About the Authors
Bradley Ball is a husband and a father. During the work day, he is also a SQL DBA with over 10 years of IT experience. Bradley spent 8 years working as a defense contractor for clients such as the U.S. Army and The Executive Office of the President of the United States. He is currently a Senior Consultant with Pragmatic Works, specializing in DBA and BI solutions. He has presented at many SQL Saturdays, for the MAGICPASS & OPASS SSUGs, SQL Rally 2011 and 2012, DevConnections 2012, and at the PASS Summit in 2011 and 2012. Bradley can be found blogging on http://www.sqlballs.com.
TJay Belt is a professional database administrator and has been developing his expertise over the past eight years. He has been working in IT for over 18 years. He enjoys delivering technical presentations and has presented for Microsoft, Professional Association for SQL Server, SQL Server Worldwide User Group, PASS SQL Saturday events, and local SQL Server user groups. TJay has published technical articles for SQL Server Central, Simple Talk, and SQL-Server-Performance. He is the founder and was the leader of the PASS chapter of the SQL Server user group in Utah County. TJay has volunteered as a chapter leader for PASS, a regional mentor for PASS chapters, and the PASS Chapter Committee. He also was the founder of the Auditing & Compliance Special Interest Group with PASS. TJay currently volunteers as a regional mentor for PASS chapters.
Glenn Berry works as a database architect at Avalara in Parker, Colorado (USA). He has been a SQL Server MVP since 2007 and has a whole collection of Microsoft certifications, including MCITP, MCDBA, MCSE, MCSD, MCAD, and MCTS, which proves that he likes to take tests. His expertise includes DMVs, high availability, hardware selection, full text search, and SQL Azure. He is also an adjunct faculty member at University College at the University of Denver, where has been teaching since 2000. He has completed the Master Teacher Program at University College at the University of Denver. He is heavily involved in the SQL Server community and is a frequent speaker at user groups, SQL Saturdays, and the PASS Community Summit. He is the author of the book SQL Server Hardware (Red Gate Books, 2011), and he wrote chapters for SQL Server MVP Deep Dives (Manning Publications, 2009) and SQL Server MVP Deep Dives Volume 2 (Manning Publications, 2011). Glenn blogs regularly at http://sqlserverperformance.wordpress.com. He is active on Twitter as @GlennAlanBerry.
Jes Borland is a consultant with Brent Ozar PLF and a Microsoft SQL Server MVP. She holds an AAS - Programmer/Analyst degree and loves SQL Server Reporting Services and day-to-day administration. She is an active member of PASS, a user-group founder, a Tech on Tap brewmaster, and a LessThanDot.com blogger. She’s a frequent presenter at user groups, SQL Saturdays, and other community events. She is also an avid runner and novice chef.
Carlos Bossy (MCTS, MCP SQL Server 2008 BI, CBIP) is a consultant with 25 years of experience in software and database development. As the Principal of his company, Carlos focuses on the development of Business Intelligence solutions, including data warehouses, predictive analytics, integration, and reporting. He has worked with SQL Server for 12 years and is very enthusiastic about its powerful features. Carlos has developed data warehouses and BI solutions for a variety of industries and state agencies and is a frequent speaker at SQL Server events.
Louis Davidson has been in the IT industry for what is starting to seem like a really long time as a corporate database developer and architect. He has been a Microsoft MVP for 9 years and has written five books on database design for Apress, including Pro SQL Server 2012 Relational Database Design and Implementation (2012). Louis has been active speaking on the topic of of database design and implementation at many conferences over the past ten years, including SQL PASS, SQL Rally, SQL Saturday events, and CA World, as well as the Devlink developer conference. Louis has worked for the Christian Broadcasting Network as a developer, DBA, and Data Architect supporting offices in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and Nashville, Tennessee for over 14 years. Despite what his website at drsql.org implies, Louis has a bachelor's degree from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in computer science.
Ben DeBow is a consultant who works with customers of all sizes on their mission-critical applications and SQL Server deployments. His versatility allows him to assist with everything from virtualization and consolidation to schema design, performance tuning, and disk architectures. He has tuned and deployed some of the largest and most complex SQL Server solutions in the world. An active member of the SQL Server community, Ben is also an MCDBA, MCSE, and MCITP. He is also the co-founder of SQLHA with Allan Hirt, and can be reached at http://www.sqlha.com.
Grant Fritchey works for Red Gate Software—a market–leading, software-tools vendor—as its product evangelist. He has done development of large-scale applications in languages such as VB, C#, and Java; and he has worked in SQL Server since version 6.0. In addition, he has worked in insurance, finance, and consulting, as well as for three failed dot coms. He is the author of SQL Server Execution Plans (Simple Talk Publishing, 2008) and SQL Server 2012 Query Performance Tuning (Apress, 2012). Grant is a co-author of Beginning SQL Server 2012 Administration (Apress, 2012) and has one chapter in SQL Server MVP Deep Dives Volume 2 (Manning Publications, 2011).
Jonathan Gardner is a senior systems architect, PMP, and MCITP working with Geocent, L.L.C. in New Orleans, Louisiana (USA). He has over 10 years of experience with a wide range of IT solutions, including database administration, virtualization, SAN administration, and Windows Server environments. He writes from his website http://jonathanagardner.com.
Jesper Johansen has been a SQL Server DBA for more than two decades. He is one of the heavy guys in the Danish SQL Server field.
Jesper joined Miracle Five years ago and has since developed efficient techniques for helping customers save time, money, and energy by consolidating their SQL Server installations.
Apart from consolidation, Jesper enjoys the occasional Backup/Restore game, helping customers realize that what they thought was lost can still can be dug out from the belly of SQL Server.
