Introduction to SSIS

SQL Server Integration Services is an amazing technology for moving and transforming data blazingly fast.  Plus, the BIDS environment makes it so easy to design and edit your ETL solution.  Come learn where to start with SSIS.  This session is full of demos to give you a practical introduction and show you some of the great features of SSIS.

Nathan has been a software developer for about a decade working with .NET, web and database development.  He works at SQLWatchmen, LLC. where he enjoys architecting, designing and implementing solutions for corporate database systems large and small.  Over the years, he has taken the lead to develop the SQLWatchmen Health Check tool, various SSIS packages, designing databases and working with many other aspects of SQL Server.

The meeting starts at 6:00 PM CST with food and open discussion.
Main presentation starts at 6:30 PM

Location Info:
*Parking is street parking, so anywhere you can find around the building
Experis IT
301 Congress Avenue, Suite 375
Austin, TX 78701

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Steve Ormrod will be presenting this month.

Losing your memory is never fun. 
Well, I can't help you with that, but I can help show you how SQL Server is using its memory and some things to look at with regards to performance problems.

When I started as a DBA I didn't know much about SQL Server internals.  I inherited quite a few servers and they were experiencing performance problems.  Over time I learned more about the internals and how to troubleshoot systems.  I'll share some stories with you and talk about some of the methods I use to look at how SQL Server is using its memory.  Then we'll look at some examples and demo code.

Steven is a Database Administrator for a global provider of orthotics and prosthetics. He focuses on clustering and consolidation projects, with a dash of performance tuning thrown in for fun. His environments contain hundreds of servers spread across multiple countries. In a previous life, he has been a Software Developer, SysAdmin, and a Teacher. Once upon a summer, he hitchhiked and bartended his way across Europe. When not breaking technology, he enjoys cooking, traveling, and snorkeling. He has a Bachelors of Science in Computer Science and a Masters in Educational Administration. Certifications include MCITP SQL 2008: Database Administration, Development; MCTS SQL 2008: BI Development.

The meeting starts at 5:30PM CST with food and a QA session.

Main presentation is at 6:00PM CST.

Location Info:
Address:
Quarry Oaks II
10900 Stonelake Blvd., Suite 225
Austin, TX 78759

Hope to see you there!

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AlwaysOn - Finally, A usable 'mirror'!

 In the past, High Availability and Disaster Recovery (HADR) had many limitations. Clustering and Mirroring are great, but the mirror/secondary database is not very usable since it is not online. Finally, AlwaysOn solves this limitation by merging both multi-node Clustering and mirroring. Denali AlwaysOn also allows the secondary database to remain ONLINE, so we can use it for reporting purposes without resorting to a Snapshot! Come see this lively session with extensive demos of setting up, configuring and testing AlwaysOn. We'll also test automatic fail-over using a real web app to see how well that feature works.

 Jim Murphy has been using Microsoft SQL Server since version 6.0 back in the 90's. He is the President/CEO of SQLWatchmen, LLC., a managed DBA service provider for smaller companies who do not need a full-time DBA. He has been in technology and programming for over 20 years and a consultant for over 10 years. Jim's background is in database administration and .NET development. SQLWatchmen has a staff of DBA's for round-the-clock part-time monitoring.

The meeting starts at 6:00 PM CST with food and open discussion.
Main presentation starts at 6:30 PM

Location Info:
*Parking is street parking, so anywhere you can find around the building
Experis IT
301 Congress Avenue, Suite 375
Austin, TX 78701

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Work_Smarter_Not_Harder_PASS_DBA_VC.ppt Download this file

Tonight AJ Mendo will be presenting

Work Smarter Not Harder
Standardize Your Environment With Best Practices

Are all your servers standardized across your environment? Do you manually click the next button when installing SQL Server? Do you manually create and configuring your routine maintenance? Are your SQL Agent Jobs owned by other DBAs in your group? Do you know when jobs fail? Or discover them accidentally? Do you have a standardized way to deploy updates?

We will discuss all these things and some others during this session and hopefully when we come out the other side some of this will make your life easier.

The meeting starts at 5:30PM CST with food and a QA session. Main presentation is at 6:00PM CST.

 Location Information

Address:
Quarry Oaks II
10900 Stonelake Blvd., Suite 225
Austin, TX 78759

Hope to see you there!

