SQL Server

In-depth SQL Server content covering engine internals, Always On Availability Groups, performance tuning, T-SQL Snapshot Backup, SQL Server on Linux, and SQL Server on Kubernetes.

Awarded Friend of Redgate – 2019

Friend of Redgate – 2019

  I’m excited to announce that I have been named a <a href="https://www.red-gate.com/hub/events/friends-of-rg">Friend of Redgate</a> for 2019, my forth year in a row! The program targets influential people in their respective technical communities such as SQL,.NET and DevOps and enables us to participate in the conversation around product and community development.

  As a multi-year awardee in the program I get to see first hand the continuing dedication Redgate has to the SQL community and to making great software. I met a ton of really cool, very dedicated people along the way. Thanks for the recognition and I look forward to another great year!

  <a href="http://www.red-gate.com/">Redgate</a> makes outstanding products! While I focus mainly on the DBA side of things such as SQL Monitor, SQL Backup and SQL Prompt there are many <a href="http://www.red-gate.com/products/">more</a>. I’ve used these tools for years and let’s just say they’re awesome.

  Redgate isn’t just software, they’re committed to community and education. Here are some of the things they do to support technical communities:

<ul>
  <li>
    **Online resources** – <a href="http://www.simple-talk.com/">SimpleTalk</a>, <a href="http://www.sqlservercentral.com/">SQL Server Central</a>, and <a href="http://www.red-gate.com/community/books/index">books and Free eBooks</a>. These resources aren’t marketing fluff, it’s killer content written by real experts
  </li>
  <li>
    **Events** – hosting events, exhibiting at events and supporting user groups across the world. One word can describe this, engaged
  </li>
</ul>

  **Thank you to Redgate for this opportunity!** I look forward to participating in this program, sharing my thoughts and learning as much as I can from all involved.

  <a href="https://www.red-gate.com/hub/events/friends-of-rg"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/305265/FORG%20logo%202019_small_2.png" alt="" /></a>

  **If you need you’d like to talk about Redgate’s products and where they fit into your SQL Server system please feel free to contact me.**

  ** **

  **Follow me on Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/nocentino">@nocentino</a>**

  **Email: <a href="mailto:aen@centinosystems.com?subject=mentoring">aen@centinosystems.com</a>**

  **Web: <a href="http://www.centinosystems.com/">www.centinosystems.com</a>**

Speaking at SQLSaturday Nashville – 815!

Speaking at SQLSaturday Nashville – 815!

I’m proud to announce that I will be speaking at SQL Saturday Nashville on January 12th 2019! And wow, 815 SQL Saturdays! This one won’t let you down. Check out the amazing schedule!

If you don’t know what SQLSaturday is, it’s a whole day of free SQL Server training available to you at no cost!

If you haven’t been to a SQLSaturday, what are you waiting for! Sign up now!

Workshop – Kubernetes Zero to Hero – Installation, Configuration, and Application Deployment

Pre-conference Workshop at SQLSaturday Chicago – 825

I’m proud to announce that I will be be presenting an all day pre-conference workshop at SQL Saturday Chicago on March 23rd 2018! This one won’t let you down!

The workshop is **“Kubernetes Zero to Hero – Installation, Configuration, and Application Deployment” **

    <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/kubernetes-zero-to-hero-installation-configuration-and-application-deployment-tickets-54316807032?aff=BLOG"><img loading="lazy" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="NewImage.png" src="/images/2019/01/Availability-Group-StatusNewImage-1.png" alt="NewImage" width="129" height="126" border="0" /></a>

    **Here’s the abstract for the workshop**

  <blockquote>

      Modern application deployment needs to be fast and consistent to keep up with business objectives and Kubernetes is quickly becoming the standard for deploying container-based applications, fast. In this day-long session, we will start with an architectural overview of a Kubernetes cluster and how it manages application state. Then we will learn how to build a production-ready cluster. With our cluster up and running, we will learn how to interact with our cluster, common administrative tasks, then wrap up with how to deploy applications and SQL Server. At the end of the session, you will know how to set up a Kubernetes cluster, manage a cluster, deploy applications and databases, and how to keep everything up and running.

