SQL Server Club

SQLRelay Bristol Event Tuesday 4th October 2011

As part of the National SQL Server week, all the UK SQL Server user groups are holding an event to help promote the benefits of free community events.

As a leader of the Bristol user group I'm delighted to announce that we have Microsoft MVP Tony Rogerson returning for his second visit. Tony will be presenting High Availability in SQL Server Denali. We've had lots of support from sponsors including Microsoft, Wrox, Red Gate software and SQLPASS. There's a little a hint regarding the some of the super swag we have to give away ;-)

It's not too late to sign up for this event and you'd be mad to miss it:

•     HADR in SQL Server Denali with Tony Rogerson
•     Tuesday 4th October 2o11
•     18:30 - 20:30, Doors open 18:00
•     Room with a View, 4th Floor, Bush House, 72 Prince Street, Bristol BS1 4QD
•     Register using SQL Server FAQ here
•     Map, directions, instructions and more details here

You'll not only learn lots from Tony, but you'll get free pizza and beer and get to know lots of other local DBAs and developers. Don't forget to bring a friend!

July Meeting with SQL MVP James Rowland-Jones

I recently found myself without a speaker for the July SQL Server Club User Group meeting, so when James Rowland-Jones offered to step in, I have to say, I was chuffed to bits.

James is one of the SQLBits conference organisers as well as being a regular speaker. I saw James presenting at SQLBits in Newport back in 2009 and was impressed with his knowledge of SQL Server internals.

SQL Server has a complex, fascinating database engine and I can't help but be wowed when reading about its functions and capabilities. One of my favourite topics is page allocation, fragmentation and how data is stored.

What I previously hadn't given much consideration to is how loading data into a data warehouse is affected by fragmentation. When James emailed me to say this was the subject he would be presenting, I was thrilled.

His presentation will take us back to the basics of fragmentation and we will re-visit all those areas of heaps, clustered indexes and page allocation and how fragmentation arises and has an impact on performance. James will tell us about the trace flags we can use to avoid fragmentation and also what design patterns can be applied to minimise its effects.

I'm really looking forward to this event and it will be a pleasure to welcome James to Bristol. If you would like to attend this meeting, here are the details:

• The Art of War-Fast Track Data Warehouse and Fragmentation with James Rowland-Jones
• Thursday 21st July 2011
• 18:30 - 20:30, Doors open 18:00
• Room with a View, 4th Floor, Bush House, 72 Prince Street, Bristol BS1 4QD
• Register using Eventbrite here
• Map, directions, instructions and more details here

SQL Server Database Developer, Bristol, 1 Yr Contract

A company in the Fishponds area of Bristol are expanding their development team and looking to recruit a database developer. This is a 12 months fixed term contract paying £31k. 

Key  Skills

-- SQL Server 2005 / 2008
-- Microsoft Access / VBA
-- Visual Studio / VB.NET / WINDOWS FORMS

Key Tasks

- - Contribute to the development of IT solutions to promote organisational efficiency 
- - Provide support to the Database Manager
- - To aid design and development of a bespoke relational database system and migration of legacy database systems

Main Responsibilities  

1. Review, research and develop new database functionality, and make recommendations to the process of these new functions in liaison with the Head of IT, Database Developers and other teams.

2. Produce effective supporting documentation and provide end user tuition and support for internal database systems.

3. Provide accurate and relevant ad-hoc reports and management information

4. Assist with the design and development of a bespoke relational database system.

5. Establish and maintain effective working relationships with co-workers, regional colleagues and customers.

6. Pursue development of skills and knowledge necessary for the effective performance of the role in liaison with the Head of IT and Head of Personnel and Training.

7. Contribute to the quality customer service by providing a helpful, friendly response to external and internal queries.

To Apply 

If you're interested in applying, please contact my good friend Darren Khan at Randstad Technologies on 0117 311 6437. Please mention you saw this job on SQL Server Club.

I get no commission for this, I'm just providing a service to help match techies to jobs :-) 

 

New found love of set based programming

New found love of set based programming

Hey All

Its been quite a while huh? Here's something I've been working on. In trying to get a way from procedural/cursor based TSQL, I've found how to get done what I need using set based programming! In using SQL the way it was meant to be, I can now execute commands faster using set based coding. By declaring a temp table as a variable, I can still use memory-based processing without the overhead of DiskIO.

Dynamic SQL is built with a SELECT statement and inserted into the temp table. The reason I used a temp table was the need for a unique identity column to be used as a counter. I have linked servers reaching out to all my database servers so I can remotely run commands or access data.

With the example below, I can run a command returning file information for each database on each server! THIS will be extremely handy for building configuration dashboards.