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This month Steven Ormrod will be presenting on

Clustering, without the Charlie Foxtrot

So you wanna do the Cluster, but you're afraid all your moves look more like the Charlie Foxtrot?  Relax, take some dancing lessons, and learn some tips and tricks for managing SQL Failover Clusters. 

Doing the Charlie Foxtrot may be all the rage at the club, but in your data center, that's another matter. Building Clusters is a multi-discipline process that requires cooperation from multiple teams.

There is a lot of confusion about what SQL Clusters are and what they can do for you. We'll talk about some of the myths and realities. Then, we'll discuss how Clusters can help your environment.

Next, we'll discuss some of the resources you need to have laid out ahead of time to help ensure you have a successful clustering project.

I will share some of my own practices and tips for setting up and configuring the Cluster and the SQL Instances.

Bio

Steven is a Database Administrator for a global provider of orthotics and prosthetics. He focuses on clustering and consolidation projects, with a dash of performance tuning thrown in for fun. His environments contain hundreds of servers spread across multiple countries. In a previous life, he has been a Software Developer, SysAdmin, and a Teacher. Once upon a summer, he hitchhiked and bartended his way across Europe. When not breaking technology, he enjoys cooking, traveling, and snorkeling. He has a Bachelors of Science in Computer Science and a Masters in Educational Administration. Certifications include MCITP SQL 2008: Database Administration, Development; MCTS SQL 2008: BI Development.

Address:
Experis IT
301 Congress Avenue, Suite 375
Austin, TX 78701

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Address:
Experis IT
301 Congress Avenue, Suite 375
Austin, TX 78701

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SQLSaturday_Benchmarking_Baselines_and_Monitoring_Storage_.pptx Download this file

Benchmarking, Baselines and Monitoring Storage There are several steps in the life cycle of your storage systems. We have several tools to help us understand our storage systems from initial deployment through its useful life. We will cover: SQLIO, a specific SQL Server benchmarking tool. Iometer, a general IO benchmarking tool and simulator. SQLIOSim a specific SQL Server base lining tool and simulator. TPC style testing focused on TPC-C, TPC-E and TPC-H. Monitoring your system using WMI and virtual file stats. Finally, what it all really means, how to read these results and compare them with each other. With these tools you can plan, deploy and manage your storage for years to come!

The meeting starts at 5:30PM CST with food and a QA session.
Main presentation is at 6:00PM CST.

Location Information
Quarry Oaks II
10900 Stonelake Blvd., Suite 225
Austin, TX 78759
Phone: (512) 795-5300
Fax: (512) 343-8498

VISITOR PARKING: Upon arriving at Quarry Oaks II, you may park on the surface lot in the front of the building or in parking garage at the back of the building.

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Benchmarking, Baselines and Monitoring Storage There are several steps in the life cycle of your storage systems. We have several tools to help us understand our storage systems from initial deployment through its useful life. We will cover: SQLIO, a specific SQL Server benchmarking tool. Iometer, a general IO benchmarking tool and simulator. SQLIOSim a specific SQL Server base lining tool and simulator. TPC style testing focused on TPC-C, TPC-E and TPC-H. Monitoring your system using WMI and virtual file stats. Finally, what it all really means, how to read these results and compare them with each other. With these tools you can plan, deploy and manage your storage for years to come!

The meeting starts at 6:00 PM CST with food and open discussion.
Main presentation starts at 6:30 PM

Remember, parking is street parking, so anywhere you can find around the building.

Location:
Experis Austin offices
Address:
Experis IT
301 Congress Avenue, Suite 375
Austin, TX 78701

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Our own Mike Byrd will be presenting at this month's meeting!

Titled SQL Server Hodge Podge

A different approach to a presentation, going over some issues I've encountered in last couple weeks including string lengths, datetime, statistics, query tuning, row compression.

The Secretary of POSSE, Richard Heim, is accepting nominations for elections to the POSSE Board of Directors. The positions to be filled are President, two year term, two Directors, two year terms, and two Directors, one year terms.  Each candidate must be nominate by another member.  A candidate may not nominate himself or herself.   Please email your nominations to Richard at richard.hiem@sqlposse.com.  Nominations must be submitted by December 13, 2011.  The annual meeting will be held on January 17, 2012.

