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  • BizTalk&ndash;Mapping repeating EDI segments using a Table Looping functoid

    - by Bill Osuch
    BizTalk’s HIPAA X12 schemas have several repeating date/time segments in them, where the XML winds up looking something like this: <DTM_StatementDate> <DTM01_DateTimeQualifier>232</DTM01_DateTimeQualifier> <DTM02_ClaimDate>20120301</DTM02_ClaimDate> </DTM_StatementDate> <DTM_StatementDate> <DTM01_DateTimeQualifier>233</DTM01_DateTimeQualifier> <DTM02_ClaimDate>20120302</DTM02_ClaimDate> </DTM_StatementDate> The corresponding EDI segments would look like this: DTM*232*20120301~ DTM*233*20120302~ The DateTimeQualifier element indicates whether it’s the start date or end date – 232 for start, 233 for end. So in this example (an X12 835) we’re saying the statement starts on 3/1/2012 and ends on 3/2/2012. When you’re mapping from some other data format, many times your start and end dates will be within the same node, like this: <StatementDates> <Begin>20120301</Begin> <End>20120302</End> </StatementDates> So how do you map from that and create two repeating segments in your destination map? You could connect both the <Begin> and <End> nodes to a looping functoid, and connect its output to <DTM_StatementDate>, then connect both <Begin> and <End> to <DTM_StatementDate> … this would give you two repeating segments, each with the correct date, but how to add the correct qualifier? The answer is the Table Looping Functoid! To test this, let’s create a simplified schema that just contains the date fields we’re mapping. First, create your input schema: And your output schema: Now create a map that uses these two schemas, and drag a Table Looping functoid onto it. The first input parameter configures the scope (or how many times the records will loop), so drag a link from the StatementDates node over to the functoid. Yes, StatementDates only appears once, so this would make it seem like it would only loop once, but you’ll see in just a minute. The second parameter in the functoid is the number of columns in the output table. We want to fill two fields, so just set this to 2. Now drag the Begin and End nodes over to the functoid. Finally, we want to add the constant values for DateTimeQualifier, so add a value of 232 and another of 233. When all your inputs are configured, it should look like this: Now we’ll configure the output table. Click on the Table Looping Grid, and configure it to look like this: Microsoft’s description of this functoid says “The Table Looping functoid repeats with the looping record it is connected to. Within each iteration, it loops once per row in the table looping grid, producing multiple output loops.” So here we will loop (# of <StatementDates> nodes) * (Rows in the table), or 2 times. Drag two Table Extractor functoids onto the map; these are what are going to pull the data we want out of the table. The first input to each of these will be the output of the TableLooping functoid, and the second input will be the row number to pull from. So the functoid connected to <DTM01_DateTimeQualifier> will look like this: Connect these two functoids to the two nodes we want to populate, and connect another output from the Table Looping functoid to the <DTM_StatementDate> record. You should have a map that looks something like this: Create some sample xml, use it as the TestMap Input Instance, and you should get a result like the XML at the top of this post. Technorati Tags: BizTalk, EDI, Mapping

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  • What happened this type of naming convention?

    - by Smith
    I have read so many docs about naming conventions, most recommending both Pascal and Camel naming conventions. Well, I agree to this, its ok. This might not be pleasing to some, but I am just trying to get you opinion why you name you objects and classes in a certain way. What happened to this type of naming conventions, or why are they bad? I want to name a struct, and i prefix it with struct. My reason, so that in IntelliSense, I see all the struct in one place, and anywhere I see the struct prefix, I know it's a struct: structPerson structPosition anothe example is the enum, although I may not prefix it with "enum", but maybe with "enm": enmFruits enmSex again my reason is so that in IntelliSense, I see all my enums in one place. Because, .NET has so many built in data structures, I think this helps me do less searching. Please I used .NET in this example, but I welcome language agnostic answers.

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  • Looking for a CDN

    - by Bill
    Most of the CDN's that I've seen require you to upload your content in advance. I'm looking for a CDN that, upon receiving a request for a resource it hasn't seen, will contact my application server. If the application server returns something, it should be sent to the user and then cached in the CDN. If not, it should just return a 404. If the user requests an unexpired item, the CDN should just serve it without bothering my app server. Does anything like this exist? Is there a way to get Cloudfront to work like this?

