I really enjoy seeing people talking passionately & with significant knowledge about #SQL Server. @SQLServerSleuth #codestock.

During the session, I state that the following two ideas are the most important things to take away from the presentation:

• Do not run SQL Server Profiler against a production SQL Server instance! Use a server-side trace instead
• Always place size and duration caps on your traces to limit their overhead and to protect against a run-away trace (see step three below)

I spend a long time during the presentation warning against using Profiler (in production) and explaining its performance impact (as well as the overhead of tracing). Still, Profiler can be a useful tool for defining trace sessions and analyzing trace data. Here is the proper workflow for reaping its benefits without shooting yourself in the foot:

1. On your workstation, use Profiler to define the trace (event classes, columns, and filters)
2. Use Profiler to generate a Transact-SQL script file with the system stored procedure calls for a server-side trace:

   

3. Edit the script, including placing limits on the size and duration of the trace (using the @maxfilesize and @stoptime parameters of the [sys].[sp_trace_create] system stored procedure, as demonstrated in the presentation’s “Demo 07_Create a server-side trace to provide information on the next deadlock(s),2005+.sql” file)
4. Execute the script on the server that is under investigation
5. If the trace automatically stops more quickly than expected, refine the trace definition to be more conservative
6. Once you have several trace files with useful data, compress them
7. Transfer the archive of compressed trace files from the target server to your workstation
8. Analyze the trace data using the [sys].[fn_trace_gettable] system function and/or using Profiler

• An Introduction to Profiler and SQL Trace at 2011-06-03 13:50-04:00. The session’s materials have been posted here.
• A PowerShell Cookbook for DBAs at 2011-06-04 09:50-04:00. The session’s materials have been posted here.

If you happen to be attending, please stop by and visit!

This year, the session selection committee is trying something new and has requested input on the submitted abstracts. I strongly encourage you to take a few minutes and vote for abstracts that appeal to you in the PASS Summit 2011 Session Preference Survey. You can vote even if you might not be able to attend the conference… all that you need is an account on the SQLPASS.org web site. If you don’t already have one, registration is easy and free.

If you have attended any of my presentations and enjoyed them/learned from them, I would greatly appreciate the support of voting for some of my sessions. I submitted the maximum of four abstracts, but I would prefer to deliver either of my “cookbook” presentations:

• A PowerShell Cookbook for DBAs
  • I have been delivering this presentation since SQLSaturday #22 on 2010-06-05
  • As a production/escalation DBA, I use PowerShell more than any other single program, especially when interacting with SQL Server
  • My goal is to convince fellow DBAs to try PowerShell by showing a variety of ways that PowerShell makes our jobs easier and by providing attendees with a collection of ready-to-use scripts for getting started
• An XQuery Cookbook for DBAs
  • This is a new presentation that is under development. I will probably deliver it for the first time at the July meeting of the Fort Worth SQL Server Users Group
  • A lot of valuable diagnostic data is exposed as XML these days
  • I have written many T-SQL/XQuery scripts to analyze and manipulate the data, but I would not describe the experience as being pleasant
  • I would like to give other DBAs these scripts, along with a little bit of background understanding, so that they can access this very powerful meta data without the many hours of frustration in developing the scripts
  • Some of the “recipes” included in the presentation will work with the following data sets:
    • DDL trigger event data
    • Deadlock graphs
    • Extended Events payloads
    • Output from the Performance Analysis of Logs (PAL) Tool
    • The [sys].[dm_os_ring_buffers] DMV’s contents
    • Windows event logs
    • XML statistics profiles (query plans)

Note: The deadline for voting is tomorrow, so please do so as soon as possible!

At last year's North American PASS Summit, I was still developing the content for my presentation at the last minute, nearly pulling an all-nighter. The code being demonstrated was barely sufficient for the talk and not nearly robust enough for release, especially to people just introduced to the technology. After delivering my presentation, I was so exhausted and sleep deprived that I decided to enjoy the conference and deferred posting my code until returning home. Unfortunately, life never slowed down and I had trouble finishing and uploading the scripts. My progress was also hindered by feature/scope creep as well as my tendency toward perfectionism.

Since getting into technical speaking, one of my aspirations has been to provide comprehensive and valuable presentation materials (slides, handouts, files, and code). I want my audience members to be able to immediately put their new knowledge to use. In a classic case of perverse unintended consequences, I was achieving the opposite. Instead of being known for providing great presentation materials, I've probably earned notoriety for empty promises to post the materials.

