Author: Erin Stellato

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December 2021 Meeting Notes

Hi all! This post services as notification that the Ohio North Database Training group will be holding elections for the Board in February 2022. The positions are President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer. The position descriptions can be found here.

At the beginning of the January 2022 meeting we will start with an open forum/Q&A where those who are interested in running for a position can ask questions and participate in conversation. Please note that only members who are local to the group can run for a position.

Any members that are interested in running will be asked to notify the existing Board by January 7, 2022.

Script and slides from the December 7 user group meeting with Kendra Little can be found here.

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Meeting Resources

August 2021 Meeting – Resources

The August meeting for the Ohio North Database Training user group was held on Tuesday, August 3, 2021. Our speaker was Kimberly Tripp (b | t), and the session title was Stored Procedure Optimization Techniques. The session was not recorded, but you can download the slide deck and demos here.

Abstract: Kimberly will discuss stored procedure caching and the potential for performance problems due to a problem known as parameter sniffing. There are some common solutions and while they can drastically improve performance, they can also cause other problems. Sometimes a hybrid solution is needs, from this session, you’ll know the best way to write procedures so that stable requests are cached and unstable requests are not (giving you the most optimal performance without wasting resources).

Speaker Bio: Kimberly’s an author, consultant, and top-rated speaker having spoken at PASS, TechEd, SQLintersection, and numerous other events around the world; she was also a Microsoft SQL Server MVP for over 15 years. She has over 25 years of experience designing and tuning SQL Server solutions with a focus on optimizing procedural code, indexing strategies, statistics, and partitioning. When she’s not tuning SQL servers, she’s diving and photographing all sorts of underwater critters such as frogfish with her husband, Paul S. Randal.

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July 2021 Meeting

The July meeting for the Ohio North Database Training user group will be on Tuesday, July 6, 2021. This will be a virtual event and our featured speaker will be Bob Ward, Principal Architect, Microsoft Azure Data.

5PM EDT: online meeting begins with a social hour. This is an unstructured hour where you can join us to catch up and meet other members of the group before the session starts.

6PM EDT: Updates and announcements, followed by Bob’s session.

Bob’s session is SQL Edge to Cloud – another topic which is likely applicable for many of us, even if we do not have solutions in the cloud (yet!). Please review the abstract below for more details.

We hope to see you there!

*Please note, we will be using Microsoft Teams for this month’s meeting, instead of our usual platform. Plan to join a few minutes early just to make sure you do not have any issues.

  • Meeting RSVP (link to online meeting will be available after registration)

Session Abstract

SQL is everywhere you need it from the IoT Edge to your datacenter to public clouds. With all of these options, it can be difficult to know which to choose and why each option may be right for your data needs. In this presentation, I’ll review with you all the current released and preview versions of SQL from the edge to the cloud. I’ll compare each of them and discuss why you want to get ahead of the curve by understanding what is possible with the modern SQL data platform. I’ll discuss the technical details of some of these options so you can understand what SQL “flavor” fits your company’s needs. This session will include some demos to highlight key innovations with SQL.

Speaker Bio

Bob Ward is a Principal Architect for the Microsoft Azure Data team, which owns the development for all SQL Server versions. Bob has worked for Microsoft for 27+ years on every version of SQL Server shipped from OS/2 1.1 to SQL Server 2019 including Azure SQL. Bob is a well-known speaker on SQL Server and Azure SQL, often presenting talks on new releases, internals, and specialized topics at events such as Red Hat Summit, SQLBits, SQLIntersection, Microsoft Inspire, Microsoft Ignite, and many different virtual events. You can also learn Azure SQL from him on the popular series https://aka.ms/azuresql4beginners. You can follow him at @bobwardms or linkedin.com/in/bobwardms. Bob is the author of the books Pro SQL Server on Linux, SQL Server 2019 Revealed, and Azure SQL Revealed available from Apress Media.

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June 2021 Meeting

The June meeting for the Ohio North Database Training user group will be on Tuesday, June 1, 2021. This will be a virtual event and our featured speaker will be Allan Hirt, a Cloud and Datacenter Management and Data Platform Microsoft MVP (VMware vExpert!).

The online meeting will start at 5PM EDT with a social hour. This is an unstructured hour where you can join us to catch up and meet other members of the group before the session starts.

Updates and announcements will commence at 6PM EDT, with Allan’s session starting after that.

Allan’s session is Tips for Successful Virtualized and IaaS Deployments of SQL Server, a topic that’s applicable for many of us as our world becomes more virtualized and cloud-based. Please review the abstract below for more details.

We hope to see you there!

  • Meeting RSVP (link to online meeting will be available after registration)

Session Abstract

Most SQL Server implementations today are virtualized either on premises with a traditional hypervisor or up in a public cloud using an infrastructure as a service (IaaS) virtual machine (VM). This session will cover the top things you need to do to ensure that your VMs perform well, are highly available, and in some cases, hopefully do not break the bank from a cost perspective.

Speaker Bio

Consultant, trainer, author, business continuity expert, and SQLHA, LLC founder Allan Hirt has been working with SQL Server since 1992 when it was still a Sybase product as well as clustering in Windows Server since the late 1990s when it was called Wolfpack. Currently a dual Microsoft MVP (Data Platform; Cloud and Datacenter Management) as well as a VMware vExpert, Allan works with customers and end users around the world to empower their SQL Server deployments and share his knowledge.

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Virtual Meeting Announcement

May 2021 Meeting

The May meeting for the Ohio North Database Training user group will be on Tuesday, May 4, 2021. May the fourth be with you!* This will be a virtual event and our featured speaker will be Jeff Iannucci, a Data Platform community member from Arizona who presented at our last Cleveland SQLSaturday in 2020.

