As from my blog posts, all of you are probably aware that I am very much excited for attending SQL PASS at Seattle from Nov 1, 2009. As the days to the summit were nearing, I could already feel the rush of adrenalin in my veins. May be because of this, I could not wait any longer and so I headed towards Seattle a week earlier!

As Robert Cain mentioned on twitter, I finally arrived at Seattle a week earlier than the start date of the summit. I landed in Seattle on the evening of Oct 24, 2009. As I was early, I wanted to spend my time constructively by learning something. I asked Rushabh Mehta, the Managing Director of Solid Quality India, regarding what to do during the free time. Rushabh was well aware that I am a big fan of Itzik Ben-Gan. I have already read every available book written by him on T-SQL subject. Rushabh right away suggested me to attend the course taught by Itzik in Bellevue (located very close to Seattle).

I dreamt of meeting Itzik, and I had finally managed to meet him in the MVP Global Summit earlier this year. In the same event, I was fortunate to meet Rushabh also, and he had promised me the following:

1. To visit my User Group in Ahmedabad whenever he comes to India next time – He kept his promise!
2. To help me attend one of Itzik’s courses to make my lifetime dream come true – Well! he is about to fulfill his second promise too.

I am very glad that Itzik accepted my registration for his course Advanced T-SQL Querying, Programming and Tuning for SQL Server 2005 & 2008. As you might be aware, for his courses, there is always a waiting list of attendees. Here, I want to thank Rushabh and Itzik along with Solid Quality Global for arranging this wonderful opportunity for me.

I am very glad as my happiness has doubled as soon as I came to USA. My stay in USA is for 12 days. I have arrived on Oct 24, 2009 at 9 PM and will leave on Nov 6, 2009 at 8 AM. During these 12 days, I will continue to blog and share my experience at Seattle.

You can follow me on twitter. I plan to update you all regarding the interesting details about my trip @twitter.

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

I wish all of you Happy Diwali and New Year. Dīwali is a significant festival an official holiday in India. While Divali is popularly known as the “festival of lights”, the most significant spiritual meaning is “the awareness of the inner light”.

Database tip of the day : Test your backup strategy. Yesterday night I had received call from old client, who lost his live server. When I asked for his backup system, which I helped him to set up, he informed me that as server did not crashed for entire year that did not have it properly. Well, I helped him rebuild data from log file and with little data loss, he is back in business.

Let us have new years resolution that we will have proper backup routine and the routine is verified frequently by restoring the database.

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

This is 1100 the post of on my blog post on this blog. Just looking at the last 100 post of my blog, I have realized besides writing blog posts there are lots of other community events, I have been involved with. Let me quickly list few of the important community events and post, I have been involved with.

There are three very important event in my life during last 100 posts.

Three Very Important Event

SQLAuthority News – 1000th Article Milestone – 8 Millions Views – Solid Quality Mentors

SQLAuthority News – MVP Award Renewed

SQLAuthority News – Shaivi Dave – Baby SQLAuthority

Community Events

SQLAuthority News – TechEd on Road Ahmedabad June 20, 2009 – An Astounding Success

SQLAuthority News – Authors Visit – K-MUG TechEd Trivandrum on June 27, 2009

SQLAuthority News – Authors Visit – DelhiBuzz TechEd on July 11, 2009

SQLAuthority News – Author Visit – Virtual Tech Days August 2009

SQLAuthority News – Community Tech Days Oct 3, 2009 – Ahmedabad

Community Posts

SQLAuthority News – Why I am Going to Attend PASS Summit Unite 2009- Seattle

SQL SERVER – Why You Should Attend PASS Summit Unite 2009- Seattle

SQLAuthority News – Book Review – The Rational Guide to Building Technical User Communities (Rational Guides)

SQLAuthority News – A Quick Guide to Twitter

Personal Posts

SQLAuthority News – 1000th Article Milestone – 8 Millions Views – Solid Quality Mentors

SQLAuthority News – MVP Award Renewed

SQLAuthority News – Request SQLAuthority.com Stickers and SQL Server Cheat Sheet

SQLAuthority News – Author’s Birthday – Top 7 Commenters – Volunteers

SQLAuthority News – Beyond Relational Interview on SQL Server 2008 Beyond Relational

SQLAuthority News – Baby SQLAuthority is here!

SQLAuthority News – Shaivi Dave – Baby SQLAuthority

I thank you very much to all of you for your unconditional support.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

PASS Summit Unite2009 – the premier event for SQL Server professionals – will be held in Seattle from November 2 to 5. It is the largest and the most intensive Microsoft SQL Server conference in the world organized by SQL Server users for SQL Server users. This year marks the 10th Anniversary of PASS Community Summit, making the event even more special. Every year, this event sees a large number of attendees as apart from high quality technical sessions, it provides unparalleled access to the Microsoft SQL Server development, SQL CAT, and Customer Service and Support teams.

PASS Summit is an ideal conference for people who want to expand their knowledge. Here, sessions are available for all levels of users, from novices to experts. Specialized sessions are organized for SQL Server users who manage and support SQL Server data platforms; design, architect, and implement database solutions; architect and develop SQL Server applications; and architect, develop, and administer business intelligence solutions.