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  • When is the default storage rule not really the default storage rule?

    - by Kevin Smith
    In 11g WebCenter Content (WCC) introduced dispersion rules in the vault and weblayout directory paths to better distribute content across the directories. The dispersion rule was based on dRevClassID. The only problem with this is that dRevClassID did not remain the same when you copied content from one WCC instance to another using Archiver like in a contribution-consumption scenario. This could cause problems because the web-viewable path would not be the same between the contribution and consumption instances. In the PS5 (11.1.1.6.0) release of WCC they addressed this by configuring the File Store Provider (FSP) so that all new content would use a storage rule with a dispersion rule based on dDocName, which would stay the same when content was copied to another WCC instance. To support migration from older versions of WCC they left the default storage rule unchanged and created a new storage rule called DispByContentId and made that the default storage rule for all new content. I only stumbled upon this a while back when I was trying to change the FSP configuration so that all content used a webless storage rule. I changed the default storage rule, restarted WCC, and checked in a new content item. To my surprise the new content was not created as webless. I struggled with this for a while until I noticed there were multiple storage rules defined in the FSP configuration. When I looked at the default value for the xStorageRule field in Configuration Manager, sure enough it was no longer default, but was now DispByContentId. Once I updated the DispByContentId storage rule to webless and restarted WCC all my new content was now created using the webless storage rule, just like I wanted. I noticed when I was creating this blog post that the default storage rule is also listed on the File Store Provider Information page, but I guess I didn't see that when I originally did this.

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  • Writing selenium tests, should I just get it done or get it right?

    - by Peter Smith
    I'm attempting to drive my user interface (heavy on javascript) through selenium. I've already tested the rest of my ajax interaction with selenium successfully. However, this one particular method seems to be eluding me because I can't seem to fake the correct click event. I could solve this problem by simply waiting in the test for the user to click a point and then continuing with the test but this seems like a cop out. But I'm really running out of time on my deadline to have this done and working. Should I just get this done and move on or should I spend the extra (unknown) amount of time to fix this problem and be able to have my selenium tests 100% automated?

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  • What is wrong with Unix/linux

    - by John Smith
    This is a genuine question motivated by Ideal Operating System When I moved from DOS to Linux in the late 90s it was an eye opener for me. Long file names, arbitrarily many extensions etc... Now I look at Linux and Unix and see all sorts of issues. Here are things I see which could be fixed. Too much depends on root, and rootly powers cannot be voluntarily delegated over several users. (I would love to give up my power to manager printers and delegate the job to another account) File permissions are very limited, and there is not much metadata to go with files. The "everything is a file" metaphor is not true, Plan 9 gets it right(er).

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  • what are some good interview questions for a position that consists of reviewing code for security vulnerabilities?

    - by John Smith
    The position is an entry-level position that consists of reading C++ code and identifying lines of code that are vulnerable to buffer overflows, out-of-bounds reads, uncontrolled format strings, and a bunch of other CWE's. We don't expect the average candidate to be knowledgeable in the area of software security nor do we expect him or her to be an expert computer programmer; we just expect them to be able to read the code and correctly identify vulnerabilities. I guess I could ask them the typical interview questions: reverse a string, print a list of prime numbers, etc, but I'm not sure that their ability to write code under pressure (or lack thereof) tells me anything about their ability to read code. Should I instead focus on testing their knowledge of C++? Ask them if they understand what a pointer is and how bitwise operators work? My only concern about asking that kind of question is that I might unfairly weed out people who don't happen to have the knowledge but have the ability to acquire it. After all, it's not like they will be writing a single line of code, and it's not like we are looking only for people who already know C++, since we are willing to train the right candidate. (It is true that I could ask those questions only to those candidates who claim to know C++, but I'd like to give the same "test" to everyone.) Should I just focus on trying to get an idea of their level of intelligence? In other words, should I get them to talk and pay attention to the way they articulate their thoughts, and so on?

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  • What should I wear to a job interview with a game development company?

