I am honored to be the guest speaker at the Richmond SQL Server User Group on Monday, Sep 15. They usually have their meetings on the 2nd Thursday of the month, but they made a special exception. I will be speaking about SQL Server 2008 and Consolidation....(read more)

Chuck Heinzelman and I are on the Advisory Board for the THRIVE Campaign by Microsoft. The THRIVE campaign is about getting people to use tools that they already own or are FREE to download in order to learn/enhance new skills. I thought right away about...(read more)

I presented a webcast on Wednesday on SQL Server Consolidation.  As with many of my sessions (both physical and virtual), I like to ask several questions.  This is NOT scientific, but it is anecdotal. Poll Question #1:  Do you have SQL Server 2000 STILL running in production in your organization today?  YES = 70%, NO = 27%, ...

I have received a ton of private mail on this, hence rather than just pasting the same answer in I’m going to take it on here. Interestingly enough I explained this problem, with a slightly different context, back when 2005 SP1 came out here, but lets go through it again with 2008 context. Bob Ward has an excellent post on this here, so if you ...

I have been attending Teched every year since 2005. Last year, I really did not like the separation that was ''forced'' between IT Pro and Dev.  I like to attend sessions from both areas - SQL covers both areas.  I am glad they combined it this year (as it should be IMHO).  Once again, I will be in the TLC area where I LOVE to ...

Last month, I spoke at a SQL Server Firestarter event in Charlotte.  With just about every session that I speak at or webcast that I do since 2006, I always ask for a show of hands on two questions.  The first is ''How many people here are running SQL Server 2000 in production?'', and the follow-up question that I ask is ''How many ...

If you are in the Charlotte area, please come by for a FREE half-day event.  You need to register first though at the following link:   http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032400468&Culture=en-US    Here is what the schedule looks like.....    Room Mt. Kilimanjaro Room ...

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As virtualization grows stronger in the marketplace, the question of SQL Server performance and support on Virtual Machines appears more often.  Bob Ward has a great post here.  Enjoy! Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it!

One of the most common asks for SQL Server related to servicing/patching (after uninstall of updates/SPs) is the production of slimstreamed media, ie where the Update/SP and the RTM are included together in a single plackage. Now there are a couple of reasons to do this, the first is to save time and complexity for the person doing the installs, ...