Are the posted questions getting worse?

  • Lynn Pettis (9/13/2014)


    Sean Lange (9/13/2014)


    Woo Hoo!!! I was able to find a coach to fill in for me today and I was able to attend my first SQL Saturday. The place is almost an hour from my house so I didn't make it in time for Steve's session at 8:30 but was able to meet up with him for a little bit in between sessions. Was good to finally get a chance to meet in person. Lunch was a bbq buffet and there was plenty for seconds. πŸ˜€

    Sounds awesome. Glad you were able to attend a SQL Saturday. I have managed to attend three so far, two in Colorado Springs and one in Denver. I am hoping to be able to attend others in nearby states when I return home from Afghanistan.

    When are you coming home? Do you still have a job when you arrive? The last thing I remember was that it was in jeopardy upon your return.

  • Ed Wagner (9/14/2014)


    Lynn Pettis (9/13/2014)


    Sean Lange (9/13/2014)


    Woo Hoo!!! I was able to find a coach to fill in for me today and I was able to attend my first SQL Saturday. The place is almost an hour from my house so I didn't make it in time for Steve's session at 8:30 but was able to meet up with him for a little bit in between sessions. Was good to finally get a chance to meet in person. Lunch was a bbq buffet and there was plenty for seconds. πŸ˜€

    Sounds awesome. Glad you were able to attend a SQL Saturday. I have managed to attend three so far, two in Colorado Springs and one in Denver. I am hoping to be able to attend others in nearby states when I return home from Afghanistan.

    When are you coming home? Do you still have a job when you arrive? The last thing I remember was that it was in jeopardy upon your return.

    Well, that depends. I am seriously considering another extension of 6 months (and it would be my last) and talking with our Theater Tech Lead it looks like that would have a very good possibility of being approved. At the same time as he told me that he also said the Director of Field Services is still working on trying to get me a plant position back home in Field Services (my original position was in the Government Engineering Services Division).

    Makes me feel good that someone high up in the company wants to keep me in the company. No guarantees, of course, but it would make things easier to come home with a job instead of looking for one.

    The reason this would be the last extension out here is I made another commitment when I came out here. I want to home for my youngest daughters senior year of high school. The extra 6 months out here will give me the money to stay in Colorado Springs until she graduates even if I don't find a job right away without dipping into the money I am saving to help pay for college for the younger two.

  • GilaMonster (9/14/2014)


    Sometimes advice on a blog still scares me. Not often, but sometimes. Like today

    Consider using a RAMDisk for Index filegroups.

    Putting non-clustered indexes on a RAMDisk will greatly improve performance

    Be absolutely sure that your RAMDisk either backs itself up to disk, or at least saves and loads itself from a real disk on shutdown and startup.

    This can significantly increase shutdown/startup/reboot times.

    I also recommend doing regular SQL backups of these filegroups.

    If the system crashes, recovering the database becomes a lot harder. Which is why backups are very important.

    Crikey. I haven't encountered RAM disks since Windows 3.11/Dos 6.

    How does RAM measure up to SSD's in Β£/GB these days?

  • Good Lord... RAMDisk for Indexing? Are they stupid? I have no words.

    Gazareth (9/15/2014)


    GilaMonster (9/14/2014)


    Sometimes advice on a blog still scares me. Not often, but sometimes. Like today

    Consider using a RAMDisk for Index filegroups.

    Putting non-clustered indexes on a RAMDisk will greatly improve performance

    Be absolutely sure that your RAMDisk either backs itself up to disk, or at least saves and loads itself from a real disk on shutdown and startup.

    This can significantly increase shutdown/startup/reboot times.

    I also recommend doing regular SQL backups of these filegroups.

    If the system crashes, recovering the database becomes a lot harder. Which is why backups are very important.

    Crikey. I haven't encountered RAM disks since Windows 3.11/Dos 6.

    How does RAM measure up to SSD's in Β£/GB these days?