    - by Bill
    Many game development companies are less formal in terms of workplace attire than other types of software development houses. For example, I know that one place at which I will be interviewing soon has a predominant workplace culture of jeans and polos or t-shirts. Should I wear a suit? Shirt and tie? Shirt and sport jacket, with or without tie? I want to show that I'm serious about the job, but that I understand the culture, too.

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  • PASS Budget Posted

    - by Bill Graziano
    If you’re a member of PASS you can view our FY2011 budget at http://www.sqlpass.org/AboutPASS/Governance.aspx.  Our detailed budget is 29 pages long and provides an incredibly detailed snapshot of where our money comes from and how we spend it.  I’ve also written a summary highlighting some of the changes from last year.  If you have any questions about the budget you can ask them here or on the PASS site.

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  • Retrofit Certification

    - by Bill Evjen
    Impact of Regulations on Cabin Systems Installation John Courtright, Structural Integrity Engineering There are “heightened” FAA attention to technical issues related to IFE and Wi-Fi Systems Installations The Aging Aircraft Safety Rule – EWIS & Damage Tolerance Analysis The Challenge: Maximize Flight Safety While Minimizing Costs Issue Papers & Testing, Testing, Testing The role of Airworthiness Directives (ADs) on the design of many IFE systems and all antenna systems. Goal is safety AND cost-effective maintenance intervals and inspection techniques The STC Process Briefly Stated Type Certifications (TC) Supplemental Type Certifications (STC) The STC Process Project Specific Certification Plan (PSCP) Managed by FAA Aircraft Certification Office (ACO) Type of Project (Electrical/Mechanical Systems or Structural) Specific Type of Aircraft Being Modified Schedule Design & Installation Location What does the STC Plan (PSCP) Cover? System Description – What does the system do? System qualification – Are the components qualified? Certification requirements – What FARs are applicable? Installation detail – what is being modified? Prototype installation – What is new? Functional hazard Assessment (FHA) – is it safe? EZAP-EWIS Requirements – Any aging aircraft issues? Certification Data – How is compliance achieved? Delegation and FAA involvement – Who is doing the work? Proposed certification schedule – When is the installation? Certification documentation – What the FAA Expects to see Cabin Systems Certification Concerns In addition to meeting the requirements for DO-160, Cabin System Certification needs to address issues related to: Power management: Generally, IFE and Wi-Fi Systems are classified as “Non-Essential Equipment” from a certification viewpoint. Connected to “non-essential” power buses Must be able to shed IFE & Wi-Fi Systems in a smoke/fire event or Other electrical emergency (FAA Policy 00-111-160) FAA is more relaxed with testing wi-fi. It used to be that you had to have 150 seats with laptops running wi-fi, but now it is down to around 50. Aging aircraft concerns – electrical and structural Issue papers addressing technical concerns involving: “Structural Certification Criteria for Large Antenna Installations” Antenna “Vibration/Buffeting Compliance Criteria” DO-160 : Environmental Test Procedures DO 160 – “Environmental Conditions and Test Procedures for Airborne Equipment”, Issued by RTCA Provides guidance to equipment manufacturers as to testing requirements Temperature: –40C to +55C Vibration and Shock Contaminant susceptibility – fluids and dust Electro-magnetic Interference Cabin systems are generally classified as “non-essential” Swissair 111 crashed (in part) due to non-standard wiring practices. EWIS Design Implications Installation design must take EWIS Requirements into account. This generally means: Aircraft surveys are needed to identify proper wire routing Ensure existing wiring diagrams are correct Identify primary/Secondary/Tertiary bus locations Verify proper separation of wire bundles exist Required separation from fuel quantity indicator system (FQIS) to prevent fuel tang ignition Enhanced Zonal Analysis Procedure (EZAP) Performed EZAP was developed by the Aging Transport Systems Rulemaking Advisory Committee (ATSRAC) EZAP is the method for analyzing airplane zones with an emphasis on evaluating wiring systems and the existence of combustibles  in the cabin. Certification Considerations for Wi-Fi Systems Electrical – All existing DO 160 testing required Issue papers required Onboard EMI testing – any interference with aircraft systems when multiple wi-fi users are logged on? Vibration/Buffeting compliance criteria – what is the effect of the antenna on aircraft flight characteristics? Structural certification criteria – what are the stress loads on the aircraft at the antenna location and what is the impact on maintenance inspection criteria for the airline? Damage tolerance analysis required Goal – minimize maintenance inspection intervals

