So you have been presented with a problem, let’s say it is a performance problem and you are hearing about it from someone at the help desk.  The complaint in the ticket says that the database is not performing like it should.  The rest of the information you receive from the ticket is not very helpful.  You have not been given the complete picture, you don’t even know what part of the database is slow, so how do you treat it as professional you are?  I have a few tips for you that I hope will help.  I have developed these tips over years of learning the things the hard way.

1. Always get the description of the problem from the source.   Skip the help desk and the ticket system. If you can, go sit down with the person who is reporting the problem.  Let them show you where they see the performance problem. Let them show you how this problem creates problems in their life. A query that takes 3 seconds to return to a customer service person may not be considered a big deal.  But wait until you are on the phone with a customer screaming their head off wanting to know why they were charged an extra $3.00.  The 3 seconds is pure hell for the person answering the phone.  If you can make this a lot faster, then you can make the job a bit easier. By learning what else can be done, and then fixing these problems you are now the hero.
2. I think it was 6^th or 7^th grade where I learned all about the scientific process, the part where you hypothesize, then run your tests, document your results, and then draw your conclusion.  I remember when I was learning about this, thinking when the heck I am going to use this.  I had no plans on being a scientist, so I just didn’t see where this was relevant.  Now, my work does not include cutting up frogs, but I have found a way to use those old science class skills.  When you are troubleshooting a problem make sure that you know what you are testing, what you want to test, run your test, measure your test and then record it.  Once you are done document your results and determine if you were right or wrong.  If you’re wrong, start again.  But make sure that you are only testing one thing at a time.
3. Remove many potential issues in a test as quickly as you can.  Let’s reflect back to poor performance –  you need to determine as quickly as you can if it is the database. If it is, then where is that problem in the database?  One of the first places that you are going to want to look is your wait times.  Run a query against the sys.dm_os_wait_stats DMV.  If you can isolate a process like returning a client, and you can isolate that on a specific server,  stop all the other traffic , measure the wait stats, record them, run your process and then run them again.  The delta between the two runs will give you a good head start on where you should look

One thing to keep in mind, when you use this method to eliminate many potential problems, or even identify problems, be sure that you understand the complete problem.  Let’s say you have a high number of disk waits. These could be caused by many reasons.  Many DBA’s may start to point at the storage as part of the problem; however you may be setting yourself up to fail.  A lot of disk reads could indicate poor indexing, or poorly written queries. 

The way that you trouble shoot problems is going to say a lot about you.  If you keep calm and document well developed thoughts, I think your problem will be behind you in no time!  But if you sit around pointing fingers at everyone else and then freaking out when it might be a database issue, then you are going to have a stress filled day.  If you don’t change your process, it will be filled with a lot of stress for your career.  I would love to hear what trouble shooting technics you use, drop one of two in the comments section for me.

Before too long SSWUG and Solid Q contacted us about hosting a Pre-Conference day, soon after Conifo joined in and we were well on our way.

If you are looking for more Photos you can check them out here with a HD Video.

The End Result?

Well on January 7^th, 2012 we had SQL Saturday 2012. The event had so many people involved that I know if I were to sit down and try to list them all that I would forget many of them. If I tried to tell you all the stories I would miss some of the best ones. So, I want to ask… no, I want to formally request that those who were at the event, to send along a blog post, or a paragraph or two (If you post a blog, please link back to this so I can make sure that I get each of these shared). I will put these here on this blog post for everyone to see. Tell me what you liked; tell me what you didn’t like. After a week or two I will share with you some of the statistics and do one final wrap up. I can tell you that we tripled our in person attendance numbers. We had more people come from outside Colorado Springs to the event than we did people from Colorado Springs. We had lots of friends, lots of hugs an even a tear or two. But I think you will see if anyone sends me anything that I think everyone got something out of the event.

We are working on a site where we can post up all the pictures. That link will also be included in my final wrap up post, but if you really want a little taste, take a look at the bottom of this post, this is just a taste of what’s to come.

Blogs about the event:

http://diditsave.wordpress.com/2012/01/09/sql-saturday-104-recap/

http://www.real-sql-guy.com/2012/01/i-was-high-all-weekend.html

http://tjaybelt.blogspot.com/2012/01/sql-saturday-colorado-springs-104.html

So what are you waiting for? Let me know what you thought.