Why should I attend PASS Summit

There is not one or two but a number of reasons regarding why I should be a part of PASS Summit. First, it is a good platform to learn the latest skills and strategies through over 160 expert-led technical sessions as well as pre/post-conference sessions, which will include every aspect of SQL Server. Here, I can sharpen my skills and update myself with the latest SQL Server topics and technologies. This knowledge will help me to optimize the SQL Server. It also allows me to stay ahead of the curve as I will be one of the first professionals to learn about the latest advances, roadmaps, and plans for Microsoft SQL Server.

I can learn SQL Server best practices from thousands of SQL Server MVPs, Microsoft team members, authors, experts, and peers who will attend the event. I can even equip myself with the strategies and skills to improve the ROI of my SQL Server environment such as virtualization technologies, performance tuning and scaling, better hardware utilization, simplified management, and need for better business intelligences, to name a few. Further, I can take advantage of the group discount and enhance the knowledge and skills of the entire team.

The three-day event will be marked by a lot of learning, sharing, and networking, which will help me increase both my knowledge and contacts. PASS Summit provides me a golden opportunity to build my network as well as to identify and meet potential customers or employees. If I am a consultant or vendor who is looking for better career opportunities, PASS Summit is the perfect platform to meet and show my skills to my new potential customers and employers. Moreover, if I am already employed in an organization, here I can get in touch with top-class SQL Server experts who can help me with any future needs. Further, breakfasts, lunches, and evening receptions, which are included with registration, are meant to provide more and more networking opportunities.

Apart from gaining knowledge and networking, PASS Summit is a good platform to solve high-priority, mission-critical SQL Server issues through Microsoft “Ask the Experts” Lounge and the CSS First Aid Station where I can have direct access to Microsoft developers, service and support, and MVPs.

At PASS Summit, I gain not only new ideas but also inspire myself from top professionals and experts. Learning new things about SQL Server, interacting with different kinds of professionals, and sharing issues and solutions will definitely improve my understanding and turn me into a better SQL Server professional who can leverage and optimize SQL Server to improve business.

You can find the details of the sessions here:

• PASS Summit 2009 Agenda
• Agenda at a glance
• Pre/Post Conference Sessions
• Spotlight Sessions
• Program Sessions

Moreover, one of the main reasons to visit PASS – I will be there. Let us meet and talk SQL.

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

Six days ago, on September 1st, 2009 07:03:40 AM, God blessed us with beautiful baby girl. As per Hindu Namkaran Sanskar (naming ritual), we have decided to name her as Shaivi. Thank you all for all the wonderful suggestions for the baby name. Selecting the right name for little one is really one of the most challenging tasks. According to Vedas, in Hindu religion, each occasion of a person’s life calls for elaborate rituals. After the birth of a child, naming ceremony or the Namkaran Samskar is considered one of the most important events.

We have selected the name Shaivi for her. The process of selecting name was very interesting. We had short-listed nearly 100 names for her and out of all these names, we finally decided on this name. Shaivi is name of the wife of Lord Shiva (my favorite god), who is also known as Goddess Parvati. Shaivi also stands for the reincarnation of goddess Parvati, which is Goddess Lakshmi, meaning prosperity.

The numerological meaning of this name is also very interesting. People with this name tend to be very active. They love to travel and hate to sit idle for too long. They are bold, daring, and persuasive. They love to try new things and take chances. Professionally, they can be successful as a public figure in the media or at developing new ideas for small businesses.

I have received many suggestions for her name and had created a big pool of baby names. This name was selected by us considering its meaning and also importance of this baby in our life. My mother and grandmother of Shaivi had originally selected this name from our ancient scriptures, and I am very thankful to her for suggesting this wonderful name.

I am sure that my daughter Shaivi will make me proud one day. Many people had asked me the email address of my wife Nupur. Nupur can be reached at nupur ‘at’ pinaldave.com.

I would like to know if you all liked my daughter’s name.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

Posted in About Me, Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology ]]> http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/09/08/sqlauthority-news-shaivi-dave-baby-sqlauthority/feed/ 22 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/09/01/sqlauthority-news-baby-sqlauthority-is-here/ http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/09/01/sqlauthority-news-baby-sqlauthority-is-here/#comments Tue, 01 Sep 2009 01:30:02 +0000 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/?p=6711 ]]>

September 1st, 2009 07:03:40 AM was one of the most beautiful moment of my life! God has graced us with baby girl. Nupur (my wife) and I am very happy today. We have no words to express our happiness. Baby girl and mother both are very healthy.

We have yet to name our baby girl. Do you have any suggestions for Indian name?

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

I am a very big fan of Twitter. I have been using it for quite sometime now and I think it is a very convenient way to stay connected with friends, families, and even the world. You can share or connect with them in real-time and tell them what you are doing currently.

The best part about it is micro-blogging; you are not required to type a whole blog but just a statement of not more than 140 characters. Another advantage is that if you want to put a link then Twitter truncates the url to a tinyurl.com link, thus you can link a large url while saving space for typing more characters. Undoubtedly, Twitter is shrinking our world!