  </blockquote>

Session Objectives

My Current Training Courses on Pluralsight!

Here’s a run down of the Linux training that I have available on Pluralsight!

Just getting started!

Understanding and Using Essential Tools for Enterprise Linux 7 – If you heard what Linux is and want to get started this is the place to be. We’ll cover installation, command line basics, the file system, text editors and more! This is my most popular course.

SQL Server on Linux Administration Fundamentals – SQL Server is available for Linux and Docker! This course is targeted towards both the SQL Server DBA and the Linux professional to get you started using SQL Server on Linux. We cover architecture, administration basics, Tools and backup and recovery!

SQL Server on Linux – External Memory Pressure with 2019 CTP2

In this blog post we’re going to revisit how SQL Server on Linux responds to external memory pressure. This is a very long post, and it ends with me not knowing exactly what’s going on…but the journey is pretty fun…let’s go!

On Windows-based SQL Server systems we’ve become accustomed to the OS signaling to SQL Server that there’s a memory shortage. When signaled, SQL Server will kindly start shrinking it’s memory caches, including the buffer pool, to maintain overall system stability and usability. Well that story is a little different in SQL Server on Linux…last year I wrote a similar post for SQL Server 2017 RTM and how it reacted to external memory pressure, check that out here! That was quite a dramatic story, you can literally cause SQL Serve to swap nearly its entire process address space out to disk! Now, let’s look and see how SQL Server on Linux responds to external memory pressure in SQL Server 2019 CTP2.

My Experiences Tech Editing Pro SQL Server on Linux

The Opportunity

Earlier this year I received an email from Jonathan Gennick, an editor at Apress books. The subject of the email was “Tech edit a book” and he asked if I was familiar with SQL Server on Linux. I excitedly replied “yes…I think I’m your guy for this”. In 2017, I had the opportunity to tech edit another book on SQL Server on Linux and had to back out of that project and this was a fantastic second chance to still be able to work on a topic I really want to participate in and help move forward. I replied to Jonathan and asked who the author is…he replied…the author is Bob Ward.

I’m Speaking at SQLSaturday Cambridge!

Speaking at SQLSaturday Cambridge!

  I’m proud to announce that I will be speaking at <a href="http://www.sqlsaturday.com/748/EventHome.aspx">SQL Saturday Cambridge</a> on September 8th 2018! And wow, 748 SQL Saturdays! This one won’t let you down. <a href="http://www.sqlsaturday.com/748/Sessions/Schedule.aspx">Check out the amazing schedule</a> of International Experts and Microsoft MVPs!

  If you don’t know what SQLSaturday is, it’s a whole day of free SQL Server training available to you at no cost!

  If you haven’t been to a SQLSaturday, what are you waiting for! <a href="https://www.sqlsaturday.com/748/registernow.aspx">Sign up now</a>!

  <a href="http://www.sqlsaturday.com/748/EventHome.aspx"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="http://www.sqlsaturday.com/images/sqlsat748_header.png" alt="SQLSaturday #748 - Cambridge 2018" /></a>

  **This year I have TWO sessions!**

  **1. **<a href="http://www.sqlsaturday.com/748/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=78607">**Monitoring Linux Performance for the SQL Server Admin**</a>

<blockquote>

    So you’re a SQL Server administrator and you just installed SQL Server on Linux. It’s a whole new world. Don’t fear, it’s just an operating system. It has all the same components Windows has and in this session we’ll show you that. We will look at the Linux operating system architecture and show you where to look for the performance data you’re used to! Further we'll dive into SQLPAL and how it architecture and internals enables high performance for your SQL Server. By the end of this session you’ll be ready to go back to the office and have a solid understanding of performance monitoring Linux systems and SQL on Linux. We’ll look at the core system components of CPU, Disk, and Memory and monitoring techniques for each.

