The SQL UPDATE Statement

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I write this as I’m on my way to Seattle for the annual PASS Summit in Seattle, Washington. This is very exciting for me as this is my very first Summit experience and I’ve been looking forward to this for a few years now. So why am I so excited about this event? Well first off this is the largest SQL Server-focused conference in the world! Basically this is the Super Bowl (or for my international friends, the World Cup) of conferences for SQL Server professionals! Being the geek I am, I am going to write a few articles this week that will follow the format of a magic trick: the Presentation, the Turn, and the Prestige. Why this format? Well first off, I’m a fan of the movie the Prestige. Secondly, this event is much like a magic trick in itself.

For those who may not have seen The Prestige, or are familiar with magic tricks in general, there are three major steps to a magic trick. The first is referred to as the Pledge. In this step the magician sets up the audience by telling them they will witness something amazing and setup the situation accordingly. The second step is referred to as the Turn. Here is where the magician’s trick is applied be it making something disappear, or something equally amazing to happen. The audience is held captive as they don’t know how the trick , escape, or illusion will play out. Finally there is the Prestige. This is the final step where the magician finally completes the trick and the audience is left in awe as they witness the seemingly impossible occur right before their eyes. The final result of this process is the audience is left enchanted, thrilled and wanting more. One thing I’ve noticed about the SQL community, and specifically this conference, is it seems to have the same affect hence my choosing this format to share this year’s conference experience.

The last few years for various reasons I haven’t been able to make the cross-country trek for this event . Instead of experiencing the conference first-hand I’ve read accounts on blogs as well as followed along “live” while folks from all over the world Tweeted their experiences from the conference. Not only was there amazing content being presented from top-notch speakers but you could actually follow along and see relationships form as people connected and shared those experiences. Even from a distance I could see how amazing of an experience this was and I wanted to take part. Last year I took part in the conference, virtually, by volunteering my services to the then-community organizer for PASS, Blythe Morrow (Twitter). I had contributed to helping out the organization by putting together a portion of the PowerPoint presentation used by then-President Wayne Snyder in his keynote speech! What made that even cooler was when folks tweeted to me that Wayne had actually acknowledged me by name on-stage for my contribution! In that respect it was very cool feeling connected like I was there even when I wasn’t. It was then that I resolved “even if I have to rob a bank, I’m going to Summit next year!”. Luckily I didn’t have to resort to that and I’m headed there now (the conference, not the bank). I share this last story so as to let you know if you can’t physically make it to the Summit you can still be very much connected and part of the magic. If you’re looking to take part in the magic yourself PASS is always looking for enthusiastic volunteers to help out! If you’re interested feel free to contact the Community Organizer, Nancy Nasso (Email | Twitter) and let her know!

So, my friends, I give you the Presentation. This week is set to be an amazing one. In the next few days the top SQL Server talent from all over the world will converge upon Seattle once again for this amazing experience. The week kicks off with pre-conference sessions given by top industry folks such as Brian Knight (Blog | Twitter), Itzik Ben-Gan (Blog), Kimberly L. Tripp (Blog | Twitter), and more! In addition to those events there will be extra-curricular events going on such as the Photowalk tour or SQLServerCentral’s Casino Night party. From there the conference kicks off with a keynote from Ted Kummert from Microsoft who promises to have some big and exciting news for attendees. Oh, did I mention that all keynotes this week will be streamed live? They will be, so you can witness the magic first-hand with us! Then the next three days are filled with amazing sessions, events, and networking opportunities. This three days portion will be the Turn, as so much will happen and I don’t know how all this magic will happen just yet. Finally, there is the Prestige. Once everything is sais and done, myself and every other attendee will surely be transformed and spellbound by the magic we experienced. In addition to these posts I’ll also be live-blogging the keynotes just so I can share my thoughts on everything that happens so keep an eye out for those posts as well. Ladies and gentlemen, sit back and enjoy the show as we present to you PASS Summit 2010! Enjoy the show!

Just a quick note that today at 12:30 EST (11:30 CST) I’ll be presenting on Policy-Based Management for SQLLunch. If you’re not familiar with SQLLunch it’s an awesome series of FREE webcasts setup by SQL MVP Patrick LeBlanc (Blog | Twitter). Each webcast focuses on a different aspect of SQL Server.

