Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Speaking at South Florida SQL Server User Group

I will be speaking at the South Florida SQL Server User Group on October 13 via Live Meeting.  My topic is Introduction to Change Data Capture with SSIS.  If you have some time logon and watch the meeting.

Meeting URL:  https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/mvp/join?id=PWWZ93&role=attend&pw=47WFd%7EC%5CJ

In thisLeBlanc presentation I will Introduce Change Data Capture and show how it can be used to incrementally load a Slowly Changing Dimension.  Hope to see some of you online.

Talk to you soon,

Patrick LeBlanc, SQL Server MVP, MCTS, Founder SQL Lunch

Visit www.BIDN.com, Bring Business Intelligence to your company.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

October SQL Server & .Net User Group Meetings

October .NET & SQL User Group Meetings

This month the Baton Rouge SQL Server and .Net user groups are holding a joint meeting.  We will be meeting at our usual location.  If you are around Baton Rouge on Wednesday October 13th stop by.  The meeting details are as follows:

Location:  Lamar Advertising, 5551 Corporate Blvd, Baton Rouge, LA

Date and Time: 10/13/2010 5:45:00 PM
Sponsored By: Sparkhound
Agenda:
5:45 - 6:15 pm: Networking and Refreshments
6:15 - 6:30 pm: Lightning Round
6:30 - 7:45 pm: (.NET) Visualize Data in a “geo way” with WP 7 and Silverlight
6:30 - 7:45 pm: (SQL) Building Spatial Data Reports with SSRS 2008 R2 and Powershell for the DBA
7:45 - until: Open Forum for questions and Raffle

Lightning Round (Lamar Kitchen)
Topic: Introduction to the Pomodoro Technique
Overview: For many of us time is an enemy. The anxiety triggered by “the ticking clock” and deadlines to be met leads to ineffective work and study habits and procrastination. In this lightning round we’ll look at how the Pomodoro Technique can help transform time into a valuable ally.

Speaker: Stacy Vicknair, VB.NET MVP, MCTS

BIO: Stacy Vicknair is a development consultant working for Sparkhound and a Microsoft MVP for two years running in Visual Basic. Stacy blogs at his website, http://www.wtfnext.com, about .NET and other general development topics. He is active in his local community as a committee member for the Baton Rouge .NET User Group (http://www.brdnug.org) and
a co-founder for the Baton Rouge Architecture Group (http://www.braglunch.com).

SQL Server User Group (3rd Floor Conference Room) Two Topics

Session One

Topic: Building Spatial Data Reports with SQL Server 2008 R2 Reporting Services Overview: Microsoft introduced spatial data types in SQL Server 2008 and since has enhanced the reporting capabilities in the following release of SQL Server 2008 R2. This session will introduce the concept of spatial data types in SQL, provide some tips and tools for getting spatial data into SQL, and show different methods for including spatial data in SQL Reporting Services Reports.


Speaker: Mark Verret

BIO: Mark Verret is the Systems Administrator for the LSU Highway Safety Research Group.  He has over 10 years of experience in the IT field.  He has presented at the past two SQLSaturday events in Baton Rouge.  He has functioned as DBA for the past 3 years working with SQL 2000, 2005, 2008, and 2008 R2. 

Session Two

Summary: Powershell for DBAs- introduction and examples of how Powershell 2.0 can make you a more versatile SQL Server Administrator

Speaker:  William Assaf

Bio: William Assaf, MCITP-DD, is a Senior Development Consultant and Team Lead for Sparkhound, Inc. in Baton Rouge, LA.  He blogs on SQL Server at http://sqltact.blogspot.com, where you can find the slides and code examples of this presentation.

.NET User Group (Lamar Kitchen)

Topic: Visualize Data in a “geo way” with WP 7 and Silverlight Overview: Geospatial data is being used everywhere these days, from social media, to citizen reporting 311 applications, to tracking government spending. This talk will discuss design tips and go over the requirements for creating a better user experience and how to visualize data in a “geo way” for Windows Phone 7 and Silverlight applications.


Speaker: Al Pascual
BIO: Company: ESRI
Al Pascual was born, bred and educated in Barcelona Spain,. He moved to England as a young lad to work as a developer in start-ups in the technology field. After seven years working in many small companies, Al moved to California with dreams of stock options to work for another start-up and enjoyed the world of low-level C and C++. After spending a few years working as a consultant, when .NET came out, Al helped companies be more productive. He became a pure web developer, believing that HTTP will rule the world and ASP.NET had nothing to do with classic ASP. Finally growing up and joining the corporate world
to be part of the matrix, Al now has a wife, 3 daughters, 2 dogs, 2 rats, 1 turtle and a mortgage. He’s happy to work for a big company like Esri as a senior software developer working mainly in Silverlight and ASP.NET.

See at the User Group

Patrick LeBlanc, SQL Server MVP, MCTS, SQL Server Chapter Leader

SQL Lunch #32: SSIS Design Patterns, with Andy Leonard

Don't miss SQL Server MVP Andy Leonard on the SQL Lunch, Monday, October 11th.

