Reprinted from my Database Weekly editorial.

Forget what you thought you knew about SQL Server certification, as Microsoft has completely redesigned the SQL Server 2012 certification program, making is more difficult, costly, and time-consuming to attain. In addition, whether you like it or not, not only will you need to know how to administer SQL Server (which is of course fully expected), you will also have to become familiar with how SQL Server interacts with the Cloud (Microsoft’s Cloud) and Data Warehousing. If you are not up on the Cloud or Data Warehousing, you will have a lot of preparation work ahead of you. The new exams will become available starting in June 2012.

The most basic SQL Server certification is now called the MCSA: SQL Server, where MCSA stands for Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate, and it requires three tests:

• Exam 461: Querying Microsoft SQL Server 2012
• Exam 462: Administering a Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Database
• Exam 463: Implementing Data Warehouses in Microsoft SQL Server 2012

Once you have attained the MCSA: SQL Server certification, then you can earn either the MCSE: Data Platform, or MCSE: Business Intelligence, where MCSE stands for Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert. Don’t confuse the MCSE designation with the older MCSE designations, which are completely different.

The MCSE: Data Platform requires all of the MCSA exams, plus these two additional exams:

• Exam 464: Developing Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Databases
• Exam 465: Designing Database Solutions for SQL Server 2012

The MCSE: MCSE: Business Intelligence requires all of the MCSA exams, plus these two additional exams:

• Exam 466: Implementing Data Models and Reports with Microsoft SQL Server 2012
• Exam 467: Designing Business Intelligence Solutions with Microsoft SQL Server 2012

While none of the above tests include the word “cloud” in them, be sure to review each test’s objectives, as the Cloud is covered in some of them. If you are really into the Cloud, Microsoft offers two different Cloud certifications distinct from the SQL Server certifications.

Microsoft will continue to offer the Microsoft Certified Master (MCM) for SQL Server, but as of this writing it has yet to be updated for SQL Server 2012.

With all the changes in the Microsoft SQL Server certifications, I would like to hear your opinion. Do you think the changes are a good thing or a bad thing? Also, how many of you are planning to get certified for SQL Server 2012? And do you think the time and money required to get certified is worth it? Please share what you think with us.

The SQLServerCentral.com track includes the following speakers and sessions:

Grant Fritchey
Grant Fritchey is a SQL Server MVP with over 20 years’ experience in IT, including time spent in support and development. He has worked with SQL Server since 6.0, back in 1995. He has developed in VB, VB.Net, C# and Java. He has authored books for Apress and Simple-Talk, and is a Product Evangelist for Red Gate Software. He blogs at www.scarydba.com.

Improving Query Performance by Understanding and Fixing Bad Parameter Sniffing—300 level
Parameter sniffing is a very misunderstood problem among SQL Server DBAs. Most of the time native SQL Server parameter sniffing boosts query performance, but sometimes, circumstances change, and native parameter sniffing hurts performance instead of helping. In this session you will gain an understanding of what exactly parameter sniffing is, how it works, and why it’s usually so helpful. You will also learn how parameter sniffing can go wrong, and what to do about it. I’ll show you multiple methods for resolving common parameter sniffing issues, helping you to boost the overall performance of your SQL Server instances. You’ll bring back a wealth of knowledge so that you can identify and resolve bad parameter sniffing in your own environment.

All About the Execution Plan—200 Level
This presentation is about execution plans and nothing but execution plans. The entire session focuses on how to dig into execution plans so you can gather as much data as possible, learning exactly what happens when a query executes. You will explore places in execution plans that most DBAs don’t even know where to look, offering insights to help you better tune a query’s performance. All of this from the author of SQL Server Execution Plans, the only book ever written exclusively covering everything you every needed to know about execution plans.

Steve Jones
Steve Jones is the founder and editor of SQLServerCentral.com, the largest SQL Server community in the world. Steve has worked with SQL Server for two decades, starting with v4.2 and continuing on to SQL Server 2012. He has worked for a variety of small and large companies in that time in different industries, allowing him to learn how SQL Server can solve many types of problems. He currently works for Red Gate software, the owner of SQLServerCentral.com. He blogs at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/blogs/steve_jones/default.aspx.

