John Morehouse
Principal Consultant
Chesapeake, Virginia, United States
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John Morehouse is a Principal Consultant with Denny Cherry & Associates Consulting living in Chesapeake, Virginia. Honored to be a Microsoft Data Platform MVP & former VMWare vExpert, having over 2 decades of technical experience, John now focuses on solving crucial business problems with Microsoft SQL Server oriented solutions. John has a passion around speaking, teaching technical topics and giving back to his community whenever possible. He is a blogger, avid tweeter, and a frequent speaker at conferences and user groups whenever possible. If you want to find John, you can find him on Twitter (@sqlrus) or on his blog, http://sqlrus.com.
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Bridging the Gap: Essential Azure Skills for SQL Server DBAs
In the evolving landscape of modern data management, the migration to cloud platforms like Azure is becoming increasingly vital for SQL Server Database Administrators. However, this transition demands an increased skill set to ensure data security, optimal performance, and help to minimize costs. In this session, we will explore some essential Azure skills that SQL Server DBAs need to cultivate to better navigate the complexities of cloud deployments successfully.
In this session, we will:
• Enhance your fundamental Azure infrastructure competency
• Expand your expertise to ensure optimal performance & data security
• Increase your skillfulness to help minimize costs.
Whether you're a seasoned DBA or just embarking on your cloud journey, this session promises to equip you with the knowledge and expertise necessary to thrive in the evolving world of cloud-based database administration.
From understanding Azure's infrastructure to leveraging its advanced features for database administration, attendees will gain invaluable insights and practical strategies to bridge the gap between traditional SQL Server environments and the Azure cloud ecosystem.
Azure SQL Database vs. SQL Database in Fabric: Key Differences for Developers and DBAs
Curious about the differences between Azure SQL Database and SQL Database in Fabric? This intro-level session is perfect for developers and DBAs looking to understand the architecture and fundamentals of these two platforms.
In just 60 minutes, you'll:
• Examine the core architecture and compute models of each platform.
• Compare options for scalability, high availability, and disaster recovery.
• Explore the different cost structures between the two solutions.
Whether you’re optimizing an existing solution or planning your next project, this session will help you make informed decisions and maximize the value of these services. Don't miss this opportunity to level up your cloud database knowledge!
Breaking the Mirror: Understanding Microsoft Fabric Database Mirroring
Microsoft Fabric Database Mirroring introduces a new way to connect operational data with analytical insight. By enabling Azure SQL databases to mirror directly into OneLake, organizations can achieve near real-time analytics without complex ETL pipelines or data duplication. This session explores how mirroring works under the hood-covering synchronization, limitiations, and implementations within the Fabric ecosystem. If you're curious how Fabric mirroring works and what that means for your organziation, this is the session for you!
You will -
* Examine how mirroring synchronizes Azure SQL data into OneLake
* Learn how to implement mirroring easily & securely
* Discover limitations and potential gotchas
By understanding how Microsoft Fabric Database Mirroring bridges the gap between OLTP and analytics, you’ll leave prepared to push the boundaries of your SQL data estate and unlock the full potential of your Fabric environment.
Azure SQL Managed Instance: The Evolution of the Next-gen Platform
Azure SQL Managed Instance has come a long way since the early General Purpose (GP) tier, evolving into the powerful Next-gen architecture, designed for higher performance and greater resiliency. This session examines how Microsoft reimagined storage, compute, and memory to address limitations of the GP model. Attendees will gain an understanding of how these advancements shape performability and scalability in an Azure cloud deployment with SQL Managed Instance. If you’ve ever wondered what’s really changed under the hood or when it’s time to move beyond General Purpose, this session is for you.
You will learn:
* The architectural differences between the tiers
* Why performance is improved with Next-gen
* What are the new limitations of the new platform
By understanding how Azure SQL Managed Instance has evolved, you’ll walk away with the insight needed to modernize your environment with ease and confidently plan the next phase of your Azure SQL data platform journey.
Accelerated Database Recovery - A Deep Dive Behind the Magic
We have all heard the stories. Horror story after horror story being regaled from database administrators all over the world of waiting for hours or sometimes days for a rollback operation to complete. DBA's hoping beyond hope that the rollback finishes soon before someone else gets the notion to reboot the server.
With the release of SQL Server 2019, a new talisman was conjured that will save us all from hearing about future horror stories. Accelerated Database Recovery or also known as "ADR". This new mystical feature changes the way transaction rollback performs and will undoubtedly prove invaluable in your arsenals of magical tricks!
In this session, we'll show you the secret behind it!
You will -
• Learn about new components of the transaction log
• Discover the magic behind ADR
• Determine when you wouldn't want to implement it
Don't be the protagonist in a rollback horror story! After all, the time you save might be your own!
