Last year Paul and I had the pleasure of taking an amazing adventure into the Arctic with Heritage Expeditions on the Spirit of Enderby (Professor Khromov). In addition to seeing a ton of wildlife (polar bears, arctic fox, walrus, puffins, whales, etc.) we were fortunate enough to meet some of the local experts who have spent [...]
Kimberly L. Tripp
Improving my SQL skills through your questions!
Important non-SQL request: Help save polar bears in Russia!
Posted on: March 24, 2011 2:24 pm
Immersion Event Series – 4 Weeks – August 2011
Posted on: March 18, 2011 9:32 am
As many of you know, we’ve changed our Immersion Event courses to more closely match the requirements of the Microsoft Certified Masters – SQL Server 2008 certification. No, the exams are NOT part of the training. And, NO, you don’t need to be aiming for certification to benefit greatly from the training. Being a master [...]
Our February Immersion Event in Dallas, TX – Final Wrap-up
Posted on: March 9, 2011 9:43 am
OK, I've written about our February Immersion Event in two other recent posts: What a week for our first Immersion Event on Internals and Performance Our February Immersion Event in Dallas, TX – What did the attendees think? Sadly, this is going to be my last post about our February Immersion Event on Internals and [...]
Our February Immersion Event in Dallas, TX – What did the attendees think?
Posted on: March 6, 2011 4:32 pm
I love this shot! I told everyone to do something fun and this is what I got… What a great group! (Well, except for Paul. I'm sure that's intended for me!! :)) This particular Immersion Event ran from February 21 through 25 in Dallas, TX and I've done a write up from our perspective here: What [...]
TSQL Tuesday – Why DBA skills are important
Posted on: November 2, 2010 3:23 pm
Paul's hosting the T-SQL Tuesday theme this month and the theme revolves around DBA skills. Specifically, "why are DBA skills necessary?" His specific post is here: Invitation to participate in T-SQL Tuesday #12 – Why are DBA skills necessary?. This is a topic near and dear to me and one that I've found myself [...]
Lots of learning options – which is best and what’s coming up soon!
Posted on: September 21, 2010 9:30 pm
For someone that's been in the working world for many years (I wish I really were only 29 ;-), I know the struggle that everyone goes through in keeping up with technology. I admit, it's hard to stay current and it takes time and effort to do so. I attend online webcasts, I read whitepapers, [...]
Women in Tech – a great post by Stacia Misner
Posted on: August 13, 2010 10:06 pm
This "comment" started out as one but I've decided to make it a post as I hope that a few people that may follow me but not Stacia – will check out her post on WIT. The post to read is here: http://blog.datainspirations.com/2010/07/29/maybe-its-just-me-a-perspective-from-one-woman-in-it First – Great post. Second – Fantastic comments from folks in the SQL [...]
Determining the position of search arguments in a join
Posted on: May 16, 2010 9:17 pm
As a follow-on discussion to my SQL Server Magazine Q&A titled “Determining the position of search arguments in a join” where I was responding to a reader question about whether or not search arguments could be moved up into the FROM clause instead of placed in the WHERE clause and whether or not it would improve [...]
Travel tips – tagged by Kevin!
Posted on: November 17, 2009 7:28 am
This is a bit overdue as Kevin Kline tagged me in a meme post to help people get ready for their travel to PASS. However, we were too busy with travel (we were in Australia at the time) to get to it. And, while this year's PASS has past, it's not too late for travel in [...]
Social networking, keeping up with friends/family and getting more tech info!
Posted on: April 29, 2009 12:37 pm
OK, I know I don't blog all that often but when I do, I do try and post as much useful information as I can :). I've got a few posts in the queue and a few more tests to do and code to write before I can wrap them up. In the interim, Paul [...]
RunAsRadio Interview about Developers and DBAs – whose job is it?
Posted on: April 10, 2009 10:52 am
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog post titled Whose job is it anyway? It's an interesting debate and something I've been hearing more and more – that SQL Server is a "set it and forget it" technology – a black box where you just don't need to know how it works to do [...]
