Both sessions went extremely well, so I was very pleased.  If you attended then I hope you were as well.  I got my first request for a fan photo and plenty of complements so thank you to everyone that attended!  Below are links to my slide decks.

Mirroring Start to Finish

Manage Your Shop with CMS and Policy Based Management

I’ll have several after event posts on SQLRally and the process, but I want to highlight two things I am looking forward to.  I am hoping you will join me there as well.

Pre-Cons

If you want the most bang for your buck where you are guaranteed to leave with skills you can implement immmediately, then this is the right investment.  You can visit the SQLRally site to choose the best one for you, but here is some insider suggestions.

How to be a DBA – Utility Belt of Tools by Tjay Belt and Chris Shaw.  I’m attending this one and it looks to be a great one.

Leadership and Team Management Skills for the Database Professional by Kevin Kline.  Have you met Kevin?  If not you need to, because he is the most down to earth and personable guy you’ll meet.  I watched Kevin present part of this pre-con on SQLCruise earlier this year.  I honestly did not expect to get anything out of it and had no interest in a professional development session, but I was sorely mistaken.  You’ll learn things about yourself and others you never saw or considered before.  This pre-con is guaranteed ROI and I’m not just saying that because of the fruity drinks on SQLCruise.

Demystifying Database Administration Best Practices by Argenis Fernandez and Robert Davis.  I’m attending this one and it is by far the one I am most excited about.  A pre-con delivered by two SQL MCMs.  No way you can lose on that!  I know Robert and he’s awesome.  I sat at his Birds of a Feather at the Summit last year and he even took the time to help me with a presentation of mine (which I am also presenting at SQLRally).  I haven’t met Argenis yet, but I’m looking forward to it.  Go watch the #sqlhelp hash tag for awhile and it won’t take long to see why you don’t want to miss Argenis.

After Events

Meet the SQL Professionals – This networking event is open to anyone, whether you attend SQLRally or not.  The speakers will be here so this is your chance to build a personal relationship with the best speakers and professionals in the industry.  The North Texas SQL Server User Group is hosting the event in conjunction with their annual sponsors, InSource Group and Idera.  Don’t miss out on this great time and it’s walkable from the Dallas Convention Center.  Here are the details.

Wednesday, May 9 – 5:00pm – 10:00pm

Aloft Dallas Downtown
1033 Young Street
Dallas, TX 75202
Click here to RSVP

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Evening Event and SQLKaraoke – If you have never attended a SQLKaraoke event then you are in for a treat.   Don’t worry if you’re not a singer, you can just hang out.  The North Texas SQL Server User Group is hosting the event in conjunction with their annual sponsors, InSource Group and Idera.  Here are the details, but let’s talk about how easy it is to get there.  NTSSUG has chartered a private bus that will have continual shuttle service between the convention center and the venue!  I’m biased, but this is the coolest user group ever!!!

Thursday, May 10 – 7:00pm – 11:55pm

Uptown Bar and Grill
2523 McKinney Ave.
Dallas, TX 75201
Click here to RSVP

IO is generally the biggest bottle neck for SQL and there is nothing that can generate some serious additional IO than a virus scan.  This application does a large nightly import of data, so we just changed the import time.  We could have also changed the AV scanning time, but that is managed by another group and would take way too long to get changed.  That fixed the issue, but changing the import time is not the long term solution we want.  We’ve got the AV team working on changing the scan time, so we can change the import time back to where we had it.  So how should we configure our AV software on our SQL servers?  Here are some tips.

• AV software creates a lot of IO so make sure the scans don’t coincide with large SQL jobs like imports or SSIS packages
• Create a scan exemption for .MDF file extensions
• Create a scan exemption for .NDF file extensions
• Create a scan exemption for .LDF file extensions
• If you have drives dedicated to your database files, CONSIDER an exemption for that drive.  Did you see that word in bold in the prior sentence?  Be aware that this can be dangerous if something like a keylogger or executable gets dropped on that drive, because now you’ll never catch it.  It is far better to make exemptions based on file extensions as mentioned above.  I mention this only because it is an option, albeit a very dangerous one.
• Create a scan exemption for .BAK and .TRN extensions.  I suggest you only do this if your backups are on the same drive as your database files (shame on you for that, but sometimes we have no choice).

