Some questions never cease to come up on various forums. The most common of them seems to be: What TCP/IP port is my SQL Server listening on? In today’s post, I will quickly demonstrate two simple ways to answer this question.

Assumptions & Disclaimer:

1. This post demonstrates an administrative procedure that deals with SQL Server instance security. Please do not perform the steps outlined in this post without consulting your database administrator
   
2. It is assumed that the SQL Server under question is configured for accepting remote connections via TCP/IP protocol

Method 01: Using the SQL Server Configuration Manager

Launch the SQL Server configuration manager using one of the following ways:

1. Go to Start –> Programs –> Microsoft SQL Server 2012 –> Configuration Tools –> SQL Server Configuration Manager
   
2. Go to Start –> Run –> “SQLServerManager11.msc”

The SQL Server Configuration Manager would look something like that demonstrated in the screenshot below:

Navigate to the “SQL Server Network Configuration” node and choose to see the information about the Protocols for your SQL Server instance.

Double-click on the “TCP/IP” protocol (or right-click and choose “Properties”)

Navigate to the section “IPAll” of the “IP addresses” tab. The value of “TCP Dynamic Ports” is the port that this SQL Server instance is listening on

Method 02: Reading the SQL Server Error Log

The second method that I am about to demonstrate now, involves reading the SQL Server error log through the SQL Server Management Studio. This can be achieved using T-SQL queries also, and if you are interested, do leave a comment and I will cover that in one of my future posts.

Login to the SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) and navigate to the Management –> SQL Server Logs node

Open the most current log by double-clicking on the “Current” node. Scroll down through the event log untill you see an entry that reads something similar to:

This entry contains the port number on which the SQL server is listening to.

I hope you found this post useful. In my next post, I tackle one of the other most frequently asked questions – “Can I connect to my SQL Sever named instance using the IP address and/or TCP/IP port number?”

Until we meet next time,

Be courteous. Drive responsibly.

As many of you would know by now, these days I am attempting to summarize my experience at Tech-Ed 2012 (India) held from March 21-23, 2012 at Bengaluru, India.

March 23, 2012 was the day I was most looking forward to – because it was SQL Server Day! Today was the day when TechEd had a dedicated track – Know your Data – a Day in the life of a DBA. It was also the festival of Ugadi, and hence there was very little traffic on the roads of Bengaluru. I had worked till late the night before, but that did not stop me from gulping down 2 cups of coffee and reaching the venue before time! Without much ado, I will get right on with the details of the day’s proceedings.

Day 03 – Keynote

Although Day 3 had 2 starting keynotes, the SQL Server track was going to be held at the same location where the Visual Studio sessions were held the day before. A lot of people turned up and hence doors had to be closed for new entries. With no overflow lots, I did not want to be late to the sessions. I wanted to be sure to be ahead in the line, get a seat and then not move at all!

I, therefore, attended only the first keynote by Chakrapani Gollapalli, General Manager – Consumer Channels Group,Microsoft India. Aptly titled – “This year, Microsoft will kick some A**”, this session was about the presence of Microsoft in the consumer community.

Here are some highlights of Microsoft’s achievements in 2011:

1 Million downloads of Windows 8 customer preview within 24 hours of it’s release

The growth of the Windows phone – Called a “design gem” – 65,000+ apps, 500+ new features and 100,000+ registered developers

The XBOX 360 tops the Nintendo Wii & the PS3 for the 1st time in yearly global sales

The consumer channels group focuses on 4 products (Windows, Windows Phone, Office and the XBOX) through 4 channels – Retailers, Operators, OEMs and Direct marketing.

After the TechEd, I have 2 more things on my wish-list – the Windows Phone and the XBOX 360! Microsoft has truly lived up to their customer mission of “creating a product desire through an unbroken demand chain”.

Day 03 – Sessions

Peeling SQL Server like an Onion: Internals Demystified

Speaker: Vinod Kumar, a.k.a. “Extreme Experts” (B|T)

This one did not make me cry – was it really about onions? Well, jokes apart, the topic was all about SQL Server internals and therefore, there was no possibility of demos. Even then, Vinod had the audience hooked.