Parking is street parking, so anywhere you can find around the building

CACTUSS CENTRAL:

The meeting starts at 6:00 PM CST with food and open discussion. Main presentation starts at 6:30 PM

Location Information
Experis Austin offices
Address:
Experis IT
301 Congress Avenue, Suite 375
Austin, TX 78701

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Our Own Mike Byrd will be presenting this evening.

Titled SQL Server Hodge Podge

A different approach to a presentation, going over some issues I've encountered in last couple weeks including string lengths, datetime, statistics, query tuning, row compression.

As usual, we will have pizza and drinks for you!

The meeting starts at 5:30PM CST with food and a QA session.
Main presentation is at 6:00PM CST. We may even talk about what some of us did last week. :)

Cheers!

Location Information
Quarry Oaks II
10900 Stonelake Blvd., Suite 225
Austin, TX 78759
Phone: (512) 795-5300
Fax: (512) 343-8498

VISITOR PARKING: Upon arriving at Quarry Oaks II, you may park on the surface lot in the front of the building or in parking garage at the back of the building.

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Reminder Meeting Tonight at the Experis Austin offices   ( www.bing.com/maps/)

The meeting starts at 6:00 PM CST with food, Introduction by Experis and a QA session. Main presentation starts at 6:30 PM

Jim Murphy will be presenting his SQL Saturday session Denali AlwaysOn - Finally, A usable 'mirror'! So if you won't be at SQL Saturday next month here is your chance to see Jim's session.

Denali AlwaysOn - Finally, A usable 'mirror'!

In the past, High Availability and Disaster Recovery (HADR) had many limitations. Clustering and Mirroring are great, but the mirror/secondary database is not very usable since it is not online. Finally, AlwaysOn solves this limitation by merging both multi-node Clustering and mirroring. Denali AlwaysOn also allows the secondary database to remain ONLINE, so we can use it for reporting purposes without resorting to a Snapshot! Come see this lively session with extensive demos of setting up, configuring and testing AlwaysOn. We'll also test automatic ConnectionString fail-over using a real web app to see how well that feature works.

Jim Murphy has been using Microsoft SQL Server since version 6.0 back in the 90's. He is the President/CEO of SQLWatchmen, LLC. and has been a consultant for over 10 years. Jim's background is in database administration and .NET development. Before becoming a full-time consultant, he worked in Software Engineering for Packard Bell/NEC for 9 years and also for a small dot com in California at the turn of the century. SQLWatchmen has a staff of DBA's for round-the-clock part-time monitoring. Jim is also the Treasure for POSSE (Professional Organization of SQL Server Educators).

Location Information
Experis IT
301 Congress Avenue, Suite 375
Austin, TX 78701

VISITOR PARKING: Upon arriving at Experis, you may part on the street for free after 5:30PM CST. We will not validate parking in the building garage.

CACTUSS - North

Meeting tomorrow night Tuesday at the Microsoft South Central District Offices. www.bing.com/maps/

The meeting starts at 5:30PM CST with food and a QA session. Main presentation is at 6:00PM CST.

This Month

We will be a SQL Saturday preview.

Hope to see you all there!

- AJ

 Location Information
Quarry Oaks II
10900 Stonelake Blvd., Suite 225
Austin, TX 78759
Phone: (512) 795-5300
Fax: (512) 343-8498 

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Without volunteers events like SQL Saturday 97 in Austin (October 1^st in case you forgot) would not be possible. Heck the PASS Summit in all its glory and pageantry would not be possible without the help of the volunteers. I am part of the team from CACTUSS planning and organizing this event and we need your help to make this event happen.

What Volunteers Do

In short, they do everything. Do you remember looking at the event page for SQL Saturday 97? No, well, here is a link, http://www.sqlsaturday.com/97/eventhome.aspx go take a look. What is the 6^th word in the 2^nd paragraph? One of the main reasons we can provide events as this at this price is because of volunteers on the front line and down in the trenches.

Here are a few things we will need help with. Registration desk when attendees first arrive. Room monitors to hand out speaker evaluations and collect them at the end and to help keep the speaker on track. Greeters and General Information Dispensers, Vendor Area setup/takedown, Breakfast Server setup/takedown, Lunch Server setup/takedown , Room Proctors /Monitors.

