There are 2 suggestions I hear about when performance tuning the Lookup transformation on a large dimension table when getting the surrogate key for a fact table. I hope to introduce here a third.

The first is the caching option.

The Full Cache option will cache the whole table… Read more

If you do not know by now, PASS has many virtual chapters that give free webcasts all month long. I have helped chair the Data Architecture VC for the past year or so, started by volunteering  with the Performance VC for about 6 months and have done presentations on the… Read more

The PASS Data Architecture Virtual Chapter hosts none other than Dr. SQL Louis Davidson as he helps application and database developers design and implement SQL Server databases.

I saw Louis at the first PASS Summit I attended in Denver in 2006. He and Paul Nielsen help me see where data… Read more

This year’s SQLSaturday in Baton Rouge includes a Sharepoint track with 2 local speakers(Cody Gros & Eric Trivette), MCM Tom Resing and Bill Waters. Sharepoint sessions are great for those in the BI field using Microsoft BI stack managing PerformancePoint and PowerView/SSRS integration or SQL Server DBAs having a… Read more

I saw Ami Levin at the PASS Summit 2011 presenting on Loop Iterators in Execution Plans. It was on my top 3 sessions last year at the Summit. He has an excellent way of using visuals to explain things. The session for the PASS Data Architecture VC on Thursday (July… Read more

The SQL Saturday/TechDay in Baton Rouge will be the forth annual this year. The Business Intelligence sessions occupy 2 tracks this year. This blog will be about the speakers from first track.

The full schedule can be found here.

8:20AM - Introduction to SSIS with a Real-World Example

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With a little help from the Kimball Group, I have become somewhat knowledgeable with the Data Mart dimension model approach to Data Warehousing. The PASS DW/BI Virtual Chapter has graciously allowed me to present on Dimensional Modeling. I am not an expert, so this is an introduction to what… Read more

Tuesday, July 10th started a string of speaking engagements I have been blessed (or cursed) with in the months of July and August 2012. My local brother from a different mother, Patrick LeBlanc, hosted a SQLLunch for me as I demonstrated the new CDC controls in SSIS 2012. Patrick’s… Read more

August 4th of this year will be the forth annual Baton Rouge SQL Saturday and Tech Day. LSU has offered the new business building for out event.

This blog continues the series of blogs over the next few weeks to spotlight the tracks for this FREE event. Of course, nothing… Read more

August 4th of this year will be the forth annual Baton Rouge SQL Saturday and Tech Day. Patrick LeBlanc got the ball rolling 4 years ago and now a team of IT professionals from Baton Rouge have continued the effort.

This blog starts a series of blogs over the next… Read more

The most popular post on this blog ranked by hits is one about the CXACKET wait stat. There are no comments, so I am not even sure if it was helpful to anyone, but me.

This post will be an example of a query from the AdventureWorks database that… Read more

Tuesday’s (June 19th, 2012) PASS Data Architecture Virtual Chapter has Neil talks about database design that uses Constraints for Integrity and Performance.

We will also be giving away an Amazon gift card plus someone gets a book - Itzik’s T-SQL Fundamentals.

If you would like to volunteer for this VC,… Read more

I have 2 upcoming speaker opportunities in June and am very excited about presenting this material.

June 9th is in the 4th annual SQL Saturday in Pensacola. Karla and Mark Holmes look like they have setup a great event for IT professionals. The schedule is posted here and registration here Read more

Baton Rouge’s annual tech event for the IT community is coming up August 4th on the beautiful campus of LSU. The event is blessed to have one of the state’s universities to help us put on a wonderful day of technology. The local user groups help with the Tech Day Read more

Thursday’s (May 17th, 2012) PASS Data Architecture Virtual Chapter has Mike demonstrating some cool Table Partitioning scripts which I was able to attend at SQL Saturday in Colorado Springs in January of this year.

We will also be giving away an Amazon gift card plus someone gets to choose between… Read more

I enjoyed a long weekend in Houston starting with Kalen Delaney’s Pre-con on Query Tuning. I have learned over the past years that I should concentrate on 2 or 3 items to take from the training. The first was no matter what kind of T-SQL development is done through an… Read more

Thursday’s (May 17th, 2012) PASS Data Architecture Virtual Chapter has Mike demonstrating some cool Table Partitioning scripts which I was able to attend at SQL Saturday in Colorado Springs in January of this year.

We will also be giving away an Amazon gift card plus someone gets to choose between… Read more

Wow, blessed to speaker at another SQL Saturday in Houston #107. The first task of this weekend is Friday. Kalen Delaney will be doing a Pre-Con on SQL Server Query Plans: Tuning and Management which is sold-out. I pre-registered early whether I was going to be able to go… Read more

An important operator to understand in execution plans is a scan. A Scan can be good and bad, so understanding the difference between them is a basic skill needed by a DBA or developer that is going to do performance tuning.

The Table Scan means that a table does not… Read more

The Merge Join is a Physical Operation when joining 2 sets of data that are in the same order.

There is an interesting Clustered Index in the Adventure Works database. The SaleOrderDetail table’s primary key is a combination of the SalesOrderID and SalesOrderDetailID, not just the identity field of the… Read more