The key takeaways from this session were:

• How does storage alignment (512b v/s 512E) impact SQL Server?
  
• Security changes inside SQL Server 2012
  
  
  
  • 19 new permissions now available
    
  • How it is possible to unknowingly violate the principle of least privileges?
    
  • Virtual Account, Service Account with SID
  
  
• Recovery Time Objectives, Recovery Point Objectives & how SQL Server 2012 will help improve them
  
  
  
  • Changes to check-pointing (direct v/s indirect check-pointing)
    
  • VLFs and the associated changes done in SQL Server 2012
    
  • Finally, a lesson to not only design a good backup/restore strategy, but to also test it!
  
  
• Memory changes
  
  
  
  • Multi-page allocator
    
  • Can you have more than 8K pages in the buffer pool?
    
  • Is the max. memory setting on your SQL Server accurate?
  
  
• AWE is no longer supported in SQL Server 2012
  
  
  
  • 32-bit guys – UPGRADE!
  
  
• And, by the way, SQL Server licensing has changed – it’s now a core-based license as opposed to a socket-based model

Read more about it on Vinod’s Blog here: http://blogs.extremeexperts.com/2012/03/08/teched-india-2012-sql-server-internals/

The first session, the keynote just got over, and look at the crowd ready for Vinod’s session

How does storage alignment (512b v/s 512E) impact SQL Server?

Here’s how FSUTIL can help SQL DBAs..

Speed Up! – Parallel Processes and Unparalleled Performance

Speaker: Pinal Dave, a.k.a. “SQLAuthority” (B|T)

Performance tuning is a very hot topic for all SQL Server sessions. But, performance benefits and issues due to parallelism within SQL Server is something that no speaker has ever talked about in India. Pinal took it up and presented a whole series of demos on how parallelism affects query performance and how to use DMVs to detect parallelism issues. With a very practical example involving a manager and 8 employees, Pinal demonstrated the scenarios in which one would want parallelism and where one would want to avoid it. The key takeaways were:

• SQL Server is smart enough to make the right choice
  
• It depends – doesn’t exist in the case of SQL Server. There’s always an answer for a question

Read more about his session at: http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2012/03/13/sql-server-speed-up-parallel-processes-and-unparalleled-performance-teched-2012-india/ and http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2012/03/22/sql-server-techedin-presenting-tomorrow-on-speed-up-parallel-processes-and-unparalleled-performance-at-teched-india-2012/

Pinal explaining what Parallelism is

Pinal congratulating a participant for a correct answer

More serious stuff – detecting and fixing parallelism issues

Keep your database available: ALWAYS-ON

Speaker: Balmukund Lakhani (B|T)

One of the most awaited features in SQL Server 2012, the High-availability & Always ON enhancements were demonstrated by the one and only – Balmukund. The key takeaways were:

• AlwaysON extends Windows clustering
  
• A shared storage disk is no longer required to configure clustering
  
• One Primary database, four secondary replicas, and two secondary synchronous replicas can be configured
  
• Readable secondaries, supporting DBCC and backups
  
• Log backup and Full backup with COPY_ONLY option can be performed on any replicas
  
• Log backups done on all replicas does not break across replicas and therefore can be used as part of recovery strategy

Read more about the session at: http://sqlserver-help.com/2012/03/20/keep-databases-always-availablealwaysonteched-2012-india/

Explaining the backup capabilities of AlwaysON replicas

Demonstrating the configuration of a “primary” secondary

Lesser Known Facts of SQL Server Backup & Restore

Speaker: Amit Banerjee (B|T)

Backup & Restores are something without which a DBA’s day isn’t complete. Amit Banerjee demystified some of the many myths around backups & restores within SQL Server.

