Welcome to the March 2015 newsletter from Australia's leading SQL Server Consultants, Trainers and Business Intelligence specialists

SQL Server is moving very quickly to a cloud cadence with new features continually being added rather than having to wait for the traditional boxed release of the product. We are now in a position where features are being added to Azure SQL prior to the box product such as SQL Database Dynamic Data Masking and Role Level Security.

The challenge for many organizations is how to keep up with this rapid change and make the paradigm shift to deploying SQL Server to the cloud. As thought leaders in Microsoft SQL Server and Business Intelligence WARDY IT Solutions is positioned to assist organizations with the transition from private to public and partner cloud models. Not only can WARDY IT Solutions assist with our optimization strategies to take advantage of the benefits that hybrid solutions provide but can provide the SQL Server training that is required to build internal capability or alternatively provide a full managed service offering to support the transition. This is the WARDY IT Solutions difference of ‘one throat to choke’ for all your SQL Server and data needs.

You can keep updated on all the latest WARDY IT Solutions SQL Server news on Facebook & Twitter:

^top

SQL Server Leader in Gartner Magic Quadrant

Microsoft SQL Server has been awarded the leader position for business critical operational database management and data warehouse workloads. You can read Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Operational Database Management Systems and the Magic Quadrant for Data Warehouse Database Management Systems.

^top

SQL Server 2014 Training

WARDY IT Solutions is the leading provider of the SQL Server 2014 training course Updating Your SQL Server Skills to MS SQL Server 2014 (Course Code 10977). This five-day instructor-led hands on course is delivered by our expert trainers and teaches participants how to use the enhancements and new features that have been added to SQL Server since the release of SQL Server 2008. To find out more about this and other SQL Server training course refer to here.

^top

Configure the Power BI Analysis Services Connector

The Microsoft Power BI Analysis Services Connector enables Power BI to connect to on-premises SQL Server Analysis Services instances. You can download the connector from here and a step-by-step guide can be downloaded from here.

^top

Kalen Delaney Training in Australia

WARDY IT Solutions will be hosting Kalen Delaney and her SQL Server 2014 Internals and Query Tuning Deep-Dive course in Brisbane and Sydney this August. This is an advanced 5-day course designed for experienced SQL Server professionals. This course will be presented on SQL Server 2014 and will cover features specific to that version however much of the content is also relevant to SQL Server 2008 and 2012. To find out more and book on this exclusive training opportunity refer to here.

^top

Automated Backup and Patching Support

Microsoft has released two features that will simplify the effort to ensure the health of SQL Server Virtual Machine's and data in Windows Azure. Automated Backup and Automated Patching are features in Windows Azure that automate the processes of backing up and patching Virtual Machines. To find out more about these new features and how that assist to reduce operational workload refer to here.

^top

Automated Backup and Patching Support

Whilst the Azure SQL Database compatibility with SQL Server is almost on parity, migration still needs to be planned and executed carefully, particularly for larger more complex databases. Microsoft have released a migration cookbook that describes the various approaches that can be used to migrate an on-premises SQL Server database to the Azure SQL Database. You can download this cookbook from here.

^top

SQL Server Healthcheck

Does your SQL Server environment need a Healthcheck? The WARDY IT Solutions SQL Server Healthcheck is designed to review and verify the implementation of common SQL Server Best Practices. Our Database Healthcheck includes all the usage and administration aspects of a SQL Server database, ensuring that your SQL Servers are managed and operated well. Our approach is to analyse the total health of your SQL Server environment and highlight areas of concern, providing recommendations to improve the health and performance of your database environment. For more details on our SQL Server Healthcheck refer here.

^top

Economic Impact of SQL Server 2014

Forrester has released a recent white paper that analyses the economic impact of SQL Server 2014. This white paper outlines the costs savings and business benefits that are enabled by Microsoft SQL Server 2014 and SQL Server 2012 for mission-critical transaction-processing applications. This white paper can be downloaded from here.

^top

End of Support for SQL Server 2008 & 2008 R2

The 8th of July 2014 was the Mainstream Support End Date for Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2. You can find out more about the Microsoft Support Lifecycle Policy for SQL Server here.

If you haven’t yet migrated to SQL Server 2012 and 2014 then now is the perfect time to start planning this migration.

WARDY IT Solutions is offering a complimentary half-day upgrade assessment workshop onsite at your office including lunch to assist you upgrade your legacy SQL Server environment to an environment that is in main stream support. To learn more about how you can benefit from this upgrade assessment contact WARDY IT Solutions today.

^top

SQL Server Virtual DBA

WARDY IT Solutions Virtual DBA service was named one of Australia's 100 most innovative products or services for the third year running in the Anthill Magazine 'SMART 100' Index.

^top