Rick Heiges

Well - the final day of DevTeach is about to get started.  I spoke Sunday on SQL Server Express and had a good  number of folks in attendance.  Yesterday, I spoke on Database Mirroring.  Even though there were fewer people, we some really good discussions about all of the scenarios with Database Mirroring.  I had several volunteers help me go through the various scenarios by playing the roles of the various servers.  I think everyone had fun.  This morning, we will explore database snapshots in my session.

There is a magician hired by DevTeach to do card tricks in between sessions and at lunch.  His name is Pierre and is very talented.  It really helps people to get a conversation going.  This is especially true of the more reserved attendees.  This conference focuses mainly on .NET and FoxPro developers with a track for SQL Server.  Since VFP will be going away someday, many developers are trying to learn as much as they can about .NET and SQL Server.  This gave me an opportunity to meet some other very good speakers from the .NET and FoxPro worlds.  In a previous life, I used VFP on some projects, so there is a "brotherhood" feeling there too. 

DevTeach is a small but growing conference.  It affords me the opportunity to mingle with the attendees and speakers in an informal setting.  Plus, the hospitality of the DevTeach team and the people of Montreal make this a very pleasant experience.

Just got back from Iceland and off to DevTeach......

Iceland's SQL Server Road Show was a success with more than 320 folks in attendance.  I never thought I would go to Iceland, but now I am considering going back again sometime.  The people were wonderful and the landscape is so interesting.  I did the tourist thing on my way out at the Blue Lagoon Hot Springs.  I really was expecting it to be more "commercial", but it was really rather low key and very convenient.

Tonight I head to Montreal for DevTeach.  I will be doing sessions on SQL Server Express, Database Mirroring, and Database Snapshots.  The othe junkies here have some great topics too. There is also a delegation from PASS - me, Kevin, and Rushabh.  I think there are still a few registrations left for DevTeach - so come on down!

A little late, but it still made the cut......

Friday was definitely a lighter day as many attendees decided to go home plus the exhibit hall was now gone.  Still, it was another opportunity to learn.  I started out by going to the SQL Cabana to listen in on a Q&A session.  The scheduled speaker did not show and Don Vilen stepped in to do a Replication Overview off the top of his head.  It was really quite good for zero prep!

I also sat in on a session on SSIS performance and scalability, but I had a phone call take me away from that session early. 

I left TechEd around 4pm to head to the airport where I had heard that there was a mess due to weather concerns of Tropical Storm Arlene.  My flight was delayed only 30 minutes.  Others weren't as lucky like Kevin Kline who got home 6 hours later than planned.

I am currently in Iceland preparing for another SQL Server Road Show.  Response in Europe has been great!  Way up north here in Iceland, the sun stays around for a long time during this month.  I may have to fool myself into thinking it is night to go to sleep to be well rested for the show tomorrow.  If you read this blog and are at the show tomorrow, be sure to stop me and say "hi".

I will be at DevTeach that starts this weekend in Montreal.  It is sure to be a good time.  Also, one more thing... Don't forget to sign-up for the PASS Community Summit in Grapevine (Dallas) at www.sqlpass.org before the rates go up on June 30th.

Just got back from the Attendee Party at Universal Studios where TechEd rented out the park for the attendees.  This means that there were much shorter lines for the attractions.Food and Drink were also plentiful as I spent times with my colleagues away from a business setting.

I spent much of the morning in the SQL Cabana answering a few questions and preparing for yet another presentation that I will be delivering at DevTeach in Montreal next week.  While I was there, Kimberly Tripp stopped in and answered a few questions and participated in an interview for the "podcasts".  Kent Tegels also got an interview with the podcast crew and got Peter DeBetta (www.sqlblog.com) to join in on a "spur of the minute" interview.  While I was watching this going on, Kent brought me into the podcast interview as well.  It was a lot of fun!  I haven't checked out podcasts yet, but more info can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/events/teched2005/podcast.mspx.  I hope you find it interesting.

Kent also asked me to blog about differences between technologies in SQL Server that many folks have asked questions about this week.  One of these topics is the difference between Mirroring and Replication.  Since there are many types of Replication, I will examine the technologies individually.  Look for these topics coming up in a future blog.

Well another day done at the convention center.  PASS manned the Ask the Experts Table today which was the heaviest day by far for traffic in the SQL Server Cabana Area.  TechEd attendees could get the latest CTP, a voucher for Standard Edition of SQL Server 2005 when it gets released, and some swag visiting the cabana and the official product booth in the exhibit area. 

