As I sat there, I ended up reflecting back on 2025. I found myself gravitating to these three questions:

• What went well this year?
• What did I learn?
• What should I focus on next year?

If you’re a leader, I’m guessing you rarely get this kind of thinking time during your workday. I know I don’t. Our calendars are packed with calls, team meetings, and those “quick questions” that turn into two-hour troubleshooting sessions.

But here’s what I’ve learned: the quality of your strategic decisions is directly tied to the quality of your thinking time.

And thinking time doesn’t happen by accident. You have to protect it.

What Went Well This Year?

When I asked myself this question, I didn’t think about our biggest projects or flashiest achievements. I didn’t think about when we migrated almost 2,000 databases as part of an upgrade project. Or the performance tuning we did that resulted in a $36,000 reduction in annual Azure spend for a client.

Instead, I thought about the relationships we strengthened. The trust we built with clients. The problems we solved before they became crises.

For you, this might look like:

• The audit that went smoothly because your security documentation was solid
• The successful disaster recovery test that was possible because you kept refining the process
• The team member you mentored who’s now ready for more responsibility
• The support resources you provided your team through a trusted partner

These aren’t always the things that make it into board reports. But they’re the foundation that everything else is built on.

What Did I Learn?

This year reminded me of something Eisenhower once said: “Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.”

The need for planning cannot be overstated. It’s critical. Even if the plan doesn’t always work out the way you intended.

The plan itself wasn’t the point. The thinking I did while creating the plan was the point.

Because I’d thought through our capacity, our ideal client profile, and our service delivery model, I could adjust quickly when reality didn’t match my spreadsheet. I knew which opportunities were a good fit for us and which ones to let go. Because we’ve intentionally built a small but incredibly talented team that genuinely wants to see our clients succeed, we were able to identify and create ways to help them.

I watched the same dynamic play out with clients. The institutions that had documented their SQL Server environments, tested their disaster recovery plans, and mapped their compliance requirements adapted quickly when needed. They were positioned for success even when the unexpected happened.

Planning isn’t about predicting the future. It’s about building the muscle memory to respond when the future surprises you.

What did you learn this year about planning and adapting? Maybe it was:

• That your three-year technology roadmap needs quarterly reviews, not just annual ones
• That the disaster recovery plan sitting in a SharePoint folder isn’t the same as a tested DR plan
• That “we’ll address that next quarter” eventually becomes “why didn’t we address this sooner?”
• That having an expert on call beats having a plan to find an expert when something breaks

These lessons matter. Write them down. They’re not just hindsight—they’re your blueprint for better decisions ahead.

What Should I Focus On Next Year?

For me, the answer was clear: I need to help more financial institutions and healthcare organizations understand that they have options. Most CIOs think they have two choices for database management: hire a full-time DBA (expensive and hard to find) or make do with whoever can “figure it out” (risky and unsustainable).

There’s a third option: fractional DBA services that give you expert oversight without the full-time price tag.

For you, your focus might be different. Maybe it’s:

• Finally getting your SQL Server environment documented and audit-ready
• Building a disaster recovery plan that you’ve actually tested
• Move a little further along the SQL Server Maturity Curve
• Finding a partner who understands banking compliance, not just databases

Whatever it is, the key is to actually choose something. Not everything. Something. And move toward it. Make progress.

The Power of Quiet Reflection

Here’s the thing about those early Saturday morning moments: they’re rare. And precious.

During the week, we’re in execution mode. We’re responding, reacting, solving, and fixing. That’s necessary work. But it’s not strategic work.

Strategic work requires space. It requires stepping back from the urgent to focus on the important.

So, here’s my challenge to you as we wind down 2025 and usher in the new year:

Block Off Time Just to Think, Then Protect It

Maybe it’s Saturday mornings before your family wakes up. Maybe it’s a long walk at lunch. Maybe it’s 90 minutes with your calendar blocked and your office door closed.