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  • question about offer letter from tech company [migrated]

    - by paul smith
    I just received an offer letter from a tech company and I am a curious if it is normal practice to state this in the offer letter: "Your salary will be reviewed on a regular cycle as dictated by company policy"?Is this normal? To me it sounds a little shady, but I might just be thinking too much which is why I'd like to hear from others who've seen/received offer letters before from tech companies.

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  • Blogger Template: How is inline style tag getting attached to img? [migrated]

    - by john Smith
    Examining a blogger template's img tag (data:post.thumbnailUrl) i've approached a mystery. An inline style tag controlling the width, margin and heigh perimeters are getting added to my img element. They are auto adjusting the images ratio to fit a smaller size. But I can't figure-out where this style tag script lives and how it's happening in my template. My template has no special javascript or jquery scripts. The full size images in the single posts page don't have this style tag. Is this a css or xml feature? element.style { margin-top: 0px; width: 301.0033444816054px; height: 200px; margin-left: -0.5016722408026908px; }

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  • How to handle this unfortunately non hypothetical situation with end-users?

    - by User Smith
    I work in a medium sized company but with a very small IT force. Last year (2011), I wrote an application that is very popular with a large group of end-users. We hit a deadline at the end of last year and some functionality (I will call funcA from now on) was not added into the application that was wanted at the very end. So, this application has been running in live/production since the end of 2011, I might add without issue. Yesterday, a whole group of end-users started complaining that funcA that was never in the application is no longer working. Our priority at this company is that if an application is broken it must be fixed first prior to prioritized projects. I have compared code and queries and there is no difference since 2011, which is proofA. I then was able to get one of the end-users to admit that it never worked proofB, but since then that end-user has went back and said that it was working previously......I believe the horde of end-users has assimilated her. I have also reviewed my notes for this project which has requirements and daily updates regarding the project which specifically states, "funcA not achieved due to time constraints", proofC. I have spoken with many of them and I can see where they could be confused as they are very far from a programming background, but I also know they are intelligent enough to act in a group in order to bypass project prioritization orders in order to get functionality that they want to make their job easier. The worst part is is that now group think is setting in and my boss and the head of IT is actually starting to believe them, even though there is no code or query changes. As far as reviewing the state of the logic it is very cut and dry to the point of if 1 = 1, funcA will not work. So, this is the end of the description of my scenario, but I am trying not to get severally dinged on my performance metrics due to this which would essentially have me moved to fixing a production problem that doesn't exist that will probably take over 1 month. I am looking for direct answers to this question. This question is not for rants, polling, or discussions as this is not the format for StackExchange. Please don't downvote me too terribly it is pretty common on this specific site of stack, I am looking for honest answers to this situation and I couldn't find a forum more appropriate.

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  • One of my user accounts logs in without desktop environment

    - by Bill Cheatham
    When I log in to my main user account on Ubuntu 11.10 ,the desktop environment (unity bar, clock, volume control, etc.) is not there. All I have is the desktop background with a menu bar across the top which appears to be for nautilus (options like File-New folder). My other accounts log in like normal. I have recently followed these instructions to give my main user account access to an OSX partition, but I think I have logged in successfully since then. I am able to get a terminal by pressing ctrl+alt+t, but when I typed unity the whole thing crashed. Is there anything I can do to fix this? I have a separate administrator account I can use if needed.

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  • Samba network sharing NTFS drives and root permissions from local drives

    - by Bill
    I'm able to share my internal 2ndry NTFS drives (sdb1,2 and 3) on the network with Windows computers now but even though Samba read/write is enabled, Windows network computers can only open files "read-only" and can't save files to the samba shared drives/folders. I try to set permissions in Ubuntu via folder and/or file properties even logged in root via Nautilus but all the samba shared folders and files are set as owner = root, accessible and does not allow me to change them to read/write, it just resets to root, accessible, in other words, I can't change permissions. I'm running Ubuntu 11.04 Gnome on an old Dell Dimension 2400. Also, in order to for me to copy or move any files from the Ubuntu drive to the sdb1,2 or 3 drives, I have to gksu nautilus. This consequently prevents me from copying .ISO files to my "Multisys" thumb drive too.

