Hopefully some of you caught the news today, but if you didn’t, Microsoft announced at their Worldwide Partner Conference that Windows Server 2012 is going to RTM in August with availability starting in September. This is exciting news, and something I’ve been looking forward to. I’ve seen Windows Server 2012 (nee Windows 8 Server) for a few years now, and I think that it will be a great platform for SQL Server 2012.

Speaking of that, the announcement of a release date also impacts my upcoming book Mission Critical SQL Server 2012. I appreciate all of the pings I’ve been getting from people about it. I’m writing it now and it’s going to be a little while, but my hope is to have it done this fall – and by PASS if possible. A big part of the book for me was to be able to include Windows Server 2012 and since its RTM is playing nicely with my release dates, I will have RTM information in there. Book timing is always an odd thing to gauge. Some are of the opinion you have to get it out as close as possible to the release date for a product (in this case, SQL Server 2012). Because adoption happens at some point after RTM, over the years I’ve noticed the sweet spot for books like mine is in the 8 – 16 month timeframe after RTM. Why? Some of it is straightforward: you can have real world information in there. Other parts of it are market factors – good example, Windows Server 2012. I didn’t want to rewrite large portions of Windows stuff so soon after finishing the book. The book will also cover Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 as well, which not surprisingly, will also beef things up a bit. This is one case where I can say that the book will be very comprehensive in all things – not just SQL Server. At TechEd I met with a friend who is also going to help edit the book and we went over the proposed Table of Contents – it’s daunting, but I’m up for the challenge. Look for a few other writers who will be contributing content as well along with me.

In other news, it looks like it’s going to be a really busy second half of 2012. I’m doing some private training and customer work (naturally), but there are quite a few public things as well.

  • I was just renewed for another year as a Cluster MVP by Microsoft.
  • I’m expanding my 3-day HA class to have a day’s worth of labs (spread out over the course) to make it a 4-day. I’m toying with the idea of more basic as well as advanced labs in some cases to cater to an individual’s skill level. Not sure it will be possible, but I have an idea on how to make it work.
  • Ben and I will be at SQL Saturday 158 in New York City. That should be fun – those guys always put on a good SQL Saturday and NYC is one of my favorite cities to visit. Believe it or not, I’m actually NOT talking about high availability specifically (but it will be in the talk). My session topic is “SQL Server Dos and Don’ts: Keys to DBA Nirvana” at 4:15 PM to close out the day. Ben is on at 1:15 PM and will be discussing “Surviving Your Peak Database Load”.
  • I’ll be doing another SQL Server Foundations 2-day online training event with Ben for Penton in September. I’m revamping the material from last year – it’s not going to be the same. Stay tuned for details.
  • Ben and I are each doing another 1-hour webinar (me on high availability and Ben on performance) in September for Penton as well.
  • I’ll be heading back to Europe and speaking at SQLRally 2012 Nordic in Copenhagen, Denmark. I’m doing a pre-conference session (“AlwaysOn: Maximizing High Availability with SQL Server 2012”). I’m very honored and hope to see you there.
  • I’ll be at PASS Summit 2012. Ben and I are doing a pre-conference on Tuesday, November 6th (“Real-World System Design for the DBA: Private Cloud and SQL as a Service“) that will be a lot of fun. It is based on our experience working with customers and certainly a hotbed topic. I’ll also be delivering a session “The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Deploying AlwaysOn Availability Groups” along with Mike Steineke and David Smith. Both guys also participated in the availability groups TAP with me and you’ll hear the straight stuff from us on what you really need to do to be successful.
  • I’ve got one thing I’m currently working on for post-Summit and if it comes to fruition, will be very exciting. You’ll hear it here first.
  • I still hope to finish my album in 2012, but given this schedule … probably not. I’m scrapping a few tunes, adding a few new ones, and re-arranging one that is already mostly finished to make it better.

Whew! And I’m sure more may happen …