SQL Server Club

#SQLBits 7 - York, October 2010 - Registration open!

I've just booked my place at SQLBits The 7 Wonders of SQL and am excited already!

The seventh installment of this conference will be held at York University and the line-up of speakers and subjects is simply mouth-watering. 

Speakers include Simon Sabin, Brent Ozar, Kevin Kline, Andrew Couch, Chris Webb, Neil Hambly, Tony Rogerson, Allan Mitchell, Andre Kamman, Christian Bolton and Brad McGehee. You can check out the full line up here.

As per the Wales conference back in November 2009, the Thursday and Friday are fee-based training days and the Saturday is a free community day. I think you'll agree by the quality of speakers and topics that it's great value for money.

Be quick to register though, this could get booked up pretty quickly.

I'll see you there. 

Installing SQL Server 2008? Save yourself time and download .Net Framework 3.5 **SP1** first

When installing SQL Server 2008 remember that you'll need to install .Net Framework 3.5, Service Pack 1 as a pre-requisite.

Tip : if you've got more than one server that needs a SQL Server 2008 installation or upgrade,: download the distributable version of the package.

This can then be copied over the network around your servers or burned to CD/DVD, saving valuable time downloading it all again for each installation.

Essential if you're stuck in a cold machine room all day. Just go to Microsoft's site and search for .net framework 3.5 sp1 - then look for the Full Package download link.

Norb and SQL Server Club Web Sites

Apologies for any problems you might be experiencing with the Norb and SQL Server Club web sites. We're in the process of changing our web host so please bear with us through this transition. Normal service will be resumed shortly.

Interview with Database Expert Dr Mark Whitehorn

Dr. Mark Whitehorn is an internationally recognised expert who specialises in the areas of data analysis, data modelling, data warehousing and business intelligence (BI). His main area of interest is best practice – with reference to the design and implementation of data management systems is general and BI systems in particular.

I first became aware of your work last year at SQLBits 5, when you presented a riveting talk about your application of SQL Server Analysis Services to Charles Darwin's research. And I know many of our readers will be very interested in the MSc in Business Intelligence, which I'll return to later.

But before we come back to that - you've had a very interesting career, Mark, one that's taken you from genetics to databases to business intelligence, as a database book author, OLAP consultant, computer industry journalist, trainer, researcher and lecturer. Please tell me about how you came to take such an interesting course in your work...

I went to University, did a degree in Biochemistry and followed that with a Ph.D. in Genetics which led me to collect a huge amount of data. The storage medium at that time was paper and the analysis was by calculator – it was all painfully slow.

My Ph.D. supervisor, John Parker, once asked me an off-the-cuff question: “This looks interesting. Is this factor correlated with that one?” A week later - we are talking maybe 50 solid hours of thinking, paper shuffling, number scribbling and key punching - I was in a position to give him the definitive answer - “No”. Around that time I became very interested in the idea of storing data more effectively, making analysis better and faster and I started to become interested in databases.

I was offered a job in the Anatomy department at the University of Dundee to work on using computers for teaching and I began to use databases to store and manipulate the data.

My journalism also started around that time, purely by chance. The Anatomy department used Apricot computers and it subscribed to an excellent magazine “Apricot file” that was edited by Dennis Jarrett. Dennis advertised for writers so I replied and he commissioned first one and later several articles. Eventually he moved back to editing a mainstream magazine, “PC User” - of which noble publication he had been the launch editor, and asked me to write for that.

This was 1985, a time when computer magazines blossomed – everyone wanted to know about computers and there was no internet. So the number of titles grew and as the commissioning editors moved from magazine to magazine, they took their list of writers with them.

So eventually I was writing for most of the magazines as a freelancer. I was helped by the fact that very few other people wanted to write about databases whereas I actively wanted to try them all and find their strengths and weaknesses. So I got paid for fun work. At the peak I was writing about 100,000 words a year, in addition to the academic job.

From there it wasn’t a huge step to writing books – they are just very long, complex articles. Books don’t make serious money - unless you are J.K. Rowling - but they have an interesting side effect which is that they make you think very carefully about exactly what it is you believe to be true about a complex subject. So writing a book turns out to be a very powerful way of learning.

UK: #SQLBits 7 announced, University of #York, 30th September - 2nd October 2010 #SQLServer : http://sqlbits.com/default.aspx

UK: #SQLBits 7 announced : University of #York, 30th September - 2nd October 2010 #SQLServer : http://sqlbits.com/default.aspx

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UK : Interesting talk on SQL Server 2008 Disk I/O and StreamInsight by @TonyRogerson MVP & @allanSQLIS, 14th July London

UK : Interesting talk on SQL Server 2008 Disk I/O and StreamInsight by Tony Rogerson MVP & Allan Mitchell, 14th July London : http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/tonyrogerson/archive/2010/06/04/event-on-sql-server-2008-disk-io-and-the-new-complex-event-processing-streaminsight-feature-in-r2-on-14th-july-london.aspx

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DDD Southwest 2.0 Review #dddsw

In the last ten days I’ve been called both a geek and a nerd. A good job then that I was in such good company at DDD Southwest 2.0.