Things I know now…
Posted on: March 15, 2009 8:17 pm
OK, I was tagged by Ward Pond here. Ward was tagged by Jimmy May here. Jimmy was tagged by Kevin Kline here. Kevin was tagged by Chris Shaw here. Chris was tagged by Michelle Uford here. And, Michelle was tagged by Mike Walsh here. Ah… at least I know who to blame. Ah, thanks Mike! [...]
Database Maintenance Best Practices Part II – Setting FILLFACTOR
Posted on: March 13, 2009 9:45 am
When you decide to rebuild or reorganzie an index, you have an option to set something called FILLFACTOR. This is probably the MOST IMPORTANT thing to understand about index maintenance and reducing fragmentation (especially in databases that are prone to it). Unfortunately, we need to dive into some internals to really understand why this is [...]
Database Maintenance Best Practices Part I – clarifying ambiguous recommendations for Sharepoint
Posted on: March 12, 2009 4:01 pm
OK, it seems as though there's A LOT of confusion about what steps are required for proper database maintenance. And, it seems as though some recommendations are being given as "quick fixes" without any real recommendation for root cause analysis. I'm not saying that the generalizations are horribly wrong but in many cases they're just [...]
Whose job is it anyway?
Posted on: March 5, 2009 1:30 am
Well, today has definitely been enlightening. I've been around and around with a few folks (mostly Tim Huckaby and Richard Campbell – who are BOTH great friends and people whose opinions I greatly respect!!!) and I've come a conclusion… Paul started down this line of commentary here: http://www.sqlskills.com/blogs/PAUL/post/Mandatory-SQL-breathalyzer-test.aspx and this was in reference to something I [...]
Getting the most from the system you have now!
Posted on: February 24, 2009 1:30 pm
Given the general state of the economy…many companies are looking to cut back. Going back over what we've done and "optimizing" things -> budgets, expenses, etc. is the norm right now. And, scaling back is not always a bad thing – unless the wrong things are cut. Unless the wrong things are used to motivate [...]
Getting started in speaking publicly – clear and concise presentations
Posted on: February 15, 2009 1:00 pm
Well, I had wanted to come up with a clever reply to my husband's oh-so-romantic blog post (here). And, well, in all honesty, that *is* the best present for me… but, probably not what most would say is romantic ;-). We've both had quite an effect on each other's presentation styles. We constantly remind each [...]
Where in the world does time go?
Posted on: February 5, 2009 12:24 am
I know where I go but where the heck does the time go (it seems to move much faster than I)? First off, I hope everyone had a truly lovely holiday season. I know they've long since past for everyone but maybe this reminder will bring back a nice memory from the holidays as it [...]
Resources: A panel on HA and a second on Women In Tech
Posted on: August 25, 2008 8:13 pm
OK, in my quest to blog more often, I realized I have the perfect thing to blog about today… stuff I did that I haven't yet told you about. :) :) At TechEd US, Paul and I were on a panel created to debunk some of the more common questions/concerns when setting up High Availability. [...]
When did you last backup your home/personal/less-critical system… is it really less-critical?
Posted on: May 9, 2008 10:11 pm
Have you ever written something and then lost it… for whatever reason: your own stupidity (come on we’ve all accidentally done something at some point where we lost data or a spreadsheet or a document or something…), the software eats it (this might be self-inflicted but I’ve been in apps that just hang and that’s [...]
Opinions wanted – are you considering skipping 2005?
Posted on: July 27, 2007 5:21 am
I had a customer ask me about the debate of skipping SQL Server 2005 entirely and just moving straight to SQL Server 2008… I haven’t thought much about this as most of my direct customers have moved already BUT, I know there are a few out there that have not yet moved. So, I definitely [...]
We got our mugs on SSWUG TV!
Posted on: April 6, 2007 9:44 pm
While at SQL Server Connections in Orlando, Stephen Wynkoop of SSWUG stole some morning time for an interview (morning time is not my best but we did get a lovely “I got my mug on SSWUG tv” mug so that made it OK :) :). We (Paul and I) had a great time chatting about [...]
Next Generation User Group podcast ready for download
Posted on: March 12, 2007 2:59 pm
Last week while Paul and I were in the UK delivering a one day seminar on Crucial Database Maintenance Techniques, we met David McMahon from the Next Generation User Group. They’re doing some exciting things in the UK and even for the wider community – for example – podcasts. Paul and I were interviewed for [...]
