I was chosen to sit at the blogger table and live blog the keynote tomorrow so plan to be here at 8:15pt and I’ll refresh the post that day as often as possible. I may not be at the table today, but that won’t stop me from blogging anyway.
Keynote
Rushab Mehta starts us out with a recap of all that PASS has accomplished in the last year. He thanks everyone involved from the PASS board to those that volunteer for SQLSaturdays or user group meetings. The SQL community is growing by leaps and bounds and it is very exciting.
Ted Kummert is the keynote speaker today. Ted recognizes the success of MS due to the work and success of the SQL community. He talks about how their success is based on community success. As everyone expected, it didn’t take long before we heard the word “cloud”. Ted talks about how the cloud is another revolutionary change in the data technology landscape and it’s economic impact. It was a profound statement, but then Ted took a little bit of a turn. We always hear MS pushing the cloud and they are always referring to THEIR cloud. However, Ted talks about how we will have a choice and mix of MS cloud, private cloud, and partner cloud.
Ted officially announced that the next version of SQL Server code named Denali will be released in the first half of 2012 and will be called SQL Server 2012. He also announces that SQL Azure will fully integrate and support Hadoop. We then got to see a demo of using the MS BI stack to consume and dig into Hadoop data.
Sessions
I had a chapter leader and regional mentor meeting so I didn’t attend the first session. It was a good meeting, with good ideas. I wish there had been more time, but the larger meeting was yesterday and I was in a pre-con. I’m very happy that they had a second meeting for those of us that could not make the first one.
I watched Andrew Kelly present on SQL 2008 Query stats. He did a good job of explaining the DMVs used to get the stats you need to understand what is going on in your system. The DMVs are great, but it is not always clear how to get the information you need. You generally have to correlate 2 or more DMVs to get what you want. Andrew’s session really helped to show those correlations.
I also watched Brent Ozar do his Blitz session. I saw his first one online, but this was his second, new, and improved version. In the session he shows a script he wrote and provides for free that has a ton of elements to assist you in assessing a new server you have just inherited. Brent added some really good additional things to the script. The really shiny thing he added was wrapping the script in a stored procedure that takes all the results of the blitz script and prioritizes the results. This is Brent…so he didn’t stop there. The SP actually uses OpenRowset to connect to his SQL Server he has running in the cloud and updates the SP definition. How cool is that? It’s like Windows Update. Make sure to go check it out at brentozar.com/blitz
Chapter Lunch
Today was chapter lunch day. Every PASS chapter had a table and sign in the lunch room. Mad props to whoever started this idea. You would be surprised how many people come to the summit and don’t know about local chapters in their area. This does not just apply to the smaller cities but even larger cities as well. It is a great way to connect people who are local to each other and grow the local chapters.
Expo Hall
This is an open networking time to talk to all the vendors and see the solutions they provide. Of course, there is always the SWAG! I had a good time and there are several things I plan on testing out, but I found the SWAG a little lacking.
SQLPeople Party
SQLPeople.com is the brain child of Andy Leonard and he held an event sponsored by Embarcadero for all those involved with the project. It was at the Tap House Grill. The Tap House is great place and perfect for a smaller event like this. I had a great time meeting some other wonderful SQL people.