My twitter username is pinaldave.

There are already plenty of guides easily available about how twitter should be used and what are the advantages and disadvantages. You can find plenty of related information on the various sites, so we will not cover them today. In this post we will just see how I use it and what I exactly use it for.

I primarily use it for two reasons 1) to stay connected with my friends by reading their timeline 2) to post important news from my side or this blog on twitter. I use http://tweetdeck.com currently as my twitter client as it provides me multiple columns of timelines for all necessary groups. I can make my own personal group here as well.

Twitter Keywords

When I have to reply to someone I use @username for the person and that twit shows up on the person’s timeline as well as on my timeline. People who are following both of us will be able to view that reply as well. E.g. @pinaldave you love twitter.

When I have to inform everyone that someone has twitted me and I liked it, I simply prefix it with the word RT and that is broadcast to everyone following me. It will also show up as reply/mention of anybody’s name I mentioned in my message. E.g. RT @pinaldave you love twitter.

When I have to send direct email that can be viewed by only two people, I prefix it with the word D before my message to make it visible to those two; however, for this feature the other person has to follow you first. D pinaldave you love twitter.

I often use # for important searchable keywords. Many times, people search those hash tags using twitter search. E.g. Pinal Dave, you love #twitter.

Follow and Followers

I currently follow only people whom I genuinely want to follow. I do not follow everyone who comes across me. I think it is unfair to follow people if I am not interested in reading them. I keep my timeline open to let people follow me as they prefer and learn about exactly what is happening in my world.

A common adage we have often listened is – Quality is more important than Quantity. In Twitter this applies perfectly. It really does not matter to have a large number of people following you when they are not really reading your twits. When I follow someone, I give my 100% attention  and read everything they write.

Twitter is Personal Choice

I am not here to advocate the use of twitter. I would rather suggest that it is completely your choice. More importantly, overuse of twitter can for sure damage your online reputation.

I love twittering but when I am at work, I make sure that I do not leave the client open till I finish my work. It is not fair to my employer if I am twitting during my work time. I do not even respond to emails when I am at my consultancy work.

General Twitter Guidelines

There are numerous specialized guidelines for Twitter. Just treat this as your regular conversation. In regular conversation, we do not always repeat what other person suggests. Same way, one should control their RT (re-twitting). Also remember, no one will talk to us if we keep boasting about ourselves too much. Keep this in mind while twittering. I can go on writing about Twitter here, but I am sure you are pretty smart and can assume other rules by yourself.

The person from whom I learn tricks about twitter is Brent Ozar (@BrentO), I like his articles on twitter.

You are welcome to follow me on twitter here : pinaldave

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Today is July 30 and I am very happy; it’s my Birthday, celebration time!!! The most common question I receive on my every birthday is -what are my plans for birthday. Let me share my plans here today. Additionally, if you are interested to know when SQL Server was born read my post SQLAuthority News – Author BirthDay – SQL Server Birthday.

My first plan is that I am going to take a break from blogging on anything technical today and spend more time with my family.

Let me tell you about my second plan. I am very much pleased and encouraged with active participation from many of you on this blog. I have received so far more than 10s of thousands of comments on my blog. These comments are open for you all to read and you can use them in any fashion that can help you out. Without good participation there is no life in any community, whether it is offline or online.

For the same reason, I have introduced Top 7 Commenters section in the side bar of SQLAuthority.com. There are many active users who have been participating for a long time. One of them I just recognized is Imran Mohammed. This SQL Expert has been extremely helpful to the community and has been providing comprehensive answers to hundreds of questions. Hats Off to you Imran! I totally appreciate your knowledge and dedication to SQL community. Without passion and love toward helping community, this is absolutely not possible.

You can subscribe to SQLAuthority.com feed, which will display all the new posts of my blog as they are published.

You can subscribe to SQLAuthority.com comments, which will show all the new comments posted on the blog as they are published.

If you prefer to receive SQLAuthority.com articles in email, you will get all the fresh posts in email.

There is no automated feature for top commenters where I host, so I will have to calculate this manually. I will keep it updated on weekly basis. Every week we will see new names there. First column is number of post, and second column is number name with link to experts website or blog or email.

Every day I receive a couple of emails about starting a forum on SQLAuthority.com. I do plan to start the forum in future. Currently, there are plenty of very good forums on the web. SQLAuthority.com is a blog and below every blog post there is a discussion related to the subject discussed in the blog post.

SQLAuthority.com is all about community and people who are passionate about SQL. Everyone is welcome to participate here. There are many ways to participate.

• Discussing blog post
• Helping user who have posted their issues on blog
• Asking questions
• Writing Guest Post
• Submitting useful SQL Scripts
• Reviewing any Microsoft-related products
• Reviewing Books

Let me know if you have any other useful and interesting suggestions on how I can involve YOU more in my efforts to take SQL community to the next level.

If you are interested in participating in volunteer program do send me email at pinal ‘at’ SQLAuthority.com and we can discuss something out.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

So far, I have written over 1030 articles on my blog, and I have  received  an astounding  12,000+ comments. Undoubtedly, it has acquired the status of a  huge database now!