Sometimes life just happens… a sincere apology to the OpenWorld Attendees
Posted on: March 11, 2007 7:21 am
This is a bit of a rare post for me as most of my posts are technical. I guess it’s a bit of a change in attitude, as a few things (from my personal life) have come to light recently. (and, I thank Richard and Carl for this :) :). Anyway, I’m sitting in Tokyo/Narita [...]
SP2 was released today… and, did you know about the Feature Pack?
Posted on: February 20, 2007 3:58 am
OK – I feel like I know a fair amount about SQL Server but sometimes I also feel like I don’t :) :) I’m continuously amazed at how big a product SQL Server is… today was one of those days when I felt “I don’t”! I’ve been wanting to know more and more about the [...]
The Clustered Index Debate Continues…
Posted on: February 2, 2007 7:39 pm
Well, I've promised to blog more and I'm really going to try to do so. This morning I got the perfect question/comment (in email) to respond to and after working through a response that was taking me upwards of 3 hours (you'll learn later why I have 3 "spare" hours :)……… I figured that it was [...]
Time to make the doughnuts!
Posted on: January 31, 2007 5:41 pm
Ok – a strange title indeed but it’s been a strange couple of months. It all started with a “much needed” vacation and I thought that would get me through the persistent “cold” that I was having all through my travels. Anyway, vacation didn’t help and I came back to find that what I had [...]
Way, way, way overdue
Posted on: December 1, 2006 6:42 am
OK, it’s been a heck of a long time since I blogged… and for that I apologize. I’m also WAY overdue in my posting my demo scripts from a TON of conferences BUT… now everything has been posted. Check out the past events page on SQLskills and you can find the demo scripts that you’re [...]
DasBlog 1.9 ROCKS
Posted on: September 28, 2006 2:31 am
There are SO many new features in the updated DasBlog that I don’t even know where to start. Here’s just a quick list of the things I really love: 1) Scrolling through the entries – if you click a specific entry’s title, you will get a “last blog entry” | main | “next blog entry” section [...]
Getting into speaking, presenting, and possibly making a career change?
Posted on: September 8, 2006 4:30 pm
I am asked often….. How can I get into presenting? How do I get into external consulting? How can I do something similar to what you do? It’s a challenge to work for yourself… There are periods of feast and periods of famine There are [way too many] times when the only person you can [...]
Is it really September? Here are some resources to check out!
Posted on: September 1, 2006 1:37 pm
Hey there everyone – Been a LONG time since I last blogged (sorry!)… key reason (fyi) is that I’m trying to find the ever-challenging work/life balance during the best months of the year (here in Seattle July/Aug are GREAT! months – September is almost always good too). Anyway, it’s been a few weeks and I [...]
Immersion Events are back!
Posted on: June 28, 2006 6:52 am
OK – so, lots of exciting things going on. I’ve just completed my first two day partner event in Zurich (first of two in Switzerland). Today I head over to Geneva by train so that I can deliver the second two day partner event there. The partner I’ve been working with in Switzerland is Trivadis and [...]
Geeking out at 36,000 feet
Posted on: June 24, 2006 4:35 am
So, I’ve now spent the last couple of hours playing with Database Mail and HTML formatted messages being sent to the SQLskills subscribers. It’s been a fun learning experience as I think I’ve found a bug with the email account name length…let’s just put it this way – don’t be too descriptive with your account [...]
TechEd is over for me… I owe you some blog posts!
Posted on: June 16, 2006 11:04 am
What a GREAT week here in Boston. I’m just about to pack up and go home (kind of). Right now it’s early and I think I’m still feeling really good from last night’s fun. The big party at Fenway, dinner on the town, walking around the city, etc… It was a beautiful spring (almost summer) [...]
TechNet Webcast Series for the ITPro – Part 10 of 11
Posted on: May 12, 2006 7:02 pm
OK – today's session was quite fun… lots of demos and quite a few "tie-ins" where I tried to bring together many things that we've touched on in our series. And – that's really the point of the series – creating a reliable, robust, scalable and available environment takes MANY different features. You really need [...]
