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Paul Bertucci gave a terrific presentation on Distributing Data using SQL Server 2008 R2 to the Silicon Valley SQL Server User Group on Tuesday night.  He talked about some of the distribution technologies, and walked us through the general process of determining which method should be used.

In making the decision on which distribution method to use, Paul showed a high level process for traversing a decision tree, guided by very specific questions about the data size, volatility, criticality, and so forth.  I’d love to see his detailed set of questions, and the decision tree itself.  In fact, I could have used the information when meeting with a DesignMind client yesterday who needs guidance on where to put their OLAP database (co-lo vs. cloud vs. server room at their office).

Another interesting discussion was around licensing requirements – in this case relative to database mirroring with snapshots.  Paul’s response to the licensing question was “that depends on what you’ve negotiated with Microsoft.”  He’s right about that – particularly with the large organizations such as Autodesk, where his role is Chief Architect.

Lastly, I want to congratulate Paul and his co-authors for the recently published SQL Server 2008 R2 Unleashed.

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Denise McInerney, a Database Administrator at Intuit, spoke recently to the Silicon Valley and San Francisco SQL Server User Groups.  Denise made a strong case for how DBAs can help their employers, team members, and careers, in her presentation, “DBA as Protector of the Data: Notes from the Field“.

Her talk ranged from definitions of what “bad” data really is, to possible sources of the bad data, and what the DBA, the team, and the organization can do about it.  Her examples were a lot of fun, and the many experienced DBAs in the audience clearly could relate!

You can see Denise’s slides below, and feel free to contact me for a copy of the scripts from her demos.

Denise is Co-Chair of PASS’s Women in Technology (WIT) Virtual Chapter.  To learn more about WIT, read an “Interview with Denise McInerney” on the SQLPASS site.  They’re putting on the 8th annual WIT Luncheon and Panel Discussion at the 2010 PASS Summit in Seattle on November 10th, from 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.  I’ll be attending again, for sure.

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Congratulations to Allen Kinsel for his election to the PASS Board of Directors, and to Douglas McDowell and Andy Warren, who were re-elected.  PASS is the Professional Association for SQL Server.  The PASS community will continue to benefit from the amazing contributions that these true professionals make.

Doug is really on top of what’s going on with the local PASS chapters, as you can see in his blog post on the Q2 Chapter Survey.

I look forward to catching up with Allen, Doug, and Andy at the 2010 PASS Summit in Seattle in early November, and to thanking them personally for their efforts.

At the Summit, I plan to focus on the BI Information Delivery track, which includes SharePoint, PowerPivot, Report Builder, Scorecards, Dashboards, and Self-Service BI.  Join us in Seattle for some great sessions such as:

• What Every DBA Should Know About Sharepoint 2010
• SQLCAT: Next Generation Real Time Data Processing using StreamInsight
• 50 surprising features of SQL Server Business Intelligence

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