Whatever it is, protect it. The decisions you make during that quiet time about where to focus, what risks to address, and which partnerships to invest in will help shape your entire year.

Your Turn

As you think about the year ahead, I’d encourage you to ask yourself those three questions:

1. What went well this year? Celebrate it. Learn from it.
2. What did I learn? Write it down. It’s wisdom you paid for.
3. What should I focus on next year? Pick one or two things. Not everything.

And if one of those focus areas is “finally get our SQL Server environment to a place where I’m confident, not just hopeful,” let’s talk. That’s exactly what we help institutions do.

If you’re a CIO wondering whether your SQL Server environment is as healthy and secure as it should be, I’d be happy to have a conversation. No sales pitch. Just two people talking candidly about database management. Schedule a time here.

The post Why Quiet Reflection Leads to Better IT Strategy Decisions appeared first on The SERO Group.

The gift of SQLSaturday

If you’ve been around SQL Server very long, you know just how wonderful the SQL Server community is. People around the world regularly and selflessly share what they’ve learned to help someone else. They share online in blog posts and YouTube videos. They answer questions on Microsoft forums, on Twitter, and on SQLServerCentral.com. And they speak at user groups and other meetups.

And for years, SQLSaturdays have played an integral role in the community, providing local venues where SQL professionals could gather together to learn, to share, and to connect.

The SQLSaturday founders, Steve Jones, Brian Knight, and Andy Warren, gifted the brand to PASS years ago. (This is an example of the goodness that is the SQL Community.) When the gift was made, I served on the PASS Board of Directors, and no one could have predicted then what was to happen.

In January 2021, PASS ceased operations after more than 20 years. (See Has PASS Outlived Its Purpose? for some background.) So, SQLSaturdays came to a screeching halt. And the future of SQLSaturdays became uncertain.

Uncertain, that is, until Redgate stepped in.

What’s next for SQLSaturdays

Redgate is widely recognized as a corporate member of the SQLFamily. The company sponsors events, provides speakers, and even hosts community platforms.

Earlier this year, Redgate acquired PASS’ assets, including SQLSaturday. They are donating the SQLSaturday brand to a non-profit foundation.

So it seems fitting that Steve Jones, now member of the Redgate team, has been tasked with launching the non-profit. Creating a board of directors to oversee the non-profit’s operations and management is one of his first priorities. In Rebuilding SQL Saturday–Picking a Board of Directors, Steve shares his thoughts and vision for the future of SQLSaturday.

If you’re interested in helping Steve rebuild SQLSaturday, please consider volunteering. His blog post has the information you’ll need.

Ours is a giving community. And I feel fortunate to be a part of it.

Want to work with The Sero Group?

Want to learn more about how SERO Group helps organizations take the guesswork out of managing their SQL Servers? It’s easy and there is no obligation. 

Schedule a call with us to get started.

The post The Future of SQLSaturday appeared first on The SERO Group.

Goals for your SQL Servers

Although every environment is unique and each business has its own set of important measures for success, here are five goals for your SQL Servers to consider as you plan the coming months. These goals are designed to help build a robust and responsive data infrastructure to support your organization.

1. Assess your SQL Servers
2. Update your SQL Servers
3. Start performing health checks
4. Implement monitoring and alerting 
5. Review your Disaster Recovery plans

Goal 1: Assess your SQL Servers

Whether you’re responsible for one SQL Server sitting in a server room next to you or hundreds of SQL Servers spread around the world, it can be difficult to keep up with the exact configuration of each SQL Server. This is especially true if you’re time is split. For example, when you’re a network administrator, web developer, or systems admin who is also tasked with taking care of the SQL Servers in your spare time.

Uncertainty about the patch level, configuration, and health of each or your SQL Servers creates stress and unease. Doubts creep in.

Do any of these internal dialogs sound familiar? 