I nearly receive 200+ emails  and lots of comments on this blog every day. I do maintain a log of all the comments and emails received. As per my observation, I have already answered 90% of the questions asked via email in this blog earlier. I do my best to respond to each email and comment of my readers. Quite often, the question asked in email is very urgent and  by the time I read email it is pretty late. I feel sorry when I  am not able to respond to such urgent emails on time.

I have created a custom search engine using Google Search, and it is customized for SQLAuthority.com blog and all the comments ever posted on blog. There is a pretty good chance that from now on you may find your answer from comments as well. If by any chance, you are not able to find answer to any of the questions, I suggest you right away search on Google from there itself.

Give it a try and let me have your feedback on this custom search.

Search@SQLAuthority.com

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

I am exceedingly impressed and inspired by an on-going series of Big Thinkers by Robert Cain – A SQL Server MVP and a genial, whole-souled person.

Robert Cain and Pinal Dave

On meeting Robert Cain earlier this year at SQL Server MVP Summit in Seattle I asked him a question – Where do you get so many innovative ideas to write on blog and create presentations? He replied, “I do not try to get ideas, my experience inspires me.”

Well, it is true that Robert has more than 10 years of experience as one of the TOP experts in SQL Server. Unlike most of the SQL Server MVPs his knowledge is not limited to SQL Server; he is well versed in ASP.NET and Business Intelligence (BI) as well. What is really inspiring and great about him is that he has maintained his position as a top technology expert and has used his position to help out others through his comments/answers in various forums.

Before I answer the question what is big thinkers and why Robert is a big thinker, let me tell you when did I last come across his blog. I was looking forward to learn about BI and I searched for the same in the search engine. I found the following article of Robert. I right away downloaded it and read it through and through. Instead of reading my experience about this easy-to-follow and crisp article, I would suggest you all to experience it yourself. Download the PDF from Introduction To Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence.

Robert takes personal interest when it comes to advising and playing the role of a mentor to the members of community. He has another very useful presentation available online Careers in SQL Server. Even though you are an experienced user I would still recommend you to go through this PDF to see where you stand in your career and what should be your next step.

As I mentioned earlier, Robert is one of the few experts who can fluently talk on both SQL as well as .NET. He has written a marvelous series on FILESTREAM type and storage of varbinary, which is a complete guide on this subject. I strongly suggest that you give it a look, and I promise that it is an easy read.

I may or may not write another part of this series of Big Thinkers but I salute to a real big thinker Robert Cain!

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Posted in About Me, MVP, Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority News, SQLAuthority Website Review, T SQL, Technology ]]> http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/07/12/sqlauthority-news-big-thinkers-robert-cain/feed/ 1 pinaldave Robert Cain and Pinal Dave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/07/02/sqlauthority-news-mvp-award-renewed/ http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/07/02/sqlauthority-news-mvp-award-renewed/#comments Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:30:03 +0000 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/?p=5793 ]]>

Year ago, it was a great, perhaps the proudest moment of my professional life. I was awarded Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for SQL Server by Microsoft.

Today, I received an email informing me that I have been re-awarded SQL Server MVP status by Microsoft in recognition of my community contributions. It’s yet another proud moment for me. I’m very happy and excited that my hard work is being recognized.  I hope to work even harder and serve my community better!

Microsoft Thank You! There’s a huge list of people I would like to thank for this award. However, instead of listing their names here, I will be sending personal note to them to express my thanks.

Pinal Dave
SQL SERVER MVP
pinal “at” sqlauthority.com

Please feel free to contact me for any help.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Achieving a milestone gives a great sense of accomplishment! Today, I am writing my 1000th Article on this blog. I am extremely happy and gratified.  It is indeed a long journey since I started a few years back and at that time I had no idea that within a short period I would attain so much appreciation and popularity.  I intend to continue my journey further and attain more milestones.

I have always enjoyed learning, sharing and helping my community. Through this blog, I have met many wonderful people, made great friends and interacted with diverse readers from across the globe. My heartfelt thanks to my readers for their undeterred support and acceptance of my efforts wholeheartedly.

Yesterday, this blog completed 8 Million views and I am over the moon to find that there are so many regular visitors. Most of the visitors have subscribed to feed using  feedburner feed. You can also receive posts by email subscription.

I have another reason to feel happy and proud. I would like to humbly announce that today I am taking a stepping stone towards fulfilling my passion of sharing on a different platform. I have joined a prestigious organization Solid Quality Mentors as a Mentor. This is a great opportunity for me to work with experienced and talented people of BI fame like Rushabh Mehta at Solid Quality Mentors – India.

I do not want to give my milestone post a stereotyped ending with hundreds of lines revolving around my achievements.  I will end this article with the following quote expressing the importance of this event in my life and career.

“I feel very privileged to be part of Solid Quality Mentors, Sharing my knowledge and experience with other database professionals has been a passion for me and is an integral part of my role as a SQL Server MVP. Now, Solid Quality Mentors is giving me a solid platform from which I can pursue my passion while working alongside such experienced and talented people as Rushabh Mehta. I look forward to my new role as Mentor, helping organizations make the most of their SQL Server technology, and adding value to the Solid Quality team in India.”