Sun caused brain damage (not really) but…
Posted on: May 11, 2006 5:27 am
I completely spaced in blogging about a recent interview I did…poolside, in Orlando, FL when I was at SQL Connections back in April. I had the pleasure of meeting Chuck Boyce (a DBA from Philly, PA) who feverishly works in his spare time to spread the word about technology and specifically about all things SQL. [...]
The impact of logging – terms and confusion!
Posted on: January 17, 2006 6:33 am
First – for what is logging needed? This seems like an easy question – with possibly an easy answer… it’s to aid in transaction durability and help in recovery – when the system loses power. Simply put, the transaction log is a way for SQL Server to ensure that a transaction “survives” a power failure. [...]
MSDN Webcast Series Wrap-up Resources
Posted on: November 5, 2005 4:53 pm
Hey there everyone! I know I still owe you a few Q&A entries (for sessions 7, 8 and 9) but I wanted to get this blog entry out there so that you can play a bit with some of the resources. This series was targeted at developers but really helps to "bridge the gap" between [...]
Understanding TempDB, table variables v. temp tables and Improving throughput for TempDB
Posted on: September 5, 2005 6:28 pm
This is a much needed and much overdue blog entry… In 8 Steps to Better Transaction Log throughput, I mentioned a customer that was helped by TWO typical optimization problems I see. In that blog entry, I said I would write two blog entries – that one on transaction log optimization and another on common [...]
MSDN Webcast Q&A: A Primer to Proper SQL Server Development, Part 5 of 10
Posted on: September 5, 2005 2:41 am
Effectively Designing a Scalable and Reliable Database A Primer to Proper SQL Server Development New Features in Indexing and Index Maintenance Best Practices, Part 5 of 10 Presented by Kimberly L. Tripp, SQLskills.com Q: Can I view a recording of this webcast? Part 5 can be replayed by clicking here. Q: Where can we get the demo [...]
MSDN Webcast Q&A: A Primer to Proper SQL Server Development, Part 4 of 10
Posted on: August 31, 2005 5:41 am
Effectively Designing a Scalable and Reliable Database A Primer to Proper SQL Server Development Indexing Best Practices, Part 4 of 10Presented by Kimberly L. Tripp, SQLskills.com For a list of the non-technical Resources related to this webcast, please review the following blog entry:MSDN Webcast Q&A for Resources: Indexing Best Practices, Part 4 of 10 Technical Questions [...]
MSDN Webcast Q&A for Resources: Indexing Best Practices, Part 4 of 10
Posted on: August 26, 2005 9:43 pm
Effectively Designing a Scalable and Reliable Database A Primer to Proper SQL Server Development Indexing Best Practices, Part 4 of 10 Presented by Kimberly L. Tripp, SQLskills.com Q: Can I view a recording of this webcast? The webcast will be available for viewing within 24 hours. All “on-demand” webcasts can be found here. Q: Where [...]
MSDN Webcast Q&A: A Primer to Proper SQL Server Development, Part 3 of 10
Posted on: August 26, 2005 7:09 am
MSDN Webcast: A Primer to Proper SQL Server Development Designing Tables that Scale, Best Practices in Data Types and Initial Table Structures, Part 3 of 10 Presented by Kimberly L. Tripp, SQLskills.com Q: Can I view a recording of this webcast? Here’s the specific replay link. Q: Where can we get the demo scripts? The [...]
Getting ready for Part 4, “Best Practices in Indexing” in the MSDN Webcast Series on Effectively Designing a Scalable and Reliable Database
Posted on: August 25, 2005 3:43 pm
Two days isn't enough time! In fact, that's really true. There are so many interesting (well, I think they're interesting) aspects to Indexing that we could in fact do a whole 10-part Series on Indexing and it's likely that we'd still have other things to look at and talk about. So, in preparation for part [...]
Congratulations to Bob, Niels and Dan!