Tonight, there will be some parties to go to such as Redmond Magazine, MVP Influencer, and the Best of TechEd awards.  I'm sure that there are still more parties going on out there around TechEd.  I attended a session on SSMA (SQL Server Migration Assistant for Oracle) this morning. It helps in the conversion process of database objects and data from Oracle to SQL Server 2000.  It looks like it could save some major time in the identification and implementation of changes to database objects, structures, and code.  It is a free download off of www.microsoft.com/sql/migration . 

Well everyone had any easy blog day on Tuesday after Paul's series of announcements and demos.  There was a really cool demo on SSIS and DB Mirroring (failing over from a 32-bit system to 64-bit by the way)....  They had a cheezy event of a robot coming on stage and knocking out a network switch for the fail over demo.  It was cheezy, but it was still a lot of fun.  After all of this, there was an announcement buried in the last minutes of the keynote which I think is BIG.

The announcement that Reporting Services would be a part of every edition of SQL Server 2005.  My first question was "Does this include SQL Server Express 2005 as well?".  I started to ask a few questions about it with some MSFT folks.  YES!!!! It looks like Reporting Services will be part of Express, but it will be very limited.  I'm not sure if MSFT has figured out to what extent yet that RS will be integrated, but this is BIG.

On another note, I almost ran over Paul Flessner coming out of a restroom.  I did not realize it was him until 5 seconds later.  I'm sure that he realized that it was me too after a few seconds. ;-)

The first full official day of TechEd has come to a close for me.  It started out at 7am meeting in the lobby for the ride over to TechEd for Breakfast.  I wasn't real impressed with breakfast, but food is not the reason to be at TechEd.  The morning snack was good with Krispy Kreme donuts (the birth place of KK is Winston-Salem, NC which is near where I live).  The first session that I went to until I had to man the SQL Server "Ask the Experts" table, was one on SQL Server Express and starting up application programming quickly by Jackie Goldstein.  I had to leave early, but I know several others who enjoyed the presentation.

Lots of folks came by the SQL Server Cabana to ask questions.  There are lots of experts here in this area to answer any SQL Server question.  There are also talks in mini-room areas in the cabanas on SQL Server related topics.  It was good to see some old friends and make new ones.

As the evening got rolling with the Exhibit hall reception, I started to pick up some SWAG, but I missed out on some good stuff from my observations of others.  I always like stopping by the booths with nobody making a big scene around them to chat for a minute or two.  I have done booth duty before and know how bored you can get.  The food was rather good during this time and there was plenty of beverages available for everyone; Thanks to DevelopMentor for sponsoring this.  In fact, I'd like to commend TechEd on always having lots of refreshments available at all times.

Tomorrow is another day that will start early and end very late.

Arrived last night in Orlando and checked in.  Met a few friends and have looked over the materials in the bag.

This morning, ate breakfast with my colleagues from Scalability Experts and discussed the activities for the week.  Lets of events and very little free time.  I'll be spending quite a bit of time in the SQL Cabana this week.  Stop by and say HI.

The keynote this morning featured Steve Ballmer.  I have heard stories about his "enthusiasm" in venues like this.  He did get the message across, but I did not find his style to be overly "wild". 

I am looking forward to a great week here at TechEd!

Just got back from presenting the DBA track in Lisbon at the kickoff of the European tour of the "Get Ready for SQL Server Road Show".  We had about 1200 people show up in Lisbon to learn about what it takes to upgrade to 2005 and some of the really cool features in this new release.  The turnout in Lisbon was fantastic!  All three tracks had sizable rooms that were filled and in some cases overflowing.  The BI track had the smallest room, but that didn't keep people from filling every square centimeter!  The Dev Track had the biggest room.  I had the second biggest room which seemed to be the right size.

I found the people of Portugal were very friendly and accomodating.  Obrigado!

I always learn something at these events.  In this case, I learned some portuguese.  Seriously, I spoke with Niels Berglund who delivered the Dev content about the features of Service Broker and how SQL Server Express can be integrated into an architecture using Service Broker for Scale Out.  Very cool.....

Douglas McDowell delivered the BI track.  He noticed the same thing that I had noticed in my sessions; Reporting Services is something that a lot of people want to learn about, but have not taken the time to really use it .  In my sessions, I had asked about usage of RS and found a lower number of folks than I had expected had actually used and deployed it in SQL 2000.  Although my track was more DBA focused, I was still expecting more.

Next week, Larry Chesnut - a colleague of mine - will be delivering content at the Prague stop on the European tour.  I will be at Tech Ed next week spending a lot of time in the SQL Server Community Cabana.  Please stop in and say "Hello" if you are in the area. 

The following week, I will be in Iceland for the SQL Server Roadshow.  If you know someone in Iceland, please let them know about the event on June 15th.  More details can be found out at www.sqlpass.org.