The Professional Association for SQL Server has a few Virtual Chapters.  Formerly known as Special Interest Groups (SIGs), these are groups where people with similar interests can get together and talk shop.  It’s like that Furry group you belong to, only different.  Or maybe not so different.

I’m starting up a Virtualization Virtual Chapter: a group dedicated to helping database administrators manage SQL Servers that live in virtual environments like Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware vSphere.

The group will be responsible for:

• Helping the community by producing things like monthly webcasts, a centralized list of helpful virtualization-savvy administrators, and an annual report of what’s working well under virtualization and what isn’t quite there yet.
• Helping PASS management by increasing membership, building assets that PASS can leverage (like a library of training content), and showing that PASS solves real DBA problems.
• Helping virtualization vendors by getting training and configuration information out to the right people who need it and helping them build a better product with our feedback.  I almost see the group as Consumer Reports for virtualization – there’s so much crappy hype going back and forth, and the DBA community needs an unbiased group to give real answers.

I’m not just looking for virtualization cheerleaders or seasoned pros, either.  In order for this to work, I need a balanced group of people from all over the virtualization spectrum, like:

• DBAs from enterprise shops with hundreds of SQL Servers that have deployed virtualization successfully
• DBAs from small to midsize shops that have only dabbled in virtualization
• At least one doubter: somebody who isn’t convinced that SQL Server will ever work in virtual environments

My community will be made up of people all over the technological map, but they’ll have a few things in common:

• Experience with SQL Server (even if they’re just junior DBAs)
• A keen interest in virtualization (whether it’s seeing it succeed or seeing it fail, I just want some passion)
• An online presence (Twitter, blog, etc)
• A willingness to spend 4 hours a week putting up with me

If this sounds like you, take the Virtualization Virtual Chapter Steering Committee Screening Survey, also known as the VVCSCSSV1.

Update 5/27 – thanks for your interest, and I’ve closed the survey.  We’ve got our founding committee members.