With the start of the new year, I resolved to focus on the project. I withdrew from many activities with the following rationale:

• It seemed like I should be using any free time to finish working on my presentation materials
• I didn't want to face the people that I was letting down
• The pressure that I was placing on myself was leading to burnout

Here are some of the activities that I've consciously limited, or opportunities that I've postponed:

• I started missing most of the local user group meetings
• I dropped off of Twitter… the last time that I recall opening a Twitter client was on 2010-01-14
• I've been invited to write several articles
• I was asked to present to PASS Virtual Chapter meetings
• I stopped penning blog posts as well as keeping current on other people's blogs

The really sad thing is that keeping my nose to the grindstone didn't help me to produce the deliverables—it just left me isolated and demoralized!

I realized that my problems were due to lack of effective process. I will definitely write more on this topic, but I adopted new tools and methodologies that include:

• I design my presentations using the Presentation Zen philosophy now
• I committed not to submit abstracts for presentations that are vaporware
• I decided to avoid creating new presentations around specific tools/scripts that I'd developed for myself
• I imposed a constraint on myself: if code isn't ready to be posted, it shouldn't be demonstrated in a session
• I added my presentation materials to source control
• I designed a version number scheme, facilitating "an incremental servicing model" of my own
• I created scripts (using MSBuild and PowerShell) to automatically compile my presentation materials for being posted
• I started using Amazon's S3 service for hosting my presentation materials (since WordPress.com doesn't allow Zip files)

Perhaps most importantly, I finally implemented Getting Things Done. I will provide more details in future blog posts.

Deliverables for my presentations were posted for the first time on October 27th. Yesterday's presentation represented a huge milestone for me: it was the first time that materials were uploaded when I got up to speak. I have some modifications already, but that's the point of the incremental servicing model. Waiting until everything was ready led to nothing ever getting released.

It's time to rejoin the SQL Server community and I can think of no better place to do it than the PASS Summit. If I have failed to respond to you in the past, I apologize. I'm working through the backlog of blog comments and email messages. However, feel free to contact me again. Going forward, I am going to make sure to be responsive.

By the way, Michael Swart has implicitly forgiven me, so I feel better already!

The download contains the slide deck, a handout full of links to resources, demonstration code, and a few sample files. I plan to upload some revisions as soon as I get home from the Summit (this weekend).

See you in an hour!

• Deadlock Detection, Troubleshooting, and Prevention
• Leveraging SQLDiag for Efficient Troubleshooting

Based on the great feedback that I received from my several public presentations and rehearsals, I made major changes to the talk over the last few days. I removed most of the material from the introduction and troubleshooting methodology sections, so that I could get to the demonstrations (and eye-candy) as quickly as possible. The edits made a big difference; I didn’t bore or overwhelm the audience with too much conceptual material, plus I didn’t have to race through the case study and demonstrations.

Here are a few highlights or observations:

• Prior to the start of the session, my friend Tim Mitchell (blog, Twitter) made a special point to come encourage me and offer any assistance that might be needed… even though he had another session to attend!
• I also appreciated the support of my friend Patrick LeBlanc (blog, Twitter), who was in the audience
• There was a very good turnout, far larger than I expected. I printed out fifty copies of each handout but there were not enough to go around. I didn’t have a chance to get an exact count, but I would estimate that about seventy-five people were present!
• I had a problem with one of the demonstrations (creating a SQL Server Agent alert for launching SQLDiag). I developed it against a default instance but was demonstrating it against a named instance, so the performance object name was wrong. Fortunately the audience was helpful in fixing the problem
• I was actually working on addressing this problem on the flights to Seattle (by retrieving the appropriate name from the [sys].[dm_os_performance_counters] DMV), but I neglected to finish it after getting here. It will be fixed before I post the code
• My other gaffe was that, early on, I decided to walk down and in front of the dais to be closer to the audience. I got over to the stairs before realizing that this just wasn’t a good idea and turned back. I’m sure that it looked awkward (and amusing)
• Because of the restructuring, I was able to stop and solicit questions at several key points, which helped to draw the audience into the talk
• I got to use "it depends" to answer one of the questions!
• Tim Mitchell also slipped in at one point to snap a picture of me talking. I brought my camera to the session, but forgot to ask for a volunteer to use it, so I was pleasantly surprised by his thoughtfulness
• I didn’t end up having time to cover the "’Strategies’ to Avoid" slide. I’ll write a blog post that explains the terms
• I only had time to cover a fraction of the original material… I could teach a full-day on this topic! It’s going to be important to publish quite a few blog posts to supplement the material
• Still, my main goal was realized: I managed to introduce many people to these invaluable, free tools that Microsoft’s engineers have developed (specifically PSSDiag, SQLDiag, PAL, SQL Nexus, and the RML Utilities)
• I hope to hear from many audience members as they have a chance to start experimenting with these tools and leveraging them at work
• There was a really good group that stayed around after the talk to ask questions
• While answering those questions, the lamp in the projector blew out. I was very fortunate that it waited until after my presentation ended!
• Tim Benninghoff (blog, Twitter) came up and introduced himself. We have interacted a bit on Twitter and I helped him with a PowerShell script back in May. This was great, since he was on my list of people that I was hoping to meet at the PASS conference!
• Only one person was playing #SQLBingo, which was a little disappointing!
• I have spoken to both Colin Stasiuk (blog, Twitter) and Greg Larsen (blog, Twitter) about delivering the talk as a webcast for their user groups (the Edmonton and Database Administration virtual chapters, respectively)

