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

For those that are observant, you may have noticed that WARDY IT Solutions has recently started using a new Microsoft Partner logo. If you haven't seen the logo you can see it at the bottom of this newsletter. Microsoft has recently introduced Gold Competencies as part of the Microsoft Partner Network that replace the existing Gold Partner status. WARDY IT Solutions is proud of the fact that there are two SQL Server competencies (Data Platform and Business Intelligence) and we have achieved a Gold Competency in both. What this means is that when WARDY IT Solutions is providing solutions for your SQL Server environment, you can be assured that you have engaged a SQL Server Partner you can trust with your data assets. So next time you are looking for a SQL Server specialist make sure that they have achieved the highest level of competency before they start 'managing' your environment.

Happy Reading

Peter Ward

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Microsoft Education Roadshow

The Microsoft Education Roadshow is a programme to explore the technology and resources driving learning outcomes and cost cutting. In this event you will see how the Business Intelligence solution developed by WARDY IT Solutions is providing schools with the ability to utilise their data assets. This learning analytics solution was recently featured in a Microsoft Case Study which can be found here.

During the Education Roadshow event, WARDY IT Solutions will showcase how schools can utilise data to provide insights to their staff to help them tailor classes, plan better, budget more effectively and maximise funding opportunities. You can find out more and register for this event here.

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SQL Server Content for Tech-Ed Australia

Have you ever wanted to influence the content that is delivered in the SQL Server Data Platform and Business Intelligence track for Tech-Ed Australia? Whether you want more deep dive sessions or if you want to see what this SQL Azure thing is, then you now have the opportunity to provide your input. A survey is being performed to influence this years' SQL Server tracks. The survey can be found here.

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SQL Server 2008 R2 vs Oracle 11g

Crimson Consulting Group has just release a white paper comparing the business Value of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 and Oracle Database 11g. This white paper articulates the fact Oracle’s perceived performance and scalability advantages do not longer reflect the reality of business computing and that SQL Server is a better DBMS platform. This white paper can be found here.

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Expert SQL Server Training

Are you looking for deep SQL Server training from experts that work day-to-day in the trenches rather than someone that just follows the bouncing-ball? Each WARDY IT Solutions SQL Server training course is delivered by a consultant that works in the field on some of the largest SQL Server sites in Australia. You can download the full WARDY IT Solutions training schedule here and book online here for these not to be missed training events.

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SQL Diag Configuration Tool

SQL Diag is a diagnostic tool helps capture performance information from SQL Server. However in order to configure the tool requires the hand editing of an XML file. SQL Diag Configuration Tool (SDCT) is an new CodePlex project that provides a tool that will allow you easily configure SQL Diag. SDCT can be downloaded from here.

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Analysis Services Front-End's

A common question that is asked is what front-end software is available for SQL Server Analysis Services? A complete list of stand alone clients, web based clients and components that could be incorporated into your software can be found here.

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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.

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SQL Server Private Cloud

There is a strong trend in IT to virtualize servers whenever possible, however there is significant risk in virtualizing SQL Server environments without giving careful consideration to the workloads being virtualized and the requirements of the server applications. The SQLCAT have released a recent whitepaper that outlines the considerations that need to be undertaken prior to on boarding Microsoft SQL Server environments into a private cloud infrastructure. This white paper can be downloaded from here.

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SQL Server 2008 R2 SP 1 CTP

SQL Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 Community Technology Preview (CTP) has recently been made available for download. Now is the opportunity to test your applications to ensure that you are ready when Service Pack 1 for SQL Server 2008 R2 is released. This CTP can be downloaded from here.

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SQL Server Virtual DBA

For the second year running our Virtual DBA was a finalist in the QLD Australian Computer Society Awards QLD ICT Awards for Service Delivery and Training. Virtual DBA was also nominated as a finalist for the QLD AIIA iAwards.

Something you may not know is that our Virtual DBA 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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