• Three types of Backup Methods are available within SQL Server:
  
  
  
  • T-SQL (the “regular” one)
    
  • VSS (Volume shadow backups)
    
  • VDI (Virtual Device Interface backups)
  
  
• What causes an I/O freeze error during 3rd party backups and is it really an error to be worried about?
  
• For VSS storage, should the underlying backup software also need to support the features extended by SQL Server to use shadow backups?
  
• Various types of backups and their significance:
  
  
  
  • Full/Differential backups
    
  • Log backups
    
  • File & File Group backups
  
  
• Piecemeal restore of a database
  
• What is the importance of the buffer count and max. transfer size values?
  
• Learnt that there is a tool called SQLBackup Simulator that can help troubleshoot failed backups!

Read more about this session on Amit Banerjee’s blog at: http://troubleshootingsql.com/2012/03/13/teched-india-2012-session/

What is this backup/restore all about?

A light-hearted spoof on Balmukund Lakhani (B|T) to break the ice with the audience

Demonstrating SQLBackup Simulator

Day 03 – TechEd 2012 – Closing keynote

After 3 days of power-packed sessions, networking and demos, it was finally time to end TechEd 2012. As we moved towards the keynote area, fans came over to meet Pinal Dave, a.k.a. “SQLAuthority” (B|T) and get their copies of the SQL Server Interview Questions & Answers book signed by him.

Pinal Dave signing a copy of his book for a fan. In the background: Rajashekaran Vengalil

Seize The Opportunity

The closing note started off by a Kolaveri dance by none other than Moorthy Uppaluri, General Manager, Academia, Microsoft Corporation. With absolutely no room (standing, sitting or otherwise), the key takeaways from his session were:

• TechEd India 2012 was the biggest TechEd India event ever
  
• How Microsoft has studied and followed Hype cycles to commoditize IT
  
• Data scientist will be a new profession
  
• Social networking is going to change in the future
  
• It is the time for the developer community to think bold, act big and create differentiated applications to stay ahead – it’s time to seize the opportunity!

The fully-packed keynote hall. Every soul that attended TechEd was here.

Moorthy doing a little “Kolaveri”

Moorthy Uppaluri beginning the closing keynote of TechEd 2012

The hype cycles that Microsoft is current riding

The success stories of India – why India needs to seize the opportunity? 1. Young Entrepreneurs 2. Internet Growth – fastest growing 3G market 3. One of the largest mobile user base 4. Host of the one of the costliest sports – the Indian Grand Prix 5. E-commerce 6. Hollywood is now coming to Bollywood!

The Microsoft Momentum

Presenting the winners of the Windows 8 camp (Hyderabad and Bengaluru) with Intel laptops

Some of the best and most re-tweeted tweets were presented with a gift

The “Go DOs” – 3 key takeaways for all developers

It was a privilege attending TechEd 2012. I will be back for TechEd 2013! Thank-you Microsoft!

Until we meet next time,

Be courteous. Drive responsibly.

As many of you would know by now, these days I am attempting to summarize my experience at Tech-Ed 2012 (India) held from March 21-23, 2012 at Bengaluru, India.

March 23, 2012 was the day I was most looking forward to – because it was SQL Server Day! Today was the day when TechEd had a dedicated track – Know your Data – a Day in the life of a DBA. It was also the festival of Ugadi, and hence there was very little traffic on the roads of Bengaluru. I had worked till late the night before, but that did not stop me from gulping down 2 cups of coffee and reaching the venue before time! Without much ado, I will get right on with the details of the day’s proceedings.

Day 03 – Keynote

Although Day 3 had 2 starting keynotes, the SQL Server track was going to be held at the same location where the Visual Studio sessions were held the day before. A lot of people turned up and hence doors had to be closed for new entries. With no overflow lots, I did not want to be late to the sessions. I wanted to be sure to be ahead in the line, get a seat and then not move at all!

I, therefore, attended only the first keynote by Chakrapani Gollapalli, General Manager – Consumer Channels Group,Microsoft India. Aptly titled – “This year, Microsoft will kick some A**”, this session was about the presence of Microsoft in the consumer community.

