SentryOne announces SQL Sentry Essentials
Today SentryOne, one of the few SQL Server monitoring platforms that we are proud to stand behind, announced a new version of their monitoring platform called SQL Sentry Essentials. It’s for monitoring SQL Server environments at a smaller scale, and provides a good balance of features that these platforms need without the overhead of unnecessary features that these organizations do not need. Read their full press release here and if you’re interested in exploring this platform, contact us for an introduction!
Join Me for PASS Data Expert Series!
I’m very honored to have one of my PASS Summit sessions chosen for the PASS Data Expert Series, taking place this Thursday, February 7th!
This is an awesome opportunity to see some of the top-rated sessions from this year’s PASS Summit. Included is my session on SQL Server Management Studio, which ended up being the second-best attended session of the entire conference. I will be available to answer any questions that come up during the presentation.
Sound awesome? Register today! I hope to see you there!
Speaking at SQL Saturday Chicago 2019
Heraflux is proud to announce that we are speaking and helping to coordinate this year’s SQL Saturday in Chicago, to be held at Benedictine University in Lisle, Illinois, on March 23rd.
Bob Pusateri is one of the event coordinators, and is active in the Chicago Suburban SQL Server Users Group.
David Klee is presenting a new session at 11:10am in room A called “Modern CPU Architecture and SQL Server Performance“.
Session Abstract: Modern CPU architectures are complex and misunderstood, especially as they relate to SQL Server instance configuration and database usage patterns. Default values in virtualization and the SQL Server instance can cause misalignments and improper balance in the way the SQL Server lines up with the CPUs and memory, which results in an immediate (and silent) performance penalty. Come learn as we discuss topics such as physical and virtual NUMA, hyperthreading, query parallelism, and instance settings, and show you how to validate your SQL Server architecture and improve the performance of your critical SQL Servers.
If you’d like to meet up at the event, contact us and we’ll find a quiet spot and talk tech!
Bob Pusateri - Friend of Redgate
Bob Pusateri, our Solutions Architect and SQL Server MCM, has just been named Friend of Redgate for the sixth year in a row!
If you’re not familiar with the Friends of Redgate program, associates work with the Redgate development and product teams to provide feedback on existing products, new tools, and feature enhancements. You can also find us doing things like speaking at events, writing articles on Redgate tools, and participating on the Redgate forums. Last year, Bob even got to present at SQL in the City Summit in Chicago as a result of being in this program.
Redgate is a wonderful organization to be associated with. Not only do they make great tools and publish some very helpful books, but they’re also extremely community-oriented. They sponsor many functions such as user group meetings and SQL Saturdays, and also put on their own events, such as SQL in the City Streamed and SQL in the City Summit.
Thank you so much, Redgate. Bob is certainly looking forward to another awesome year!
The Top 4 Data Technology Trends Every DBA Should Know About in 2019
Join Heraflux’s David Klee, along with Kevin Kline from Sentry One and others in an exciting webinar discussing industry trends that matter to you – the DBA – on Wednesday January 9th at 2pm ET!
The Information Technology world was stable for decades, but since the arrival of the 21st century, new paradigms have emerged and technologies are advancing and evolving at record speed.
How can you keep up? And which trends should you focus on?
Join Kevin Kline and a panel of distinguished experts as they provide an overview of the top four data technology trends that will advance your business, amplify your productivity, and expand your career opportunities:
- DevOps
- Cloud Computing
- Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Containers/Docker/Kubernetes
Get details on the most useful resources for learning about and implementing each of these trends. And they’ll discuss a few technologic trends that aren’t yet fully baked or simply aren’t worth your time.
Register for this exciting free webinar here!
Presenting SQLBits 2019 Pre-Con
Heraflux is extremely proud to announce that David Klee and Bob Pusateri will be presenting sessions at this year’s SQLBits conference in Manchester, England, from February 27th to March 2nd.
