Friday, February 15, 2008

Introduction, Part 2

I guess it's time I give a little info about myself. I currently working as a consultant for a company in Chicago (my client is based in Nashville). Most of my duties nowadays are DBA tasks, specifically performance tuning Microsoft SQL 2005 databases.

I've been with the same company since January 2000, working for the same client the whole 8 years. I started in an entry level position, mostly writing and maintaining MSAccess 97 reports running against Sybase databases. Right after I started we migrated the databases to SQL 7, keeping Access for the reports.

We're now in the final stages on migrating all the SQL 7 individual servers into 4 regional servers, 2 here in Chicago, 2 in Nashville. In addition to merging the data, we're also upgrading to SQL 2005. It's kind of ironic that we're just finishing up when SQL 2008 is right around the corner!

This last 8 years has been a huge learning experience for me. When I started, I barely knew T-SQL and I had never worked with a true relational database before. But I slowly started getting more involved with SQL, reading everything I could get my hands on, going to user group meetings, attending different seminars, whatever would teach me about SQL. And while most of it was over my head at first, gradually some of it started to sink in. I was able to remember enough to become a MCDBA a few years back. And I recently passed Microsoft's 70-431 exam. So I'm getting there.

But the more I learn the more I realize how much I don't know. Especially in the area of performance tuning. Right now for instance I'm investigating the CMEMTHREAD wait type, something that's starting to affect us. I'll be posting a more detailed explanation when i understand exactly what's going on.

In the meantime, I'm using this blog as a place to clear my head, "talking" a problem through so I understand it better. I'll put up some neat things I learn as I go. I'll try not to be too dry, though I'm definitely not a writer of any sort.

In summary, welcome to SQL Servings!

No comments: