It was a simultaneously busy, and also relaxing Tuesday for me recently. I attended Allan Hirt's A to Z of Availability Groups at the PASS Summit. I've set up an Availability Groups before, but I was never sure that I completely understood everything happening in my lab, so this was a good chance to add some depth and color to my skills in this area. I met a few people surprised that I was spending time in a pre-con learning. They seemed to expect that I'd know most of what Allan was talking about.

I know quite a bit about AlwaysOn and the related technologies, but I wouldn't consider myself anywhere near an expert like Allan. I've fumbled through settings, but it's a complex topic, and more importantly, it's easy to misunderstand or confuse the subtleties of the technology. I went because a good, solid grounding in the technology, being led about in an organized fashion by an expert, is a good way to expand and solidify your knowledge. I saw other "experts", MCMs and talented speakers in different pre-cons, each trying to continue to learn more about SQL Server.

SQL Server is a big platform, one that's wide in the number of features, and deep in complexity. No one knows everything about SQL Server, and most of the people I know that are extremely talented in areas of the platform, continue to grow their knowledge on a regular basis in a variety of areas.

It's the mission of SQLServerCentral to help you do the same thing, with our daily newsletter that brings you educational information about SQL Server. Hopefully you look forward to regularly growing your knowledge, just as I do.