Join me at TechEd Ahmedabad on SaturdayJun 20, 2009  at 2 PM.

Press Release 1 : Solid Quality Mentors Says ‘Namaste, India’ as It Opens Operations in Mumbai

Press Release 2 : SQL Server MVP Pinal Dave—the Voice of SQLAuthority.com—Joins Solid Quality Mentors in India

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

I have been planning to write a general post on the latest technology for a long time but SQL keeps me so busy that I hardly get time. I know being busy is no excuse as everybody is busy with something. A manager is equally busy managing people as much as a peon busy doing errands. Now, coming back to my topic, I have lots of news to share with you all.

Anyway, number one news is that Bing has been finally released a couple of days back. I am very much excited as something is finally challenging Google – The Search Engine King. Google has been my preferred search engine for many years and my home page too. However, I am quite impressed with Bing which has a clearer and more organized interface. The navigation on the left side does make sense. My opinion is that there is no other option for Google but to improve to retain its popularity. In the search engine race Google has always been a clear winner for many years now, and people have always appreciated its simplicity and most importantly, its accurate results. But now, for the very first time I think Bing is going to challenge Google on two fronts – accuracy of search and simplicity of interface. Only time will decide who will rule, but I would like to give Bing a fair chance to improve itself.

Another major improvement I have done is that I have finally upgraded 3 of my 4 computers to Windows 7. I have never hated Vista for its shortcomings. I have seen people and media pointing negative things about it. In fact I think it has now become a trend to just bad mouth Vista. I thoroughly believe that Vista was a significant improvement over XP. There was a time when XP was everywhere and every software was designed in keeping with its compatibility with it. Then, Vista emerged in the market. XP required less hardware while Vista necessitated upgradation of hardware of most of the computer systems. This was not appreciated by many users as they had to spend money on hardware apart from spending on Vista. Additionally, it took a good amount of time for companies to come out with drivers of Vista. Today, Win 7 is out and getting loudly applauded by the same people who criticized it. Win 7 is definitely better and I love it! It has everything what Vista had and even more. If people hated Vista for some of its drawbacks, in that case Win 7 will not disappoint them and it will exceed their expectations with its additional features. Slowly and steadily, Win 7 is coming out as a winner. It took sometime for Vista to get accepted, which was entirely hardware companies fault as they did not release its driver. But today almost all the companies have Vista compatible drivers which work fine with Win 7, thereby making Win 7 more acceptable.

There is one more reason why Win 7 has become my favorite OS. My wife – Nupur Dave has an old laptop, which is single core (when we purchased it there was no concept of double core) and had XP so far. Since the past one month, my wife kept on complaining that her laptop takes forever to start. As her laptop is 6 years old with 1.6 GHz, Single Core and 1 GB RAM, we decided to purchase a new one. However, I decided to give it a shot and see if I can install Win 7 on this old machine. To my surprise, it took only 25 mins to install the whole operating system and it works better than XP. Now this is something really good about it and it saved my bucks!

What else is keeping me busy? There are so many things to say. I am reading a plethora of books and blogs. I have a collection of over 500 books in my home library and have almost the same number of feeds in my RSS reader. I recently finished a book Pro T-SQL 2008 Programmer’s Guide. It is written by one of the most popular book authors Michael Coles. You can read his interview here. His interview was taken by a dear friend of mine who is a .NET expert Vijaya Kadiyala. He is not only writing about .NET but also writing on SQL. Besides, whenever I have free time I try to solve T-SQL Challenges written by my fellow MVP Jacob Sebastian.

Well, my friend Abhishek Kant suggested me to start using twitter but not to forget my blog. Every time I spend too much time on twitter, I remember his saying: Hats Off! Thanks Abhishek for giving me these golden words. I will keep on blogging.

Thanks John-Wu Zioa for sending this cartoon. I’m flattered!

Now you know what I think of the latest technologies and what I have been doing. I will appreciate your comments for the same and please feel free to share your experience here.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

TechEd India 2009 was undeniably a magnificent success! The 3-day grand event was adorned by delegates, sponsors, partners, customers, media as well as celebrities from cross the world. The event was marked by the CEO of Microsoft Steve Ballmer’s keynote, Academy Award Winner Film Sound Designer of Slumdog Millioner Resool Pookutt’s talk, not to forget the numerous technical sessions, Community Lounge, Partner Stalls, Demo Extravaganza, and the gaming zone. TechEd India 2009 was one event where community involvement was at its zenith.

Organizations such as INETA APAC, Culminis, PASS and Microsoft India came together to bring all user group leaders together under one roof, their purpose being to promote all the user groups and provide a huge networking platform for the leaders and attendees. In this event, local Microsoft wanted to engage as many leaders as possible. They offered free entry to TechEd for all leaders of groups in India.

On Day 1 of TechEd India I had a technical session on “SQL Server Management Studio 2008 New Features” which was attended by a hall packed with SQL enthusiasts. Vigorous participation of people made my session interactive throughout. As the session was progressing at one point the whole room was crammed and we ran out of chairs. I must thank Abhishek Kant (MVP Lead) and Abhishek Baxi (MVP Program Manager) for their speedy arrangement of additional chairs to accommodate all the attendees. My 40-min session was followed by discussion, addressing future issues with SQL Server, and interacting with SQL Server Product Team of Hyderabad.