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  • How do I fix dragging windows to the adjacent workspace?

    - by Bill O'Dwyer
    I installed CompizConfig-Settings-Manager and I put on all the settings I liked and had in 11.10, including the ability to drag my windows to the adjacent workspace. It's under the Desktop Wall section, on the Edge Flipping tab and I've checked "Edge Flip Move" and "Edge Flip DnD." In 11.10, the movement was smooth between each workspace, and the window would still be "grabbed" in the same place. In 12.04, it's leaving the window behind and the mouse appears to be "grabbing" nothing, but I'm still holding onto the window, and I can still move and place it within the workspace (or indeed the previous workspace as it won't appear in the desired place until I drag the mouse all the way to the edge of the screen). Any way to fix this? I'm running 12.04 beta 2.

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  • How to import mass accounts into iKode Newsletter Server?

    - by Brownsithily Smith
    I have sent out emails to my 6.2k subscribers through iKode Newsletter Server. And about 50 to be considered as spam. It is less than 1%. It is amazing! The web based email marketing software of iKode also provides double opt-in subscription form which is effective to target special audience. However, if I want to import mailing list to this software, I need to add the address one by one, which is a waste of time. Does iKode provides mass account import ability? Or just need to upload a mailing list file?

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  • Help make the next Summit even better

    - by Bill Graziano
    After the Summit we send out a survey to capture feedback.  We ask a consistent set of questions so we get good year over year results.  I’ve watched blog posts and email threads with ideas for a better Summit.  I got to sit with Denny and crew again on Saturday night and talk about what worked and what didn’t.  We’d like to capture those ideas in a way that you can vote on what’s important to you.  Please take a second and visit http://feedback.sqlpass.org/.  You can make suggestions, vote on the ideas already posted and add your own comments.  Help PASS make next year’s Summit “The Best Summit Ever!”

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  • Tracking Redirects Leading to your site

    - by Bill
    Is there a way in which I can find out if a user arrived at my site via a redirect? Here's an example: There are two sites, first.com & second.com. Any request to first.com will do a 302 redirect to second.com. When the request at second.com arrives, is there anyway to know it was redirected from first.com? Note that in this example you have no control over first.com. (In fact, it could be something bad, like kiddieporn.com.) Also note, because it is a redirect, it will not be in the HTTP referrer header.

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  • Using Definition of Done to Drive Agile Maturity