  • Gazareth (9/15/2014)


    GilaMonster (9/14/2014)


    Sometimes advice on a blog still scares me. Not often, but sometimes. Like today

    Consider using a RAMDisk for Index filegroups.

    Putting non-clustered indexes on a RAMDisk will greatly improve performance

    Be absolutely sure that your RAMDisk either backs itself up to disk, or at least saves and loads itself from a real disk on shutdown and startup.

    This can significantly increase shutdown/startup/reboot times.

    I also recommend doing regular SQL backups of these filegroups.

    If the system crashes, recovering the database becomes a lot harder. Which is why backups are very important.

    Crikey. I haven't encountered RAM disks since Windows 3.11/Dos 6.

    How does RAM measure up to SSD's in Β£/GB these days?

    It's not the cost that is the concern. It's the durability. If the RAMDisk doesn't write back to durable storage before the server shuts down (ie, uncontrolled shutdown), the database, or at least the index filegroups, would have to be restored from backup before the DB would be usable again.

    Gail Shaw
    Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
    SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

    We walk in the dark places no others will enter
    We stand on the bridge and no one may pass
  • Lynn Pettis (9/13/2014)


    SQLRNNR (9/13/2014)


    Sean Lange (9/13/2014)


    Woo Hoo!!! I was able to find a coach to fill in for me today and I was able to attend my first SQL Saturday. The place is almost an hour from my house so I didn't make it in time for Steve's session at 8:30 but was able to meet up with him for a little bit in between sessions. Was good to finally get a chance to meet in person. Lunch was a bbq buffet and there was plenty for seconds. πŸ˜€

    Rub it in. Rub it in.

    That is one way to do BBQ. πŸ˜‰

    The only way for me.

    _______________________________________________________________

    Need help? Help us help you.

    Read the article at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537/ for best practices on asking questions.

    Need to split a string? Try Jeff Modens splitter http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Tally+Table/72993/.

    Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 1 – Converting Rows to Columns - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/T-SQL/63681/
    Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 2 - Dynamic Cross Tabs - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Crosstab/65048/
    Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 1) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69953/
    Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 2) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69954/

  • Sean Lange (9/15/2014)


    Lynn Pettis (9/13/2014)


    SQLRNNR (9/13/2014)


    Sean Lange (9/13/2014)


    Woo Hoo!!! I was able to find a coach to fill in for me today and I was able to attend my first SQL Saturday. The place is almost an hour from my house so I didn't make it in time for Steve's session at 8:30 but was able to meet up with him for a little bit in between sessions. Was good to finally get a chance to meet in person. Lunch was a bbq buffet and there was plenty for seconds. πŸ˜€

    Rub it in. Rub it in.

    That is one way to do BBQ. πŸ˜‰

    The only way for me.

    I'm waiting for the arrival of my new smoker. It's just a shame my birthday is at the end of September so the first few runs are almost certainly going to be done in the rain.


    On two occasions I have been asked, "Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?" ... I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.
    β€”Charles Babbage, Passages from the Life of a Philosopher

    How to post a question to get the most help http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537

  • Ed Wagner (9/14/2014)


    Sean Lange (9/13/2014)


    Woo Hoo!!! I was able to find a coach to fill in for me today and I was able to attend my first SQL Saturday. The place is almost an hour from my house so I didn't make it in time for Steve's session at 8:30 but was able to meet up with him for a little bit in between sessions. Was good to finally get a chance to meet in person. Lunch was a bbq buffet and there was plenty for seconds. πŸ˜€

    Good job, Sean. Other than the food, did you have fun?

    Yeah it was pretty cool. The thing I found a little strange was some of the sessions I attended were marked "advanced" but were really basic. I would have chosen to attend a couple of different choices if I had known the discussion was going to be so shallow. Definitely planning on going again next year and may try to make it to a couple of others that aren't too far away.

    _______________________________________________________________

    Need help? Help us help you.

    Read the article at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537/ for best practices on asking questions.

    Need to split a string? Try Jeff Modens splitter http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Tally+Table/72993/.

    Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 1 – Converting Rows to Columns - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/T-SQL/63681/
    Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 2 - Dynamic Cross Tabs - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Crosstab/65048/
    Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 1) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69953/
    Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 2) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69954/

  • BWFC (9/15/2014)


    Sean Lange (9/15/2014)


    Lynn Pettis (9/13/2014)


    SQLRNNR (9/13/2014)


    Sean Lange (9/13/2014)


    Woo Hoo!!! I was able to find a coach to fill in for me today and I was able to attend my first SQL Saturday. The place is almost an hour from my house so I didn't make it in time for Steve's session at 8:30 but was able to meet up with him for a little bit in between sessions. Was good to finally get a chance to meet in person. Lunch was a bbq buffet and there was plenty for seconds. πŸ˜€

    Rub it in. Rub it in.

    That is one way to do BBQ. πŸ˜‰

    The only way for me.

    I'm waiting for the arrival of my new smoker. It's just a shame my birthday is at the end of September so the first few runs are almost certainly going to be done in the rain.

    What kind did you get?

    _______________________________________________________________

    Need help? Help us help you.

    Read the article at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537/ for best practices on asking questions.

    Need to split a string? Try Jeff Modens splitter http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Tally+Table/72993/.

    Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 1 – Converting Rows to Columns - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/T-SQL/63681/
    Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 2 - Dynamic Cross Tabs - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Crosstab/65048/
    Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 1) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69953/
    Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 2) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69954/

  • Sean Lange (9/15/2014)


    BWFC (9/15/2014)


    Sean Lange (9/15/2014)


    Lynn Pettis (9/13/2014)


    SQLRNNR (9/13/2014)


    Sean Lange (9/13/2014)


    Woo Hoo!!! I was able to find a coach to fill in for me today and I was able to attend my first SQL Saturday. The place is almost an hour from my house so I didn't make it in time for Steve's session at 8:30 but was able to meet up with him for a little bit in between sessions. Was good to finally get a chance to meet in person. Lunch was a bbq buffet and there was plenty for seconds. πŸ˜€

    Rub it in. Rub it in.

    That is one way to do BBQ. πŸ˜‰

    The only way for me.

    I'm waiting for the arrival of my new smoker. It's just a shame my birthday is at the end of September so the first few runs are almost certainly going to be done in the rain.

    What kind did you get?

    I've currently got a cheapo bullet smoker but it just doesn't get hot enough. I'm awaiting a (cheap) offset smoker. Hopefully it'll have better ventilation and control and it should get up to temperature and stay there.

    I know it shouldn't be too hot but my old one barely scraped to 70oC. It actually went out if you took your eye off it for more than a few minutes.


    On two occasions I have been asked, "Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?" ... I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.
    β€”Charles Babbage, Passages from the Life of a Philosopher

    How to post a question to get the most help http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537

  • Sean Lange (9/15/2014)


    Ed Wagner (9/14/2014)


    Sean Lange (9/13/2014)


    Woo Hoo!!! I was able to find a coach to fill in for me today and I was able to attend my first SQL Saturday. The place is almost an hour from my house so I didn't make it in time for Steve's session at 8:30 but was able to meet up with him for a little bit in between sessions. Was good to finally get a chance to meet in person. Lunch was a bbq buffet and there was plenty for seconds. πŸ˜€

    Good job, Sean. Other than the food, did you have fun?

    Yeah it was pretty cool. The thing I found a little strange was some of the sessions I attended were marked "advanced" but were really basic. I would have chosen to attend a couple of different choices if I had known the discussion was going to be so shallow. Definitely planning on going again next year and may try to make it to a couple of others that aren't too far away.

    Rating sessions is impossible. I usually set my at the 200-300 level and I constantly get complaints that it was too advanced/simple. I usually take that to mean that I got it just right. But simple for you might be advanced for others. It's so hard to get those right. Just assume if Connor Cunningham, Bob Ward or Paul White is speaking, it's advanced. Everyone else is a gamble.

