Recently, I worked on a project to migrate data from a four node cluster (3 active, 1 Passive) from an old SAN to a new SAN using SAN Copy by EMC. Once, the data was copied I failed the services around and verified that each service would work on each node. Here is how I moved the quorum disk to each node.
To move the quorum disk group you have to run the command listed below in the command prompt. Make sure you run the command prompt with Administrator rights or you might see an access is denied error.
Cluster group “Cluster Group” /move:<newnode>
If the cluster disk group was active on the db1 node and you wanted to migrate the group to db2 you would use the command below in the command prompt.
If you are a chapter leader and would be interested in having me speak at your user group contact me.
Abstract
This talk will give you an introduction into monitoring SQL Server using Policy Based Management and Central Management System which is provided out of the box with SQL Server 2008. I will then show you how you can combine these features with the Enterprise Policy Management Framework on codeplex to provide monitoring for your whole SQL Server farm. This topic assumes you know nothing about PBM and CMS and will include lots of examples with only a few PowerPoint slides.
Bring SQL Saturday to a new city
Anyone who knows me in the community knows I am a huge fan sucker for a SQL Saturday. I have had the pleasure of being a host, attende, and a speaker. This year I am looking forward to being a volunteer and sharing all my knoweledge to bring a SQL Saturday to a new city. With that said, there is a city very close to me that has never hosted one. The ball is already rolling and I look forward to helping this chapter host their first SQL Saturday in 2012.
Help Chapter Leaders
Being a chapter leader I personally know it can be hard running a user group. I was very lucky and thankful to get a lot of help. I look forward to helping other chapter leaders who can use a hand. I am willing to help connect leaders to a sponsors; help leaders find swag, find books, find a speaker or anyting else. I am game and looking forward to helping.
Give Virtual Presentations
Typically I do at least four presentations a year. To this point I have never done a virtual presentation. This will change shortly as I am speaking at the Columbus User Group virtually this week.
Mentor
I have been blessed with having good mentors in my career. Without them I wouldn’t be where I am today. There advice and guidence has been very valuable. I reciently started mentoring a DBA but would more than willing to help others out. If you would be interested please shoot me an message.
Now that we are finishing up the last few days of the year its time to take a few minutes and reflect on my accomplishments for the year. To be honest, looking back at the blog posts I have no idea how I completed so many mile stones. Last year I privately established some long term goals and I knocked several items off my three year and five year plan in the first year.
Major Accomplishments in 2011
Vendor said, "Wow... it looks like you had a very big year. Would you like to attend our vendor party?"
My first child was born in February. Typically having a child would slow you down but somehow I still completed several milestones. I have to give huge props to my wife for all her help and support.
My good friend Allen White is hosting this months installment of #TSQL2sDay so I am motivated to jump in. #TSQL2sDay is the creation of Adam Machanic. The concept is simple, about a week before the second Tuesday of the month a theme will be posted. Any blogger that wishes to participate is invited to write a post on the chosen topic and any post that is related to both SQL Server and the theme is fair game.The challenge for this month’s T-SQL Tuesday is: What T-SQL tricks do you use today to make your job easier?
What’s Currently Running?
One of my favorite tricks is actually just a little script I have in my toolbox to find out what queries are currently running right now. In fact I have had quite a few people ask me the for this script so I am glad to share it in this blog post. With SQL Server 2005 and above SQL Server provides Database Management Views that give you direct access to executing requests and running process. The following query uses sys.dm_exec_request, sys.sysprocesses. We will also use cross apply to get the query text from sys.dm_exec_sql_text and the execution plan from sys.dm_exec_query_plan.
The Good Stuff…
SELECT [Spid] = session_Id ,
ecid ,
[Database] = DB_NAME(sp.dbid) ,
[User] = nt_username ,
[Status] = er.status ,
[Wait] = wait_type ,
[Individual Query] = SUBSTRING (qt.text, er.statement_start_offset/2,
(CASE WHEN er.statement_end_offset = -1 THEN LEN(CONVERT(NVARCHAR(MAX), qt.text)) * 2
ELSE er.statement_end_offset END - er.statement_start_offset)/2),
[Parent Query] = qt.text ,
p.query_plan,
Program = program_name ,
Hostname ,
nt_domain ,
start_time
FROM sys.dm_exec_requests er
INNER JOIN sys.sysprocesses sp ON er.session_id = sp.spid
CROSS APPLY sys.dm_exec_sql_text(er.sql_handle)as qt
cross apply sys.dm_exec_query_plan(er.plan_handle) p
WHERE session_Id > 50 -- Ignore system spids.
AND session_Id NOT IN (@@SPID)
ORDER BY 1, 2
If you are in the Pittsburgh, PA area take a trip down to Wheeling, WV this Thursday to catch me at the WVPASS SQL Server User Group. Registration is free and there are a few free seats available. I will be breaking out a brand new presentation titled “Performance Tuning for Pirates.”
Abstract
Is your budget worse than the Pittsburgh Pirates? Do you need to improve the performance of SQL Server and cannot purchase 3rd party tools? If so, join me for this session, as I will help improve your performance tuning process while using several free tools. Through this presentation we will use wait stats, dynamic management objects, perfmon, PAL, SQL Server Side Trace, SQL Nexus, SQL Diag and RML Utilities.
The following is my tentative plans for the SQL PASS Member Summit this week. I have listed scheduled sessions to attend but may switch or do something else. You never know what will be going down on the #sqlpass or #sqlfun hash tag on twitter.
