SQLH2 is a new tool from MS that helps collect information from different instances of SQL Server on a machine and then persist it on a database for analysis. A set of canned reports are provided that turn the data into meaningful reports. You can download SQLH2 from here: SQLH2.
We did a local install of this and started monitoring our servers. A couple of reports were broken because of some overflow issues and on fixing the appropriate stored procedures, we found that some arbit values where returned for these columns. Will need to submit this as a bug. Nevertheless, SQLH2 is a great way to monitor server usage and report off the same.
The new SQL Server Tech Center is designed to collect content from all over the place pertaining to SQL Server and have it under one roof. Its a great initiative and avoids having to search for relevant content all over.
You can find it here: SQL Server Tech Center
I'm finally back from Singapore and settling into my daily routine and preparing for my upcoming sessions for TechEd 2005. I'm also gloating over a few of my purchases from Singapore, especially the 45GB USB hard-disk and this is really making news! Was able to transfer a lot of presentation and video webcasts into this hard-disk and free up more space on my laptop. Its really cool and the cost was also quite affordable (145 SGD).
OK, so what was I doing in Singapore? Actually, the occassion in Singapore was the MVP Asia Summit and there were around 250+ MVPs from the asian region. The conference was held for 4 days between April 24th - 27th in the SunTec city convention centre. During the 4 day summit, the scope was to have the opportunity to speak to Microsoft executives and also interact with a lot of fellow MVPs and share ideas and thoughts. The welcome speach was from Cally Co (Regional Director, MVP Community), followed by a general MVP program update from Sean O'Driscoll (Senior Global Director, MVP Community). The show started off with some drum performances and also had Cally and Sean joining them towards the end and opening the Summit. Good fun!
The opening sessions were then followed by a session from Manish (GM, Asia Pacific Customer Services) that talked about MVPs being one of the best customers to the product lines. Information about some of the new PSS features were also shared. Post this, we had a session on LongHorn. It was not anything new from what I had already seen before and the demonstration about some of the search capabilities was interesting. The whole concept of metadata that is prevelant in LongHorn is going to create lots of waves when it gets released. We then talked about the overall developer roadmap (presented by Nigel Burton (GM, Greater China DPE)) and it gave an overall sense of what to except in the coming years.
Towards the end of the day, we had a get together party and it was good fun meeting some of the fellow MVPs and talking to them about their experiences.
Subsequent days of the session had different agenda session and being a SQL Server MVP, I was on the lookout for SQL Server related sessions. For SQL Server, there were two sessions that were of interest. The first one was about the new manageability features of SQL Server 2005 and the second one was about the new Integration Services. The sessions were to be taken by Mahesh Prakriya (Group Program Manager) and Kamal Hathi (Product Unit Manager). Before the sessions actually started, myself and my MVP collegue (Vinod Kumar) actually got to meet Mahesh and Kamal and share with them our experiences of working with SQL Server 2005 and suffice to say that it was really good to talk to these guys. They were very enthusiastic about our work on the SQL Server front and personally, I shared with them some of the work that I was planning within my organization and they were keen to hear more about it. That reminds me: I need to mail these guys about what we are actually doing in SQL Server! :-)
Taking about the actual SQL Server sessions, the manageability session was interesting in the fact that we got to look at the latest CTP of SQL Server (later than April CTP) and it has some really cool features. The overall session was however a repeat of many of the things that we heard and saw during the global MVP Summit last year. However, to be fair to the session content, Mahesh had to take this stance because a greater % of the audience was relatively new to SQL Server. We however, did not loose this opportunity to share some feedback about some of the tools like the surface area configuration and the dedicated admin connection capabilities and it was really good to see Mahesh take these feedback items to heart and jotting it down and also providing his email ID was follow-up. The integration session was a different one and frankly, I had not worked too much with integration services (hereinafter SSIS, as I cannot type the word each time) and many of the demos and features that Kamal discussed were interesting and cool. I especially liked the ones where he showed integration with web-services and I left the session with a resolve that I will spend more time with SSIS.
The rest of the summit went off smoothly and the overall event logistics and arrangement done was really good, but wait, enough of official stuff! There was a lighter side to the visit and that was the visit to the Night Safari (which was organized by Microsoft) and a visit to the Jurong Bird Park (that we did ourselves). The night safari was good fun and it involved a tram ride through the forest where animals were out in the open (behind some sort of a fence obviously). The most interesting part of the safari was the photos that we took with a python wrapped around our necks. I was initally very apprehensive and was having butterflies in my stomach, but finally mustered the courage to hold it and man, was it heavy and leathery! It was a baby python and weighed only 17 kilos (a full grown python can weigh upto 180 kilos), and to my it looked very tame as it was gently moving around my neck as I held it for the photo session. I was slightly shivering in my knees after I let it go :-) The night session also saw some belly dancing and some magic shows and suffice to say that the belly dancing saw some civilized animals being released on the stage :-) Overall, it was good fun and a good begining to the next day of the actual session.
We also found time to do some shopping in Sim Lim city (an electronics bazaar) and Mustafa and picked up some good items. Finally, on the 28th, it was time to head home and back to work, but the memories of the visit and interaction with the Microsoft folks really left me impressed with the MVP community and has given me some new energy to synergize with this community more. Three cheers to the MVPs!!