SQL Saturday #192

I attended SQL Saturday #192 (http://sqlsaturday.com/192/eventhome.aspx) on March 2, 2013 in Tampa, FL.  This year's event was moved to HCC (Hillsborough Community College) because the previous location was too small for the ever-growing number of attendees.  This new venue also allows for future expansion. 

The day was packed with a variety of SQL Server focused sessions ranging from Beginner to Advanced levels, presented in 8 tracks, with 3 sessions before and after lunch.  There was an interesting mix of new and seasoned speakers.  I chose the following sessions: 

• SSIS Programming Using .NET
• Reporting 101
• Performance Tuning by Digging into the Plan Cache
• Join Us!  Getting Started as a Technical Speaker
• Free Tools for the DBA
• Becoming a Data Professional – taking it to the next level

The turnout was great as always, with Pam Shaw as our fearless leader.

Jorge Novo (http://etldevelopernotes.blogspot.com) talked about SSIS programming in .NET.  He has fascinating ideas on automating SSIS development in .NET.  I could envision flexibility, enforced standards and time savings with a simple, wizard-like user interface.

Jorge had a slide with the words:  Get Familiar >> Get Experienced >> Achieve Mastery

Jonathan Kehayias (http://www.sqlskills.com/blogs/jonathan) discussed the Plan Cache.  The plan cache is used to identify and diagnose performance problems.  Jonathan highlighted a number of DMVs (Dynamic Management Views) to help query server state information:

• sys.dm_exec_requests
• sys.dm_exec_cached_plans
• sys.dm_exec_query_stats
• sys.dm_exec_query_plan
• sys.dm_exec_text_query_plan

I also attended Jonathan’s talk on ‘Free Tools for the DBA’.  There are many free tools the DBA should have in their toolbox.

• Performance Analysis of Logs (PAL), http://pal.codeplex.com
• SQLDiag, PerfStats and SQL Nexus, http://sqlnexus.codeplex.com
• SQL Sentry Plan Explorer, http://sqlsentry.com/plan-explorer/sql-server-query-view.asp
• SysInternals Suite, http://www.sysinternals.com
• SSMS Tools Pack, http://www.ssmstoolspack.com
• Integrating Profiler and PerfMon

The day was full of learning, good food and plenty of discussion.  A big thanks to all the volunteers, speakers and sponsors for making SQL Saturday #192 a success!