    - by Dylan Smith
    I’ve been an Agile Coach at a lot of different clients over the years, and I want to share an approach I use to help them adopt and mature over time. It’s important to realize that “Agile” is not a black/white yes/no thing. Teams can be varying degrees of agile. I think of this as their agile maturity level. When I coach teams I want them to start out being a little agile, and get more agile as they mature. The approach I teach them is to use the definition of done as a technique to continuously improve their agile maturity over time. We’re probably all familiar with the concept of “Done Done” that represents what *actually* being done a feature means. Not just when a developer says he’s done right after he writes that last line of code that makes the feature kind-of work. Done Done means the coding is done, it’s been tested, installers and deployment packages have been created, user manuals have been updated, architecture docs have been updated, etc. To enable teams to internalize the concept of “Done Done”, they usually get together and come up with their Definition of Done (DoD) that defines all the activities that need to be completed before a feature is considered Done Done. The Done Done technique typically is applied only to features (aka User Stories). What I do is extend this to apply to several concepts such as User Stories, Sprints, Releases (and sometimes Check-Ins). During project kick-off I’ll usually sit down with the team and go through an exercise of creating DoD’s for each of these concepts (Stories/Sprints/Releases). We’ll usually start by just brainstorming a bunch of activities that could end up in these various DoD’s. Here’s some examples: Code Reviews StyleCop FxCop User Manuals Updated Architecture Docs Updated Tested by QA Tested by UAT Installers Created Support Knowledge Base Updated Deployment Instructions (for Ops) written Automated Unit Tests Run Automated Integration Tests Run Then we start by arranging these activities into the place they occur today (e.g. Do you do UAT testing only once per release? every sprint? every feature?). If the team was previously Waterfall most of these activities probably end up in the Release DoD. An extremely mature agile team would probably have most of these activities in the DoD for the User Stories (because an extremely mature agile team will probably do continuous deployment and release every story). So what we need to do as a team, is work to move these activities from their current home (Release DoD) down into the Sprint DoD and eventually into the User Story DoD (and maybe into the lower-level Check-In DoD if we decide to use that). We don’t have to move them all down to User Story immediately, but as a team we figure out what we think we’re capable of moving down to the Sprint cycle, and Story cycle immediately, and that becomes our starting DoD’s. Over time the team makes an effort to continue moving activities down from Release->Sprint->Story as they become more agile and more mature. I try to encourage them to envision a world in which they deploy to production as each User Story is completed. They would need to be updating User Manuals, creating installers, doing UAT testing (typical Release cycle activities) on every single User Story. They may never actually reach that point, but they should envision that, and strive to keep driving the activities down closer to the User Story cycle s they mature. This is a great technique to give a team an easy-to-follow roadmap to mature their agile practices over time. Sure there’s other aspects to maturity outside of this, but it’s a great technique, that’s easy to visualize, to drive agility into the team. Just keep moving those activities (aka “gates”) down the board from Release->Sprint->Story. I’ll try to give an example of what a recent client of mine had for their DoD’s (this is from memory, so probably not 100% accurate): Release Create/Update deployment Instructions For Ops Instructional Videos Updated Run manual regression test suite UAT Testing In this case that meant deploying to an environment shared across the enterprise that mirrored production and asking other business groups to test their own apps to ensure we didn’t break anything outside our system Sprint Deploy to UAT Environment But not necessarily actually request UAT testing occur User Guides updated Sprint Features Video Created In this case we decided to create a video each sprint showing off the progress (video version of Sprint Demo) User Story Manual Test scripts developed and run Tested by BA Deployed in shared QA environment Using automated deployment process Peer Code Review Code Check-In Compiled (warning-free) Passes StyleCop Passes FxCop Create installer packages Run Automated Tests Run Automated Integration Tests PS – One of my clients had a great question when we went through this activity. They said that if a Sprint is by definition done when the end-date rolls around (time-boxed), isn’t a DoD on a sprint meaningless – it’s done on the end-date regardless of whether those other activities are complete or not? My answer is that while that statement is true – the sprint is done regardless when the end date rolls around – if the DoD activities haven’t been completed I would consider the Sprint a failure (similar to not completing what was committed/planned – failure may be too strong a word but you get the idea). In the Retrospective that will become an agenda item to discuss and understand why we weren’t able to complete the activities we agreed would need to be completed each Sprint.

