All Day, Training Day at SQLBits

It’s a somewhat late addition, but I have an all-day Training Day at SQLBits. It takes place on Thursday, February 28th. You can read all about it on the SQLBits web site.

I want to take a moment here to expand on the information that we’re going to cover. I think the abstract does a good job of conveying what we’ll be doing all day, but I figured a little more detail won’t hurt.

Query Tuning is Hard

This is the very first thing I talk about. Query tuning is hard. I’ve got a nearly 1,000 page book on the topic, which should give you an idea of just how much material there is to cover.

With the training day I’ve decided to focus on the tools that Microsoft gives us with the Data Platform (yes, most of what I’m talking about will also include Azure SQL Database and Azure Managed Instance) that can make the whole process easier.

That’s the important point. I’m showing you tools to make this easier. I’m not going to cover in detail, how to pick a clustered index, although that will come up. I’m not going to cover common code smells, although we’ll be going over those as well.

Nope, we’re going to be talking about, among other things, why, and how, you use Extended Events. Each time I give this talk, I’ve converted people to using this under-used tool for one reason, and one reason only… Extended Events can make identifying poorly performing queries and query behavior easier to capture. Yes, easier. Come to the event and I’ll show you how.

We’ll also talk about Query Store and all the ways that it can make identifying and tuning queries easier. Yeah, Query Store is only available in SQL Server 2016 and up, as well as Azure, but it’s one of the future tools you’ll be using when you move. Heck, knowing just how much easier it makes query tuning, you may upgrade faster. Also, we’ll talk about how Query Store aids in the upgrade process.

We’re also going to cover execution plans. Yes, I’ve got a regular session at on “Learn to Read Execution Plans” and some of the material we’re covering there will be in this all day presentation. However, we’re going to go well beyond what I can cover in one hour. The fact is, while execution plans can be large, complex, and hard to follow, we’re going to walk through a few plans and at the end of the day, you’ll feel confident that you can read execution plans. These are a vital tool to understanding why a given query is performing poorly.

We’ll also cover a number of other tools, all supplied by Microsoft (no third party, no paid tools, just the stuff that you get), some to tell you why to avoid them, others to show where they help.

Conclusion

The point is simple. Query tuning is hard, so let’s figure out ways to make it easier. The tools, techniques, methods and code that I’m going to present will do that. Plus, you get direct access to me for the entire day. Have a question? Bring it in. Have an execution plan you want me to look at? Bring that too.

Let’s get together in Manchester England, on February 28, 2019, and talk.

Did I mention, this is my first ever all day seminar in the UK?

Go here to register for SQLBits.