Voice of the DBA

Category: Blog

  • The 2013 SQL in the City Tour

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    Once again, Red Gate is planning on a tour of the US for the SQL in the City events. Last year we had a large tour, hitting 6 cities in the US during October and November of 2012. It was great fun, and very well received by the attendees. I enjoyed it quite a bit, though it was a bit of a stressful time for me with all the travel.

    This year we’ve scaled back slightly, but we’re still moving around the US. We have three dates scheduled, all packed into a week: Pasadena, Atlanta, and Charlotte.

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    Our first stop will be in California, on Wednesday, Oct 9, 2013. Red Gate has a sales office in the Pasadena area, and we’ll have a large staff coming out to meet customers and the SQL community. This event will be at the Pasadena Convention Center, in the North East LA area. It’s close to Arcadia Wilderness Park, where I’m hoping to get in a #sqlrun Winking smile

    Register today and join us if you are in the area.

     

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    Atlanta has a great SQL Server community. They consistently have the largest SQL Saturday events every year and there is a lot of excitement about the platform in this area. It would be a great place for a future Summit (hint, send your feedback to PASS).

    We’ll be in Atlanta on Friday, October 11, 2013 at the Blackburn Conference Center. This is at the John Marshall Law School in the heart of the city. I’m expecting this event to sell out soon, so register today.

     

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    The PASS Summit is in Charlotte this year, and once again we’ll open the week with a SQL in the City event in Charlotte on Monday, October 14, 2013. If you’re in town early, or live there, register and come spend a fun day on Monday with us, talking about lots of development and DBA SQL Server topics

    You can register now to join us at the Ritz-Carlton in downtown Charlotte.

     

    That’s our 2013 tour (along with sold out London), and I’m looking forward to seeing many of you and meeting even more this fall.

  • When will we look back at this?

    It’s amazing how software has advanced. I look at the software I use, and I’m amazed. I still remember texting to 40404 for basic twitter usage on my Windows 6.5 Mobile. That seems miles away from the apps I know use on my current iPhone 4S. I almost can’t comprehend what my life would be like if I didn’t have a smartphone now.

    I saw this video of a HoloDesk from Microsoft Research. It’s neat, and I can imagine the possibilities of what might come, but for not it’s very basic.

    It makes me wonder when we’ll have something more like this interface:

  • Starting with Azure

    I’ve been meaning to do this, and I finally had the chance recently to start working with Azure. Red Gate is investing in cloud tools, and more development tools, so it’s something I need to work on.

    I went to the Azure page, and noticed a “Member Offers” link.

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    When I clicked through, I could see the benefits. Below this screen shot is the list of stuff you get, depending on your MSDN subscription. You can see the exact benefits on the MSDN benefits page.

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    I clicked the activate link and was taken to the Windows Live login page. After signing in, I got a page that asked me to create an account. It listed my specific benefits and the requirements for an Azure account.

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    Since I have a mobile phone and a credit card, I clicked the arrow to proceed. The first thing is to verify your account with a mobile phone. I assume this gives me some sort of two factor authentication as well as a way for them to reach me for billing issues.

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    After receiving a text and entering it, I was taken to the billing area. I know this freaks many people out, however I’ve had a number of friends use the MSDN subscription trial and not been billed after 5 or 6 months. I’ve had a few that have been billed, but it’s been low amounts, in the $5-10 range. Grant Fritchey (b | t) is one of them, and with all the writing he’s done on Azure, some presentations, and research for Red Gate, he hasn’t had issues.

    It’s your career, it’s worth $5 a month. If you find you’re spending more, shut stuff down. I’d give it a try, however, if there is any chance your career will include work in the cloud.

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    Once you enter a credit card, they’ll get to work.

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    The welcome screen gives you lots of options. I’m sure I’ll end up here quite often across the next few months as I try to be sure that I’m not running up my cost. I can expense it back to Red Gate, but I do try to spend wisely.

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    What now? There’s lots of options.

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    I have a few things in mind, but I’ll probably start with a few light experiments based on some presentations I’ve seen. Buck Woody has a nice set of resources to get me started, and I’ll likely give one of these a try.

  • The Bicentennial SQLSaturday–#200 Philadelphia

    When Andy Warren (b | t | Li)started SQL Saturday with #1 in Orlando, we weren’t sure it would succeed. After a few events, we dreamed and wondered if we’d ever get to 50 events. Despite our success in the past, we weren’t sure if a free event, supported by advertising (essentially) would survive over time. We also weren’t sure if we could replicate and grow this event in other locations.

    It grew, and prospered, and then exploded, thanks to Karla Landrum (b | t). Under Karla’s guidance and nurturing, we’ve seen a tremendous number of events taking place all over the world. Not only did we get to 50 events, the SQL community blew past 100 a few years ago and earlier this year event #200 was posted.

    It’s somewhat fitting that in one of the cities that helped birth my country, and houses the Liberty Bell, will host SQL Saturday #200 in a little over a week. I’ll be traveling next week, along with Andy for the event. There’s an exciting lineup of speakers, bringing you a wide variety of SQL Server learning sessions.

    I’m looking forward to seeing friends and meeting new people, as we celebrate the bicentennial SQL Saturday. If you can’t attend this event, there are lots of SQL Saturday’s scheduled for the rest of the year. They’re free (other than lunch at a few events) and it’s worth your time to learn something new about SQL Server and network with some of the people in your local area.

    If you’re attending an event, you might even think about bringing kids and perhaps organizing a session for them.