    "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
    - Theodore Roosevelt

    Author of:
    SQL Server Execution Plans
    SQL Server Query Performance Tuning

  • BWFC (9/15/2014)


    Sean Lange (9/15/2014)


    BWFC (9/15/2014)


    Sean Lange (9/15/2014)


    Lynn Pettis (9/13/2014)


    SQLRNNR (9/13/2014)


    Sean Lange (9/13/2014)


    Woo Hoo!!! I was able to find a coach to fill in for me today and I was able to attend my first SQL Saturday. The place is almost an hour from my house so I didn't make it in time for Steve's session at 8:30 but was able to meet up with him for a little bit in between sessions. Was good to finally get a chance to meet in person. Lunch was a bbq buffet and there was plenty for seconds. πŸ˜€

    Rub it in. Rub it in.

    That is one way to do BBQ. πŸ˜‰

    The only way for me.

    I'm waiting for the arrival of my new smoker. It's just a shame my birthday is at the end of September so the first few runs are almost certainly going to be done in the rain.

    What kind did you get?

    I've currently got a cheapo bullet smoker but it just doesn't get hot enough. I'm awaiting a (cheap) offset smoker. Hopefully it'll have better ventilation and control and it should get up to temperature and stay there.

    I know it shouldn't be too hot but my old one barely scraped to 70oC. It actually went out if you took your eye off it for more than a few minutes.

    Yeah low and slow is good but that is nowhere near warm enough. You want it around 225- 250F (107 - 121C).

    _______________________________________________________________

    Need help? Help us help you.

    Read the article at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537/ for best practices on asking questions.

    Need to split a string? Try Jeff Modens splitter http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Tally+Table/72993/.

    Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 1 – Converting Rows to Columns - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/T-SQL/63681/
    Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 2 - Dynamic Cross Tabs - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Crosstab/65048/
    Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 1) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69953/
    Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 2) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69954/

  • Sean Lange (9/15/2014)


    BWFC (9/15/2014)


    Sean Lange (9/15/2014)


    BWFC (9/15/2014)


    Sean Lange (9/15/2014)


    Lynn Pettis (9/13/2014)


    SQLRNNR (9/13/2014)


    Sean Lange (9/13/2014)


    Woo Hoo!!! I was able to find a coach to fill in for me today and I was able to attend my first SQL Saturday. The place is almost an hour from my house so I didn't make it in time for Steve's session at 8:30 but was able to meet up with him for a little bit in between sessions. Was good to finally get a chance to meet in person. Lunch was a bbq buffet and there was plenty for seconds. πŸ˜€

    Rub it in. Rub it in.

    That is one way to do BBQ. πŸ˜‰

    The only way for me.

    I'm waiting for the arrival of my new smoker. It's just a shame my birthday is at the end of September so the first few runs are almost certainly going to be done in the rain.

    What kind did you get?

    I've currently got a cheapo bullet smoker but it just doesn't get hot enough. I'm awaiting a (cheap) offset smoker. Hopefully it'll have better ventilation and control and it should get up to temperature and stay there.

    I know it shouldn't be too hot but my old one barely scraped to 70oC. It actually went out if you took your eye off it for more than a few minutes.

    Yeah low and slow is good but that is nowhere near warm enough. You want it around 225- 250F (107 - 121C).

    I definitely got what I paid for. The last time I used it I just ran it for a couple of hours to get some flavour in to the meat and then finished it in the oven. Cheating horribly I know but it was either that or starve.


    On two occasions I have been asked, "Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?" ... I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.
    β€”Charles Babbage, Passages from the Life of a Philosopher

    How to post a question to get the most help http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537

  • Grant Fritchey (9/15/2014)


    Sean Lange (9/15/2014)


    Ed Wagner (9/14/2014)


    Sean Lange (9/13/2014)


    Woo Hoo!!! I was able to find a coach to fill in for me today and I was able to attend my first SQL Saturday. The place is almost an hour from my house so I didn't make it in time for Steve's session at 8:30 but was able to meet up with him for a little bit in between sessions. Was good to finally get a chance to meet in person. Lunch was a bbq buffet and there was plenty for seconds. πŸ˜€

    Good job, Sean. Other than the food, did you have fun?