Free training? Can’t beat it, make sure to check it out! To find out latest news on SQLLunch and all upcoming webcasts register on their site for free. You can also join PASS (free) directly from their registration, Win/Win!

Info on today’s webcast:

SQLLunch #29: Policy-Based Management

Topic: #29-Policy-Based Management in a Nutshell
We will be learning an overview of this powerful new feature in SQL Server 2008 and how you can leverage it to help manage your existing SQL environment. This will include plenty of demos, best practices and Q&A so by the end you should be able to walk away ready to take control of your SQL Servers!

Hope to see you there!

Call Chloe and the rest of the CTU gang, grab a giant pot of coffee and your 9mm and get ready for 24 hours of pure, free SQL hotness: 24 Hours of PASS! The good folks at PASS have put together another fabulous free training opportunity for us in 24 hours of webcasts from the world’s leading SQL Server experts!

Using the latest in advanced hacking technology I’ve managed to access the PASS mainframe and get you the session schedule. Uploading to your screen now…

Session 01 (Dev) – Start time: 00:00 GMT
10 Big Ideas in Database Design
Presenters: Louis Davidson and Paul Nielsen

Session 02 (DBA) – Start time: 01:00 GMT
Using Powershell to Get the Most Out of SQL Server
Presenter: Allen White

Session 03 (PD) – Start time: 02:00 GMT
Team Management Fundamentals
Presenter: Kevin Kline

Session 04 (BI) – Start time 03:00 GMT
Delivering Good Performance Consistently with SSIS
Presenter: John Welch

Session 05 (DBA) – Start time 04:00 GMT
Using SQLdiag to Troubleshoot SQL Server Problems
Presenter: Brad McGehee

Session 06 (DBA) – Start time 05:00 GMT
The SQL Server 2008 Vanishing Act
Presenter: Peter Ward

Session 07 (BI) – Start time 06:00 GMT
Text Mining
Presenter: Dejan Sarka

Session 08 (Dev) – Start time 07:00 GMT
Tips and Tricks for Writing SET Based Queries
Presenter: Jacob Sebastian

Session 09 (DBA) – Start time 08:00 GMT
Mirrored Databases
Presenter: Thomas Grohser

Session 10 (Dev) – Start time 09:00 GMT
Working with Spatial Data in SQL Server 2008
Presenter: Greg Low

Session 11 (DBA) – Start time 10:00 GMT
Effective Indexing
Presenter: Gail Shaw

Session 12 (BI) – Start time 11:00 GMT
Reporting Services inside out the things you should know
Presenter: Simon Sabin

Session 13 (DBA) – Start time 12:00 GMT
Query Performance Tuning 101
Presenter: Grant Fritchey

Session 14 (BI) – Start time 13:00 GMT
Reporting from Analysis Services Cubes Using Excel 2007
Presenter: Peter Myers

Session 15 (BI) – Start time 14:00 GMT
Data Warehousing: Laying the Foundation to Success
Presenter: Erik Veerman

Session 16 (DBA) – Start time 15:00 GMT
Database Compatibility Settings: What They Really Do… and Don’t Do
Presenter: Don Vilen

Session 17 (PD) – Start time 16:00 GMT
Building a Better Blog
Presenter: Steve Jones

Session 18 (Dev) – Start time 17:00 GMT
Building Flexible Data Services for the Web Using the ADO .NET Data Services Framework
Presenter: Artemakis Artemiou

Session 19 (Dev) – Start time 18:00 GMT
SQLCLR or T-SQL? A Brief Survey of Performance Options
Presenter: Adam Machanic

Session 20 (BI) – Start time 19:00 GMT
Loading a Data Warehouse in SSIS
Presenter: Brian Knight

Session 21 (DBA) – Start time 20:00 GMT
What’s Simple about Simple Recovery Model
Presenter: Kalen Delaney

Session 22 (Dev) – Start time 21:00 GMT
What’s New, Harder, and Easier in SQL Server 2008 Security
Presenter: Don Kiely

Session 23 (DBA) – Start time 22:00 GMT
Analyzing File and Wait Statistics
Presenter: Andrew Kelly

Session 24 (BI): Start time 23:00 GMT
Embed Reporting Services into your Applications
Presenter: Jessica Moss

*Depending on your location, sessions may also be broadcast on Sept. 1 and Sept. 3, 2009. Please be sure to check our time zone guide for exact times. When you register using our LiveMeeting interface, sessions will be sent to your Outlook calendar for the correct time in your region.