Posted on: August 25, 2005 4:49 am
This text is STRAIGHT from SQL Server Magazine’s September 2005 Issue: Reader’s Choice Awards A First Look at SQL Server 2005 for Developers by Bob Beauchemin, Niels Berglund, and Dan Sullivan claimed best-book honors in a highly competitive Readers’ Choice category. The book shows working developers how to take full advantage of SQL Server 2005′s [...]
MSDN Webcast Q&A: A Primer to Proper SQL Server Development, Part 2 of 10
Posted on: August 20, 2005 7:33 am
MSDN Webcast Q&A: A Primer to Proper SQL Server Development Creating a Reliable and Automated Backup Strategy, Part 2 of 10 Presented by Kimberly L. Tripp, SQLskills.com Q: Can I view a recording of this webcast? Here’s the specific replay link. Q: Where can we get the demo scripts? The demo scripts are in this zip [...]
MSDN Webcast Series to start tomorrow!
Posted on: August 4, 2005 3:09 pm
Wow, I've been horribly bad at blogging these days and I owe you a few entries as well… But, good news, I have a new MSDN Webcast series that will help to answer a lot of best practices in database design strategies that can help you achieve better scalability, availability and reliability. All of my [...]
SQLskills welcomes Bob Beauchemin
Posted on: August 1, 2005 6:01 pm
Today, SQLskills proudly annouces an exciting addition to our company… Bob Beauchemin – a database developer and SQL Server 2005 expert in the developer space – joins SQLskills as the Director of Developer Skills. Bob brings a tremendous amount of expertise with him in having worked with computers since 1977 and a variety of databases [...]
You learn something new everyday!
Posted on: June 6, 2005 2:26 pm
I think there are numerous reasons for why I love technology but at the top of the list: learning. It’s amazing to me that not a day goes by where I don’t dig deeper into something or clarify it further. Even learning something trivial, like a new keystroke, can make our work easier to do [...]
Clarifying LEFT and RIGHT in the defintion of a PARTITION FUNCTION in SQL Server 2005
Posted on: May 15, 2005 3:20 pm
NOTE: Generally, I recommend RIGHT-based partition function so that you don't have to deal with datetime timetick issues at all. However, this post can really help you if you still want to use LEFT-based partition functions. Enjoy!!! When creating partitioned tables in SQL Server 2005, a partition function requires a LEFT or RIGHT designation. In general, [...]
SQLCLR: A DBA’s friend or foe?
Posted on: April 1, 2005 5:31 am
When I first heard about “stored procedures being written in C#, VB.Net, … etc.” I remember thinking; Is Transact-SQL dead? Am I out of a job? What does this mean for me and for DBAs in general? Luckily, I learned quickly that not only is Transact-SQL not dead but it’s got some significant improvements that [...]
Moving one of my new laptops to x64 OS this week, will your application(s) work?
Posted on: February 14, 2005 9:37 pm
About one month ago, I purchased two new laptops (don’t even go there on why I purchased two; however, it’s sufficient to say that I travel a lot and I believe in redundancy…my machines are usually setup so that either machine can do demos, etc. Yes, road warrior HA :) but heavy as heck and [...]
Buy an hour of time for a good cause!
Posted on: January 24, 2005 5:11 am
In the words of Stephen Forte, “Bid early, bid often.” I am constantly amazed at the technical breadth and depth of the team of Microsoft Regional Directors… Roughly 150 people from every corner of the world who not only work in technology but also love it (well, most of the time :)… I’ve been honored [...]
From Microsoft: Research Survey for leading edge developers
Posted on: December 8, 2004 9:13 pm
This is an invitation given by Microsoft to leading edge application developers to participate in a research survey that seeks feedback on improving the application development experience working with data platforms. In the best interest of developers, the objectives of this survey are: To understand the existing, as well as upcoming challenges that has the [...]
My home town was a great place to kick off our first SQL Immersion Event
Posted on: October 25, 2004 2:13 am
During the week of October 11, I delivered a four day “immersion” event where we focused on nothing but performance tuning – from design to indexing to optimizing procedural code. There were many states represented (CA, CT, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, MA, MI, MS, NE, NY, OH, OR, TX, UT, WA, and WI) and it [...]
