Author Archives: SQLGator
Let the Countdown To Summit Begin
Today is officially four weeks until I arrive at the SQL PASS Summit 2012 in Seattle, Washington. So I am sure you can figure out by the title what is coming next. That’s right, a series for the countdown onto my epicly awesome #SQLFirstTimers attendance at the most important SQL event of the year. Have you registered to go? There is still time, come and join me.
Stay tuned for my journey!
SQL Tool Evaluation, List of Tools
Thanks everyone for the feedback. Below are the items submitted thus far for me to evaluate, let me know within the next few days if you have any others to add to the list. Keep in mind that I am an Enterprise DBA, therefore I will not be evaluating any development tools.
- DBA xPress from Pragmatic Works
- SQL DBA Toolbelt from Redgate (we currently own)
- Ignite from Confio
- Performance Advisor for SQL Server from SQL Sentry
- SQL Server Index Analysis & Defrag from SQL Sentry
- SQL Diagnostic Manager from Idera
- SQL Admin Toolset from Idera
- Toad for SQL Server from Quest (we currently own)
- Foglight for SQL Server from Quest
- Spotlight on SQL Server from Quest (we currently own for Oracle)
- SQLCop from Less Than Dot.
Stay tuned for further details. I will have to process all of the EULAs and other paperwork in order to setup my test environment, but we have about five months left in order to complete this project. Enjoy!
I Want My MTV, I Mean SQL Server 2012!
I would love to upgrade my servers to SQL Server 2012. We’ve met with Microsoft and we discussed the licensing ramifications and I got really excited about upgrading after getting the OK internally. That was a couple of months ago. The one piece holding us up? Vendors!
We do have some SQL databases developed in-house, but being predominantly an Oracle shop, most of our SQL Server databases are vendor provided. We have set forth the initiative to do all new development solely in SQL Server for cost savings. Additionally, we have begun moving some of the vendor provided databases to SQL Server. However, those are also at the mercy of vendors. My latest project only supports SQL Server 2008, not even R2. This is very frustrating from an enterprise DBA standpoint. I want to move forward! Enjoy!
Taking the Blog To A New Level
Yesterday afternoon, I activated sqlgator.com as the domain address for the blog formally known as sqlgator.wordpress.com. After a year of solid, consistent blogging, this experiment is now a daily ritual.
I cannot imagine myself not blogging on a daily basis. This was the natural progression. I hope you enjoy!
SQL Evaluation Project Upcoming
I have been tasked with an exciting goal for this new fiscal year. Determine whether our existing SQL Server tools, Redgate DBA/Backup Bundle and Toad for SQL Server, are the best tools for our needs. In other words, should we continue to pay for these tools or should we purchase different tools.
Before working for this employer, I have never been able to buy additional tools so I personally do not have any experience with any other tools. Therefore, frankly, I love the Redgate tools, but I do not know how well they stack up against tools from other vendors. Any input from my #SQLFamily would be greatly appreciated. Enjoy!
Goals Updated, End of Third Quarter
With today being the first day of the last quarter of 2012, I thought it would be good to review my goals for the year and see where I stand in my progress. I will italicize the updates at the end of each of the original items.
- I will post daily to this blog in order to give back to the SQL community that has helped me so much over the years. So far so good on this one!
- I will spend time daily helping people on twitter, SQL blogs, and various SQL-related websites such as SQL Server Central. I have tried to do this regularly, but it is harder than blogging daily. I thought this one would have been easier.
- I am setting a goal of 300 followers on Twitter which would double my existing followers for 2011. I am at 377 followers today, thanks everyone!
- I will attend at least ten of the twelve Tampa Bay SQL Server User Group meetings. Thus far I have not missed a single one!
- I will atend three to five other SQL User group meetings, such as the Tampa BI group or Orlando’s MagicPASS. There has been a new Hillsborough SQL Users Group that I have attended three sessions.
- I will attend every Tampa VMWare User Group meetings which occur quarterly. I am 100 percent on this one (mainly because there hasn’t been a meeting since December!
- I will attend other events that interface with SQL Server or VMWare such as the Orlando IT Pro Camp scheduled for January 21, 2012. Missed the IT Pro Camp, I need to try to find one before the end of the year.