As if the above wasn’t enough to keep Jesper busy, he is also known to take on DB2 tasks from time to time. He is a board member of the Danish SQL Server User Groupe.
Jeremy Lowell is the founder of Data Realized and has been helping DBAs and clients with SQL Server for over a decade. Jeremy has a track record of solving complex issues for small and large enterprises at any point in the life cycle of a business. From startups to Fortune 100 enterprises, Jeremy has been a leader in implementing best practices and helping business leaders realize their data.
Wendy Pastrick (@wendy_dance) is a self-taught database administrator in Chicago, Illinois (USA) since 2000, replicating data across environments using various SQL methods. You can find her at SQL PASS (Professional Association for SQL Server) events, such as SQL Saturday or the annual Summit, either volunteering or presenting, or perhaps singing at an after-event gathering. With a degree in Psychology and previous technical training experience, she has taken the podium across the country at events talking about SQL Server, personal networking, and support for Women In Technology.
Kellyn Pot’vin has more than 15 years of experience in information technology and more than 12 years of experience with Oracle and SQL Server. She specializes in database performance-tuning and the glories of simplifying database management. In recent years, she has been working with large SSD databases and Exadata, taking advantage of the newest technology and performance-tuning features. Kellyn is known for her technical blog, http://dbakevlar.com, and contributions to numerous technical sites. She is on the board of directors for RMOUG (Rocky Mountain Oracle User Group) as the group’s Training Days Director, a yearly conference of almost 1000 attendees. She has performed numerous presentations in the US and abroad at both Oracle and SQLPass User Group conferences. Kellyn lives with her partner, Tim, and her three children in Broomfield, Colorado (USA). Currently, she is honing her technical skills at Enkitec (http://www.enkitec.com) and can be followed on twitter under the tweet handle @DBAKevlar.
Mladen Prajdić is a SQL Server MVP from Slovenia. He started programming in 1999 in Visual C++. Since 2002, he has been actively developing different types of applications in .Net (C#) and SQL Server, ranging from standard line-of-business to image-processing applications.
He graduated from the College of Electrical Engineering at the University of Ljubljana, majoring in Medical Cybernetics. He’s a regular speaker at various conferences and user-group meetings. He blogs at http://weblogs.sqlteam.com/mladenp and has authored various articles about SQL Server. He really likes to optimize slow SQL statements, analyze performance, and find unconventional solutions to difficult SQL Server problems.
In his free time, among other things, he also develops a very popular add-in for SQL Server Management Studio, called SSMS Tools Pack.
Herve Roggero, Windows Azure MVP, is the founder of Blue Syntax Consulting, a company specializing in cloud-computing products and services. Herve’s experience includes software development, architecture, database administration, and senior management, with both global corporations and startup companies. Herve holds multiple certifications, including an MCDBA, MCSE, and MCSD. He also holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Indiana University. Herve is the co-author of PRO SQL Azure (Apress, 2010). For more information, visit http://www.bluesyntax.net.
Chris Shaw started his database career in 1993. He began by working with Lotus during his time in the Marine Corps. Following his time with the Marines, Chris continued working with databases for companies such as Wells Fargo, Pulte Mortgage, and Yellow Pages Inc. He later consulted with insurance companies, including Anthem Blue Shield and Admini Quest. Chris has been writing and speaking about SQL Server for over 15 years at events such as SQL Connections, PASS, and SSWUG Ultimate conferences. Chris was the Conference Director for SSWUG in 2008. Chris received the Microsoft MVP award in 2009, 2010, and 2011, and he just received his fourth MVP award in April 2012. He is the founding member of the Colorado Springs SQL Server User Group and presently is the Co-President. Chris has many featured articles on the SSWUG website, and he was a contributing author for SQL Server 2005 Bible (Wiley, 2006) and SQL Server MVP Deep Dives, Volume 2 (Manning Publications, 2011). Blogs, information, questions, quizzes, and interviews can be found at Chris’ blog site at http://chrisshaw.wordpress.com. He can also be reached on twitter at @SQLShaw or by email at [email protected]
Gail Shaw is a senior consultant with Xpertease, based in Johannesburg, South Africa. She specializes in database performance tuning and database recovery, with a particular focus on topics such as indexing strategies, execution plans, and writing T-SQL code that performs well and scales gracefully.
Gail is a Microsoft Certified Master for SQL Server 2008 and a SQL Server MVP. She is a frequent poster on the SQL Server Central forums, writes articles for both SQLServerCentral and Simple-Talk, and blogs on all things relating to database performance at http://sqlinthewild.co.za. She has spoken at TechEd Africa, at a number of the 24 Hours of PASS web events and, on multiple occasions, at the PASS Community Summit.
Gail is an Aikido Shodan (1st degree black belt) and a keen archer. In her copious spare time, she is pursuing a Master’s degree in Computer Science at the University of South Africa.
Jason Strate is a database architect at Pragmatic Works, with more than 15 years of experience. He has been a recipient of Microsoft’s “Most Valuable Professional” designation for SQL Server since July 2009. His experience includes the design and implementation of both OLTP and OLAP solutions, as well as the assessment and implementation of SQL Server environments for best practices, performance, and high-availability solutions.
Jason is an active member of the SQL Server community. He currently serves as regional mentor for the North Central PASS region, helping community members and chapters connect with each other. In the community, he presents on SQL Server and related topics at local, regional, and national events, including SQL Saturdays and the PASS Summit. He also blogs at http://www.jasonstrate.com and http://www.sqlkaraoke.com, and he can be contacted on twitter as @stratesql.