Gert Drapers Keynotes at PASS 2005 European Conference

Gert Drapers Keynotes at PASS European Conference

I had the pleasure of introducing Microsoft SQL Server architect and popular conference speaker Gert Drapers as we kicked off the PASS 2005 European Conference.  Speaking to a crowd of over 300, Gert covered a variety of topics including both technical and business aspects of SQL Server 2005.

First off, Gert reminded everyone that SQL Server 2000 is not at a standstill.  Microsoft just released Service Pack 4 that answers a number of open issues and hotfixes many bugs and security issues.  (You can find the hotfix at http://www.microsoft.com/sql/downloads/2000/sp4.asp.)  

Next, Gert assured everyone that SQL Server 2005 is definitely shipping this calendar year.  Beyond that, the new CTP method of rolling out pre-release versions of the product is intended to give Microsoft a lot more feedback on the product. 

Then, Gert spent a lot of time discussing several of the most significant features in SQL Server 2005.  Some of my favorites include database snapshots, database mirroring, and partitioning.  Be sure to check out http://www.microsoft.com/sql/2005 if you haven’t already looked.

Immediately after the keynote, I headed over to my first presentation of the event called “The High Performance DBA”.  This session covers a long list of things that I’d learned (and automated with Transact-SQL scripts) when I was a DBA at an organization before Quest Software.  You can see version of this session and a white paper based on the content, and including the Transact-SQL scripts, at http://www.quest.com/.  Search for “The Essential SQL Server 2000 Checklist”.

There was some lively discussion during and after my session.  And I got a chance to catch up with Mike Epprecht, a very talented SQL Server MVP from Switzerland, as well as some users with very challenging issues in the community. 

The event is bustling, but not quite crowded which is just fine with me.  I’ll soon find out our exact numbers for attendance and attendee demographics.  Exciting stuff! 

More to come tomorrow!

-Kev