We were fortunate enough to be selected for a new precon training session entitled “Level Up Your Data Platform Cloud Infrastructure“. We will be discussing many facets of cloud infrastructure and their performance characteristics, including platform selection, storage, networking, and compute.
Precon Session Abstract: While your on-premises infrastructure is likely maintained by another team, in the cloud this responsibility falls on you. Whether your organisation is just planning for the cloud, all-in, or leveraging a hybrid architecture, this course is designed to ramp you up on maximizing your investment in the cloud components that you utilize. Infrastructure skills are essential when managing your environment in the cloud. Knowledge is power; key items such as firewalls and connectivity, storage presentation and performance, baselining, and even platform selection are all necessary areas of concern. Capacity management is also crucial, as the old ways of “throwing hardware” at a performance problem will translate into a larger bill each month. Attend this session to learn how to efficiently manage cloud resources, set yourself apart from your peers, improve the performance of your mission-critical workloads,and potentially save your employer money!
Microsoft MVP and VMware vExpert David Klee and Microsoft Certified Master Bob Pusateri lead this full-day introduction to getting the most out of the infrastructure underneath your Data Platform environment in the cloud. The focus of the course is to help those new to cloud concepts become familiar with function and purpose of each layer of the architecture around their databases, and how this knowledge can benefit them as data professionals. Participants will gain exposure to all layers of cloud infrastructure, from storage all the way through to the Data Platform and databases, methods for baselining their current workloads and sizing the target server, migration strategies, and will learn how to review and engineer the entire stack with a strong emphasis on SQL Server performance.
We are thrilled to travel to the UK to present to this exciting audience! We hope to meet you at the conference, and ping us if you want to meet up! Register for this conference today!
Happy Holidays 2018
The Heraflux Team wishes you Happy Holidays! We want to give thanks to all of our staff, clients, business partners, and friends who made for a very successful 2018. We look forward to some exciting developments in 2019!
Live360 2018 Conference
Heraflux is proud to contribute to this year’s Live360 conference, to be held in Orlando Florida at the Royal Pacific Resort at Universal from December 2nd to 7th.
David Klee is presenting two sessions at this conference. The first is Thursday in room SQH01 called “Cosmos DB for SQL Server Pros” at 8:00am.
Microsoft’s Cosmos DB is the first globally distributed database service, allowing low-latency scalability across multiple geographical regions. As a SQL Server pro, why does this matter? SQL Server is a great multi-function database that can handle many of your tasks with ease. However, it’s not the only tool in the toolbox, and Cosmos DB is a tremendous alternative for some use cases. This introductory session explores Cosmos DB and walks you through the similarities and differences in the two platforms. We explore how to provision and design your database, insert sample data and query for specific records. We’ll review the scalability and throughput settings, and help you ramp up your DBA and development skills on this compelling new platform.
You will learn:
- The core concepts of Cosmos DB and the reasons to consider it for data requirements
- Key concepts around data design, placement and document construction
- How to query for data and process client-side
Just after this session completes on Thursday, the next session is called “Level Up Your SQL Server Cloud Skills” in room SQLH05 at 9:30am.
Think infrastructure in the cloud is still just for sysadmins? Think again! As your organization moves into the cloud, infrastructure architecture skills are more important than ever for DBAs to master. Expert knowledge of cloud-related infrastructure will help you maintain performance and availability for databases in the cloud. For example, know what an IOP is? Should you use a Database as a Service or provision a cloud-based virtual machine? How many compute resources does your database consume during a given day? Can you secure it properly? Come learn many of the key cloud infrastructure points that you should master as the DBA role continues to evolve!
You will learn:
- To identify key concepts around database platform selection, such as Azure SQL DB versus Infrastructure as a Service, and make educated recommendations for the appropriate platform
- To identify key performance metrics, such as storage performance, vCPU/DTU requirements and so on, that help with properly sizing the destination resources
- About Identifying and recognizing the key reasons to migrate databases to the cloud versus keeping them on-premises
Register for this exciting conference today! We look forward to seeing you there!