What Do You Get As A Volunteer?

Well first off you get a really cool shirt! What else do you need? No seriously, when I volunteered I was a room monitor and I used that opportunity to meet and talk with the speakers a little more closely than might be able to right after a sessions. It also helped me break the ice with other speakers and attendees later at the networking party (a must).

There is also the opportunity to get fame and fortune. Well O.K. maybe not, but at least you can say you hung out with a @SQLRockstar, Thomas LaRock ( twitter | blog ) or Jen and Sean McCown the @MidnightDBA dynamic duo ( twitter | blog ) or our very own @SQLServerIO, Wes Brown ( twitter | blog ) or any number of other up and coming local speakers.

What Do We Get From You?

Believe it or not you are giving back by volunteering. When you volunteer you are helping to keep the SQL Community alive, moving forward and continually growing. You are helping to provide a free training event to people that may be just starting out working with SQL Server or any of its related components. You are also helping to save some of the rest of us some sleepless nights and reducing our stress levels.

Final Thoughts

Volunteers are the backbone of these events without them we would not be able to host SQL Saturday 97 or any SQL Saturday events. Volunteering can be rewarding in many different ways. It's up to you how you approach the opportunity and what you make of it. I have volunteered for several SQL Saturday events now with SQL Saturday 97 being the first I am helping to organize. I can tell you each one is different and each one has been very rewarding from the new things I learned to the people I met.

I will go out on a limb and say if you volunteer to help, even a little, you will also get this warm, fuzzy feeling that only comes from volunteering and helping make an event such like SQL Saturday 97 a success.

If you want to volunteer after reading this email me at aj.mendo@sqlposse.com or signup to attend here and check the box to volunteer.

See you there.

Cheers!

SQLAJ

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If you attended last month's Presentation by Reindaldo, please leave feedback at Speaker Rate!

http://speakerrate.com/talks/8194 

Some additional links:

a)    AlwaysOn Availability Groups (SQL Server)
SQL Server "Denali"
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff877884(v=sql.110).aspx#ClientConnections

b)     Denali Network libraries updates and Client connectivity
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/3711.aspx
Look at Section 5.11.3 Client-Connectivity for AlwaysOn Availability Groups in CTP3
This section describes driver support for AlwaysOn Availability Groups and workarounds for using ADO.NET with .NET Framework 4.0 or SQL Native Client 11.0 OLEDB for multi-subnet failover.
Driver Support
The following table summarizes driver support for AlwaysOn Availability Groups in CTP3.

Driver	Multi-Subnet Failover	Application Intent	Read-Only Routing
SQL Native Client 11.0 ODBC	Yes	Yes	Yes
SQL Native Client 11.0 OLEDB	No	Yes	Yes
ADO.NET with .NET Framework 4.0	Q4 CY2011*	Q4 CY2011	Q4 CY2011
Microsoft JDBC driver 4.0 for SQL Server	Yes	Yes	Q4 CY2011

^* Q4 CY2011 indicates the fourth quarter of the 2011 calendar year.

SQLSaturday #97 News:

The event is just over 1 month away! Register for the event, it's FREE!

http://www.sqlsaturday.com/97/register.aspx

Call For Speakers
The call for speakers is open and will close on 9/1/2011. Only 9 days left! If you are local to the area we encourage you to submit a session. This is your chance to start your speaking career. http://www.sqlsaturday.com/97/callforspeakers.aspx

Volunteers
If you wish to volunteer for any part of the event please send an email to Michael.Kaplan@sqlposse.com.
Volunteers make this all happen. There is no contribution too small!

Sponsors
If you are a local business and want to sponsor this event take a look at the sponsor page and let us know.
Email Wes Brown directly at wes.brown@sqlposse.com

PASS Summit 2011 Chapter Member Discount Code:

Members of local chapters can get a $200 discount to PASS Summit 2011 by using the Discount Code CHM11.  This discount has no expiration date.  If you would pass it along to your members, we would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks for all you do for PASS!

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Free Training

Part of the mission statement of SQL Saturday (read the full statement here) is to provide a day of free training to SQL Server Professionals and those new to SQL Server an event that combines training and networking as well as find and grow new speakers (see Calling All Local Speakers) that means you!