Actually, I was in the presence of lots of people with a much higher nerd rating than me. And many of them were kind enough to share their knowledge with the several hundred developers that registered for this annual event.

These super-nerds presented a wide variety of topics to us tech-hungry developers and there was something for everyone. The “Getting Started with .NET” track aimed at anyone new to development was a great idea!

DDD Southwest was held at the University of the West of England or UWE – pronounced you-ee by us locals - just outside Bristol on a Saturday 5th June. A very hot day too.

Guy Smith-Ferrier gave an opening speech to welcome us all and explain the proceedings for the day. I was very proud that SQL Server Club was a sponsor for this fab event and it was great to see our logo up on the sponsors slide.

I’d also volunteered to help out for the day and was given the role of Room Monitor. Quite an easy one really as I was able to sit in on all the sessions I really wanted to see.

Try out PowerPivot

Hi All,

This is my first post on SQL Server Club's new blog site.

Check out some the coolest PowerPivot tutorials on the web:
http://www.powerpivot.com/videos.aspx

A blog on PowerPivot:

PowerPivotPro

A podcast from Mr. Excel:

Power Pivot Mashup

Enjoy!

Happy Power Pivoting!

Best Regards,

Anil Mahadev

Database and Virtualization Specialist

SQL Server Club Sponsors DDD Southwest

Norb Technologies is happy to announce that their free community knowledge base, SQL Server Club, is sponsoring the DDD Southwest event.

DDD Southwest is part of the Developer Developer Developer community which organises free events around the UK. The DDD Southwest team is headed by Microsoft MVP Guy Smith-Ferrier, Chris Myhill and Adam Towler. This dedicated team also runs the local DotNetDevNet user group in the Bristol area.

This year’s south west event takes places at the University of the West of England (UWE) in Bristol on Saturday 5 June 2010. It’s a free day for .NET developers to attend presentations, take part in discussions, learn and network with other developers.

"At SQL Server Club we recognise the importance of free technical events and are proud to be sponsoring DDD Southwest," said Rachel Clements, Technical Editor at SQL Server Club. "The speakers put a lot of work into delivering informative presentations, this is a cause worthy of industry support and we’re happy to back it."

Following on from the success of last year’s event in Taunton, places for the June event were booked up with hours of registration opening.

"It’s great to see such high demand for places and I’m sure the day will be an overwhelming success," continued Rachel. "The local team that run DotNetDevNet do a brilliant job and having attended the DDD Southwest day in Taunton, I’m really looking forward to June!"

SQL Server Club is the free community knowledge base providing articles, tips, newsletters and expert advice for SQL Server developers and database administrators. We focus on quality of information rather than quantity, and our authors are all experienced database experts. Membership is free. SQL Server Club is sponsored by Norb Technologies.

Getting Intelligent with SQLBits VI

If you’re in or around London, UK on Friday 16th April 2010, SQLBits VI is well worth a visit. And this SQLBits is a bit of a special one, intentionally arranged in conjunction with Microsoft’s launch of SQL Server 2008 R2 the previous day.

Much of the day is dedicated to Business Intelligence and has some top notch guest speakers - Simon Sabin, world renowned database author Mark Whitehorn, MDX and OLAP expert Chris Webb, Keith Burns and Thomas Kejser from Microsoft, and Tony Rogerson (MVP) to name but a few. 

If you want to check out the sessions, click here. 

For those wanting to make a weekend of it and include some sightseeing, SQLBits has arranged a special promotional offer with the Park Plaza Hotel. This brand new hotel has only just opened and is a five minute walk away over the River Thames via Westminster Bridge.

Plus, the conference venue is also very close to two great Fuller’s pubs, The Sanctuary House Hotel in Tothill Street and The Red Lion in Parliament Street, a stone’s throw from Downing Street. 

And if that’s not enough, there’s a prize draw for tickets to the PASS European Summit, and the PASS Summit, worth $1,995.

All in all, it promises to be a great conference in an easy to reach location. Certainly if it’s as good as SQLBits V, and you’re interested in SQL Server, you should try to be there. SQL Server Club will as usual be Tweeting events as they happen.

SQLBits VI will be held on 16th April 2010. The venue is the Church House Conference Centre, London, opposite Westminster Abbey, a two minute walk from the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. Registration and entry is free, and available now at www.sqlbits.com.