October 2005 - Posts
SQL Server 2005 introduces the concept of Native Web Services (also called HTTP Endpoints) which allows you to expose stored procedures and scalar functions through a web service that applications like Visual Studio can consume. If you have worked with SQLXML before, then the functionality is similar, but the feature sets are different. SQLXML is still present in SQL Server 2005, but it still requires the usage of IIS and a separate configuration step. HTTP Endpoints on the other hand are a native feature of SQL Server 2005 and uses the new HTTP.SYS listener model to directly listen for HTTP requests. This obliviates the need for having IIS to be present, but also presents some challenges and best practices knowledge on when and how to use this feature.
Just finished writing an article on the HTTP Endpoint features at my web site. You can read it here: SQL Server 2005 Native Web Services (HTTP Endpoints). Do pass on your comments to me at: srisamp@gmail.com.
If you are someone who spends your time designing web pages and usually scratch your head aligning web pages, etc, then this is for you. The IE Developer Toolbar provides several features in a neat toolbar for deeply understanding the workings of web pages. Some of the features offered are:
- View the DOM tree for the page and see how the elements are laid down.
- Locate and select various elements in a web page. Extremely useful for understanding the alignment of your page.
- Validate HTML, CSS, RSS feed links.
- Display a ruler to help you accurately align your web pages.
- And many more...
You can download the beta code here. Check it out!
Well, there was life outside the sessions too :-) Each day, post all the sessions, we had interesting get togethers with various MVPs and the SQL Server Development Team. Of particular interest to me was the (re)introduction that I had with a lot of the MVPs that I had met in the last year's summit (like Steve Kass, Tom Moreau, Brian, Sukhdev, Andrew, Erland). Also got some chances to do a bit of volunteering work in the lounges with real-world users of SQL Server by answering a lot of their queries. The best day was on the 3rd day of the summit when all the MVPs got to go to the Circle Ranch in Dallas. With over 60 acres of open ranch, the place was really cool. Got to flex my arms with a few games of table tennis and some football (played over a table top. I do not remember what the game is called). The best part of the night was a horse ride around the ranch with Steve Dybing, Sukhdev, Hayden, Andrew et al. Man, what horses they were! They looked like mini elephants and I learned that they were Belgium ones.
Post the PASS summit, there was an MVP day exclusively for all the MVPs. It was a packed day with bak-to-back technical sessions from the SQL Server development team (got to learn quite a few things). It was also a great networking experience with the MVPs and the SQL Server devlopment team guys and I have quite a few action points on my plate to try back at home :-)
Overall, the PASS summit was a great experience and best of all, a truly exhilirating networking experience with some of the industry gurus and experts.
Using Execution Plans for Performance Optimizations in SQL Server 2005 (Alex Cheng)
This was a cool session with a lot of tips and tricks on the performance aspects. Alex showed us various scenarios of poorly performing queries and how to debug them using the execution plan and locate the bottleneck and how to get over the issues.
The 15 Need-to-know Points about XML (Kent Tegels)
This was an interesting session about the top 15 things that everyone needs to know about the new XML capabilities of SQL Server 2005. The session focus on what XML is and what XML is not and what to do for various usage scenarios. The session did not have demos, but packed a lot of useful tips. At the end of the session, I got some time with Kent to discuss his CLR code for validating XML using schemas that are not directly supported in SQL Server 2005. Really cool code...
XQuery Deep Dive (Michael Rys)
I really liked this session. Although I had listened to Michael Rys's webcast on a similar topic earlier, I did not fully grasp that webcast until I sat on this presentation. The session took us into the workings of XQuery and how the SQL Server optimizer works with XML data. Of particular interest to me was the Node table concept and how SQL Server really materializes the XML content into a relational structure that is them optimized by the same world-class optimizer. The demos were also very cool. Overall, a fantastic session.
SQL Server 2005 XQuery Primer (Bob Beauchemin)
This was a very good session on the basics of XQuery and how it works. Coming from the legendary Bob with his superb training skills, the session was a breeze to follow and I even learned a few things about XQuery and XML! Basically, the session was about the various methods in XQuery, the FLOWR expression and the DML operations over XML. Overall, a very good session.
SQL Server 2005 Diagnostic Collection and Analysis (Ken Henderson)
This session was in one word: WOW! Coming from Ken (the author of PSSDIAG), this session was an update to the PSSDIAG tool called the SQLDIAG. Ken went on to explain the basic workings of this tool and what it does etc. The cream of the session was his next generation tool for analysis of the various traces that the diagnostic tool captures called SQL Nexus. The tool looks really cool and it will be a boon to many DBAs. With cool analytical capabilities and fantastic drill down charts, this tool promises to be a killer application! Overall, the session was really good.
SQL Server OS Foundational Elements (Bob Dorr)
This was a deep session and to be frank, some of the concepts did not register with me at all! The session was about the SQLOS component in SQL Server 2005 and what are its fundamental elements etc. I cannot remember enough of the session to blog about its contents.
Advanced DDL Tricks (Joe Celko)
I had to attend this one :-) Coming from the gurus of SQL, the session was packed. Joe Celko took us on a tour of some of the basic best practices to follow for database design and it was a good refresher course on the basics. Some of his points were really important and I have seen many a developer and DBA ignore the rules. Overall, the session was really cool and it reminded me that I had to re-read the 2 Celko books that I have!