</blockquote>

  **2. **<a href="http://www.sqlsaturday.com/757/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=78317">**Containers – You Better Get on Board**</a>

<blockquote>

    Containers are taking over, changing the way systems are developed and deployed…and that’s NOT hyperbole. Just imagine if you could deploy SQL Server or even your whole application stack in just minutes. You can do that, leveraging containers! In this session, we’ll get your started on your container journey learning container fundamentals in Docker, then look at some common container scenarios and introduce deployment automation with Kubernetes. In this session we’ll look at Container Fundamentals with Docker Common Container Scenarios Automation with Kubernetes.

</blockquote>

Questions from PASS Marathon Containers

Thanks to everyone who attended the PASS Marathon Containers edition and to PASS for the opportunity to present. I received the Questions from the session and wanted to provide answers to the attendees and the community.

If you want to see the session again, check it out on YouTube. The decks are available online at http://www.centinosystems.com/blog/talks/

Here’s the list of questions from the session and my answers.

  • What do you mean it is not for production environment in Windows?

Speaking at SQLSaturday Sacramento – 757!

Speaking at SQLSaturday Sacramento!

  I’m proud to announce that I will be speaking at <a href="http://www.sqlsaturday.com/757/eventhome.aspx">SQL Saturday Sacramento</a> on July 28th 2018! And wow, 757 SQL Saturdays! This one won’t let you down. <a href="http://www.sqlsaturday.com/757/Sessions/Schedule.aspx">Check out the amazing schedule</a>!

  If you don’t know what SQLSaturday is, it’s a whole day of free SQL Server training available to you at no cost!

  If you haven’t been to a SQLSaturday, what are you waiting for! <a href="https://www.sqlsaturday.com/757/registernow.aspx">Sign up now</a>!

  <a href="https://www.sqlsaturday.com/757/registernow.aspx"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="http://www.sqlsaturday.com/images/sqlsat757_header.png" alt="SQLSaturday #757 - Sacramento 2018" /></a>

  **This year I have TWO sessions!**

  **1. **<a href="http://www.sqlsaturday.com/757/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=78312">**Monitoring Linux Performance for the SQL Server Admin**</a>

<blockquote>

    So you’re a SQL Server administrator and you just installed SQL Server on Linux. It’s a whole new world. Don’t fear, it’s just an operating system. It has all the same components Windows has and in this session we’ll show you that. We will look at the Linux operating system architecture and show you where to look for the performance data you’re used to! Further we'll dive into SQLPAL and how it architecture and internals enables high performance for your SQL Server. By the end of this session you’ll be ready to go back to the office and have a solid understanding of performance monitoring Linux systems and SQL on Linux. We’ll look at the core system components of CPU, Disk, Memory and Networking monitoring techniques for each and look some of the new tools available.

</blockquote>

  **2. **<a href="http://www.sqlsaturday.com/757/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=78317">**Containers – You Better Get on Board**</a>

<blockquote>

    Containers are taking over, changing the way systems are developed and deployed…and that’s NOT hyperbole. Just imagine if you could deploy SQL Server or even your whole application stack in just minutes. You can do that, leveraging containers! In this session, we’ll get your started on your container journey learning container fundamentals in Docker, then look at some common container scenarios and introduce deployment automation with Kubernetes. In this session we’ll look at Container Fundamentals with Docker Common, Container Scenarios and Orchestration with Kubernetes

</blockquote>

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional – Data Platform for 2018-2019

Today, I’m proud to announce that I have been renewed as an Microsoft MVP – Data Platform for the 2018-2019 award year, my second MVP award. This is an truly an honor and I’m humbled to be included in this group of exceptional data professionals. I really look forward to continuing to work with everyone in the MVP community and continuing to contribute to our unmatched SQL Community!

MVP Logo Horizontal Secondary Blue286 CMYK 300ppi****