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  • PASS: SQLRally Thoughts

    - by Bill Graziano
    The PASS Board recently decided that we wouldn’t put another US-based SQLRally on the calendar until we had a chance to review the program. I wanted to provide some of my thinking around this. Keep in mind that this is the opinion of one Board member. The Board committed to complete two SQLRally events to determine if an event modeled between SQL Saturday and the Summit was viable. We’ve completed the two events and now it’s time to step back and review the program. This is my seventh year on the PASS Board. Over that time people have asked me why PASS does certain things. Many, many times my answer has been “Because that’s the way we did it last year”. And I am tired of giving that answer. We need to take a step back and review the US-based SQLRally before we schedule another one. It would be irresponsible for me as a Board member to commit resources to this without validating that what we’re doing makes sense for the organization and our members. I have no doubt that this was a great event for the attendees. We just need to validate it’s the best use of our resources. Please keep in mind that we haven’t cancelled the event. We’ve just said we need to review it before scheduling another one. My opinion is that some fairly serious changes are needed to the model before we consider it again – IF we do it again. I’ve come to that conclusion after speaking with the Dallas organizers, our HQ team, our Marketing team, other Board members (including one of the Orlando organizers), attendees in Orlando and Dallas and visiting other similar events. I should point out that their views aren’t unanimous on nearly any part of this event -- which is one of the reasons I want to take some time and think about this before continuing. I think it’s helpful to look at the original goals of what we were trying to accomplish. Andy Warren wrote these up in August of 2010. My summary of these goals and some thoughts on each one is below. Many of these thoughts revolve around the growth of SQL Saturdays. In the two years since that document was written these events have grown significantly. The largest SQL Saturdays are now over 500 people which mean they are nearly the same size as our recent SQLRally. Our goals included: Geographic diversity. We wanted an event in an area of the country that was away from any given Summit location. I think that’s still a valid goal. But we also have SQL Saturdays all over the country. What does SQLRally bring to this that SQLSaturday doesn’t? Speaker growth. One of the stated goals was to build a “farm club” for speakers. This gives us a way for speakers to work up to speaking at Summit by speaking in front of larger crowds. What does SQLRally bring to this that the larger SQL Saturdays aren’t providing? Pre-Conference speakers is one obvious answer here. Lower price. On a per-day basis, SQLRally is roughly 1/4th the price of the Summit. We wanted a way for people to experience something Summit-like at a lower price point. The challenge is that we are very budget constrained at that lower price point. International Event Model.  (I need to write more about this but I’m out of time.  I’ll cover it in the next installment.) There are a number of things I really like about SQLRally. I love the smaller conferences. They give me a chance to meet more people than at something the size of Summit. I like the two day format. That gives you two evenings to be at social events with people. Seeing someone a second day is a great way to build a bond with that person. That’s more difficult to do at a SQL Saturday. We also need to talk about the financial aspects of the event. Last year generated a small $17,000 profit on revenues of $200,000. Percentage-wise that’s reasonable but on an absolute basis it’s not a huge amount in our budget. We think this year will lose between $30,000 and $50,000 and take roughly 1,000 hours of HQ time. We don’t have detailed financials back yet but that’s our best guess at this point. Part of that was driven by using a convention center instead of a hotel. Until we get detailed financials back we won’t have the full picture around the financial impact. This event also takes time and mindshare from our Marketing team. This may sound like a small thing but please don’t underestimate it. Our original vision for this was something that would take very little time from our Marketing team and just a few mentions in the Connector. It turned out to need more than that. And all those mentions and emails take up space we could use to talk about other events and other programs. Last I wanted to talk about some of the things I’m thinking about. I don’t think it’s as simple as saying if we just fix “X” it all gets better. Is this that much better of an event than SQL Saturdays? What if we gave a few SQL Saturdays some extra resources? When SQL Saturdays were around 250 people that wasn’t as viable. With some of those events over 500 we need to reconsider this. We need to get back to a hotel venue. That will help with cost and networking. Is this the best use of the 1,000 HQ hours that we invested in the event? Is our price-point correct? I’m leaning toward raising our price closer to Summit on a per-day basis. I think this will let us put on a higher quality event and alleviate much of the budget pressure. Should growing speakers be a focus? Having top-line pre-conference speakers helps market the event. It will also have an impact on pricing and overall profit. We should also ask if it actually does grow speakers. How many of these people will eventually register for Summit? Attend chapters? Is SQLRally a driver into PASS or is it something that chapters, etc. drive people to? Should we have one paid day and one free instead of two paid days? This is a very interesting model that is used by SQLBits in the UK. This gives you the two day aspect as well as offering options for paid and free attendees. I’m very intrigued by this. Should we focus on a topic? Buried in the minutes is a discussion of whether PASS should have a Business Analytics conference separate from Summit. This is an interesting question to consider. Would making SQLRally be focused on a particular topic make it more attractive? Would that even be a SQLRally? Can PASS effectively manage the two events? (FYI - Probably not.) Would it help differentiate it from Summit and SQL Saturday? These are all questions that I think should be asked and answered before we do this event again. And we can’t do that if we don’t take time to have the discussion. I wanted to get this published before I take off for a few days of vacation. When I get back I’d like to write more about why the international events are different and talk about where we go from here.