The online meeting will start at 5PM EST with a social hour. This is an unstructured hour where you can join us to catch up and meet other members of the group before the session starts.

Updates and announcements will commence at 6PM EST, with Jeff’s session starting after that. The title for Jeff’s session is titled Mastering Digital Communication – something that’s relevant for all of us right now! Please see the abstract below for more details.

We hope to see you there! *Start Wars attire optional.

  • Meeting RSVP (link to online meeting available after registration)

Session Abstract

“Excellent communication skills” shows up repeatedly as a job requirement, and yet all of us struggle with the technological tools we use to speak with others. For example, how many times have you sent an urgent email that didn’t get any replies? Have you put something important in a chat that confused your colleagues? Do colleagues seem disinterested when you speak during online meetings?

To remedy these frustrating situations, we’re going to examine the different types of digital communication we have available to us, when to use each type (hint: they’re not interchangeable), and also how to format and deliver your communication to get your point across quickly and clearly. You’ll leave with a stronger understanding of how to use these modern tools to communicate successfully, resulting in greater influence.

Speaker Bio

Jeff Iannucci is a Senior Database Administrator for DriveTime in Tempe, AZ. He has over 20 years of SQL Server experience as both a DBA and Developer in diverse environments such as health care, finance, retail sales, and government. He writes about solving problems for database professionals on both twitter (@DesertDBA) and his blog (desertdba.com), and has been chosen as an Idera ACE for 2021.

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Virtual Meeting Announcement

April 2021 Meeting

The April meeting for the Ohio North Database Training user group will be on Tuesday, April 6, 2021. This will be a virtual event and our featured speaker will be Eugene Meidinger, a Data Platform community member from the Pittsburgh area. Eugene has also presented at our Cleveland SQLSaturday events multiple times.

The online meeting will start at 5PM EST with a social hour. This is an unstructured hour where you can join us to catch up and meet other members of the group before the session starts. Updates and announcements will commence at 6PM EST, with Eugene’s session starting after that.

The title for Eugene’s session is Visualization Fundamentals with Power BI – please see the abstract below for more details.

We hope to see you there!

Session Abstract

Simply adding descriptive data to Power BI reports is fairly easy. But how do you add context and business meaning? How do you make sure your reports are effective?

In this session, we’ll review the different types of reports consumers and their needs. Next, we’ll talk about some fundamentals of effective reporting and visualizations. Finally, we’ll see how you can use Power BI to take a spiral approach: starting at raw data and then layering in context, business logic, and interactivity.

Speaker Bio

Eugene Meidinger works as an independent BI consultant and Pluralsight author, specializing in Power BI and the Azure Data Platform. He has been working with data for over 8 years. He also helps run the GroupBy online conference.

You can find Eugene on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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Virtual Meeting Announcement

March 2021 Meeting

The March meeting for the Ohio North Database Training user group will be on Tuesday, March 2, 2021. This will be a virtual event and our featured speaker will be Peter Shore, a Data Platform community member from Columbus, OH who has also presented at our Cleveland SQLSaturday events.

The online meeting will start at 5PM EST with a social hour. Feel free to join us then to catch up and meet other members of the group! Updates and announcements will commence at 6PM EST, with Peter’s session starting after that.

The title for Peter’s session is A Query Runs Through It: An Introduction to the SQL Server Engine – please see the abstract below for more details.

We hope to see you there!

  • Meeting RSVP (you will receive the webinar link after RSVPing)

Session Abstract

Have you ever wondered what happens inside SQL Server when you execute that query you wrote? This session will serve as an introduction to what is going on under the hood, commonly called SQL Server Internals. Whether writing queries or tuning them, SQL Server internals knowledge is highly valuable in Azure VMs or SQL DB, AWS, GCP, and on-premises as the SQL Server engine is the same. Together we will dip into why data types matter, ponder pages, sample the storage engine, and ponder the query processor as we see what happens when your query runs.

Speaker Bio

Peter is a seasoned IT professional with over 25 years of experience, a frequent speaker at SQL Saturday, User Groups, and other conferences. He took the accidentally intentional DBA plunge in 2013 and has discovered that he loves to find the stories the data has to tell. Peter is comfortable working with both physical and virtual servers where he tries to apply best practices to attain performance improvements. He is also adept at bridging the gap between technical and business language in order to bring technology solutions to business needs.

Additionally, Peter is the president of CBusPASS in Columbus, Ohio and co-organizer of SQL Saturday Columbus.

You can find Peter on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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Virtual Meeting Announcement

February 2021 Meeting

The February meeting for the Ohio North Database Training user group will be on Tuesday, February 2, 2021. This will be a virtual event and our featured speaker will be Michael Swart, a Data Platform community member from Ontario, Canada who has previously spoken at our Cleveland SQLSaturday events.

The online meeting will start at 5PM EST with a social hour. Feel free to join us then to catch up and meet other members of the group! Updates and announcements will commence at 6PM EST, with Michael’s session starting after that.

The title for Michael’s session is How High Can We Scale SQL Server? – please see the abstract below for more details.

We hope to see you there!

Session Abstract

The world of online learning has been very, very busy in the past year. At my company D2L, we host websites for schools. We just experienced our busiest semester start ever pushing our infrastructure further than we’ve ever pushed it. I’d like to share my own experiences. I’ll describe how busy we got and the lessons we learned, both the ones we anticipated and the ones that took us by surprise.

And what about the future? What practical strategies are we adopting to evolve our database architecture to handle even more growth? I’d like to share the way we understand our scaling challenges and how we plan to tackle them.

Speaker Bio

Michael Swart is a passionate database developer and blogger specializing in SQL Server. He’s a Principal Software Developer at D2L and has the most fun when troubleshooting challenging client issues.

You can find Michael on Twitter (@MJSwart), and read more on his excellent blog.