SQL Server Cheat Sheets, which were prepared along with me by Digi-corp, were available for free pickup. Unexpectedly, it was so much in demand that we ran out of them right during the session. It was quite a happy surprise for me to find that just like my cheat sheets my autograph was also in demand. When I started giving autographs I did not realize when the number crossed 125! On Day 1 itself I got the opportunity to meet several people I always wanted to meet such as Vinod Kumar, Jacob Sebastian, Satya Shyam K Jayanty, to name a few. I even attended two TV interviews and one community jam event as well.

Day 2 of TechEd India was even better than Day 1. I got the chance to meet some renowned industry leaders. Apart from having real-time conversation with Industry Leaders, I had a great time attending the various Tech Sessions. The highlight of the day was Vinod Kumar’s session on “Reducing the size of your database using Data Compression/Binary Compression in SQL Server 2008″. Further, day 2 saw a community event in the evening. There were separate meetings of SQLPass, Ineta, and Culminis. There was yet another big event where all the three community groups together addressed all the participants. The day was marked by another follow-up community party where there were numerous opportunities to do networking with Microsoft Product Team, Evangelist, Community Leaders, and Active Participates. This event was restricted and by entry only. I along with my other friends – Nauzad and Suredra – guarded entrance to this exclusive event.

Day 3 at TechEd India was the most significant day. I learnt some vital information from the SQL Server product group, which is very exhilarating and important. The day set off with meeting MVP friends. Though are friendship was just 2-days old we felt connected to each other. On Day 3 I attended one of the most talked-about sessions of “Advanced Data Recovery and Troubleshooting with SQL Server 2008″ by Vinod Kumar. Satya – a SQL Domain Expert, an MVP, an International speaker and one of the most down-to-earth people – had also come to attend TechEd India from UK.  He presented his enriching session on Highly Availability and SQL Server Upgrades. Besides, I attended an important meeting with nearly 10 very senior members from Microsoft SQL Server Product Team, who has actually created SQL Server.

The action-packed TechEd India 2009 was successful in engaging all TechEd attendees and promoting use groups and leaders through interesting contests, such as Culminis, INETA APAC, PASS, Leader Hunt Contest for TechEd India 2009 and INETA APAC True or False Contest. The event even had a fun-filled activity in the form of a dart game where participants bagged loads of goodies like T-shirts, Caps, among others.

One of the things that makes TechEd India 2009 truly memorable and special is the networking opportunity it provided to speakers, attendees, UG leaders and volunteers. I thoroughly enjoyed the three-day event and I feel very fortunate to be part of this great event. I got the chance to meet my role models and learn new information from great people. Most importantly, TechEd India gave me the platform to share my knowledge with other participants and perform my duties of being an MVP.

I hope you have followed this event on my Twitter.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

This is the very first time I am answering any online tag. SQL Expert Jorge Segarra (a.k.a @SQLChicken) recently tagged me with a very simple yet significant question related to my journey on the path of SQL Server. Let me introduce you all to Jorge first before moving on to his question.

Jorge lives in Tampa, Florida, with his beautiful wife, an adorable dog and two naughty cats. He is currently working as a SQL DBA and system administrator for the University Community Hospital. His in-depth knowledge of SQL Server and comprehensive understanding of the subject has gained him incredible popularity in the online world.

Now, his question is – how did I get started with SQL?
Let me try to answer this question on how did I get started with SQL.

History:

I am currently located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India and working as a SQL Expert. My specialty is Query Optimization and Database Architecture. I take SQL Server Tutorial Tracks in all over India. I was in USA for about 7 years before returning back to my roots – India.

I earned my Masters degree from the University of Southern California (USC) – Los Angeles, California, USA. My area of expertise was Masters of Science in Computer Networks and yes, I am still good at networking even after so many years! I owe my success as a Database Architecture to my strong background in network architecture. My comprehensive understanding of system architecture and network system gives me an edge in all aspects of my professional career. And today, I am capable of providing unorthodox solutions to my domain-related issues!

I have worked in Las Vegas in a leading automotive industry as a Database Administrator. During this tenure, I learned a great deal of database optimization and system architecture. If the name “Las Vegas” brings into your mind an obvious question – Did I ever gamble over there? Well, let me clarify – I never did!

Beginning with SQL:

My first job was as a Student Worker in USC where I had to deal with VB desktop application and MS Access. This was my very first experience of working on real working application using SQL. Initially, SQL was all Greek to me, but that was just the beginning. I kept on learning a bit here and there, but till now I did not yet realize the full potential of SQL. Instead of using SQL power to do complex logic, I was using application to do many of those.

