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Friday, September 18, 1998 Dear SQL Server Professionals, This is another update message about the Heartland Users Groups' SQL Server SIG. This e-mail message was sent to you as a 'blind copy' to protect your privacy. Please feel free to forward this message on to whomever you feel may have an interest in the Heartland Users Groups and/or the SQL Server SIG. If you wish to be removed from this e-mail list simply send a reply to this message and indicate so. RECAP OF SEPTEMBER 16th SQL SERVER SIG MEETING ************************************************************ The September SQL Server SIG meeting was held on Wednesday, September 16, 1998 at 5:30 PM at the offices of Empower Training Consultants. Our speaker was Sean Baird of Empower Training Consultants. Sean presented "SQL Server Performance Tuning and Optimization: Tips and Tricks". Sean is a project manager, technical architect, and co-author of "MCSE Training Guide: SQL Server 6.5 Design and Implementation" (New Riders); see more details about this book at: http://www.amazon.com. Sean is also currently working on another book about SQL Server 7.0. Sean shared with us that the performance a SQL Server is influenced by the following issues in order of impact: [1.] database design, [2.] application design, [3.] query design, [4.] server hardware, [5.] server configuration. Effective database design is the most important consideration. Tables need to be in the third normal form (or as close as possible) to achieve the greatest performance benefit. Use efficient data types for primary keys, e.g., integer datatypes perform better than char. For OLAP systems, use indexes that are useful for speeding up data retrieval and get rid of indexes that don't help out. For OLTP systems, be sure you are not using a clustering index on a monotonically increasing value. Also, make sure you are updating index statistics periodically. In addition, application design also has a large impact on performance. Applications should be designed to minimize the amount of data that flows between the client and server; poorly designed applications that require unnecessary traffic between the client and server will result in correspondingly poor performance. Queries also need to be designed efficiently, using all available joins and useful indexes. Use SHOWPLAN to make sure your query is doing what you want it to do. Avoid the use of ' SELECT * ' when it is possible to specify specific columns. As Sean said, "take only what you are going to eat". Hardware can also play a big role in server performance. When possible, use RAID-5 for your data devices. Put transaction log devices on separate physical drives and mirror them. Additional RAM and the use of multiple CPUs (SMP) can also positively impact performance. SQL Server configuration parameters can also impact performance, but probably much less so than you might expect. The key configuration options to tune are: memory, locks, user connections, and RA settings. Also be sure not to 'starve' NT for memory; leave at least 16 MB for NT to do it's thing. Finally, avoid running unnecessary services and other system applications on the same machine as SQL Server. In particular, don't use your SQL Server machine for apps and services like Exchange, SMS, PDC (primary domain controller), or BDC (backup domain controller). Thanks to Sean Baird for being our presenter. We greatly appreciate Sean's time and efforts as our speaker. Also, thanks to Chad Means and Empower for providing us with the facilities and sodas for the meeting. Thanks to Jim Welch of Microsoft for the copies of SQL Server 7.0 beta 3 and the various promotional items that were given away (mousepads, MS/Monster Truck Madness, MS/3-D baseball, the "squishy brain", and the unusual "plastic concave cylinder filled with a blue viscose fluid" thing). Finally, congratulations to Rob Kraft who won the drawing for a copy of "Inside Microsoft SQL Server 6.5" by Ron Soukup (Microsoft Programming Series). OCTOBER 22nd SQL SERVER SIG MEETING ************************************************************ The October SQL Server SIG meeting will be held on Thursday, October 22, 1998 at 5:30 PM. This meeting will be held at the offices of Analysts International Corporation, located in the Broadway Summit Building, 3101 Broadway, Suite 101, Kansas City, MO. This building is situated on the SOUTHEAST corner of 31st Street and Broadway. AIC's offices are on the first floor. Please use the entrance located on the SOUTH side of the building. Parking in the building lot is FREE. The topic will be "Database Design 101", which will be an introductory lesson about logical database design concepts and techniques. We will learn about entities, attributes, relationships, and keys, and we will demonstrate the use of Platinum's ERwin data modeling tool. This session will be relatively platform-independent so persons who use database systems other than SQL Server should also benefit. Brent Huscher, SQL Server DBA for Payless Cashways, will be the presenter. We will also be electing SQL Server SIG officers at this meeting. SQL SERVER 7.0 BETA 3 ************************************************************ I have given out all of the remaining copies of SQL Server 7.0 beta 3. You may request Microsoft to send you a copy of the beta at the following web page: http://www.microsoft.com/sql/beta/default.asp . GENERAL INFORMATION ************************************************************ 1. Effective immediately and until the end of 1998, SQL Server SIG meetings will commence at 5:30 PM. Based on feedback, we may decide to have meetings in 1999 and beyond at a later hour. 2. Effective November 5, 1998, the regular meeting day of the month for the SQL Server SIG will be the FIRST THURSDAY of the month. 