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Last Month of Summer

I don’t know about all of you but these summer months mean I can spend the long summer days trying to make a dent in my to-do / to-learn list.

I said “trying”. Best-laid plans and all that.

Luckily I can count on the sessions coming up in the DBA Fundamentals Virtual Group.

This month we’ve got two past presenters coming back to impart some knowledge. Learning about design consequences from Gail Shaw and the care of SQL Server from Jennifer McCown is something that I would pay good money for.

Thanks to both of them for being willing to spread this knowledge for our free webinars!

On the down-under chapter, we have Victor Isakov talking about the new 2017 Database Engine enhancements. With the rate of releases coming out from Microsoft, I expect this to be a session jam-packed with nuggets of knowledge.

Sessions

Gail Shaw ( blog | twitter )

Bad Designs have Consequences.

07-Aug-2018 12:00 – 13:00 CST

In 15 odd years of working with SQL, you see a lot of weird and unusual database designs. In this session, Gail will take you through some of the more ‘interesting’ design choices (and lack of choices) that she’s seen over the years, discuss the problems with them and the consequences that happened as a result.
All the examples will be based on real-world examples, although with any identifying characteristics carefully removed.

Gail Shaw is a Database Specialist focusing on database performance tuning and database recovery, with a particular interest in topics such as indexing strategies, execution plans, and writing T-SQL code that performs well and scales gracefully.
Gail holds a Microsoft Certified Master certification for SQL Server 2008 and is a Data Platform MVP.
She’s a frequent poster on the SQLServerCentral forums, a Pluralsight author, writes articles for both SQLServerCentral.com and Simple-Talk.com, and has spoken at SQLSaturdays, SQL Bits and at the PASS Community Summit.
Gail has been responsible for extending the lifespan of many an application, by performance-tuning their databases and providing technical guidance on all things SQL Server related.

Shane says:
Gail also has some great insights into board and card games that I may or may not have used the last christmas and instigated a massive laugh / anger session at my house!

Victor Isakov ( blog | twitter )

SQL Server 2017 Database Engine Enhancements: Why You Should Upgrade to it.

Tue, Aug 14, 2018 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM AEST

Should I upgrade to SQL Server 2016 or SQL Server 2017? Is it more risky with SQL Server 2017. Were there any Database Engine enhancements in SQL Server 2017? Or was simply a release vehicle for SQL Server in Linux.
In this session Victor will look at the investments Microsoft made to the core relational Database Engine and why you should upgrade to it. With it’s improved query processing and improve features to further enhance scalability you should be bypassing SQL Server 2016.

Victor Isakov (MCA, MCM, MCT, MVP) is a Microsoft Certified Architect and Microsoft Certified Trainer who provides consulting and training services to various organizations in the public, private and NGO sectors globally, and been involved in different capacities at various international events and conferences. He has authored a number of books on SQL Server and worked closely with Microsoft to develop the new generation of SQL Server Certification and Microsoft Official Curriculum for both instructor led training (ILT) and e-Learning. He is one of the first IT professionals to become a Microsoft Certified Master and one of only three non-Microsoft Microsoft Certified Architects certifications globally.

Jennifer McCown ( website | twitter )

Beginning Admin: The Care and Feeding of the SQL Server

Tue, Aug 21, 2018 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM CDT

Design and development may be exciting, but database administration is absolutely critical (and, reasonably well-paying!) The care and feeding of a server tends to get short-changed or neglected. In this class, we’ll cover the basics of the big five administrator tasks:
• Backups – You must set up regular backups, to keep copies of your databases…just in case something breaks, or someone makes a bad, bad mistake.
• Integrity checks – Regularly and automatically check databases for corruption, which is when bits get scrambled, lost, and ruined.
• Index maintenance – Databases need regular upkeep so they’ll continue to run well.
• Disk management – It’s actually your job to find out about full disks before they happen. After all, databases grow!
• Alerting – Alerts tell you what’s wrong, so you don’t have to go looking for problems.
I’ll also provide good references for the other two big basics of admin: security, and performance. Being a database administrator is a big job, but we can cover the extremely important parts in just one session!

Jennifer McCown is an independent consultant, Microsoft SQL Server MVP awardee, developer, and DBA. She’s senior editor at MidnightDBA.com, where she creates training videos, the “DBAs at Midnight” webshow, blogs, reviews, and podcasts. Jennifer is a member, volunteer, and speaker in NTSSUG, PASS, and the PASS Women in Technology Virtual Chapter.

 

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Don’t forget to get in contact with us at any stage. We’re always looking for people, seasoned pros and the newly eager, to present.

Hit us up on twitter at @DBAFun!

Hope to see you all on the webinars soon!