• Are the SQL Servers behind on patching? Probably, I’m not sure, but they are working, right? (See Is There an Update for My SQL Server?)
• Are the SQL Servers configured optimally? Probably not. I’ve been meaning to do some research and check. But at least no one is complaining right now. And no new is good news? (See Is My SQL Server Configured Properly?)
• Are the databases healthy? I remember setting up some maintenance jobs a while back, I think. If they weren’t healthy, I’m pretty sure I’d know. 
• We pay a maintenance fee to the application vender. Does that include applying SQL Server updates? I’m not sure.
• Ok, I really should have a look, but ugh, when? 

Now is that time. The new year brings with it an opportunity to examine each of your production SQL Servers to see if they are configured optimally.

So what should you check?

Examine the log files, the configuration settings, the maintenance jobs, the performance DMVs, and patch level of each of your critical servers. Do you have the right number of tempdb files? Do you have any unneeded services running? Are there an excessive number of waits being reported? Are you still using the default values for MAXDOP and Cost Threshold for Parallelism? Etc?

Look for areas of concern, and there will likely be some, and prioritize resolving them. 

Not sure where to start? We can help – Getting Started with a SQL Server Assessment.

Goal 2: Update your SQL Servers 

Once you’ve assessed your SQL Servers, you know your starting point. You know the overall health of each instance. Next, make a plan to address or remediate the instances as needed. 

Start with the most important servers first and attack the Priority 1 issues as soon as you can. The P1 issues are those items that are of grave concern due to security and data integrity, recoverability, and availability. 

“As soon as you can” will mean different things to different organizations. Some environments allow minor changes and patches directly to production servers during off hours. For example, want to apply the latest CU? “Sure. Anytime after 7:00 PM Thursday will be fine.” 

Other businesses have a more standardized process in place. Make a remediation plan; confirm with application venders; present the plan to the Change Control Committee for review, deconflicting, and sequencing; apply the changes to a lower level environment; confirm with the QA team that the changes didn’t introduce ill effects; add the patch to the list for the next quarterly patching window, etc. 

Whatever your approach, get the process started. 

Goal 3: Start performing health checks

You’ve assessed and remediated your SQL Servers. Now, let’s ensure that the environment remains up to date and in good health. Make a plan to check on your SQL Servers regularly.

We recommend Daily Health Checks for your SQL Servers. (That’s what we do for our DBA as a Service customers.)

Create a checklist to review each day. Some things we like to check are: 

• Review the SQL Server and Windows log files for errors, unexpected restarts, excessive failed login attempts, and other warnings that could indicate potential issues.
• Check the history for each scheduled SQL Agent job to ensure none have failed. 
• Examine the size and growth of each data and log file to check for anomalies in growth. 
• Verify that each SQL Server is up to date on patches.

Goal 4: Implement monitoring and alerting 

Proactively checking the status of each of your SQL Servers is helpful. But there may be occasions in between the health checks when the SQL Server experiences difficulties. When that happens, it’s really nice to know that before your users and your boss becomes aware. 

It’s best to identify and resolve an issue before anyone else notices. However, the next best thing is to be able to answer a call with “Yeah, I know and I’m working on it,” rather than “Really? When did this start? Tell me the server again.” 

To get to that point, you’ll want to ensure that all SQL Servers are configured with Database Mail, and that standard alerts are created. We recommend creating alerts for all errors with a Severity level 16 or above, along with errors 823, 824, and 825. There may be other alerts you’ll want to create in your environment as well. 

Additionally you’ll want to ensure that all jobs are configured to notify you upon failure. Make sure to enable the Fail Safe Operator, too. You never know when msdb will have an issue.

Often there are other events inside of SQL Server that you’ll want to know about when they happen. Maybe it’s Disk I/O latencies? Or the occurrence of deadlocks? Or perhaps it’s an excessive number of recompiles? 