Happy Hunting Data Shepherds!!!

DECLARE
@COUNTER TINYINT = 1,
@COMMAND NVARCHAR(500)

DECLARE
@VIEWCOMMAND TABLE
(COUNTER TINYINT IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,
COMMAND NVARCHAR(100))

INSERT INTO @VIEWCOMMAND
SELECT
'SELECT * FROM [' + S.name + '].[' + D.name + '].SYS.DATABASE_FILES' AS 'COMMAND'
FROM
sys.servers S,
sys.databases D

WHILE @COUNTER IS NOT NULL

BEGIN

SELECT @COMMAND =
(SELECT
COMMAND
FROM
@VIEWCOMMAND
WHERE
COUNTER = @COUNTER)

EXEC(@COMMAND)

SET @COUNTER =
(SELECT
MIN(COUNTER)
FROM
@VIEWCOMMAND
WHERE
COUNTER > @COUNTER)

END

SQL Server Club User Group South West

I'm delighted to announce that we've started a real-world arm of SQL Server Club! We've set up a user group for SQL Server professionals in the South West of England.

While we'll predominantly be based in Bristol, we'll arrange for meetings to move round to other towns such as Bath, Swindon and Taunton.

To attend meetings you'll need to register, so please go to the SQL Server Club User Group South West site to join.

If you're based in the South West of the UK and work with SQL Server, please sign up! It's FREE! :-)

Fascinating data visualisation and statistics video by Hans Rosling, - The way forward for SQL Server Reporting Services?
Tuesday 7th December at 9pm on BBC Four @HansRosling #Hans #Rosling #Data #Visualisation #Statistics #SQLServer

New ! SQL Server 2011 LinkedIn group :

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3682910

This week: sneak peek of PASS Summit 2010 in 24 free live webcasts

Join an exceptional lineup of SQL Server and BI experts from around the world as they present a sneak peek of PASS Summit 2010 in 24 free live webcasts September 15-16.

Find out more here:

http://www.sqlpass.org/24hours/fall2010/

SQL Server DBA, Chippenham and SQL Server Developer, Bristol UK

If you're a SQL Server DBA or Developer in the South West region and looking for a new permanent role, you may want to check out the following job specs. 

Darren Khan from Randstad Technologies is currently recruiting for these two positions. If you're interested, please drop him an email or give him a call. He's a great guy to deal with and really understands us techies, I know because I've recently had first-hand experience with him during a recent job search :-)



SQL Database Administrator, Chippenham, UK - £35K + £3.5k on call

SQL Database Administrator DBA, T-SQL, Clustering, Triggers

SQL Database Administrator / DBA with strong SQL Server skills required to join hugely successful IT solutions provider with offices in the Wiltshire area.

We are looking for candidates with -

- SQL Server 2000/2005 support and administration 
- Broad range of knowledge of Microsoft technologies 
- Database programming experience, T-SQL, stored procedures, triggers etc 

Candidates with any of the following would be preferred -

- Previous experience of working on customer sites 
- ITIL awareness
- SQL Server 2000 or 2005
- SQL server clustering

Responsibilities will cover:

+ Resolving reported faults escalated
+ SQL Server system set up and administration
+ Planning and implementation of scheduled program of software and database upgrades
+ Design and implementation of database solutions including database performance tuning
+ Report writing and contributing to solutions/enhancements
+ Liaising with customers to resolve issues remotely and on-site
 
This is a fantastic opportunity for talented SQL DBA's to further their career and play a key role in the development and provision of solutions to key customers. They are looking to interview ASAP so send in your CV now for more info.

Darren.khan@randstadtechnologies.com


SQL Server Developer - £25-£30k


SQL Server Developer is needed urgently by a record breaking Software House with a market leading product in the Bristol Area. SQL Server Developers will be part of a dedicated team providing local development services to wider groups developing the very latest in leading software products for this Blue Chip client of mine.

SQL Server Developers who have at least 2-5 years experience will be suitable for this role if they are looking for training and certifications/accreditation in SQL Server from Microsoft.

SQL Server Developers will part of a medium sized team and will have no administration responsibilities whatsoever, purely focusing on honing their skills and developing the very latest components of this fast moving commercial offering.

SQL Server Developers will have minimal duties in providing 3rd and 4th line support to internal customers within the business.

Training in addition to SQL Server will include Oracle and certifications from Oracle on their latest database packages 

If you are a SQL Server Developer and you wish to join a Top 100 UK company and have a great salary and unrivalled benefits then please contact me by sending your CV in NOW! 


Darren.khan@randstadtechnologies.com


Darren Khan
RandStad Technologies
0117 311 6437 

#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.