I just found out that I will be speaking at SQLRally Dallas in May.  I submitted 3 sessions.  As an event organizer, all 3 automatically went to community vote.  I am very excited that my Mirroring session was voted in.  Thank you to everyone who voted for me!

Mirroring Start to Finish

Mirroring can be an integral part of your high availability and disaster recovery planning. We’ll cover what mirroring is from start to finish, how it can fit into an HA/DR plan, the rules surrounding its use, configuration via the GUI and T-SQL, as well as how to monitor mirroring. This presentation is designed to not only give you an overview of mirroring, but to also walk you through a basic implementation. At the end you will have learned what mirroring is, how it can fit into your environment, what business requirements it solves, and how to configure it.

I will be speaking for the PASS DBA Virtual Chapter on February 22nd, 2012.  I will be delivering my presentation on Mirroring.

If you have not checked out the virtual chapters that PASS has, then you need to Go Check Them Out.  These chapters are designed to fill the gap for areas of the country that do not have a local user group chapter.  Even if you have a local chapter in your area you need to check these out.  Why?  Most speakers have to pay for travel out of their own pocket and can’t visit every chapter in the country.  The virtual chapters provide a platform where you can watch the presentations via Live Meeting.  This means you get access to great speakers you might not otherwise get to hear, and best of all you get to do it from the comfort of your desk.

Don’t cheat yourself of amazing free training, and go check out the chapter(s) that interest you.  There are quite a few so if you are looking for a personal suggestion my favorites are the Performance Virtual Chapter and the DBA Virtual Chapter.

You can register for my session HERE and you will be entered to win a $50 Amazon gift card… and here is the session abstract:

Mirroring Start to Finish

Mirroring can be an integral part of your high availability and disaster recovery planning. We’ll cover what mirroring is from start to finish, how it can fit into an HA/DR plan, the rules surrounding its use, configuration via the GUI and T-SQL, as well as how to monitor mirroring. This presentation is designed to not only give you an overview of mirroring, but to also walk you through a basic implementation. At the end you will have learned what mirroring is, how it can fit into your environment, what business requirements it solves, and how to configure it.

Back in October of last year, Idera ran a contest called the “Get a life contest”.  In order to enter the contest you had to describe how using Idera’s SQL Diagnostic Manager helped you “Get a life” by freeing up your time from hunting down production issues.  The grand prize winner would receive a trip for two on SQLCruise!  This contest had my name written all over it for two reasons.

The first is Idera.  In addition to their great SQL Server products, Idera has become a huge advocate for the SQL Community.  If you have been to any SQL community events then I guarantee you have seen them.  I don’t mean the people standing behind their booth in orange shirts and sporting a rubber ducky.  I mean the people checking you in at registration or handing you lunch.  They are not wearing company shirts and appear to be local volunteers.  Why do they do this?  Easy.  They love SQL Server and the SQL community just as much as we do.  They may be Idera employees, but these people are DBAs and developers just like you and I.  Idera supports and encourages these employees to be involved in the community and learn all they can.  It’s this type of outreach and involvement that has ranked them high in my book.

The second reason is SQLCruise.  I’ve been dying to go on SQLCruise since the very first one.  SQLCruise means soaking up the sun while soaking up SQL knowledge from the brightest minds in the industry.  We’re talking about classroom training capped at 15 people so you can actively participate and not just become another number.  Unlike traditional training classes where you go home at the end of the day, you get to spend one on one time with the instructors.  Have you ever been to one of those classes where a concept was introduced and you wanted to know how it would work in your specific environment?  When you asked the instructor, did he say to catch him after class so he would have enough time to finish all the material for the other students?  Well that is understandable so everyone else gets what they expected from the course as well, but it’s disappointing when the instructor bolts at the end of the day and leaves you hanging.  On SQLCruise, they can only run so far before it’s all ocean!  This kind of custom tailored training is impossible to find anywhere else.