There are a number of tasks and responsibilities that come with the position, in addition to those I want to do what I can to bring SQL Saturday events to cities that have not had them. I believe that these are some of the best events around and the value is priceless. In addition to that I would love to see each major city in our area to have a PASS Chapter. So if you are a chapter leader in the South East area, I would love to hear how I can help you or your user group.

I did want to make one last note about the warm welcome and the long list of congratulations that I have received. The well wishes were very warm and very much appreciated. I can tell you that all these messages have been very humbling. When it was announced at SQL Sat 104, I almost got a bit choked up. I have to tell you that it is very touching to me to see such a warm welcome. I hope I don’t disappoint anyone.

We only have 20 seats per session.

“Scaling SQL Server” (Glenn Berry)  


“Data Warehouse Dimensional Design and Architecture Planning” (Erik Veerman)


“What’s In Your Utility Belt?” (Chris Shaw and TJay Belt)

8 hours of learning and discussion with session leaders Glenn Berry, Erik Vreeman, TJay Belt and Christopher Shaw. Just imagine a whole day of being able to learn one on one with these very knowledgeable leaders. SQL issues resolved, SQL questions answered. You won’t have to feel like the questions you have will be lost…you will be face to face with an industry expert.

Support your local users group, Support 4 speakers for the time they have dedicated to this event, but most of all support your Education with SQL Server.

Did I mention the event is now free? We are so glad we are able this abundance of information free so that you can not only meet the speaker but network with other attendees and all at no charge . You won’t have to shout out questions from the back of the room hoping to be heard. No, this offers you the chance to speak with the session leader and gain insight from their knowledge and expertise.

“Scaling SQL Server” (Glenn Berry)  

“Data Warehouse Dimensional Design and Architecture Planning” (Erik Veerman)

“What’s In Your Utility Belt?” (Chris Shaw and TJay Belt)

Get your fill of knowledge in the session and fill up your stomach in the afternoon lunch right on site.

Don’t miss this amazing Pre-Con event. Come back on Saturday and be oA expert yourself! Ask your friends, neighbors and co-workers to relatives. Bring them all to the Pre-Con! Come in as a rookie, leave as a mogul. See you there…one last thing…ITS FREE FREE FREE!

So you want a Kindle Fire?

You could stand in line with all the Yahoo’s the day after Christmas, or you could jump online and order one from my not so favorite electronics store, but you would end up spending hundreds of dollars, and well from what I just heard on the news, that store is still having issues filling orders that were made on Black Friday the day after Christmas.

But I have some good news for you.

At SQL Saturday #104 our sponsors have embraced the idea of our networking events. This is going to be the coolest thing we have done in years. So here is the way this is going to work.

First you need to register for SQL Sat#104. http://www.sqlsaturday.com/104/eventhome.aspx (Its Free, we do ask that you help us with the lunch cost and donate $10.00)

Then you come on over and learn a whole ton about SQL Server, at three points during the day we are going to go to break, and when we do the fire is going to start…

Confio Software will be hosting the

RACK’EM up BREAK’EM up COUNT’EM up

This is a tournament where you take a RACK and BREAK them to send the balls running around the table

Then We COUNT up the values of all the balls that went in the hole.

If you come out on top with the top score….

You will receive the new Kindle Fire.

Jason has posted the question on Why did I start blogging and then the follow-up on why do I continue to blog.

Why did I start blogging? I think if you follow this topic you may find a common thread, then again you never know. I started for a few reasons; one of the biggest reasons is that I really wanted to become a better writer. I don’t have any dreams of writing a great novel, or being able to stack up against these great people that work with and write about SQL Server. I want to become a better writer so that I can improve the communications that I have. When I first started collage I was in remedial English, and in high school I had to take more than one English class. Why am I not very good at it? My guess is because I really don’t try very hard at it. So when I started blogging I did it as a way to improve myself.

By the way, I have help with my blog and most of my posts are edited and reviewed by others, Wendy Pastrick has done a number of these reviews for me and I can assure you that there have been more than one post that would be hard to understand without everyone’s help. This post is not reviewed, because I wanted to see how I have improved over the years.