Excellent. So your priority should now to be to head over to the event site and register for this excellent opportunity. I highly suggest you hurry up and do so as Jack Bauer doesn’t take kindly to not taking advantage of such awesome opportunities. Here’s the last guy who didn’t take advantage…

Please, for your sake, don’t be that guy.

As a system administrator it’s your job to know the ins and outs of the systems you manage. But are you the only cog keeping that particular wheel turning? If you were to leave your current position, or God forbid, something were to happen to you would your company be able to move forward without you without ill effect? This is where proper documentation becomes a crucial part of your job.

Now some would argue that if you document your responsibilities/job/systems/etc you become dispensable. While yes that could be true I dare to say that you really shouldn’t have to worry about that. In my opinion if you’re doing your job, and doing a good job at it, those who matter will notice and this becomes a non-issue. Properly documenting your system if anything then becomes an aid to you to help you do your job better. Yesterday Jonathan Kehayias (Blog | Twitter) wrote a great article on the importance of good documentation. If you get a chance I highly suggest you give that a read since it brings up some great points that include turnover, management, and compliance auditing.

Currently I’m trying to get a handle on the documentation of my systems at work. At the moment my current thought is to create a Word document template that simply has fill-in-the-blank type fields and for every new system that comes online I simply fill out a new form. These forms will be kept in our Sharepoint site and that way those who need access to them (i.e. on-call personnel, Help Desk staff, other system admins, etc.) know where to find them. Of course one could argue the problem with this method is that people who don’t necessarily NEED to see everything in that documentation have access to it. To that I say this, why not? I may take a little flack for saying this but here goes nothing. I believe the world of IT has drastically changed in the last few years (duh). Granted I’m still young but from what I’ve witnessed we are coming from shops where mainframes were king and jobs and knowledge were extremely siloed. Now before you start blasting me on silos, I know they still exist but go with me on this.

In today’s IT world there are simply so many things flying at us at all times. With the rate of new technologies coming out and with organizations trying to do more with less in this economy I think its more important than ever to make knowledge transparent across the enterprise. If someone wants to know what I do as a DBA why not let them know? That person could be interested in jumping in the administration world themselves and just need the basic knowledge and understanding to do so. Another example would be explaining to a project manager the technical pieces of the project they’re managing. How many times have you seen a project dumped in your lap and the necessary components are things that you either A) Don’t support B) Have no in-house knowledge of the necessary technologies.

From my experience knowledge dissemination becomes all the more vital as systems become more tightly integrated. Look at the Microsoft suite of products. Sharepoint is a collaborative portal designed to let people across teams and enterprises share and disseminate (damn I love this word) knowledge with ease. Well in order to stand this product up you’ll need someone who understands databases and their management/administration, someone who understands architectures and how best to implement them, maybe a trainer to let end users understand how this new technology works, desktop personnel to understand the technology and how to troubleshoot it, etc, etc.

As I’m writing I’m realizing I’m really digressing from my original point which is about documentation methodologies. I’ve laid out my general plan for documentation of systems but my original intention of this post (besides my slight soapbox rant up there) was to see how the rest of you guys/gals handle your documentation. Strict methodology and templates? Random documents thrown out on a shared drive or somewhere on your drive? None? Let me hear from you in the comments.

Looks like August is definitely shaping up to be a busy one for me! First I’ll be presenting at SQL Saturday #16 in South Florida. That takes place on Saturday, August 8th. I’m really excited for this event since it’ll be the first SQL Saturday I’ve presented at.

Following that I’ll be heading over to Melbourne the following week on Thursday, August 13th for the Spacecoast SQL Server User Group meeting. At both locations I’ll be presenting my Policy Based Management 101 session. Then to finish off my month the following week I’m moving to a new place so August will definitely be an active one. Speaking of which, check out and participate in Active August! I’ll be writing up a series blog posts about my #activeaugust experience as well.

**UPDATE**
Sweet! Looks like I just confirmed with Jack Corbett (Blog | Twitter) that I’ll be presenting for the Orlando SQL Server User Group on September 15th!