Well I can no longer be one of those people that say I never win anything, because I was the second SQLCruise winner in the random drawing.  That’s right; I won the Holy Grail of prizes!  My wife and I leave for Miami tomorrow and could not be more grateful to Idera and SQLCruise for the amazing gift.  We have had about 6 date nights since our 2 year old was born so it’s a gift of knowledge and a gift of time.  We plan to actually finish a conversation without interruption!

I volunteered to help out and I will give you fair warning that the word she uses in her post for my area of responsibility is in the loosest meaning of the word.  The short and more accurate term would just be marketing.  I’m very excited to be involved with this team and see what we can accomplish.  We have some awesome things planned that are a little outside of the box, so make sure you follow us closely.

Our first meeting for the year will be this Thursday January 26th, 4EST.  Jason Strate (Blog|Twitter) will be presenting on “Discovering the Plan Cache”.  Make sure to visit our site to check out the details.  The site has a handy calendar icon to automatically add a reminder to your calendar.

PASS Performance Virtual Chapter Site

Follow us on Twitter

Join our Google Group Distribution List for meeting announcements

• Database Mail must be enabled and configured
• Operators must be created to receive notifications of alerts
• Alert system notifications must be enabled on your SQL Server Agent

There are four error numbers that we can setup alerts for, and that will provide us with notifications for any policy using any evaluation mode.  Here are the error numbers we want to setup alerts for.

• On Change: Prevent (Automatic) – 34050
• This occurs when a user runs a transaction that raises a DDL event that violates a policy
• On Change: Prevent (On Demand) – 34051
• This evaluation method can also be run in a manual On Demand fashion, in which it raises a different error number
• On Schedule – 34052
• On Change: Log Only – 34053

Let’s take a look at creating an alert for an “On Schedule” error.  Right click alerts under SQL Server Agent in SSMS and select New Alert.  In the Alert Properties box we need to give the alert a name and enable it.  We need to select which databases we want it to apply to, and select that the error number to alert on will be 34052.

Now we need to select the Response page in the left hand pane.  Here we want to select “Notify Operators” and check the email column for the operator we want to be notified.

Last we need to select the Options page in the left hand pane.  Here we want to select to include the error text for email notifications.

Follow these steps to create alerts for the remaining three error number and you will now be notified of any policy violations that occur.

The Professional Association for SQL Server and the North Texas SQL Server User Group have been working hard behind the scenes to bring SQLRally 2012 in Dallas Texas to the SQL Community.  We are excited to announce that event registration opens November 30, 2011.

Make sure to get registered soon and take advantage of the early bird pricing.  Pricing starts at $299 and the first price increase will take place on January 15th, 2012.

What is SQLRally?

It is 2 days of SQL Server training and networking with your fellow SQL Professionals.  Not only do you get amazing training that you will be able to put into action as soon as you get back to the office, but you will make connections with others in the industry that I guarantee will be amazing.

SQLRally was designed to fill the gap between the large yearly PASS Summit event and the local free SQLSaturday events.  It is a regional SQL Server Professional training event that boasts some of best speakers and trainers in the industry.  You won’t find 2 days of training for this price anywhere.

When/Where is SQLRally?

The event will take place May 10-11, 2012 in Dallas, TX at the Dallas Convention Center in downtown.  There will also be 2 pre-con days May 8-9, 2012.  The pre-cons will run $219 a day.  If you have never attended a pre-con at the PASS Summit or a SQLSaturday I personally suggest trying to do one.  I attended 2 pre-cons at the PASS Summit 2011 and have also attended them at various SQLSaturdays.  They are by far the best bang for your buck.