First Job as DBA:

When I got my job in Las Vegas in a leading automotive industry as a developer, it was a serious place for any developer to work in. We had intense SQL Server centric environment, and there was no option but to learn SQL Server 100%. Once it happened that a Sr. DBA resigned from his current job abruptly. Our employer was looking for someone with MCDBA certification. I took my chances and got through two exams of SQL Server (70-228 and 70-229) in less than 14 days from the day of advertisement. Not to forget that I got the job of Sr. DBA! I passed few more certifications and developed expertise in Query Optimization and Performance Tuning.

Beginning SQLAuthority.com:

During my career as a DBA, I often encountered many issues and found their solutions. At the beginning it was difficult to remember everything, so I started to keep my personal bookmark on this blog. In fact, my personal bookmark hosting was the only purpose of starting this blog. You can more details about it on this blog, so I’ll move further.

Present:

I returned to India just about 14 months ago to stay with my family. The past 14 months have been extremely special for me. This period saw occurrence of two important events of my life. One, I was awarded with Microsoft MVP Award. Second, and most important, I got married to the girl of my life. Today, I am completely satisfied and happy with my progress and I am planning to continue my journey in SQL Server and database architecture.

For me, learning is a never-ending process and I think there is so much to learn. I still have a long way to go before I can call myself SQL Guru. I am looking forward to meeting some great SQL Gods in MVP Summit.

I Tag:

I tag my future. I hope that in future, I will be able to actively help my community in a better way and write another note like I’ve written today.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Source : http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/04/27/sqlauthority-news-starting-the-sql-journey-how-did-i-get-started-with-sql/

Vijaya Kadiyala is my fellow .NET and SQL Expert and very respected member of the technology community in India. He is known for his easy but to the point attitude for technology. He regularly writes on his blog : DotNetVJ. I happen to meet him at MVP Summit in Seattle and have learned a lot about him. In my recent travel to South India, I have learned a great deal about his community services and enthusiasm about cutting edge technology.

Vijaya has started interview series on his blog where he takes very quick interviews of community leaders. He asked following five questions in his interview series of 60 Seconds.

1. Please tell us something about yourself.
2. What motivated you to become an MVP.
3. Please share with us your journey of becoming an MVP.
4. Tell us about your MVP Summit experience.
5. Any message to the Technologists.

It was my honor as expert like Vijaya has asked for my interview. Read my answers to Vijaya’s question on his blog.

Read 60 Seconds with Pinal Dave.

Vijaya is also planning to write book, and poll aobut his book is open on his blog. I strongly urge all my readers to participate for the same.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

I’m pleased to inform you all that I’ve recently launched my personal website. It’s been a long time since I’ve been writing on my blog http://blog.sqlauthority.com, but I’ve been keeping my personal notes at my homepage http://www.pinaldave.com.

I’ve completely rehauled the website to give it the much-needed makeover, right from redesigning the layout to writing fresh content. But, I would be extremely happy to have your feedback so that I can enhance my website further.

I’ve always been a people’s person who believes in sharing his knowledge. Also, I want to see myself growing as an individual and as a professional. This is the reason why I pay a lot of attention to feedback. I hope my readers would provide me with some valuable feedback to make my website even better, which would in turn help me reach out to more people to accomplish my objective of serving my community.

I’ve enumerated below the significant improvements that have been made on my website.

1) Clear Design

Previously, I used to receive a lot of feedback regarding the layout, which was a little confusing. Besides, the page was flooded with links that directed the visitors away from my website, which was certainly a serious concern. In contrast, the new layout contains few but relevant links that would actually benefit my website.. I have even changed the background from light brown to white for more clarity and better readability. Best of all, all the pages will now feature the latest three articles from SQLAuthority.com on left navigation panel.

2) Content
SQLAuthority.com is my key writing platform and I write on it almost every day. Till now, I have written over 900 articles.. Like any normal guy I too have my favorites and frequently used links. Some of my articles are script based and some are theory based. I have categorized them as per my preference and also based on the feedback I have received. The links are listed here.

• Top Downloads
• Best Articles
  • Best Articles
  • Favorite Articles – 1
  • Favorite Articles – 2
• SQL Script Bank
  • Favorite Scripts
  • All Scripts – 1
  • All Scripts – 2

3) Photos
I have often received comments that my photos are pretty old and I must update it. Probably, my readers got tired looking at my same old pose! So, I have updated the photos page of my website with my latest photographs. In future I will make sure to keep the photos page updated. Visit my photos page.

4) Resume
In my resume, I have added several important information related to my career. I have simplified my resume, and now it only includes relevant details on my current objective. Currently, I am working as an independent consultant and specialist in SQL Server Query Optimization and Database Architecture. You can hire me or my entire crew. I have a team of over 65 talented and qualified developers who can complete your project irrespective of size, complexity or programming language.

5) Social Media
Social Media and Social Networking are hard to separate when we are a part of society. You can follow me on Twitter or join my professional network at LinkedIn.

I am very eager to know your opinion about my new website. Please do send me your feedback.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

Gandhinagar SQL Server User Group launch event was held on March 27, 2009. This successful, well-attended event received very positive and warm community response. This launch event, unexpectedly, saw over 50 database enthusiasts participating. It was really a moment of pleasant surprise when we ran out of chairs. The otherwise spacious room started getting smaller as more and more people joined in, and unquestionably, we felt ecstatic about it! Visit Gandhinagar SQL Server User Group Portal and register yourself now!