There is another reason that I started to blog, as you may see from my post about the SQL PASS elections I have a number of opinions. I have to admit that sometimes my opinions change. I really feed off of hear the opinions of others. I love the idea that I can see where my mind was years ago, I like to see how my opinions have changed.

Why do I continue to blog? Well I am nowhere close to where I would like to be as a writer. It is not the driving factor any longer. Now I look at where I came from where I started many years ago. My first 5 years as a DBA I was the only DBA in the shop, I know what it is like when I am trying to get a second opinion on something. Is there a better way to do it? So many times I had so many questions, and trying to find an answer that I was able to understand just was not to be found. If anything I post here on my blog helps even one person then it has all been worth it. I can tell you that most of the SQL Server bloggers I know, speakers that I have visited with over the last 10 years, that very few of us mind what many consider to be basic questions.

A number of years ago I put up my first blog post on a different blog then the one I have today. And within a month of starting one of the readers jumped on and just trashed me, it bugged me to the point where I didn’t go back to Blogging for a year. But after thinking about it, I had to remind myself that I do this for me, if others get something out of it than great. If not, I really hope to improve my skills.

Thanks for such a great question Jason, and to all my SQL friends I wish you a better year than last, and I challenge you to learn something new. Take a challenge.

I really try to take part in as many T-SQL Tuesdays as I can, but to be honest I just forget about it.  So as I try to figure out how to remind myself I ponder what my favorite tip is.  I think this is a great Question asked by Allen White.  If you don’t know about the whole T-SQL Tuesday thing you can either follow the Logo or check it out on twitter using the hash tag #TSQL2sday. Allen had mentioned that in the early days of SQL Server that some of the best tips and tricks for managing SQL Server came from the community.  The key here is that you need to make sure that you were taking part in the community to get all that you could from the tips people had to share.  

What Is My Tip?

I think it should go without saying that you need to be checking your error logs on all your SQL Servers every day. If you fail to do this then you are just waiting for your servers to fail on you.  With the ever growing popularity of SQL Server (I know this surprises you), there are so many of these servers that we need to manage.  This means that each day you should be opening the error log on each of the SQL Servers that you manage.  But what happens when you have 10 or even 100 even more?  Obviously the time involved becomes that much more intrusive.  Try telling your supervisor that you could not get any work on your projects done because you were reviewing error logs, see how far that gets you.  So how do you make this easier?  How can you complete this action without taking all your day reading logs?

Use the extended stored procedure that Microsoft provides you to help you automate your task. 

EXEC sp_executesql N’xp_readerrorlog’

Now you can see that you have your error log in a result set that you can manage.  I will be going much more in depth with this during in my Utility Database Session SQLSaturday #104 Pre-Conference What’s in your Utility Belt. Learn how you can use this information to help you even more.  Considering putting your record set into a table, this can be done by:

DECLARE @Errorlog TABLE (LogDate datetime, ProcessorInfo VARCHAR (100),ErrorMSG VARCHAR(2000))

INSERT INTO @Errorlog

EXEC sp_executesql N’xp_readerrorlog’

Once you have the data in a table I think that this is where it is the most powerful. You can filter the data and remove the rows that you don’t want to see, you can look for keywords and take action on issues that you see in your error log.  If you add the code to a SQL Server job, you can automate these items.  My favorite part is that I can use SQL Mail to send me results or I can format it in a SSRS report with a subscription.

End result, I use the methods that I am most familiar with, when the data is in a table. I know how to move through it, act on it, report on it and make sure that each of the issues have been addressed.

So last week when I came across the Forums where I could ask all the current candidates questions in a public forum I had to jump at the chance.  I believe that all the candidates are very well qualified for the role.  As a matter of fact this is the first year where I am really having a difficult time trying to decide who I am going to vote for.  I posted 4 questions to candidates and to my great surprise I have been getting answers from them.  In addition I believe all the candidates are either planning to answer or have already answered.  I thought I would take a few minutes to post the responses here on my blog.  Please remember my questions come from my paradigm, so these are directed to get the opinions of the candidates so when they are voting on a topic I know they know where they are coming from.  I have included comments below each question so that you might know where I was coming from when asking them.