Understanding the Magic of Indexes
Microsoft SQL Server is a large data ecosystem with many facets that can affect how your queries perform. Facets like what kind of hardware are you using, how much memory, CPUs. Many of these facets cost money and there are many things about them that can be turned on, tweaked, or implemented to help improve performance. Did you know that you can implement a low-cost solution of proper indexing? Proper indexes can help not only improve query performance but also help save money on hardware! In this session we'll examine the foundation of how indexes work, what the moving parts are and why they are important. We'll examine some real-world examples of where queries were falling short but then were successful with proper indexing. You'll walk away with techniques on how to know where and how to add indexes to help you start to save money!
Optimizing Query Performance in Azure SQL Database
Many think that moving to the cloud will solve all of your poorly performing queries stemming from bad coding practices. If it's done correctly, implementing Azure SQL Database can help with that, kind of, by masking it well, but it only hides it. The best solution is to fix the bad code. However, as we know, sometimes that isn’t an option. In this hour-long session, we will examine several different methods that you can utilize to help bad performance starting with methods to find where bottlenecks are residing. Next, we will evaluate possible ways to fix them through properly configured underlying infrastructure. Lastly, we will interrogate which native SQL Server enhancements that exist within Azure SQL Database that can really help solve ongoing performance issues. You'll leave this session with a solid understanding of how to trouble shoot performance issues in Azure SQL Database and what you might be able to do to help fix them with minimal code changes.
Understanding Modern Data Encryption Offerings for SQL Server
Every second of every day, sixty-eight data records are stolen. Is your data next?
Implementing proper data security is one of the most critical things a data professional can do. There are several ways of implementing data security in today's world. SQL Server comes with several native data encryption methods that you can deploy, including methods that leverage cloud technology. In this session, we will delve into understanding data encryption and how to implement them to help ensure your data stays safe.
You will-
• See how native SQL Server encryption methods work
• Examine incorporating Azure Key Vault into SQL
• Discover how to take advantage of Always Encrypted
You will leave with a clear and concise understanding of implementing modern encryption technology into your SQL Server ecosystem.
Surviving a Disaster in Azure SQL DB & Managed Instance
Even in Azure, you need disaster recovery.
A database is often the heart and soul of any application. The data it contains is the business so ensuring that it is protected against unexpected events should be goal for all IT professionals, even in the cloud. Often organizations will move their databases to Platform as a Service (PaaS) offerings such as Azure SQL Database or Azure SQL Managed Instance without considering how to recover from a disaster.
What happens if you need to restore a database? Can you do a failover? In this session we will examine those exact questions and more to ensure you know how to recover from a disaster for Azure SQL Database as well as Azure SQL Managed Instance.
You will -
• Learn about the different methods for disaster recovery
• See how to configure various options to ensure recoverability
• Determine which solution is a better fit for your organization
You are -
• Wanting to understand how to implement a DR solution for Azure SQL PaaS offerings
• Looking to move to Azure SQL PaaS and want to ensure business continuity
• Verifying it was done right and to see if there's something that was missed
Don't be caught off guard just because things are in the cloud. Let's make sure you know how to recover when catastrophe strikes.
Banishing Slow Queries with SQL Server 2022
Slow queries can be the bane of any data professional's existence. Let's face facts. No one likes it when query performance is abysmal. We continuously strive to tweak things to ensure query execution is as fast as possible. What if we could magically make things faster by pushing a button or two? Now we can.
Originally reborn from SQL Server 2017 Adaptive Query Processing (AQP) to Intelligent Query Processing (IQP) with SQL Server 2019, now SQL Server 2022 continues to bring forth even more enhancements making the query optimizer an efficient learning machine. With this newfound knowledge, SQL Server can generate better-optimized queries with minimal effort.
We will -
See what's new with SQL Server 2022
Examine how IQP works behind the scenes
Discover how easy it is to implement with minimal effort
We all like quick and efficient queries. The faster, the better. Take advantage of these new features in SQL Server 2022 and watch those queries fly.
Data Migration to Azure SQL Made Easy
When you decided to move to any cloud provider, the thought about how to migrate all of your data can seem like a daunting task. Thankfully, it isn't as daunting as you might think thanks to some native tools as well as tools offered by Microsoft. In this session we'll examine these methods and tools that will help you to migrate your data to Azure in a safe, secure, cost effective and successful manner. We will also look how these migrations work when working with three of the Azure data platform products, namely virtual machines, SQL DB, and Managed Instances. By the end of this session you will have gained newfound confidence to help you get your data up into the cloud!
Azure SQL Fundamentals
In today's modern world of the cloud, Azure provides a chance to expand your knowledge and skills for just about anything data related, including SQL Server. We should all jump at this opportunity to learn to avoid being left behind. In this session, we'll cover some fundamental knowledge and terminology of Azure and how easy it is to incorporate Azure into your environment. This newfound knowledge will help propel your career forward into the cloud.