We commenced Gandhinagar SQL Server User Group launch event sharp at 6:30 and completed it precisely at 7:30. During these 60 minutes we conducted intense database discussion, and we had our share of some light moments as well. As this was the very first launch event, I had the privilege of being the sole speaker for all the sessions.

The agenda of meeting was as follows:

6:30 PM – 7:00 PM – Introduction to Joins and Real Life Scenario
7:00 PM – 7:10 PM – Tips to Improve SQL Performance
7:10 PM – 7:15 PM – Simple SQL Quiz (3 Question)
7:15 PM – 7:20 PM – Feedback
7:20 PM – 7:30 PM – Award for “Best Participant” and Questions and Answer

I had a great time discussing Join and I promised users that I will definitely be sharing some of my slides and scripts from the meeting with everybody. Click here to download slides and script.

One of the requests I received was to write down a simple and precise definition of Joins. I was quite taken aback to see that Joins are still a subject of interest for developers. I am seriously considering this request. To all those developers wanting to get insight into Joins I promise that I will soon come up with a write-up on Introduction to Joins.

I shared some tips on SQL Server performance improvement and even conducted an interesting and informative quiz round. UG members who gave correct answer to the questions received nice gifts. The best part of the event was giveaway of gifts to the participants near the end when everybody was really involved. The gifts included a vibrant red shirt and few other interesting gifts for the best participants. These Gifts were co-sponsored by Digicorp and me.

Here are a few photographs of UG meeting.

My heartfelt thanks go to the sponsor of this event – Digicorp - for their significant contribution to make this event a success. They were extremely prompt in making the last minute arrangements, especially arranging for more chairs for the room which was brimming with participants. Digicorp is a prominent IT service provider and an outsourcing company based in Ahmedabad, India. Its services range from Customized Application Development to Facebook Application Development.

To sum up, I would like to say that there are many advantages of User Group meetings. The prominent advantages are ‘Gaining Knowledge’ and ‘Sharing Knowledge’, which will surely add value to you as a professional or as a knowledge seeker.

Next time, I will be expecting a similar overwhelming response and even more participants to show up in UG meeting.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

Microsoft MVP Award Blog and Microsoft South Asian MVP Blog has published my video interview online. My interview was conducted by Abhishek Kant – Microsoft MVP Lead and Technology Blogger. I am thankful to Abhishek Kant for conducting my interview, Abhishek Baxi for publishing on South Asian Blog and Jas Dhaliwal for producing the video. Above All I am very thankful to Microsoft for awarding me MVP Award. This video was shot at Microsoft MVP Summit 2009 at Seattle.

Watch my Video on Microsoft MVP Award Blog

Watch my Video on Microsoft South Asian MVP Blog

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

Posted in About Me, Database, MVP, Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Interview Questions and Answers, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology Tagged: MVP Summit 2009 ]]> http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/03/27/sqlauthority-news-author-video-interview-published-online-microsoft-mvp-summit-2009/feed/ 0 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/03/19/sqlauthority-news-900th-article-9-best-practices-important-milestones/ http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/03/19/sqlauthority-news-900th-article-9-best-practices-important-milestones/#comments Thu, 19 Mar 2009 01:30:45 +0000 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/?p=3796 ]]>

Today is my 900th article on this blog. You can see list of all the 900 articles here. I suggest you go over the list and read any article you like.

First let us go over 9 Best Practices List.

1. Auto Shrink runs at regular interval (30 mins) in background of SQL Server and it is cause performance dropping fragmentation. It should be turn off.
2. All the statistics should be updated at regular interval.
3. Compressed backup should be used instead of regular backup as it improves speed and performance. Restoring compressed backup is faster than regular restore.
4. Always take full database backups along with differential and log backups. Log backups can be very much useful for point-in-time recovery.
5. Pay attention to “Activity Monitor” – a new feature which displays current activity of a) Process Time, b) Waiting Tasks, c) Database I/O, d) Batch Requests/Sec.
6. Control the configurations as well enforces policies using Policy Based Management.
7. Utilize new datatypes DATE and TIME instead of conventional DATETIME.
8. Keep database updated with latest SPs and Cumulative Updates.
9. Use Dynamic Management Views to figure out longest running queries as well most popular queries.

I really had great time at Microsoft MVP Summit 2009 at Seattle, you can read about my trip to Seattle here. I have recently updated my resume with my latest activities.

Social Media is new thing and I am really enjoying to be part of it. Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Feedreader are my latest interests. Here is my web presence in social media.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/pinaldave
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=654862451
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/pinaldave
SQLAuthority Feed: http://feeds2.feedburner.com/SQLAuthority
SQLAuthority Email: http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/emailverifySubmit?feedId=872428

Search@SQLAuthority: http://search.sqlauthority.com/
Job@SQLAuthority: http://jobs.sqlauthority.com
Resume: http://blog.sqlauthority.com/database-administrator-mcdba-resume/

You can hire me through my company, read the details of here.

Best thing about my job is I can work from office as well as from home office. Find me in action at home office.

Pinal at Home Office

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)