That’s when a more advanced monitoring solutions can help. We’ve used most of them in our customer environments and all add value over what you can do solely in SQL Server. Our preference is SentryOne’s SQLSentry. It’s well designed and very helpful.

Whichever you choose, install it, configure it, tune it, and then actually use it.

Too often, we see environments where a monitoring tool was purchased and even installed, but ignored because no one had the time to figure it out. There were too many warnings so the team began ignoring or disabling them. 

Goal 5: Review your Disaster Recovery plans 

Despite all of your efforts to create and keep a healthy system, bad things can still happen. 

Hardware can fail. Databases can corrupt. Users can delete data. Not to mention other issues like ransomware hitting your network, tornados hitting your data center, or any of the other things a year like 2020 can throw at us. (See Protect Your SQL Server from MrbMiner and Other Malware Attacks)

We live in a world where the ability to recover from the unexpected is, well, to be expected.

So, now is a great time to review your High Availability and Disaster Recovery plans. 

• Work with your business stakeholders to understand their expectations. What is their Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) and Recover Point Objectives (RPO)?
• Brainstorm ways to accomplish your objectives. Should you consider Failover Clustered Instances? Or maybe other HA/DR options? 
• Create a cadence to test your SQL Server backups. Restore selected database backups to a test system and run an integrity check on the restored database periodically. Schedule it on your calendar.
• Document your processes. Record the steps and all the information you’ll need, including contact names and numbers, that will be important should an event requiring a recovery become necessary. 
• Schedule DR tests. There is nothing more insightful than actually going the process over a weekend. It will reveal shortcomings and gaps in your plans or documentation. Refine your plans and test again a few months later.

Want to work with The Sero Group?

Want to learn more about how SERO Group helps organizations take the guesswork out of managing their SQL Servers? It’s easy and there is no obligation. 

Schedule a call with us to get started.

The post Five Goals for Your SQL Servers in the New Year appeared first on The SERO Group.

In highly secure environments (and what environment shouldn’t be classified as highly secure these days?) all of these permissions can create headaches for auditors, CISOs, and even DBAs.

That’s not good. Yet, it’s not uncommon for individual users to own specific and important databases. In fact, this is one of the common findings we uncover during our SQL Health Checks for customers.

Who Owns Your SQL Server Database?

So how do individual users end up becoming SQL Server database owners?

Take, for example, the Chief Marketing Officer who authorizes her team to build a database to track their activities. Over time, the database grows and becomes more important. Eventually the team doesn’t want to “own” the responsibility for it any longer so it’s handed over to the DBA team for updates, maintenance, backups, HA/DR planning, licensing, etc. Except, no one really thought about the database owner during the transfer. So the power user that created the database still owns it, even though he doesn’t work on the CMO’s team any longer.

So, how can you tell if this may have happened in your environment? Or put another way, how can you tell who the database owner is for a database? Let’s look at three ways.

Find the database owner using Database Properties

One of the easiest ways to determine the database owner is to view its properties. Using either SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) or Azure Data Studio (ADS) drill down to the database, right click on it, and select Properties to open the following window. Under the Database heading, you’ll see its owner.

In this example, the BaseballData database is owned by the Joe login.

Pretty simple for a single database, but very cumbersome for a few dozen or a few hundred databases spread across dozens of SQL Servers. So let’s look at two programmatic ways to check the database owner.

Find the database owner using T-SQL

Using your SQL Server query tool of choice, SSMS or ADS, run the following T-SQL query to see the owner for every database attached to this instance of SQL Server.

 SELECT name, 
        suser_sname( owner_sid ) AS DBOwnerName
 FROM master.sys.databases;

Or, if you prefer, you can limit the results to show only those databases not owned by a specific user, such as sa.

 SELECT name, 
        suser_sname( owner_sid ) AS DBOwnerName
 FROM master.sys.databases
 WHERE suser_sname( owner_sid ) != 'sa';

In my example, I’d get the following results in an ADS window.