1. I am really passionate about the User Community of PASS, can you tell me what do you think can be done to build a strong relationship between PASS and the Chapters? How can PASS support the chapters and really help the chapters grow?

   In my humble opinion and take it for what it is worth, I think that SQL Server Professionals may not understand all that Pass does for us, and can do for us.  I have had a number of discussions with the Board of Directors and I think that they have the same goal for User Groups that I do.  Make the groups more productive for the current members, and help increase the outreach into the community.  There are a lot of business items that the BoD have to cover each time that they meet.  So I wanted to know if anyone has ideas to help the chapters grow, and are they as passionate about them as I am.

2. What does PASS mean to you, and what do you think PASS should be? Is PASS living up to the potential that it has or is it doing well just the way that it is? If you had no obstacles how would PASS be different?

   For someone to be on the BoD I think they have to have a great understanding of what PASS is today. Even more important than that, I want to know where they want PASS to go.  I want to be very clear when I say I am not unhappy with PASS.  I think they are doing a good job in what they do.  At the same time I am a firm believer in the fact that PASS can do more.  Sure there are some areas where I think PASS has to change what they are doing, but I believe we have the same goals. 

3. As a SQL Saturday organizer, my job would be easier if I had a pre-set list of sponsors that would be added to my events vendors list. I am thinking along the lines of a group sponsorship where small companies could be a vendor at many events with one cost, in addition smaller events would not have to fight with larger events for money, based on attendance. What do you think of this idea? Why would it or would it not work?

   When I am working on organizing a SQL Saturday event I feel like there are a number of tasks that need to be completed, one of the more difficult tasks is finding vendors for the event.  I firmly believe that PASS and Andy Warren have created a great base for us to spring off of as we organize our events.  But as we look at making sure there are events in many more towns around the country and around the world we need to make it easier for the people who are willing to help host these events.  The big question is: How do we do that?  I think if you have a dedicated volunteer, a supporting RM and people willing to go and speak at these events, then I think we need to help each event as much as we can. I may not understand the complexity of what I am asking, and I am sure there are a number of rules that need to be put in place, but I want to see if someone has addressed the idea.

4. You are qualified and very capable of being on the Board for PASS, but so are the other 5 candidates. But the candidate that I vote for will represent me. Please tell me why I should trust you will represent me and what I can expect out of your term on the board? What ideas are you going to champion?

I think this question really explains itself.  I don’t want people trashing each other, that is not the goal. What I want to hear is what areas do they really have a draw to, do they like SQL Saturdays and want to make them bigger and better, or is their heart in working on a relationship with Microsoft?  One is no more important to the other, in the big picture.  But, if someone is going to represent me during a vote, and that is what I expect of a BoD that I am supporting then I want to know that they are aligned with what is important to me.  If they know where I am coming from, and they vote against something I would have voted for then this is exactly where my trust needs to come in.  I need to know that my BoD has my interest and my concerns in mind when they cast the vote.  They will have more information than I do, and they will have looked into it more than I have, so I need to believe they will make the decision that is right for the organization, even if that means it is not the same way I would vote.

I know there is a lot of information here.  This is a big responsibility for the people who are putting their beliefs out there for the community to review and scrutinize.  I know that I will make a good decision for me, but can I make a good decision for you?  I challenge you to read the answers,  and if you have a question make sure that you post it on there, and see what they have to say.  But no matter what you do, if you feel passion for your community and you feel passion for your work, make a stand and support someone.  Be informed on who you vote for.  For the answers to my questions, you can follow the thread here.  I was going to repost answers, and considered even asking them for an interview.  But I want you to see how they answered in words that they choose.

I want more… Give us more features, give us more applications give us a nice big white box labeled SQL Server 2012 under my tree. Wrap it in a pretty bow, and make her error free. Allow us to run it thought her paces without having to worry about our time. Give us a better tool in SQL Server that will help us manage indexes so much better. Give us the ability to determine what indexes are re-indexed and what indexes don’t need it. I could always use some reports with all that nifty information located in the DMV’s. But most of all…

I want to thank Microsoft for their commitment to my family. I know they have never met my wife or my 19 year old son, but the products they have given us over the last number of years have freed up so much of my time that now my family sees more of me than ever. I remember recovering corrupt databases all night long; I remember loading data using BCP starting at 3 AM. I remember trying to write processes that would gather the information I now pull from the DMV’s.

