Loads of SQL Server tips as well as all the latest SQL Server news brought to you by Brisbane's Leading SQL Server Consultants

Newsletter Issue #32
In this issue:

WARDY IT Community Dinner
October SQL Server User Groups
Arrays in SQL Server
MDX Query Performance
Brisbane BarCamp
AskaSQLGuru Podcast
xSQL Object Search
Database Publishing Wizard
Data Dude Power Tools
SQL Server Virtual DBA

Did you know?

Jeff Wharton will be an MCT Proctor at the Tech.Ed Developer and IT Forum in Barcelona

 

Peter Ward will be presenting at the Canberra SQL Server User Group on Wednesday the 10th of October

Welcome to the September WARDY IT Solutions SQL Server Newsletter

 

A lot of people have been starting to express concern about the lack of visible features in the current Community Technology Previews (CTP's) for SQL Server 2008 despite the release being scheduled for Q2 next year. Based on what was demonstrated at the keynote presentation at the PASS Community Summit in Denver a few weeks ago it looks like the next CTP is going to be a feature explosion and will include many of the features people have been holding out for such as Intellisense and geospatial data. So make sure you keep an eye out for the next SQL Server 2008 CTP.

 

To find out more about SQL Server 2008 and how your organisation can take advantage of all of these new features why not contact Brisbane's Leading SQL Server Consultants, WARDY IT Solutions?

 

Apart for the PASS Summit in Denver, September was a big month for SQL Server Business Intelligence, as Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 was launched on the 19th of September. For more details about PerformancePoint and how this product can simplify the presentation of Business Intelligence data refer to here.

 

If you a looking to find out more about PerformancePoint and some of the new features in SQL Server 2008 then it is still not too late to register for the SQL Down under Code Camp . SQL Down under Code Camp is the largest SQL Server community event in Australia and is free to attend. The event is being held in Wagga Wagga on the weekend of the 13th and 14th of October. To register for this event and to view the complete list of presentations including speakers refer to here .

 

Don't forget to check out SQL Server Aggregator, your one stop shop for all of the best blogs on SQL Server.

 

Happy Reading

 

Peter Ward

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WARDY IT Community Dinner

The WARDY IT Community Dinner is a casual event for IT professionals in South East Queensland. It is a fun way to meet new people and find out how other IT professionals are dealing with the challenges that we face every day. The October WARDY IT Community Dinner is on Monday the 8th of October at Fiasco's Steakhouse at the Morrison Hotel at Woolloongabba. Add this event to your Outlook Calendar.

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October SQL Server User Groups

This month at the QLD SQL Server User Group we have a special event with Kevin Kline from Quest Software. Kevin is in Australia for the SQL Server Down under Code Camp and has taken time out of his schedule to present a session at the QSSUG on very large databases (VLDB's) and Surviving the Data Avalanche. This event is being held on Tuesday the 9th of October. Add this event to your Outlook Calendar .

 

At the normal QSSUG event on the Fourth Thursday of the month we are having a SQL Server Integration Showcase. Dylan Tusler will present a short session on a project that he recently implemented converting legacy ETL (Extract, Transform, and Load) processes into SSIS packages. Catherine Eibner from Cybner Computer Solutions will demonstrate how to perform some of the common day-to-day task in SSIS as well as the pitfalls to be aware of to ensure that the DTS upgrade path is as painless as possible. Catherine will also be presenting this session at the Canberra SQL Server User Group in November, for more details refer to here.

 

For details of SQL Server User Group events in other Australian cities refer to the Australian SQL Server User Groups. For details of the Wellington SQL Server User Group in New Zealand refer to here. Of special note is that a new SQL Server User Group is about to start in Hobart. For more details about this new User Group refer to here.

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Arrays in SQL Server

In the SQL Server newsgroups a question that is often asked is How do I use arrays in SQL Server? Erland Sommarskog has written a great article that describes several methods that can be used to achieve this including the good, bad and ugly ones. Included in this article is also a performance test of the various methods. This article can be found here.

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MDX Query Performance

There are a variety of things that you can do to improve the performance of an individual MDX query however is it's often hard to determine the most effective way to maximise performance. A new whitepaper has been released that provides information on how to use the MDX query troubleshooting tools to identify and resolve MDX query performance bottlenecks with individual MDX queries. This white pare can be found here.

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Brisbane BarCamp

WARDY IT Solutions are proud to be sponsoring the Inaugural Brisbane BarCamp. BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from participants. The Brisbane BarCamp is being held on Saturday the 24th of November at the East Brisbane Bowls Club. For more details and to register for this event refer to here.

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AskaSQLGuru Podcast

Chuck Boyce and I have started a new fortnightly SQL Server Podcast on AskaSQLGuru.com. We have recently interviewed SQL Server MVP Pat Wright and MVPs and New York City SQL Server User Group leaders Joe Lax and Linchi Shea. The iTunes feed for the Podcast can be found here.

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xSQL Object Search

xSQL Software have released xSQL Object Search which is a great free utility for SQL Server 2005 that provides functionality for locating database objects by checking their names and/or definition against a search criteria. For more information about this free utility refer to here.

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Database Publishing Wizard

The Microsoft SQL Server Database Publishing Wizard has been around a while but a lot of people still aren't aware of it. The Database Publishing Wizard enables the deployment of SQL Server databases into a hosted environment on either a SQL Server 2000 or 2005 server. It generates a single SQL script file which can be used to recreate all of the schema and data for a database. This utility can be downloaded from here.

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Data Dude Power Tools

A set of Power Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Database Professionals (aka Data Dude) has recently been released. This release includes 5 new refactoring types, a new dependency viewer, additional data generators and editors, 2 new MSBuild tasks for Schema and Data Compare as well as the introduction of the TSQL Static Code Analysis feature. For more details about this release refer to here.

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SQL Server Virtual DBA

Virtual DBA was recently featured at the Microsoft Enterprise Product Roadmap Event. To find out about more about our participation in this event refer to here .

 

Virtual DBA is a remote database administration service designed by WARDY IT Solutions to assist organisations with the management of Microsoft SQL Server. Our Virtual DBA service provides a cost effective solution to meet the day-to-day challenges of availability, performance and administration of Microsoft SQL Server databases. To find out more about the benefits of a Virtual DBA refer to here.

 

Something you may not know is that our Virtual DBA service can be utilised for phone and email support. So, if your organisation just needs someone that they can call on for advice then why not use a Virtual DBA?

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WARDY IT Solutions is a highly regarded IT Solutions provider specialising in Microsoft SQL Server.  You may not be aware though that WARDY IT Solutions is also a Microsoft Certified Partner and has an established relationship with numerous hardware and software vendors, enabling us to provide competitive pricing on your next hardware or software acquisition.  For more information on how WARDY IT Solutions can assist with your next acquisition email: contact@wardyit.com.