Find the database owner using PowerShell and dbatools.io

For fans of PowerShell and dbatools, the Get-DbaDatabase command can be used to determine the database owner. In the code below I pipe the results to a Where-Object to show only those databases not owned by sa. For readability, I pass the results through Format-Table.

Get-DbaDatabase -SqlInstance localhost -SqlCredential sa | Where-Object {$_.Owner -ne "sa"} | Format-Table -Property Name, Owner 

Who Should Own Your Database

Now that you know who your SQL Server database owners are, the next question is: who should own your databases?

There are differing thoughts on this. Some advocate creating a specific disabled account to own all databases. Others contend that sa should own the databases. Still others opt for other approaches.

We recommend having sa own all databases. It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s consistent, clear, and meets the company and compliance needs in most cases.

How to Change Who Owns Your Database

Once you’ve decided who the SQL Server database owner should be and you’ve identified those databases not owned by that account, let’s look at a couple of ways you can change to database owner.

Change the database owner using T-SQL

To change database owner, use the ALTER AUTHORIZATION command. In the following example, I’m changing the owner of the BaseballData database to sa. If needed, you can script this out for every database on the server that isn’t already owned by sa.

ALTER AUTHORIZATION ON DATABASE::BaseballData TO sa;

Change the database owner using PowerShell and dbatools.io

You can also use the Set-DbaDbOwner command of dbatools.io to do this. In the following command, I’m setting the owner of the BaseballData database to the command default sa.

Set-DbaDbOwner -SqlInstance localhost -SqlCredential sa -Database BaseballData

If I don’t want to use the sa account as the database owner, I can specify who the owner should be using the TargetLogin parameter as shown below.

Set-DbaDbOwner -SqlInstance localhost -SqlCredential sa -Database BaseballData -TargetLogin disabled_login_with_complex_pwd

Or, I can broaden the scope to include all databases on the specified instance by omitting the Database parameter, as shown below.

Set-DbaDbOwner -SqlInstance localhost -SqlCredential sa 

Want to work with The Sero Group?

Want to learn more about how SERO Group helps organizations take the guesswork out of managing their SQL Servers? It’s easy and there is no obligation. 

Schedule a call with us to get started.

Download our free “SQL Server Configuration: 5 Common Issues That May Be Putting Your Data at Risk” PDF and discover some commonly overlooked SQL Server settings that can have dramatic effects on your server’s performance and reliability.

The post Who’s the SQL Server Database Owner and How Can You Change It? appeared first on The SERO Group.

You also need to be able to recover from an unexpected disaster quickly. Whether due to corruption, theft, or a natural disaster, you need to be able to recover the data and database systems quickly. (A process that should be clearly documented and periodically practiced.)

The last thing you want is for your business to grind to a halt while the IT team attempts to figure out what happened and how to respond. Your customers will be waiting while your employees are idled despite wanting to do their jobs. Running a database system without considering HADR is like walking a tightrope without a net.

The Cost of Unplanned Downtime

Unplanned downtime costs companies an average of $5,600 per minute according to a 2014 Gartner study. A more recent 2016 study from the Ponemon Institute put the figure at $8,850 per minute. That’s over a half million dollars an hour of lost revenue, decreased productivity, and incident response costs. Other studies suggest that many unplanned outages involved database servers. Ouch!

So, it goes without saying that good HADR is important, but it’s not a replacement for performing Daily Health Checks and actively monitoring the SQL Server to ensure their health. 

4 High Availability and Disaster Recovery Options in SQL Server

Although High Availability and Disaster Recovery is a much broader topic than the database servers, the following SQL Server options should be considered as part of the larger discussion.

1. SQL Backup and Restore

Database and log backups are the foundation of any HADR implementation. It’s the basic blocking and tackling of any database implementation. Every SQL Server should be backed up periodically in addition to any other HADR solutions you may have implemented.