Isn’t it awesome that the sessions are recorded and available for playback after the event? I will get the sessions on DVD and will be able to watch them later.
Tuesday, October 11th 2011
* 7:30am to 1pm – Travel to Seattle for PASS Conference (Yes, I am actually writing this on the airplane)
* 1pm to 2pm – Regional Member Meeting (Hopefully, logistics work and I won’t miss this)
* 2:15pm to 5pm – Chapter Leaders Meeting
* 6:30pm to 8pm – Welcome Receptions and Quiz Bowl
* 8pm to 10pm – Red Gate Party
Wednesday, October 12th 2011
* 5:30am to 8am – Visit Pike Place Market or Top Hat Donuts Shop
* 8:15am to 10am – Attend Keynote
* 10:15am to 11:30am – This isn’t your fathers Cloud: Kevin Kline, Buck Woody
* 11:30am to 1:00pm – Chapter Leaders Lunch
* 1:30pm to 3:00pm – Visit and get know Vendors @ Vendor Expo
* 3:00pm to 4:15pm – Tips and Tricks for Writing Better Queries: Joe Webb (AD-314)
* 4:45pm to 6:00pm - Characteristics of a Great Relational Database : Louis Davison (AD-318)
* 6:15pm to 8:00pm – Attend SQL PASS Vendor Reception
* 8:00pm to 10:00pm – SQLPeople Party & PUSS Party
Thursday, October 13th, 2011
* 8:15am to 10:00am – Keynote Bloggers Table @ Dell Ballroom
* 10:15am to 11:30am – Advanced SQL Server 2008 Troubleshooting: Klaus Aschenbrenner (DBA-403) @ 6E
* 11:30 am to 1:30pm – Women in Technology – Lunch @ 6B
* 1:30pm to 2:45pm – Lighting Talk (I am presenting) @ 201
* 3:00pm to 4:30pm – All the Magic Knobs: Cindy Gross @2AB
* 5pm to 7pm – Vendor Appreciation Party
* 7pm to 10pm – Microsoft Community Appreciation @ GameWorks
Friday, October 14th, 2011
* 7:00am to 8:00am – Breakfast
* 8:15am to 10am – Keynote Presentation or Microsoft Labs
* 10:15am to 11:45am – Query Tuning Mastery: Adam Machanic (AD-500) @ 6E
* 11:30am to 12:30 – Birds of a Feather – Lunch
* 12:15pm to 1:30pm – Board of Directors Meet and Greet
* 1:30pm to 2:30pm – Final review for my sessions
* 2:30pm to 3:45pm – Evaluate your Daily Checklist against 100+ Instances of SQL(ME) @602-604
* 4:15pm to 5:30pm – Best Practices for Deploying SQL Server on VMWare: Wanda He (DBA-310) @ 2AB
Last year I attended my first PASS Member Summit in 2010. After attending the conference I made it a goal to make sure I return. You see, not only was this the first time I attended but also the first time I was a presenter. Last year I gave a lighting talk on how to use profiler and a chalk talk on SQL Server 2008 for Developers.
Two weeks ago I got a very cool email. It asked if I would be interested in being an alternate speaker. The answer was simple. Hell yea! I would like to speak at the biggest and best conference for SQL Server Professionals.
My topic is Evaluate Your Daily Checklist against 100+ Instances While You Get A Cup Of Coffee. I will also give a lightning talk on Hosting A SQL Saturday.
Reciently, I downloaded screen flow. I hope to give everyone a teaser video to my session next week.
The following is a quick run down of our stats for the event. We had 108 people signup, 85 attendees, 11 speakers covering 18 sessions on Saturday. Many thanks goes out to the speakers, volunteers, sponsors and attendees for making this a successful SQL Saturday.
The Good
We had a great mix of MVP’s, experienced speakers and first time speakers. One of the greatest accomplishments for this event is giving Matt Velic (Check out his #sqlsat80 photo’s), Abi Chapagai and Shannon Lowder their first opportunity to speak at a SQL Saturday. The speakers all did a fantastic job. We received several comments from attendees thanking us for having fantastic speakers.
Registration was quick and smooth. Everyone was able to get in and get to the main room to socialize and enjoy a free breakfast. The volunteers did a fantastic job.
We took a step outside of the box with lunch and got burrito’s from Salsa Café. With only a few complaints this was a hit. Last year we did box lunches from Panera and it was expensive and we also got lukewarm reviews.
Speakers received their evaluation’s shortly after their sessions. Personally, I have spoken at a few events and never received my feedback so I completely understand how important it can be towards growing as a speaker.
WVNCC was a fantastic host facility. The staff was very friendly and able to get us everything we needed to be successful.
Hosted the event on a $2,400.00 budget. There will be more on this in a future blog post.
Stuff to work on Next year!
Speakers dinner might have been a little too early. We held our dinner at 6pm and a few speakers wanted to attend but couldn’t make it in time. We also had plans of following our dinner with a voyage of the Italian Festival but a rain storm quickly sidelined that plan.
SQLGolf was a great idea and fun until the heat kicked our butt around the fifth hole. Once we got to the eighteenth hole I forgot we were still playing golf.
NOTE: If you are attending my session and have a camera please take photos and share them with me. I forgot my camera in Wheeling, West Virginia.
If you are at SQLRally or not at SQLRally you can access my slide deck here. You can also find my references here. If you have any questions feel free to contact me.