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  • Join me to register for the Summit

    - by Bill Graziano
    This year the Summit registration opens at 6PM on Sunday at the Seattle convention center.  Last year we had a dozen people hanging out, watching the twitter feed on the big monitor and catching up.  All we really needed was a bar and we’d have our own little party going. So this year I’m adding a bar.  I’ve arranged for a cash bar and some stand up tables.  I’m buying the first round for the first 40 or so people that come by.  Come by, register and say Hi.  I’d especially like to encourage first-time attendees to stop by.  This is a low key way to meet some people that will be at the conference.

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  • Will you share your SQL Server configuration?

    - by Bill Graziano
    I regularly visit client sites and review their SQL Server configurations.  I come across all kinds of strange settings.  I’ve been thinking about a way to aggregate people’s configurations and see what’s common and what’s unique.  I used to do that with polls on SQLTeam.com.  I think we can find out more interesting things if we look at combinations of settings in relation to size and volume. I’ve been working on an application for another project that is similar.  It will be fairly easy to use that code for this.  I can have something up and running in a few days – if people are interested in it.  I admit that I often come up with ideas that just don’t make sense.  This may be one of them.  One of your biggest concerns has be how secure your data is.  My solution is not to store anything identifying.  The instance name and database names can both be “anonymized” and I don’t store the machine name or IP address or anything to do with logins. Some of the questions I’m curious about are: At what size database does the Enterprise Edition become prevalent? Given the total size of the databases how much RAM is common? How many people have multiple data files?  At what size does that become prevalent? How common is database mirroring?  Replication?  Log shipping? How common is full recovery mode?  At what data size does it become prevalent? I think those are all questions that are easy to answer -- with the right data.  The big question is whether or not people will share their SQL Server configurations.  I understand that organizations in regulated or high security environments can’t participate.  But I think that leaves many, many people that can.  Are you willing to share your configuration and learn about others?  I have a simple sign up form here.  It’s actually a mailing list signup that also captures your edition, number of servers and largest database.  The list will only be used for this project.  Is your SQL Server is configured correctly?  Do you wonder what the next step is as your data grows?  Take a second and sign up.

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  • How are Reads Distributed in a Workload

    - by Bill Graziano
    People have uploaded nearly one millions rows of trace data to TraceTune.  That’s enough data to start to look at the results in aggregate.  The first thing I want to look at is logical reads.  This is the easiest metric to identify and fix. When you upload a trace, I rank each statement based on the total number of logical reads.  I also calculate each statement’s percentage of the total logical reads.  I do the same thing for CPU, duration and logical writes.  When you view a statement you can see all the details like this: This single statement consumed 61.4% of the total logical reads on the system while we were tracing it.  I also wanted to see the distribution of reads across statements.  That graph looks like this: On average, the highest ranked statement consumed just under 50% of the reads on the system.  When I tune a system, I’m usually starting in one of two modes: this “piece” is slow or the whole system is slow.  If a given piece (screen, report, query, etc.) is slow you can usually find the specific statements behind it and tune it.  You can make that individual piece faster but you may not affect the whole system. When you’re trying to speed up an entire server you need to identity those queries that are using the most disk resources in aggregate.  Fixing those will make them faster and it will leave more disk throughput for the rest of the queries. Here are some of the things I’ve learned querying this data: The highest ranked query averages just under 50% of the total reads on the system. The top 3 ranked queries average 73% of the total reads on the system. The top 10 ranked queries average 91% of the total reads on the system. Remember these are averages across all the traces that have been uploaded.  And I’m guessing that people mainly upload traces where there are performance problems so your mileage may vary. I also learned that slow queries aren’t the problem.  Before I wrote ClearTrace I used to identify queries by filtering on high logical reads using Profiler.  That picked out individual queries but those rarely ran often enough to put a large load on the system. If you look at the execution count by rank you’d see that the highest ranked queries also have the highest execution counts.  The graph would look very similar to the one above but flatter.  These queries don’t look that bad individually but run so often that they hog the disk capacity. The take away from all this is that you really should be tuning the top 10 queries if you want to make your system faster.  Tuning individually slow queries will help those specific queries but won’t have much impact on the system as a whole.

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