We recommended using native SQL Server backups. Of course, to recover from a catastrophic failure, you’ll have to (re)create a new SQL Server system to restore the backups. Taking frequent snapshots of the virtual server can help with the system recovery but those are no substitute for true database backups.

Backing up is important. But it’s really the ability to restore that important. Periodically restore selected databases to another system and run integrity checks on those databases. Document the process so that in a true disaster recovery scenario, you’ll have a proven protocol.

2. Logshipping in SQL Server

Log shipping leverages the native SQL Server log backup processes and creates a more controlled and automated recovery story. By automatically sending transaction log backups to a secondary SQL Server instance, you’ll have a standby server available with as little as a few minutes of lost data. That’s good news.

Should a disaster strike, client applications and other systems will have to be adjusted to point to the new SQL Server instance. This typically requires manual intervention and will not be seamless for the end users. They’ll know that a failure has occurred, however, recovery times are typically faster and the recovery points more granular than with an ordinary backup approach.

3. Failover Clustered Instances (FCIs)

Failover Clustered Instances takes your HADR game up several levels. Leveraging Windows Server Failover Clusters (WSFC), a single instance of SQL Server can be installed across multiple WSFC nodes. Should one of the nodes experience a hardware or software failure, key services such as SQL Server, are automatically shifted to another node.

With FCIs, SQL Server appears to client applications as one instance running on one Windows Server. Since services are automatically shifted to another node during an unexpected failure or planned maintenance cycle, client applications are automatically redirected to the active node. They typically do not notice any disruption in service.

The FCI is online as long as its underlying WSFC cluster is in good quorum health. This instance level redundancy provides substantially reduced potential for noticeable downtime for clients.

4. Availability Groups (AGs)

With Always On Availability Groups, transaction logs are synchronized from the primary replica to one or more secondary replicas. Should the primary replica become unavailable, either due to a failure or scheduled maintenance, a secondary replica transitions to the primary role. Clients, which connect to a listener, are unaware of any changes to the actual location of the primary replica.

Availability Groups further decrease the likelihood of a noticeably disruptive event.

Looking for Additional HADR Information?

Of course, this is a high-level overview of some options for High Availability and Disaster Recovery options in SQL Server. There are many other factors to consider as well, including backup methodologies, cloud strategies, and virtualization techniques. You can even implement Distributed Availability Groups or Failover Clustered Instances across multiple subnets. These are topics for another post.

Additionally, you’ll need to fully understand the business requirements of your stakeholders for Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) and Recovery Time Objectives (RTO). The approaches mentioned here obviously come with varying levels of RTO and RPO capabilities and with different licensing price points.

If you’re looking for additional information, check out Microsoft’s Business Continuity and Database Recovery on SQL Docs. Additionally Luke Campbell (@luke7621) has a series on Creating Failover Clustered Instances in Azure.

Want to work with The Sero Group?

Want to learn more about how SERO Group helps organizations take the guesswork out of managing their SQL Servers? It’s easy and there is no obligation. 

Schedule a call with us to get started.

The post High Availability and Disaster Recovery in SQL Server appeared first on The SERO Group.

To help answer that question, I went to the PASS website to look for its mission statement. I couldn’t find it in the dropdown menus. I searched the site. No results found.

That’s disappointing.

And perhaps it explains why the organization is struggling as it is now.

The Mission of PASS

I served on the PASS Board of Directors from January of 2001 through December of 2007. I poured my heart and soul, not to mention thousands of volunteer hours, into the organization. I served in many capacities, including Executive Vice President of Finance, during some very trying times. In fact, I was in the EVP role when we decided the relationship with the former management company was unsalvageable and we needed to move in a different direction. But that’s another story.

Thinking back, I’m struggling to remember the official Mission Statement we had back then. I’m certain we had one.

But I remember well what my mission was. I know exactly why I served.

I served in appreciation for those who had gone before me in the SQL community, who had given freely of themselves so that I, and many others like me, could benefit from their experiences.