Thank you Microsoft, and Thank you to my SQL Family, because without you, my life would be different, I would still have my wife and my son, I just wouldn’t be able to ever see them.

One of the individuals was being told they have to respect the other. Now I just found that to be the most ridiculous thing I had heard in a while, really someone could tell me that I have to respect an individual? As I apply this to me I have to look at many people that I have learned about over the years. What about Ted Bundy, what about Hitler, what about these truly evil people, I cannot ever respect them, and I never will respect them. So maybe comparing someone that I am not getting along with to Hitler is a bit over board. But the end result in my mind is that if you’re doing things or saying things that make me angry, how in the world can I respect people for decisions that they made?

So what the heck are they talking about?

Let me give you an example…

A number of years ago I worked for a developer that had been promoted to a director, and then again to an executive director. He worked for a Vice President who was also a developer who had been promoted throughout the years. Without going into specifics, their goals and my goals were not always aligned. I would try to secure the database and they would tell me that I needed to be more trustworthy. End result was I really disliked these 2 men. No matter what I did I could not bring myself to even pretend that I liked them. This was over 5 years ago and I still can’t pretend that I like them.

They made me so angry because they put my job at risk from many poor decisions they made with the databases that I had to walk out of meetings as to not do something that I really would regret. I was not only acting like a child, but I was acting like an ass. Now that I look back at it, I should have documented my concerns and when I was done if nothing changed, I should have just changed jobs. But I stayed there for over 5 years.

So does it sounds like I am rambling, well here is the meat!

Well, back to the disagreement that motivated me to write about this subject. These 2 individuals have been told that they need to respect each other. Yet I just don’t see how this is possible. In my mind respect is something that I feel for someone, respect is a feeling that I have for someone when I want to make decisions in my life that may make me a bit more like them. Respect is something that people feel for each other. You can’t tell me to be attracted to someone no more than you can tell me to respect someone. I am attracted to my wife, and I respect my wife. She makes decisions every day that makes me wish I could be more like her.

With that being said it may sound like I am promoting people running around throwing insults as each other. This isn’t the case either. I want to be clear when I say that you can’t force anyone to respect anyone. However, I think people need to be respectful. We are adults; even if we are not adults in age our behavior should be that of adults. Adults can be respectful in our actions to other people even if you don’t respect them. What does it mean to be respectful? Being respectful means not insulting people when you have been insulted, it means not lying to people, it means addressing people the way that you want to be addressed. Actions are how you are respectful. Respectful is when you are thinking about how much someone is a jerk and an idiot, but listening to them as they share their opinion.

Being respectful doesn’t mean that you change your opinion; it doesn’t mean that you roll over and let people walk all over you. Being mature means that you can continue to be respectful as many are not respecting you. I wish I could say that I behave like this all the time. The truth is I am not always successful in my attempts, but I will continue to try.

About 20 years ago a manager that I had and truly respect told me:

When writing the story of your life you are not the villain.

He also told me:

Few people wake up in the morning determined to make someone else’s life difficult.

I think it is much easier to be respectful of someone when I remember that the person I really want to insult did not get up that morning just to tick me off. And that person believes that whatever they are doing or saying is in their mind the right thing to say or do. Even if these are not the case and they are being vengeful, I can still try to be respectful.

So I challenge you, determine who you respect, who’s life would you like to use as a model for your own life? And I challenge you to identify who you have not been respectful to and take action in the future where you can share your opinions, have discussion and heck disagreements while being respectful. If I would have only learned this lesson years before I insulted my director in front of the President of the company by calling him a body part I may have had an easier road myself in my career. Maybe I can make things a little better not only for myself but for those that I work and interact with every day.

To those people I have been disrespectful to, well I apologize. For those people in my life I respect, and there are many of you, I thank you for making decisions in your life that make me want to be a better person, employee and manager.