TechEd 2009 Archives

May 12, 2009

The TechEd 2009 Update From Los Angeles #1

It’s the end of Day Two at TechEd 2009 in Los Angeles. I’m sitting here in my hotel room eating some dinner and catching up for the first time in a few days on some work and e-mails that I haven’t had the time to do since arriving at TechEd.

So far, it’s been a good two days. I’ve already taped two TechEd Online sessions (a panel, and a tech talk – both on clustering). The panel discussion, Planning a Windows Deployment for SQL Server 2008 Failover Clustering, was just posted today and it came out well. It features Steven Ekren who is on the Windows Development team for clustering, Max Verun from the SQL Server development team, and myself. You can view the panel at: http://www.msteched.com/online/view.aspx?tid=6f3925e1-4b83-4f13-bb5f-4d69741916cb. There’s a lot of good stuff in there, and I hope you find it useful.

Speaker Idol is a lot of fun to judge; today was my first time sitting in this year’s competition (I did last year and was supposed to judge yesterday, but something came up). I’ll be judging the final two heats (tomorrow and Thursday) as well as the finals on Thursday night. Being a judge is also difficult. Everyone really is good, and the difference between the winner, runner up, and anyone else is usually pretty small. One or two things are usually the difference. Come the finals, it’ll be fun to see if the finalists incorporated any of our feedback, or just do what got them there. There is no right or wrong on that one. If you’re at TechEd, come by the Yellow TLC Theater at noon to see the final two rounds.

I’m also spending a lot of time in the DAT booth – more than I’m scheduled. Honestly, I really do enjoy interacting with everyone and answering questions. For those of you who have come by already, thanks! I hope you got as much out of it as I do talking with you. I’ll be there all week (although Friday AM I’ll be in the uprgade section, not the mission critical/HA one). Feel free to drop by. I will say this – it doesn’t matter how comfortable your shoes are. If you’re on your feet all day, you do feel it when you sit down and finally relax for a few minutes.

That’s the quick update. I hope to see more of you these next few days.

April 30, 2009

My Complete TechEd Schedule

Below is my complete schedule for TechEd. I hope to see you at the panel and my session. Feel free to come by also when I’m working the DAT booth.

Monday, May 11
12 – 1PM Speaker Idol Judge
1 – 2 PM Panel Discussion – Planning a Windows Deployment for SQL Server 2008 Failover Clustering (with Max Verun from the SQL Server Develeopment Team and Steven Ekren from the Windows Development Clustering Team) – Room 501C
2:30 – 6PM Answering questions in the Microsoft SQL Server booth

Tuesday, May 12
9:30 – 11:45AM Answering questions in the Microsoft SQL Server booth
12 – 1PM Speaker Idol Judge

Wednesday, May 13
12 – 1PM Speaker Idol Judge
3 – 6PM Answering questions in the Microsoft SQL Server booth

Thursday, May 14
12 – 1PM Speaker Idol Judge
1:30 – 4:45PM Answering questions in the Microsoft SQL Server booth
Evening – Speaker Idol Finals

I’ll also probably pick up the bass at some point during the jam session. Had two gigs this past weekend and it’ll be odd to go without playing for a week or so. Anyone else remember when they had them nearly every night in the older years of TechEd?

Friday, May 15
10AM – 12PM Answering questions in the Microsoft SQL Server booth
1 – 2:15PM DAT322 Tips and Tricks for Successful Database Mirroring Deployments with Microsoft SQL Server – Room 502A

March 31, 2009

Various Schedule Updates, Happenings, and a Thanks

I’m doing a webcast with Unisys for SQL Server Magazine on April 14th entitled “SQL Server Consolidation: To Virtualize, or Not To Virtualize … That Is The Question” which will be at 12 noon EDT. Click here for more information and to register. It’s free!

I’ll be taping a session with my friends over at RunAs Radio (click here for the one I did previously) on April 16th. It’s always a good time with lots of lively discussion. I am not sure when it will be posted, but stay tuned.

I got my session slot for my TechEd session (DAT322 Tips and Tricks for Successful Database Mirroring Deployments with Microsoft SQL Server). It’s on Friday, May 15th from 1 – 2:15PM. Not only do I get the last day of the conference, I get it right after lunch! I’ll do my best to keep you entertained. I’m planning on having plenty of demos and I promise to minimize death by PowerPoint.

The time hasn’t been worked out for the clustering panel at TechEd, but I’ll post when it’s set. It should be a good one.

I also want to thank everyone who attended the three sessions I did on March 26. The questions were great, and it seems a lot of people found it useful. I hope to see you all back again on April 30th for the second series of three sessions.

February 18, 2009

Various Musings About Writing, TechEd 2009 North America, and Training

Writing
If you’ve ever wondered how someone can work their normal job along with things like writing a book, it’s not easy. For example, one of the chapters I recently finished for my new SQL Server 2008 Failover Clustering book pre-editing in Word weighs in at 117 pages. That’s more than most people write at all, let alone one chapter! Granted there are a fair amount of screen shots, but still. I do it because at the end of the day, it’s my name on it and I want it to be as good as it can be and very useful for everyone who buys it.

What takes the longest, ironically enough, isn’t the writing part. It’s setting up all of the test environments to be able to do the writing. You’re looking at potentially hours worth of setting up a test to get just one screen capture.

I’m just about 50% done the wrirting of the book and it should, if all goes well, be fully written and through editing by April. I’m still keeping my fingers crossed that it will be out on shelves by TechEd North America in May, but realistically it may be out just after.

As if I didn’t have enough on my plate in terms of writing, I’m happy to annouce that I’m updating the SQL Server 2000 consolidation whitepaper I wrote in 2003 for SQL Server 2008. That should be out late Spring 2009 if all goes well. I’ll post the link under Resources and put a note here when it is posted. I’m also most likely going to do a webcast for it as well.

TechEd North America 2009
Speaking of TechEd, I’m happy to announce I’ll be presenting one session this year – DAT322 Tips and Tricks for Successful Database Mirroring Deployments with SQL Server. I’ll also most likely be in the SQL Server area of Microsoft’s booth a lot, so you can visit me there as well.

Training Update
Last, but certainly not least, I’m finally getting serious about putting my training together (who needs sleep!). My clustering class should be done in the near future. I’m currently sorting out my delivery methods. I’m thinking there may be multiple ways to get it:
1. Traditional classroom-type setting
2. Course delivery online
3. Computer-based training

While #1 will always be an option, the reality is that a) I don’t have my own training space so I’d need to be hosted (unless it was a private training where that would be taken care of anyway) and b) while it offers the most interactivity, when people are cutting budgets, it may not be possible for people to travel anymore. I’m definitely going to be doing it live … no question. Stay tuned on this one.

#2 is intriguing to me. It would allow me to have a “virtual classroom” where people wouldn’t have to travel, but get live training. I’m looking into the cost and if this is not only a viable option (which I think it is), but how much it would cost, and quite frankly, if anyone would want this over #1.

#3 is something I’ve been toying with for awhile. This would obviously be a more “canned” thing, but would contain the same material. I do have the ability to have labs, quizzes, etc. for you to do using special software. The cost would be cheaper than #1 or #2 per person, but you lose some of the obvious interactivity. I’m trying to sort out a pricing model for this as well as some options for interactivity with me if you purchased the Failover Clustering CBT.

Let me know your thoughts. Ultimately, you guys are my audience for this class.

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