PASS Community Summit 2008: Pre-Conference Seminar

Upgrading to SQL Server 2008 in complex environments

Led by Rebecca Laszlo, Principal Program Manager, Microsoft SQL Server Release Services, Microsoft Corp.
Joe Yong, Chief Architect for Scalability Experts
Derek Comingore, Senior BI Consultant, Scalability Experts
Don Vilen, Principal Architect, Scalability Experts
Tuesday November 18, 2008

Seminar Details

This class is for IT Pros who need to go beyond the basics in their knowledge of how to upgrade SQL Server-based systems to SQL Server 2008. Upgrades go far beyond running the Setup or Upgrade Wizards. A lot of this class presents good basic common sense, but most of the material is consolidated from hard-to-find sources or is new material never before gathered. We'll start the day teaching proven upgrade methodologies that provide a high degree of confidence in a successful outcome. We'll describe when and why to use certain tools at each step. We'll cover the development and client environment by describing Visual Studio and Data Programmability upgrade considerations. We'll cover BI Component considerations (SSAS, SSRS, SSIS including DTS). We'll review post-Upgrade monitoring best practices. Then we'll end the day going deep into some of your best options for minimizing downtime during an upgrade, both for the typical departmental system *and* the highly customized mission critical/HA type of system. We'll even touch upon some lessons learned regarding cluster upgrades based on real customer environments.

Prerequisite knowledge:

To get the most from the session, the participant already possesses a basic knowledge of operations and test environments, and has installed and upgraded multiple SQL Server 2000 or 2005 Instances.

Seminar Leader Profile: Rebecca Laszlo, Joe Yong, Derek Comingore and Don Vilen

Rebecca Laszlo (Rebecca.Laszlo@microsoft.com) is Principal Program Manager in the SQL Server Release Services team, primarily responsible for the Upgradability of SQL Server releases. Upgradability is defined as the degree to which existing applications based upon one or more SQL Server component continue to work after the SQL Server instance and/or shared components are upgraded to a new major release. Previously Rebecca led the regional program management team for SQL Server 2008, HR/Staffing systems solutions line of business application work at Microsoft, and customer programs for SQL Server 7.0 and SQL Server 2000. Rebecca served on the PASS Board of Directors 2002-2004.






Joe Yong (jyong@scalabilityexperts.com) is Chief Architect for Scalability Experts. He is responsible for technical leadership in delivery of services to strategic customers, building new offerings, and transforming existing offerings to meet customers’ needs around scalability, availability, consolidation, security and migration. He is also the lead architect for the design and development for content, methodology and tools for the SQL Server 2008 Upgrade and Application Compatibility Testing program. Having cut his database teeth on Oracle, Joe then spent almost a decade working for Microsoft, both with the SQL Server product group in Redmond and out in the field with customers and partners designing, deploying and managing large database systems. Some of the projects Joe has worked on include airport security systems, government HR systems, even a scoring & analysis system for a PGA tournament. Joe is also a regular speaker at various US and International conferences/seminars including TechEd, PASS, SSUG and has published articles for both SQL Server and Oracle.


Derek Comingore (http://weblogs.sqlteam.com/derekc/) is a senior BI consultant with Scalability Experts, providing BI consulting and focusing on both Microsoft Enterprise Cube and SQL Server 2008 BI components. He’s a SQL Server MVP and holds several Microsoft certifications.








Don Vilen (dvilen@scalabilityexperts.com): Prior to becoming Principal Architect at Scalability Experts in November 2007, Don was on the SQL Server team in Redmond, with nearly thirteen years of SQL Server experience at Microsoft. For six years Don was a Program Manager on the Storage Engine component of SQL Server, focusing on high availability and the storage of large objects. For the preceding four years Don created and delivered training for Microsoft's SQL Server support engineers around the world. Prior to joining Microsoft Don was on the computer science faculty at a California university and was also the Vice President of Software Development for a software company.





Register Now for PASS Community Summit 2008 and this pre-conference seminar!