Want me to present at your user group? First, pick from one of my favorite presentations, then contact me and let me know what dates you’ve got open. I wish I could travel to every user group meeting, but unless I’ve got other events going in the area, I’ll need to present remotely using LiveMeeting. I blogged about getting user group speakers over at QuestKB.com.
Blitz! One Hour SQL Server Takeovers
You’re minding your own business in your corner office – well, no, you’re a DBA, so it’s just your cubicle – when somebody says, “Did you know about this SQL Server over here?” Suddenly, you have to find out what the server’s doing, how it was set up, and whether things are working correctly. In this real-time session, Brent will show you how he tackles unknown servers in 60 minutes to find problems, take an inventory, and set the server up for easier management down the road.
Demos & Links – SpeakerRate Ratings
Virtualization and SAN Basics for Database Administrators
These two technologies can make a very big – and very bad – difference in how your SQL Server performs. Wouldn’t it be great if you could get the real, honest lowdown from a virtualization administrator, a SAN administrator, and a DBA? Wouldn’t it be even better if one person had done all three, and could give you the pros and cons of each point of view? That person is Brent Ozar, a Microsoft Certified Master who’s been there and done that.
- Three things you should NEVER do when virtualizing SQL Server
- Three things you should ALWAYS do when using SQL on a SAN
- Three metrics you should always capture on virtual & SAN-connected SQL Servers
Video – Demos & Links – SpeakerRate Ratings
SQL Server Performance Tuning for Race Car Drivers
Times are tough even for the best drivers: Helio Castroneves is dancing for money and Danica Patrick is doing ads for what appears to be an adult services company. Maybe it’s time to switch careers, and Brent has just the thing. Use your hard-earned knowledge of high speeds, million-dollar hardware and surviving disastrous crashes to become a SQL Server performance tuner!
In this session, Brent will show you:
- Why Colin Chapman would check for indexes before adding new ones
- The importance of well-tested safety gear to performance tuning
- Why not monitoring your servers is like overdriving your headlights
- Just like races are lost in the pits, uptime records are lost during maintenance windows
Video – Demos & Links – SpeakerRate Ratings
Hey Ma, Watch This: Useless and Dangerous Tricks
If you want useful stuff, go to another session. If you’re looking for things to do on your production server, you’re in the wrong place. In this presentation, Brent will be running around with scissors, doing all kinds of oddball T-SQL stunts that have no business in the business world. If you’re the kind of person who loves using a number after the GO statement (like GO 10), then you’ll love this session.
The Top 10 Developer Mistakes That Won’t Scale
You’ve heard it before: “It worked fine on my machine, but the users say it’s too slow.” Don’t blame the developers: they’re using SQL Server features that look great on paper, but in reality, they won’t scale up to production loads. Learn to recognize these common mistakes before they go into production, and be armed with easy fixes for:
- User-defined functions that go through too much data
- Triggers that perform business logic
- Cursors that process data row by row
Demos & Links – SpeakerRate Ratings
Tuning SQL Server with the DMVs
This is a series of three 1-hour presentations that I can give individually, or all in a row. They’re designed to take you from DMV Dummy to Dr. DMV.
- Part 1: Reading the Signs – SQL Server gives us signs about what’s going on inside the database engine. Learn to use the Dynamic Management Views (DMVs) to find out what’s happening and how you can make it faster. SpeakerRate Ratings
- Part 2: Managing Indexes – SQL Server is constantly watching queries and taking notes about what indexes could have made the queries – and which ones aren’t helping at all. Learn how to use the Dynamic Management Views (DMVs) to build better indexes and dump the ones you don’t need. SpeakerRate Ratings
- Part 3: Playing Doctor with the DMVs – SQL Server’s Dynamic Management Views (DMVs) have some limitations. They don’t reset until your SQL Server service restarts, and they don’t give you good trending information. SQL Server 2008′s new Management Data Warehouse improves on the DMVs, but we’re not all on 2008, and we don’t all use Enterprise Edition. Learn how to get better information from the DMVs with your existing servers by playing doctor. SpeakerRate Ratings
Perfmon & Profiler 101
These two tools are the key to successful performance tuning. I’ll show you how to get started with these tools, how to slice and dice the results, and even how to data mine the results to look for interesting trends. Whether you like to monitor performance with native tools or third party utilities, knowing how the native tools work will help you get better results out of your tools.
Attendees will learn:
- Why Perfmon is like a Nissan GT-R’s dashboard
- What Perfmon counters to measure, and what they mean
- Four common performance symptoms and how to cure the problems
Video – Demos & Links – SpeakerRate Ratings
SQL Server Storage: Files, Filegroups, Partitioning, & More
It’s hard to find good information about SQL Server storage. Should you put data and log files on different drives when they’re on a SAN? How do you know when to add more data files? Is there an advantage to using multiple filegroups? Brent’s a former SAN administrator and wrote the storage chapter of Professional SQL Server 2008 Internals and Troubleshooting. He’s got the answers you’re looking for, and he’ll help demystify what SQL Server’s doing inside the black box.
Attendees will learn:
- Why you shouldn’t add files to an existing filegroup
- How to get faster performance from TempDB
- How to check your file performance using DMVs
SQL Server Disaster Recovery 101
Developers and accidental DBAs: if you know more about how SQL Server handles crashes and disasters, you’ll be able to make a better decision about how to prepare. In this session, Brent will cover all of SQL Server’s backup and high availability options at a high level, including clustering, log shipping, mirroring, replication and more. He’ll show the pros and cons of each, and teach you how to pick the right method for your application.
Attendees will learn:
- The difference between high availability and disaster recovery
- Real-world drawbacks of each solution
- Which methods complement each other for better protection
SAN Tips for First-Time Users
Considering moving from local disk to a SAN? This session will cover some of the risks and rewards, as well as tips and tricks that the sales folks don’t cover. We’ll talk about how to get the most out of your SAN from the beginning with a good initial design.
Attendees will learn:
- SAN advantages & disadvantages for DBAs
- How to tell if SAN snapshots & replication are right for you
- Why performance monitoring is tougher – yet even more important – for SAN-based servers
Want Me to Present At Your User Group Meeting?
I’d love to! I can present any of these remotely at the drop of a hat. Here’s how to get me to present at your user group.