I served to create a place where we could connect with fellow SQL Server professionals and improve our craft.

I served to pay it forward to the up-and-coming SQL professionals who would undoubtedly surpass all I could do. I wanted to do for them what others had done for me.

I was but a small part of much larger effort. My role was tiny compared to those I served along side – both on the board and other volunteers. And that’s not false humility on my part. At times, I really was in over my head. But the team I served with was strong and we carried each other when needed.

Although I don’t want to speak for them, I suspect they served for the same reasons I did.

Connect. Share. Learn.

The reasons that I served those many years ago still exist today. I believe there are seasoned SQL Server veterans who still want to connect with those following in their footsteps. I believe that good data professionals still want to share with other good data professionals to sharpen their skills. And I believe still that our SQLFamily actively wants to help the next generation learn.

Connect. Share. Learn.

I did see that on the PASS website. Connect. Share. Learn.

That’s the closest thing that I could find on the PASS website that could be counted as a Mission Statement. I think those three words encapsulate why SQL professionals from around the globe are PASS members. Imagine, hundreds of thousands of people worldwide with a shared heart for the SQL Server community.

So, if we run with that. PASS has not outlived its usefulness or its purpose.

Are there other places to connect? Other places to share? To learn?

Absolutely. PASS has never had a monopoly on those things. It wouldn’t be healthy for the SQL Community if PASS did. But that doesn’t mean the community isn’t better for the organization’s efforts and presence.

I know I have benefited personally and professionally. The knowledge I’ve gained. The relationships I’ve made. The friendships that I cherish. I’ve certainly benefited from PASS.

An Organization on Life Support

But now, PASS is in dire straits. I don’t believe that’s been officially communicated, but we all know it’s true.

The pandemic has exposed and amplified every weakness in PASS’ operations and structure. From its complete dependence on in-person events for revenue to the way it relies on a for-profit company for senior leadership and staffing, every aspect of PASS that could be a liability has become a massive, potentially devastating death nail for the organization.

That grieves me.

I wish PASS was not in this predicament. I wish decisions had been made differently over the past 10 years. I wish there was a better revenue model. I wish there was a different arrangement with the management company. And, I wish the Board of Directors had a trusted advisor, one with sound business acumen, that could provide unbiased advice.

I don’t mean to cast stones. That’s not the point here.

I’m not second guessing any specific decisions or arrangements. Now is not the time for that. That time will come.

I hope.

But it’s not guaranteed.

Helping PASS

Let’s face it. Without support from the SQL Community that it helped nurture, PASS may not exist in 6 to 12 months.

It may not survive.

If you’ re like me, you don’t want to see that happen. You’d like for PASS to be around next year, and the year after that. Maybe not in its current form. Maybe not without significant changes. But at least still be around.

So, how can we help? How can we give back to an organization that’s benefited our careers and enriched our friendships? A few ways come to mind.

First, register for the PASS Virtual Summit. It’s 100% online so there are no travel costs. It’s reasonably priced, currently 599 USD for the 3-day event and 399 USD for a pre-conference seminar. Or you can opt for the bundle which provides 5 full days of training for 999 USD. That’s 200 USD per day, and you can access the content for 12 months.

Second consider buying a PASS Pro Membership. I know. You get almost nothing for that membership. It was a kneejerk reaction to try to bring in a bit of revenue. That’s OK. Just consider your PASS Pro Membership a vehicle to donate approximately 100 USD to an organization you support in principle.

Third, assuming PASS comes through this, scathed or not, consider running for the Board of Directors. Be the change you’d like to see. Applications are open until 9 October, 2020.

Objections

But wouldn’t giving money to PASS simply enable them to continue making bad decisions, decisions that I disagree with? Wouldn’t the money just go into the pockets of the for-profit the management company, C&C? Isn’t supporting PASS now the same as endorsing every decision they’ve made to this point? Besides, haven’t they lost their way and don’t they treat the SQL Community they claim to love poorly these days?

