webcast
They keep telling you it’s a SQL problem – but how can you prove where the real problem is? Learn the basics about your storage options like RAID 5, RAID 10, solid state drives, and why your biggest bottleneck might be a $5 cable. No storage experience required. This session is for production database administrators who’ve never looked inside the black box of storage before. Register now.
September 13 – Configuring SQL Server in Amazon EC2
Jeremiah Peschka – Tech Triage Tuesday
Sure, the cloud is a cheap and easy way to spin up more servers and spin up more servers faster, but what do you do when performance problems hit? There’s no SAN team to blame and no infrastructure team to move you to a new server. This talk will expose some common performance complaints about moving SQL Server to the cloud and provide explanations and mitigations to keep you floating along on cloud 9.
This talk is for DBAs, developers, and managers who are considering moving their infrastructure into EC2. If you’re already running in EC2 and you haven’t solved some of your performance problems, this might help you out too, but I wouldn’t count on it. Register now.
September 13 – Storage Area Networks for DBAs
Brent Ozar, 4-Hour Webcast
If you like Brent’s 1-hour sessions on SAN basics, you’ll love the extended-length, unrated version. Brent will cover:
- The differences between RAID levels (5, 6, 10, DP)
- How pools of disks are shared between servers, and why you might like it
- Pathing: the route between your server and your data
- How PCI Express SSDs like Fusion-IO work differently
Then he ties it into SQL Server to show you:
- Why the SAN admin always thinks you’re not pushing the SAN hard enough
- When you don’t need to separate your data and your log files – and when you do
- Why pathing may determine the number of data files you need for speed
- When you might actually need two log files in your database – despite what the “experts” say
This session is for DBAs who are frustrated with slow or unreliable SAN performance, or DBAs who are about to embark on buying a new SAN. Register today.
September 17 - SQL Saturday #84, Kalamazoo
The whole Brent Ozar PLF team will be visiting and presenting at SQL Saturday Kalamazoo! Come on out and meet the team.
- Tim Ford – The Periodic Table of Dynamic Management Objects
- Brent Ozar – How to Defuse Problems Like a Consultant
- Brent Ozar – SAN Basics for DBAs
- Jeremiah Peschka – Leaving the Windows Open
- Jeremiah Peschka – Refactoring SQL
- Kendra Little – Seven Strategic Discussions About Scale
September 20 – Tuning SQL Server on VMware 4
Brent Ozar – 4-Hour Webcast
SQL Servers can run faster and more reliably under VMware vSphere 4, but they can also run craptastically. You can’t just use the defaults and expect databases to fly, but thankfully, it’s not that hard to get high performance and uptime with just a few important tweaks.
In this four-hour session, production DBAs will learn why:
- Virtual CPUs are different – and sometimes less is more
- Virtual memory is different – and how to set SQL Server max memory under VMware
- Virtual storage is different – and whether we should use VMDKs or raw LUNs
- Virtual networking is different – and why we have to do our backups differently
- Virtual monitoring is different – and why Task Manager is a dirty, filthy liar
This session is for DBAs who are frustrated with slow or unpredictable SQL Server performance inside VMware, or DBAs who are about to embark on virtualizing their first SQL Server. Register today.
October 4 – PASS Summit Conference Tips and Tricks
Entire Brent Ozar PLF Team – Tech Triage Tuesday Webcast
Are you going to the PASS Summit conference in Seattle this year? We’ve been going for years, and we share our favorite inside info. Learn the best places for breakfast, which sessions you should definitely attend, and where things happen after hours. We’ll make sure you get the most out of your Summit experience. Register now.
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