Bob Pusateri Presenting at PASS Summit 2018
I’ve been honored to present a session at PASS Summit for the past few years, but this year I am especially humbled as I had not one but two abstracts accepted! The first is an introduction to Azure Cosmos DB. The other is covering some of my favorite SSMS and T-SQL tips and tricks that can help you save time!
Select Stars: A SQL DBA’s Introduction to Azure Cosmos DB
Level: 200
Where: Skagit 4 (TCC Lower Level)
When: Thursday November 8, 2018 1:30-2:45pm
Azure Cosmos DB has quickly become a buzzword in database circles over the past year, but what exactly is it, and why does it matter? This session will cover the basics of Azure Cosmos DB, how it works, and what it can do for your organization. You will learn how it differs from SQL Server and Azure SQL Database, what its strengths are, and how to leverage them. We will also discuss Azure Cosmos DB’s partitioning, distribution, and consistency methods to gain an understanding of how they contribute to its unprecedented scalability. Finally, we will demonstrate how to provision, connect to, and query Azure Cosmos DB. If you’re wondering what Azure Cosmos DB is and why you should care, attend this session and learn why Azure Cosmos DB is an out-of-this-world tool you’ll want in your data toolbox!
SSMS & T-SQL Tricks: Working Smarter, Not Harder
Level: 100
Where: Room 6A
When: Wednesday November 7, 2018 4:45-6:00pm
Do you spend a considerable amount of time in SQL Server Management Studio? Are you always in search of ways to write better code with less effort? Attend this session to see demonstrations of all the helpful gems SSMS has hiding in plain sight that will save you keystrokes, mouse clicks, and time while getting your work done. We will also cover useful T-SQL Scripts to make common tasks easier and faster, and solutions to frequently-encountered coding problems. Whether you’re a developer or a DBA, whether you do your work on-premises or in the cloud, attend this session to learn how easy it is to write better T-SQL code and save the day, all while working smarter, not harder!
I hope to see you there!
PASS Summit starts in a little over a month, and if you’re thinking this sounds pretty awesome, registration is still open! The program committee has put together an incredible schedule combining top presenters from all aspects of the Microsoft Data Platform. On top of that, opportunities for networking abound. While the sessions are awesome, the community is PASS Summit’s greatest asset. You really don’t want to miss this.
Even if you can’t attend, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@SQLBob). I’ll be sharing plenty of updates and photos from throughout the conference. Even if you can’t experience PASS Summit in person, by following myself, other community members, and the #PASSsummit2018 hashtag, you can get a great virtual experience.
This post was originally posted on Bob’s personal blog over at bobpusateri.com.
Where in the World is Bob?
Our Bob Pusateri has been quite busy lately with SQL Server technical talks, and we wanted to highlight some of the in-person events that he’s spoken at.
We love presenting for local technical user groups. Back in August, Bob spoke at the Chicago SQL Server Users Group on August 9th. This session was his first session highlighting Microsoft’s global scale database – Cosmos DB – called “Select Stars: A SQL Server DBA’s Introduction to Azure Cosmos DB.” Bob also presented this session for the Chicago Suburban SQL Server Users Group on September 18th.
We are also proud to speak at a number of SQL Saturdays. Bob spoke at the SQL Saturday in Oslo Norway on September 1st! Bob presented this Cosmos DB session at this event. His slides are available for you to download.
Bob also presented at the SQL Saturday in Boston MA on September 22nd. This session was called “Supercharging Backups and Restores for Fun and Profit“, and his slides are available for you to download.
Bob will be presenting at the Red-Gate SQL in the City Summit in Chicago on October 26th. This session is called “Maximize Availability and More with SQL Server Estate Monitoring“.
Bob is also presenting at this year’s PASS Summit in Seattle during the week of November 6th. He is presenting two sessions – the Cosmos DB introductory session, and “SSMS & T-SQL Tricks: Working Smarter, Not Harder“. This conference is world-class and we want to see you there with us!
If you want Bob or David to speak for your user group or SQL Saturday, contact us!