Take a look at all the sessions submitted. The tracks are not finalized yet but so far we have sessions submitted for DBAs, Developers, BI professionals, dotNet, and an Advanced. As you can see there is something for everyone.

Cool People To Meet

For me networking is one of the best parts of any SQL Saturday event. You can catch up with old friends and meet new ones. I especially like meeting the people I have chatted with on twitter and not met in person. That's part of what makes the SQL community so strong and always growing. You can have conversations (all be it short ones) on twitter and when you actually meet them it's almost as if you have known them for years.

The Weather Is Fine Wish You Were

I am sure you have seen something in the news about how hot it has been and the serious drought conditions down here in Texas recently. Yes it's true; we have many days during the summer over 100 degrees and have not had measurable rain in several months.  However, our fall weather is usually very, very nice.

The normal high temperatures for October are in the low 80s and the normal low temperatures are in the upper 50s. Our average monthly rainfall is below 4 inches. That is not too shabby when compared to other areas of the country or world for the month of October. This year will be no different it is going to be a beautiful weekend to be in Austin.

Things To Do

After getting your learn on during the day, and after you have hung out at the Networking Social post event party you can stroll along 6^th street. Checkout the clubs the people and maybe, just maybe run into the world famous Leslie (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Cochran).

Austin is known as the Live Music Capital of the World! Every weekend for sure and just about every week night you can find live music to your liking in Austin. Whatever you decide to do Austin has the nightlife to support it.

Vendors

Vendors are a big part of any of the SQL Saturday events and ours is no different. They support the events financially and with people. Please make it a point to visit the vendors, talk with them, and check what they have to offer, get a free pen or a splat ball, and if they are giving something away, throw your name in hat for a drawing at the end of the day. Who knows you may win something and get more than just free knowledge. I was at an event in the spring where one of the attendees won several things in a row. That could be you this time.

Final Thoughts

When you look at the wide range of session topics submitted. The speakers on the list, then networking possibilities, not to mention it is FREE, there is bound to be something for every level of experience.

If you haven't noticed by now, I am really excited to be a part of CACTUSS and that we can give a little back to the community by SQL Saturday 97. If you are attending, find me and say hi. I'll be the one grinning from ear to ear.

Cheers!

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One of the core reasons SQL Saturday was started is to "Find, grow, and feature local speakers" (read more About SQLSaturday here). I know you have thought about speaking. You may not know it yet but somewhere in the back of your mind you have. Trust me, you have.

(Waving hand in Jedi mind trick motion) Submit a session to SQL Saturday97 today.

Join the Ranks

I have given three presentations now. I survived all of them and you will too. Looking back, the first one was shaky, the second one was better and the last one, while not perfect (are they ever?) was the best yet. Why was it the best? Because like other things you do, the more you do them, the better you get. The better you get, the more you do them. Speaking is no different.

Another thing that helps is feedback positive and negative. Most of it the feedback was positive, even after the first one. Don't get me wrong I have received negative or constructive (that mostly came from me) feedback too. But you also won't grow or know what to improve on it you don't get some negative at times. Remember that too when you are attending a session. Feedback is crucial to speakers.

How To Start Speaking

First pick a subject. This was hard for me too and still is at times. What I have presented on in the past was related to things I am doing at work or want to learn to do. Don't worry if someone "famous" has already presented. There are people out there who have not heard about them or seen their presentation. There are many, many websites with information on "How to give presentations". Here is just one to get you started. ToastMaster.org

Here is also a simple formula to follow that will assure you give effective presentations.

Tell Them What You Will Be Presenting
Present
Tell Them What You Presented

Follow that and you are well on your way.

Speaking Is Addictive

Let me warn you now. After you give a good presentation you will know it. You can just feel it, even if you made some mistakes. The feeling you get after hearing the applause and knowing you did a good job is what makes you want more. The more you present, the better you will get and the more you will want to present.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, SQLSaturday events were originally designed to promote and grow new speakers. After all we don't grow on trees. There is tons of support out there to help you get started, but no one can present for you. If you remember the simple formula; Tell Them What You Will Present, Present, Tell Them What You Presented, you have a great foundation. We all started somewhere, even the famous speakers. Now is your time.

(Waving hand in Jedi mind trick motion) Submit a session to SQL Saturday97 today.

Cheers!

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