- I will attend one Microsoft SQL training course this year, but I cannot say at this time what that course will be as that will depend upon my employer
. I would like to attend Course 2778a (Writing Queries Using Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Transact-SQL) and Course 6234 (Implementing and Maintaining Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services. I did even better than that, I attended a SQLskills.com class and I am also going to the PASS Summit in November. - I will attend every SQL Saturday offered in the Orlando, Tampa, and Jacksonville areas. I would also like to attend some others, if possible, within driving distance. I am already registered for SQL Saturday #110 in Tampa on March 10, 2012. I missed the Jacksonville SQL Saturday but made up for it with Pensacola. I did the March one in Tampa
- I will volunteer to help with at least one SQL Saturday this year. I volunteered in March and spoke in June and September.
- I would like to attend SQL Rally in Dallas this year and I would definitely like to attend the SQL PASS Summit, but with one child in college this year and two more entering over the next two years, I may have to pass on this one for a couple of years until they are situated and my bank account returns to normal. I did not get to go to Rally, but I am going to the Summit.
- I will continue to take at least one to two classes a semester online in order to complete my degree in Business Administration. All those Engineering and Computer Science classes I took 20 years ago are not relevant today and I would like to possibly return to consulting in five or ten years and that degree would be more beneficial in that long-term goal. I am still on track here.
- I will continue SQLAndy’s recommendation to meet at least three people at every SQL event. This is a great recommendation for networking. It is hard sometimes to break out of our introverted ways. I have been working hard to do this every time and it pays off.
- I will attain my VMWare Certified Professional 4 certificate this year for VMWare. This did not happen as VMWare came out with a new version before my window closed to take the exam. Now I will have to take a version 5 class in order to take the exam.
- I would like to speak somewhere this year, my local SSUG, VMUG, or even a training session at work. I need to get over my fear of public speaking. 2012 is the year to step it up and take it to another level. I have spoken at my user group and SQL Saturday and it is addictive.
This has been a great year for me, and I hope it has been for you too. Enjoy.
What a Great SQL Weekend
My wife and I have just returned from a wonderful weekend in Lake Mary, Florida at SQL Saturday #151. We enjoy getting away for the weekend and staying in our beloved Marriott chains. This time fortunately, we had earned two free nights from previous stays this year and being a gold member we were able to score an upgrade to a fabulous room. My wife met with some of her friends for a day of shopping while I enjoyed a great day of SQL Learning thanks to the great user groups in Orlando, OPASS and MagicPASS.
We enjoyed a great breakfast at the hotel and a couple of hours in the pool before checking out and heading home. These little weekend getaways are a great break from our every day routines. It was also great spending time with my #SQLFamily and seeing so many of them for the first time and so many of them again. Until you have experienced the #SQLFamily, you have no idea what you are missing.
I Survived!
Well my first SQL Saturday presentation has been completed. No one was injured, I didn’t respond to my flight (as in fight or flight) instincts, and no one heckled me. It didn’t go as well as I imagined but it was a learning experience. I will get better, so if you attended my session today, I apologize, but thank you for being my guinea pigs.
To be honest, I think I did better than my lightning round presentation last June. I understand that it is an evolutionary process, but I was confident that I was more evolved than I really am.
If you’ve never presented a topic, I highly recommend it. Enjoy!
Airline Travel Booking Is Ridiculous
Admittedly, I do not pay much attention to the travel commercials on a daily basis as I have not flown in a little over a year. I know who they are and I pulled them out this week looking for a flight to Seattle. Here is what I have found, they are a joke. The only one I would recommend is hipmunk.com, which I heard about through my friend Kendal Van Dyke (blog | twitter). It is useful for seeing the flights visually across the times along with their price and a feature they call agony (as in how long you are travelling in addition to price).
Another thing that I have learned is that Priceline.com is cheaper at the cost of airline mileage. If you do not care about frequent flyer miles, then Priceline.com is probably your best option. All of the other major sites seemed to have to same prices as the airlines for the same flight. AAA, was the exception, they would charge me $25 for booking through them at the same cost. So, they would cost me more money to book the same flight.
Maybe it is because I live in the land of Mickey Mouse that flights from here and to here rarely discounted. Other people have told me that they have had success with some of these sites, so maybe it is just my limited window that is not flexible. I will try again next time. Enjoy your weekend and see you tomorrow at SQL Saturday 151.
PASS Summit 2012 Information
Rob Farley (blog | twitter) and LobsterPot Solutions put together a nifty HTML 5 PivotViewer to view the details for all of the sessions for the PASS Summit 2012 conference with pictures of the presenters as well as all of the necessary details. It is amazing to see this in action and to be able to compare session topics visually. Kudos to Rob.
- PASS also released yesterday the PDF format for the schedule.
- Check out all of the After Hours events and I will see you at #SQLKaraoke.
- If you are a First Timer like me then check out the First Timers Program.
Enjoy and I will see you there!
SQL Swampland 