#32-SSIS Design Patterns 1c: Variables, Events, and Automated Custom Logging Patterns

Lunch Image

Speaker: Andy Leonard

Add To Outlook: Add To Calendar

Live Meeting URL:  https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=JG6T72&role=attend

Date and Time: 10/11/2010 11:30:00 AM CST
BIO: Andy Leonard is an Architect with Molina Medicaid Solutions, SQL Server database and Integration Services developer, SQL Server MVP, PASS Regional Mentor, and engineer. He is a co-author of Professional SQL Server 2005 Integration Services and SQL Server MVP Deep Dives. Andy blogs for SQLBlog.com. His background includes web application architecture and development, VB, and ASP; SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS); data warehouse development using SQL Server 2000, 2005 and 2008.

See you at Lunch

Patrick LeBlanc, SQL Server MVP, MCTS, Founder SQL Lunch

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Speaking at Houston Techfest

I am heading down to Houston, TX to speak at the Houston Techfest this weekend.  Being a Houston native makes this trip even more exciting.  This is a free event that offers a diverse set of sessions.  The sessions range from What's new in Java to Introduction to Window Azure.   I attended the event last year and if my memory serves me correctly there were only two SQL Sessions.  Fortunately, I was able to convince the event coordinator, Michael Steinberg, to include a full SQL Track at the event. This year the event will host at least 7 SQL Sessions.  I will be giving two presentations.  The first is a presentation on Backup and Data Compression and in the second session I will be introducing the use of Change Data Capture with SSIS. 

This event attracts approximately 1000 people from all across the state.  If you are near the Houston area this weekend I recommend that you try to attend.  Not only is it a great chance to learn something new, but you may even win a Trip to Las Vegas.  One thing I forgot to mention was that lunch is FREE.  So I hope to see you all there.  Also, if you attend my second session of the day you will have a chance to win Knight's Microsoft Business Intelligence 24-Hour Trainer, which I co-authored.  Hope to see you there!

Talk to you soon,

Patrick LeBlanc, SQL Server MVP, MCTS, Founder www.sqllunch.com

Visit www.BIDN.com, Bring Business Intelligence to your company.

Monday, October 4, 2010

SQL Lunch One Year Anniversary

I am very excited to announce the 1 year anniversary of the SQL Lunch. Last year around this time I was getting the site up and trying to find a couple of speakers to ensure that we had a good start. I was able to convince Tim Mitchell to speak and the rest is history. Thanks to everyone that has attended all of the lunch events and thanks to all of the speakers who gave their time to make the site a success.

During the first year I gained a co-host (Adam Jorgensen) and several new friends along the way. I also hired the first SQL Lunch employee, Patrick Jr. (my son). He and I are working hard on improving the site and the notifications. Thanks again to everyone and see you at the next SQL Lunch. As always, we are looking for speakers so email us at webmaster@sqllunch.com if you are interested in speaking.

Talk to you soon,

Patrick LeBlanc, SQL Server MVP, MCTS

Founder SQL Lunch

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Maintain Change Data Capture Configuration when restoring a database

I have been working with a several clients that are leveraging Change Data Capture (CDC) as a tool for incrementally loading their Data Warehouse.  In most cases the clients are using database restores from various environments to create test environments.  When databases with CDC enabled is restored to the same server with the same database name, CDC remains enabled and all related meta data is persisted.  However, when restoring the database to another server or to the same server, but with a new database name, CDC is disabled and all related metadata is deleted.  To retain the CDC configuration when restoring, simply use the KEEP_CDC option when restoring your database.  The following script shows an example of how to accomplish this:

RESTORE DATABASE TestCDC

FROM DISK = 'C:\MMSQL\BACKUPS\TestCDC.bak'

WITH KEEP_CDC

The key item here is to specify KEEP_CDC as an option of the restore.  As always, if you have any questions concerning this post please comment here or send an email to pleblanc@pragmaticworks.com.

Talk to you soon,

Patrick LeBlanc, SQL Server MVP, MCTS

Founder SQL Lunch

Visit www.BIDN.com, Bring Business Intelligence to your company.

SQL Saturday #57 (Houston) Call for Speakers and Registration is Open!!

So many people have been waiting for a SQL Saturday in Houston and now it’s finally here. As a native of Houston I was surprised that it wasn’t one of the first SQL Saturday venues. Well the wait is over. Thanks to Nancy Wilson, the local SQL Server User Group Chapter Leader, Jonathan Gardner and Malik Al-Aminthe, the first Houston SQL Saturday (#57) will be held on January 29, 2011. Several great sessions have already been submitted, but they are definitely accepting more. In a city the size of Houston they are expecting an overwhelming number of attendees for this event. If you are a speaker that has never given a presentation at a SQL Saturday this may be a good place to get your start. Go here to sign up. If you are not quite ready to speak, but would like to attend click here to register. See you in Houston.

Talk to you soon,

Patrick LeBlanc, SQL Server MVP, MCTS

Founder SQL Lunch