    Yeah it was pretty cool. The thing I found a little strange was some of the sessions I attended were marked "advanced" but were really basic. I would have chosen to attend a couple of different choices if I had known the discussion was going to be so shallow. Definitely planning on going again next year and may try to make it to a couple of others that aren't too far away.

    Rating sessions is impossible. I usually set my at the 200-300 level and I constantly get complaints that it was too advanced/simple. I usually take that to mean that I got it just right. But simple for you might be advanced for others. It's so hard to get those right. Just assume if Connor Cunningham, Bob Ward or Paul White is speaking, it's advanced. Everyone else is a gamble.

    I can only imagine how hard it would be to rate them. The one that comes to mind was one marked as advanced and in the first two minutes the speaker said "this is not going to be a deep dive and is a topic I enjoy and am still learning about".

    I attended the Bob Ward presentation about troubleshooting sql server memory. The first half was really interesting and I learned a ton. By about half way through he started sounding like the teacher from Peanuts and I snuck out to get a refill of coffee. πŸ˜€

    _______________________________________________________________

    Need help? Help us help you.

    Read the article at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537/ for best practices on asking questions.

    Need to split a string? Try Jeff Modens splitter http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Tally+Table/72993/.

    Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 1 – Converting Rows to Columns - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/T-SQL/63681/
    Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 2 - Dynamic Cross Tabs - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Crosstab/65048/
    Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 1) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69953/
    Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 2) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69954/

  • BWFC (9/15/2014)


    Sean Lange (9/15/2014)


    BWFC (9/15/2014)


    Sean Lange (9/15/2014)


    BWFC (9/15/2014)


    Sean Lange (9/15/2014)


    Lynn Pettis (9/13/2014)


    SQLRNNR (9/13/2014)


    Sean Lange (9/13/2014)


    Woo Hoo!!! I was able to find a coach to fill in for me today and I was able to attend my first SQL Saturday. The place is almost an hour from my house so I didn't make it in time for Steve's session at 8:30 but was able to meet up with him for a little bit in between sessions. Was good to finally get a chance to meet in person. Lunch was a bbq buffet and there was plenty for seconds. πŸ˜€

    Rub it in. Rub it in.

    That is one way to do BBQ. πŸ˜‰

    The only way for me.

    I'm waiting for the arrival of my new smoker. It's just a shame my birthday is at the end of September so the first few runs are almost certainly going to be done in the rain.

    What kind did you get?

    I've currently got a cheapo bullet smoker but it just doesn't get hot enough. I'm awaiting a (cheap) offset smoker. Hopefully it'll have better ventilation and control and it should get up to temperature and stay there.

    I know it shouldn't be too hot but my old one barely scraped to 70oC. It actually went out if you took your eye off it for more than a few minutes.

    Yeah low and slow is good but that is nowhere near warm enough. You want it around 225- 250F (107 - 121C).

    I definitely got what I paid for. The last time I used it I just ran it for a couple of hours to get some flavour in to the meat and then finished it in the oven. Cheating horribly I know but it was either that or starve.

    I wouldn't call that cheating. It is just using what you have available. I got a new smoker this summer. It was super cheap and runs on propane and has a tray for wood chips. I can cook as good on that one as I can on any of the full sized smokers I have ever used.

    _______________________________________________________________

    Need help? Help us help you.

    Read the article at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537/ for best practices on asking questions.

    Need to split a string? Try Jeff Modens splitter http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Tally+Table/72993/.

    Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 1 – Converting Rows to Columns - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/T-SQL/63681/
    Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 2 - Dynamic Cross Tabs - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Crosstab/65048/
    Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 1) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69953/
    Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 2) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69954/

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