Those are tough questions, ones I’ve wrestled with myself. This has been a difficult post for me to write because there is an element of truth in each of those questions.

But I can tell you that I believe we are past the point of enabling, past the point of disagreeing on principle.

For PASS to be around to reform, it must first survive. And frankly I’m doubtful it can without substantial help. If we can help it survive, we can change it and make it better.

Has PASS Outlived Its Purpose?

I don’t think PASS has outlived its purpose. I think it’s just as relevant today as when founded twenty-plus years ago.

The question is: will it have a future?

I, for one, hope so.

[Edit – 10/2/2020] After this post was originally published, Chris Yates (@YatesSQL), the current Vice President of Marketing for PASS, reached out to me. The PASS Mission Statement may be found here. It reads: “Empower data professionals who leverage Microsoft technologies to connect, share, and learn through networking, knowledge sharing, and peer-based learning.”

The post Has PASS Outlived Its Purpose? appeared first on The SERO Group.

Free SQL Server Training Resources

Often these IT Professionals, sometimes called “Accidental DBAs,” do an admirable job, even with little formal SQL Server training. Fortunately, there are a lot of great resources available online for the “Accidental DBA.” Here are a few free SQL Server learning resources worth checking out:

1. Microsoft Resources and Labs

Microsoft has put together quite a few learning opportunities available to the public for free. These are in several different formats so you can pick the one you’re most comfortable with. Here are a few you may want to check out:

1. Microsoft SQL Server 2019 (CTP 3.2) Lab. In this self-paced lab, you’ll learn how to use SQL Server 2019 to solve business challenges.
2. Microsoft AI School. Artificial Intelligence is a hot topic in today’s business environment. In Microsoft AI School, you’ll “find the information, learning materials, and resources you need to start building intelligence into your solutions.”
3. SQL Server Tutorials. More than just Online Documentation, SQL Docs is a great place for detailed information about how to use SQL Server. It includes tutorials that will step you through learning the database technology.
4. EdX. Founded by Harvard and MIT, EdX is a place where education is freely available to everyone online. Microsoft has partnered with EdX to provide free courses online for SQL Server. Here are a few:
   • Querying Data with Transact-SQL.
   • Developing SQL Databases.
   • Analyzing and Visualizing Data with SQL Server Reporting Services.
5. Channel 9. Microsoft produces a lot of video content for SQL Server and other products. They make it available online via Channel 9.

2. YouTube Channels

YouTube can be a great resource for learning just about anything. From changing a tire to playing the ukulele, you can find it on YouTube. It should come as no surprise that there are a lot of great SQL Server training videos available as well. Of course, since just about anyone can create a video, you’ll want to be careful. Not everyone is the expert that they portend to be online. Do your own research. Here are a couple of places to start.

1. SQL Server YouTube Search. A list of SQL Server-related videos.
2. Microsoft SQL Server YouTube Channel. Microsoft SQL Server home on YouTube.

3. SQLSaturdays and Virtual Groups

For many years, I was on the board of Directors for a global user group called PASS. The organization is committed to providing learning opportunities for professionals around the globe and to helping the community to better connect with one another. There are a couple of ways PASS helps with this.

1. SQLSaturdays are a series of free one-day training events in cities around the world. These events, as the name suggests are held on Saturdays and are free to attend. They typically have some of the best and most well-known SQL Server experts around. Look for a SQLSaturday near you and plan to attend. You’ll see some great content and better yet make some incredible connections.
2. Virtual Groups. Through live webinars, PASS Virtual Groups offer top-notch training no matter where you happen to be. Check out a list of upcoming webinars.

Summary

With a new release every 18 to 24 months, keeping up with the latest changes can be a challenge. Hopefully, these free resources will help. We also have an ever growing SQL Script Library available to help get you started with some of the more common tasks.

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