Getting Control of Your Instances with Policy Based Management—200 Level
What sounds more productive: 1) managing each of your instances one at a time; or 2) managing all of them in one or more groups? I’m betting you like the latter option better. In this session you will learn how to use Policy-Based Management to scale your DBA administrative capabilities by grouping your instances together and managing them as one or more groups. This will not only save you administrative time, but it help ensures that your policies and procedures (best practices) are standardized across all of the SQL Server instance throughout your organization.

Searching Binary Data in SQL Server 2012—200 Level
Are you using SQL Server to manage documents stored outside of SQL Server, such as Word or Excel documents using Filestream and Filetable (new in SQL Server 2012)? If so, then this session will teach you how to use the Full-Text Indexing service to be able to retrieve all of this hidden information for easy access by your application, similar to how a search engine works. This session is introductory and will provide you the overall picture of how to implement binary search in SQL Server 2012.

I was just at SQLRally in Dallas, and I was speaking to a DBA friend of mine over lunch. He made the comment that his manager thought he spent too much time at work taking care of the organization’s data. He told me that he spent so much time at his job because he wanted to ensure that the data was properly cared for. Now that is what I call an exceptional DBA. Here is a DBA that thinks protecting the organization’s data is more important than does his manager. And on top of this, this particular DBA donates a lot of his free time to the SQL Serve community. When I asked why he spent so much time helping out with the community, he said it was to help pay back for all of the help he had received from the SQL Server community over the years. What a DBA!

It is exceptional DBAs like this who need to be recognized by their peers, and they can by entering the 2012 Exceptional DBA of the Year Awards. These awards are hosted by SQLServerCentral.com, and sponsored by Red Gate Software.

If you think you are an exceptional DBA, you can nominate yourself for the award. Or if you know of an exceptional DBA, you can nominate them. Either way, to be recognized as an exceptional DBA, you must enter.

Once you are nominated (by yourself or another), your application will be reviewed by four judges: Steve Jones, Grant Fritchey, Rodney Landrum, and Brad McGehee. The judges will then select five finalists. Then these five finalists will be voted on by the SQL Server community, and the judges, to select the 2012 Exceptional DBA of the Year Award.

The award includes:

• An award plaque
• Being featured on the Simple-Talk website
• Full conference registration for the 2012 PASS Summit
• Four nights hotel accommodations
• $300 towards travel expenses
• A license for the SQL DBA Bundle with 36 months of support and upgrades.

For more information on the award, and to nominate yourself or another, check out www.exceptionaldba.com.

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Internals by Kalen Delaney, Paul Randal, Kimberly Tripp, Conor Cunningham, and Adam Machanic.

SQL Server MVP Deep Dives, edited by Paul Nielsen, Kalen Delaney, Adam Machanic, and Kimberly Tripp.

SQL Server MVP Deep Dives: Volume 2, edited by Kalen Delaney, Louis Davidson, Greg Low, Paul Randal, Kimberly Tripp, and Brad McGehee.

Professional SQL Server 2008 Internals and Troubleshooting, by Christian Bolton, Justin Langford, Brent Ozar, James Rowland-Jones, Jonathan Kehayias, Cindy Gross, and Steven Wort.

Troubleshooting SQL Server—A Guide for the Accidental DBA, by Jonathan Kehayias and Ted Krueger. Available as a free PDF file here.

Inside Microsoft SQL Server 2008: T-SQL Querying, by Itzik Ben-Gan, Lubor Kollar, Dejan Sarka, and Steve Kass.

DBA Survivor: Become a Rock Star DBA, by Thomas LaRock.

Inside the SQL Server Query Optimizer, by Benjamin Nevarez. Available as a free PDF file here.

SQL Server 2005 Practical Troubleshooting, by Ken Henderson.

SQL Server 2008 Administration in Action, by Rod Colledge.

