I’ll be doing a few webcasts over the next few months.

First up is another delivery of “Best Practices for Planning a SharePoint and SQL Server Deployment” on Thursday, February 12th from 2 – 3PM Eastern. You can register for this free event here: https://www.clicktoattend.com/invitation.aspx?code=135362.

Next up is a series of six webcasts I’ll be doing in conjunction with Windows IT Pro/SQL Server Magazine which are going under the banner SQL Server for Non-Database Specialists. While some more experienced DBAs will get something out of it, this series is for those who are new to SQL Server. That could be a junior DBA, an Oracle DBA who has to now administer SQL Server, the Windows admin who needs to administer SQL, etc. This series assumes no knowledge of SQL Server and will start at the beginning. One of the reasons I wanted to do this series is that I’m seeing a lot of people thrown into the role of being a SQL Server DBA who may not have any idea of where to start or what to do, but want some pointers/tips/tricks on what they really need to know.

Since each session is roughly an hour with Q&A, we’re not going to go into 400/500 level content, but the goal is to touch on everything important to get a jumpstart on administering SQL Server. 

These six webcasts are not free, but are very cheap in terms of cost and will have a lot of proverbial bang for the buck.

The first three webcasts will be on March 26:
SQL Server Basics (11AM Eastern)
Before you start administering SQL Server, you must ensure that you know not only what tasks you need to execute, but why you need to perform them. You also need to understand how SQL Server works so that you know what is happening as you monitor and maintain databases. In this Web seminar, we’ll cover how SQL Server works behind the scenes. And we’ll outline the top things you must think about and do to be successful once you inherit SQL Server administration duties.

SQL Server Administration (12:30PM Eastern)
The first Web seminar, SQL Server Basics, covers SQL Server and what you must to do be a successful SQL Server DBA. This seminar will take that concept further. We’ll delve into how administration is done in SQL Server, from what tools to use to how to perform and automate common administrative tasks. We’ll also cover the basics of monitoring SQL Server.

SQL Server High Availability (2PM Eastern)
Keeping SQL Server up and running is more than just making backups of databases. This Web seminar will cover the built-in features of SQL Server that you can use to increase the availability of your SQL Server instances and databases:

  • failover clustering
  • log shipping
  • database mirroring
  • replication

You’ll learn how these features work and how they differ. And you’ll learn when it’s best to use each feature.

The next three are on April 30:
SQL Server Performance (11AM Eastern)
Besides availability, arguably the biggest topic for any SQL Server deployment is its performance. Often times, users will say to you, “It’s slow.” In this session, we’ll discuss the factors that influence SQL Server performance (including hardware). We’ll look at tools that are available to assist with measuring and resolving performance issues. And we’ll show you how to approach (and hopefully resolve) what appears to be a performance problem.

SQL Server Security (12:30PM Eastern)
You can seemingly have excellent availability and outstanding performance for your SQL Server installations, but if they are hacked the resultant damage can reduce SQL Server availability and performance. In this session, we’ll cover

  • how SQL Server’s built-in security works
  • how SQL Server integrates with Windows
  • how to keep developers out of production environments
  • and how to plan for securing SQL Server.

 

Planning New SQL Server Deployments (2PM Eastern)
At some point, you may have to deploy and support new SQL Server instances in addition to administering the ones you already have responsible for. In this session, we’ll cover the main things you’ll need to think about for new SQL Server deployments, including:

  • 32-bit vs. 64-bit
  • choosing an edition of Windows
  • physical servers vs. virtualization
  • consolidation, disk considerations, sizing, choosing hardware, and more

To register for the three webcasts on March 26, go to http://windowsitpro.com/elearning/index.cfm?code=elearn&fuseaction=dynamic&v=5159&p=5197&code=&eventid=29
To register for the three webcasts on April 30, go to http://windowsitpro.com/elearning/index.cfm?fuseaction=dynamic&v=5160&p=5198&code=&eventid=29

Finally, I have no date, but I’ll be doing a webcast on SQL Server consolidation for Microsoft sometime this spring. Stay tuned!