You will:
• Learn about some Azure SQL fundamental concepts
• See various Azure SQL offerings
• Discover hidden pitfalls & ways to help save costs
Don't let this opportunity slip by you. Take your first step into the cloud with Azure SQL and ensure you stay caught up!
Mastering SQL Server's Core: A Deep Dive into Internals
Are you the type who enjoys dismantling gadgets like toasters or alarm clocks to uncover their inner mechanisms? Are you intrigued by the internal operations of SQL Server databases? In this session as we delve into the intricate workings of a SQL Server database, peeling back the layers to reveal its secrets.
We will-
• Examine how rows are physically structured
• Explore the role of pages and extents
• Discover why database design matters
If you've ever been curious about how SQL Server works at its core level, this is the session for you. You will better understand how SQL Server stores data, allowing you to build better and faster databases.
Enforcing Data Integrity using Ledger
Validate everything. Trust nobody.
If you have ever worked in a field requiring absolute trust in the data, this should be familiar. In today's world, trust in the data is paramount, yet it can be challenging to achieve in SQL Server databases. With the release of Azure SQL Database Ledger in 2019, it has all changed, thanks to blockchain. With the introduction of blockchain into Azure databases and immutable Azure blob storage, we can now digitally certify the data to ensure its integrity.
Furthermore, SQL Server 2022 helps facilitate ongoing defense against bad actors by providing this incredible feature in the complete installation of SQL Server. In the cloud or on land, you can guarantee data integrity.
Integrity equals trust. Trust equals security.
You will learn -
• What blockchain is at a high level
• How to configure a Ledger database
• About the limitations
If you need to ensure data trustworthiness, Ledger might be your solution.
Thwarting Disaster for SQL Server on Azure VM
Failing to plan is planning to fail.
Azure offers a robust ecosystem where you can run SQL Server pretty effortlessly. Yet, disasters affect data centers, even ones belonging to Microsoft. Natural events, like tornadoes or hurricanes, can cause entire data centers to be lost. Even human error, like a heavy equipment operator cutting the power to a data center by mistake, can only cause an entire outage if you do not take steps to protect it.
Several options are available to ensure disaster recovery when running SQL Server on an Azure Virtual Machine. Sometimes it can be challenging to determine which option is the best for your use case and fit into your organization's grand scheme. In this session, we'll walk through some available options so that you can see first-hand the benefits and pitfalls of each one.
You will -
• Learn about the various options available for your Azure VM running SQL Server
• See where shortcomings may exist in each solution
• Leave with a solid idea of what would work best for your environment
Disaster recovery is vital in Azure. Let's ensure you've everything in place to recover successfully, regardless of what comes your way.
Top 5 Reasons to Move to SQL Server 2022
Why should we upgrade SQL Server?
This is a common question that gets asked often. Let's face it, you have most likely read that this new version of SQL Server is an absolute game changer in a multitude of areas including performance, security, scalability, and manageability. So, in this presentation, we will examine my top 5 reasons organizations should evaluate moving to SQL Server 2022 sooner rather than later.
We will -
* Dive into a brief overview of what's new with SQL Server 2022
* Check out new cool management features
* Discover new performance enhancements
We could spend days investigating all the new things, but instead, we'll cut to the chase and talk about a few that just might help convince management to make the leap!
Exploring Optimized Locking in Azure SQL Database
When updating data in SQL Server, operators run the gambit of incurring issues if not done correctly. Sometimes, they manifested as lock escalation, the dreaded blocking, disastrous deadlocks, or poor performance. With the release of Optimized Locking in Azure SQL Database, issues are mitigated while helping to enhance performance and transactional concurrency.
In this session, we'll embark on a journey into this new capability, designed to revolutionize concurrency control and improve transaction throughput. We'll examine the underlying mechanism while providing insights into its architecture, implementation, and best practices for maximizing performance.
You will -
• Learn how optimized locking works
• Discover what it requires to function
• Some Gotchas to be aware of
Whether you're a seasoned database professional or a curious developer, this session offers a more profound understanding of the new Azure SQL Database's optimized locking feature.
Vectors in Azure SQL Database: Bringing AI to Your Data
Microsoft recently introduced native vector support in Azure SQL Database, opening exciting new possibilities for integrating AI, machine learning, and advanced analytics directly into your database. This introduction session is perfect for developers and DBAs who want to understand how vectors can enhance their workloads and make AI more accessible.
We’ll cover:
• What vectors and embeddings and why they are important.
• Demonstrate how to easily integrate OpenAI with your data.
• Utilizing the native T-SQL language to interrogate your data through AI.
Through simple explanations and live demos, we’ll explore how this new feature can help you build smarter applications without leaving the SQL Server ecosystem. Join me to see how vectors in Azure SQL Database can help bring AI to your data!
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