3. The following is the calendar of SQL Server SIG meetings for the rest of 1998: a. October 1998: Thurs. 10/22/98 @ 5:30 PM at AIC, 3101 Broadway, Suite 101 b. November 1998: Thurs. 11/05/98 @ 5:30 PM at AIC, 3101 Broadway, Suite 101 c. December 1998: Thurs. 12/03/98 @ 5:30 PM at AIC, 3101 Broadway, Suite 101 4. See the following web page for links to good books about SQL Server: http://home.gvi.net/~spyder/sqlreading.html . Let me know if you have any other books you would like to see on the list. 5. An MS/Exchange Server SIG is currently under construction. Details are forthcoming. BE A SQL SERVER SIG OFFICER ************************************************************ Until the October 22nd meeting, I will continue to act as the SQL Server SIG's provisional leader; however, we need to have official elections of SQL Server SIG officers. Interested parties are encouraged to nominate themselves for any of the following five offices: president, vice-president, programs committee chair, membership committee chair, or treasurer. See the following web page for descriptions of the duties of these offices: http://home.gvi.net/~spyder/sqlofficers.html . Elections will be held at the Thursday, October 22, 1998 meeting. The following persons have been nominated thus far: Matt Crouch - nominated for vice-president, Bob Van Cleave - nominated for treasurer, Brent Huscher - nominated for president. Call or send me an e-mail message if you are interested in nominating yourself. UPCOMING HEARTLAND USERS GROUPS EVENTS ***************************************************************** All Heartland Users Groups' meetings are open to the general public. Joining the Heartland Users Groups entitles you to receive door prizes and the monthly newsletter. Please consider joining -- an annual membership is only $25.00. You can obtain a membership form at any of the Heartland Users Groups' events. Here is a calendar of upcoming Heartland Users Groups events: Monday, September 21, 1998 at 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM General Meeting -- "Riding the Waves of Technology" by Greg Riess of Baan At Johnson County Community College Room GEB 233, OP, KS see http://www.hugkc.org for details Tuesday, September 22, 1998 at 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM Visual Basic SIG -- "Activating Controls & Error Handling" At Johnson County Community College Room CEC 234, OP, KS See http://www.kcx.com/accessvb/logon.asp for details Monday, October 5, 1998 at 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM HUG Board Meeting (for HUG officers and SIG leaders) At Security Benefit Companies Corporate Woods, Building #27, Suite 150, OP, KS (northeast of College BLVD and Grandview RD) Wednesday, October 7, 1998 at 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM JAVA SIG -- JAVA tutorial (second session) At Step 1, Inc. 10551 Barkley, Suite 117, OP, KS See http://www.qni.com/~brisk/JavaSIG/Default.html for details Saturday, October 10, 1998 at 9:30 AM - 11:30 AM Win 9x/NT SIG -- topic TBA At COMP-USA 11421 Metcalf, OP, KS Wednesday, October 14, 1998 at 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM C++ SIG -- topic TBA At Step 1, Inc. 10551 Barkley, Suite 117, OP, KS See http://www.kcx.com/c/ for details Monday, October 19, 1998 at 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM General Meeting -- topic TBA At Johnson County Community College Room GEB 233, OP, KS see http://www.hugkc.org for details Tuesday, October 20, 1998 at 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM Smalltalk SIG -- Squeak 2.1; A freeware Smalltalk-80 implementation by David Mitchell At Information Systems Corp. City Center Square, 1110 Main, Suite 1540, KC, MO See http://www.kcx.com/smalltalk/ for details Wednesday, October 21, 1998 at 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM Access SIG -- topic TBA At Johnson County Community College Room GEB 137, OP, KS See http://www.kcx.com/accessvb/logon.asp for details Thursday, October 22, 1998 at 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM SQL Server SIG -- Database Design 101 At Analysts International Corporation 3101 Broadway, Suite 101, KC, MO See http://home.gvi.net/~spyder/sqlserver.html for details Tuesday, October 27, 1998 at 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM Visual Basic SIG -- topic TBA At Johnson County Community College Room CEC 234, OP, KS See http://home.gvi.net/~spyder/sqlserver.html for details MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS ************************************************************ We still need to determine a discussion topic and presenter for the November 5th meeting. If you would like to volunteer to present at this or any other upcoming meeting, please contact me by phone or e-mail. The Heartland Users Groups' home page is at: http://www.hugkc.org . The SQL Server SIG's home page is at: http://home.gvi.net/~spyder/sqlserver.html . Feel free to offer any ideas for improving the SQL Server SIG's page or for adding any links. Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, criticisms, and/or referrals of persons who may be potentially interested in the SQL Server SIG.