SQL Server Hardware, by Glenn Berry. Available as a free PDF file here.

The above books were the top picks, but don’t include all of the recommendations made during the April Question of the Month. To read about all of the recommended books, click here.

Post your responses to the SQL Server Question of the Month in the comments section below (at www.bradmcgehee.com if you are viewing this from a syndicated newsfeed). And don’t forget to enter your e-mail address when you post your response, so I can contact you if you win.

Because there is no right or wrong answer, this month’s winner will be selected randomly from all the entries that are received.

This is a reprint from my editorial in Database Weekly. Also, check out the May Question of the Month, as it is also directly related to this topic.

Often when I speak at user groups and conferences, I ask attendees what versions of SQL Server they are running. As you may expect, I hear from attendees who are running the entire gamut of SQL Server versions, from SQL Server 6.5 up to SQL Server 2012. While it is an unscientific poll, it seems that most people are still running SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008.

SQL Server 2012 RTM was announced on March 6 and went into general availability on April 2, but I have talked only to a very small handful of DBAs who are even thinking about upgrading to 2012, let alone having already done so. So why doesn’t everybody immediately upgrade to the latest edition of SQL Server when it is released? Why are there so many older versions of SQL Server in the wild?

Some of the most common reasons I hear include:

• We don’t like being on the cutting edge, preferring only to move to a newer version only once it has been around awhile and proven to be stable. Read: Waiting for Service Pack 1.
• Our vendor applications, or in-house applications, haven’t been certified to run on SQL Server 2012, and this takes a lot of time. Based on my personal experience, vendor applications are extremely slow to keep up to date with the latest SQL Server technology. When I ask vendors why, they generally tell me that they don’t have the in-house resources to do the testing. In other words, they are cheap and don’t want to spend the money.
• If our application is working well on the current version, why go to all the hassle of upgrading when we are happy with what we have. Why stir the pot and cause potential problems?
• The new version doesn’t have any new features that we need, so why bother upgrading?
• Upgrading to a new version almost always means higher licensing costs, and with the economy as it is, we can’t afford to upgrade.
• While we want to upgrade, we don’t have the in-house resources to do so. It takes a huge amount of time to test existing applications (which are often tightly intertwined), and, if there are problems, to fix them; build new servers (as necessary); train staff on how to use new features; perform the actual upgrade; perform post upgrade tasks; monitor performance after upgrading to see if it is better or worse, and make any required adjustments. In other words, the process of upgrading is very time-consuming and costly.

So I have several questions for you. Have you upgraded any of your instances to SQL Server 2012 yet, and if so, how did the upgrade go? If you haven’t upgraded to SQL Server 2012 yet, when do you expect to? And besides what I have listed above, what other reasons or impediments have you run across that prevent you from upgrading to 2012?

The SQL Server 2012 and SharePoint Connections conference agenda brings  together more than 40 top-ranking experts from Microsoft, along with leading independent presenters to deliver in-depth sessions on how to succeed with SharePoint and SQL Server based on real life production deployments with the latest hot news from Microsoft’s biggest launch this year for SQL Server 2012.

The event will include a SQLServerCentral.com track consisting of six sessions from two SQL Server MVPs that I selected to participate in the track: Constantin Klein and Satya Jayanty. Their sessions include:

Constantin Klein

• New T-SQL Features in SQL Server 2012
• SQL Server for Developers
• Fun Managing Documents with SQL Server

Satya Jayanty

• Upgrading SQL Server: Tools and Best Practices
• DMVs – Best of the Bunch. Troubleshoot Your Data Platform Like a Pro
• SQL Server High Availability Concepts and Solution Guidance: 2008 R2 & 2012

Post your responses to the SQL Server Question of the Month in the comments section below (at www.bradmcgehee.com if you are viewing this from a syndicated newsfeed). And don’t forget to enter your e-mail address when you post your response, so I can contact you if you win.

Because there is no right or wrong answer, this month’s winner will be selected randomly from all the entries that are received.