]]> http://sqlserversleuth.com/2009/11/05/looking-back-on-my-pass-presentation/feed/ 4 tnbarkhouse http://sqlserversleuth.com/2009/10/31/a-successful-rehearsal-and-upcoming-improvements-to-the-presentation/ http://sqlserversleuth.com/2009/10/31/a-successful-rehearsal-and-upcoming-improvements-to-the-presentation/#comments Sat, 31 Oct 2009 06:02:44 +0000 tnbarkhouse http://sqlserversleuth.com/?p=172 Continue reading →]]> My rehearsal this morning went really well. Not in terms of my delivery, but rather in the great feedback that I received and my own ideas for improvement that it generated.

I want to thank Patrick LeBlanc (blog, Twitter) again for helping me to pull off the rehearsal on such short notice! I look forward to returning as a SQL Lunch presenter in the not-too-distant future.

When I gave the SQLDiag presentation on the 21st, there was good response to the recently added case study and it was suggested that I increase its role in the talk. Mike McKinney also made a great observation: I’m spending too much time describing the configuration of SQLDiag (overall, but especially before showing the end result of using it). In other words, I need to firmly establish the value of these tools before delving into the mechanics of their usage. His point made so much sense and I’m grateful for the insight.

I made a lot of changes based on those suggestions, which were put into play for the first time this morning. They made a huge difference, but it did lead to some continuity issues and glitches.

Another friend from the user group, David Stein (blog, Twitter), provided some very detailed and helpful constructive criticism. I also received emails with good ideas from Steve Jones (blog, Twitter), Tim Mitchell (blog, Twitter), and Vic Prabhu (Twitter). The following points, which ring true, were raised by one or more of them:

• I need to work on my demeanor. Apparently it takes five to ten minutes for me to warm up and start to seem comfortable and confident
• I should significantly cut back the introduction section
• I’m switching between windows too often, giving a choppy feel to the talk
• I need to speed up/cut back on the content. I’m still running out of time long before I cover everything
• I’m spending too long on the troubleshooting methodology at the expense of demonstrating the tools and techniques
• I need more practice

I have blocked out at least an hour for each of the next three days for solo rehearsals. I am also making the following adjustments (some based on audience feedback, others based on my own evaluation):

• I’m reducing the introduction section considerably. People can read the slides and check out this blog to learn more about me. Also, my credibility will be established by the presentation’s content (I don’t need to sell myself based on the number of instances I help support in Terremark’s Highly Managed Hosting environment). Besides, when somebody chooses to attend my session it is because they already have the presumption that my information is reliable and will hold value for them
• I’m trimming down the coverage on troubleshooting methodology quite a bit. I did classify this session as being at the "intermediate" skill level—the audience members should already understand the importance of having a formal process and it will take less for them to adapt mine to their needs
• The PAL demonstration will now precede working with SQL Nexus. It will flow better, plus this is actually the order I follow when applying these techniques in the field
• I will work the demonstration of the RML Utilities back in and explain the way that this tool and SQL Nexus complement each other
• I plan to move the "’Strategies’ to Avoid" slide to the end of the presentation. If I run out of time, it is the best material to sacrifice
• I have several improvements for the case study
• I am considering printing out (and distributing to the audience before the session) the three Microsoft Word documents: "Troubleshooting Methodologies," "Troubleshooting Checklist," and "Case Study"

I feel really good about giving this at PASS!


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