If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em…
Posted on: October 22, 2004 1:06 am
In a few past posts, a couple of other friends/RDs have given me geeky sql titles… such as sql hera (which Forte started here, referenced here and resulted in this) and the original culprit (from Clemens) started it all here……. major harrassment ensued and my irritation was subdued solely by being worn down. Anyway, after months of [...]
Is it Boeing or Bowing? Highlights from the ECC…
Posted on: August 30, 2004 7:48 pm
The week began with my playing shuttle bus, hotel rest stop and tour guide – and loving it… Friends from around the globe were landing in Seattle and so I was off to the airport (Monday) to greet them and get them over to the hotel. I live in Redmond and I own an SUV [...]
Blogging backlog – time to start catching up!!!
Posted on: August 20, 2004 9:00 am
Well, I’ve not been 100% for the past couple of weeks – been a bit under the weather. I’m behind (go figure) and I have a lot of catching up to do! Thought I’d give you a heads up on what’s to come and what I’ve done recently (well, before I seemingly dropped off the [...]
SQL Server reaches new heights… literally!
Posted on: July 27, 2004 2:45 pm
These pictures are amazing so I thought everyone would enjoy this entry but it’s mostly to say congrats to Kevin and Stephen for summitting another mountain…again. Stephen has blogged about climbing here and Everest here and as for Kevin – he is still blogless. However, since I was guilted into blogging by Clemens, I’m going to [...]
Three Perfect Days – Anacortes, Victoria, Vancouver
Posted on: July 26, 2004 6:14 am
So, this weekend my partner went a bid mad. He decided that we needed a holiday with the kids and his parents… So off we went leaving Thursday afternoon and back on Sunday. Most hotels had free high speed internet access so I was safe… Day 1Drive up to Anacortes via Whidbey Island. Take the [...]
Database Design considerations – where’s the silver bullet?
Posted on: July 8, 2004 2:16 pm
Well, the person then asked if we could sitdown… I said sure… We sat down at a table and they proceeded to rummage through their bag, pull out a bunch of paper (which turned out to be a single, very, large piece of plotter paper which was folded up) and proceeded to unfold it and [...]
Electric winch, roller furling, in-mast mainsail furling…. not like the boats I’ve sailed before!
Posted on: July 6, 2004 2:37 am
I’m flying through Chicago on my way back to Seattle from my past two weeks of conferences in Europe (first the SQL Server Summer Academy in Croatia and second Microsoft Tech*Ed Europe) both of which were great…and after all the craziness I’m in Chicago this week – to see family/friends and check on things for [...]
Goodbye Amsterdam – hello Chicago!
Posted on: July 5, 2004 5:56 pm
Once again, Tech*Ed Amsterdam rates up there as one of my favorite conference weeks… the fun city, the social events, and especially – the speakers and the staff – all come together to make the week not only informational but just an absolutely sleepless blast! Last year I wrote up an “event log” about hardware nightmares [...]
Sounds like Fillfactor…
Posted on: June 19, 2004 1:18 am
The new Seattle Public Library opened on May 23, 2004 and it's an interesting structure that people seem to love or hate. I've always loved architecture (and I really wanted to be an architect when I was growing up :)) so more than anything I just wanted to learn more about the structure. I didn't [...]
Great MSDN Webcast today – had a ball!!
Posted on: June 12, 2004 1:17 am
Thanks for being there! If you were there then you know – it’s was quite fun and you had a lot of questions – questions that I didn’t see until the session ended (whooops!). My Q&A dialog box was only showing a subset of questions so I didn’t know….. Well, now I do (that’s for sure)! [...]
And the blog goes live!
Posted on: June 8, 2004 7:55 pm
This is pretty exciting… Today we moved the blog over from the test site (where I added all of the other entries) to SQLskills… I guess I better start blogging. In fact, I think I’ll try and blog most of the questions I get in email. In fact, I got two today. Stay tuned….
I can’t not blog any longer!
Posted on: June 6, 2004 10:10 pm
After Clemens blogged about my not having a blog… I guess I couldn’t not blog any longer. And so I begin… In the past I’ve written content in the form of presentations, articles or classes, etc. They would go through editors, friends, anyone who would read it. Often they’d remove my sarcasm, bad spelling and/or [...]