Here are some highlights of Microsoft’s achievements in 2011:

1 Million downloads of Windows 8 customer preview within 24 hours of it’s release

The growth of the Windows phone – Called a “design gem” – 65,000+ apps, 500+ new features and 100,000+ registered developers

The XBOX 360 tops the Nintendo Wii & the PS3 for the 1st time in yearly global sales

The consumer channels group focuses on 4 products (Windows, Windows Phone, Office and the XBOX) through 4 channels – Retailers, Operators, OEMs and Direct marketing.

After the TechEd, I have 2 more things on my wish-list – the Windows Phone and the XBOX 360! Microsoft has truly lived up to their customer mission of “creating a product desire through an unbroken demand chain”.

Day 03 – Sessions

Peeling SQL Server like an Onion: Internals Demystified

Speaker: Vinod Kumar, a.k.a. “Extreme Experts” (B|T)

This one did not make me cry – was it really about onions? Well, jokes apart, the topic was all about SQL Server internals and therefore, there was no possibility of demos. Even then, Vinod had the audience hooked.

The key takeaways from this session were:

• How does storage alignment (512b v/s 512E) impact SQL Server?
  
• Security changes inside SQL Server 2012
  
  
  
  • 19 new permissions now available
    
  • How it is possible to unknowingly violate the principle of least privileges?
    
  • Virtual Account, Service Account with SID
  
  
• Recovery Time Objectives, Recovery Point Objectives & how SQL Server 2012 will help improve them
  
  
  
  • Changes to check-pointing (direct v/s indirect check-pointing)
    
  • VLFs and the associated changes done in SQL Server 2012
    
  • Finally, a lesson to not only design a good backup/restore strategy, but to also test it!
  
  
• Memory changes
  
  
  
  • Multi-page allocator
    
  • Can you have more than 8K pages in the buffer pool?
    
  • Is the max. memory setting on your SQL Server accurate?
  
  
• AWE is no longer supported in SQL Server 2012
  
  
  
  • 32-bit guys – UPGRADE!
  
  
• And, by the way, SQL Server licensing has changed – it’s now a core-based license as opposed to a socket-based model

Read more about it on Vinod’s Blog here: http://blogs.extremeexperts.com/2012/03/08/teched-india-2012-sql-server-internals/

The first session, the keynote just got over, and look at the crowd ready for Vinod’s session

How does storage alignment (512b v/s 512E) impact SQL Server?

Here’s how FSUTIL can help SQL DBAs..

Speed Up! – Parallel Processes and Unparalleled Performance

Speaker: Pinal Dave, a.k.a. “SQLAuthority” (B|T)

Performance tuning is a very hot topic for all SQL Server sessions. But, performance benefits and issues due to parallelism within SQL Server is something that no speaker has ever talked about in India. Pinal took it up and presented a whole series of demos on how parallelism affects query performance and how to use DMVs to detect parallelism issues. With a very practical example involving a manager and 8 employees, Pinal demonstrated the scenarios in which one would want parallelism and where one would want to avoid it. The key takeaways were:

• SQL Server is smart enough to make the right choice
  
• It depends – doesn’t exist in the case of SQL Server. There’s always an answer for a question

Read more about his session at: http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2012/03/13/sql-server-speed-up-parallel-processes-and-unparalleled-performance-teched-2012-india/ and http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2012/03/22/sql-server-techedin-presenting-tomorrow-on-speed-up-parallel-processes-and-unparalleled-performance-at-teched-india-2012/

Pinal explaining what Parallelism is

Pinal congratulating a participant for a correct answer

More serious stuff – detecting and fixing parallelism issues

Keep your database available: ALWAYS-ON

Speaker: Balmukund Lakhani (B|T)

One of the most awaited features in SQL Server 2012, the High-availability & Always ON enhancements were demonstrated by the one and only – Balmukund. The key takeaways were:

• AlwaysON extends Windows clustering
  
• A shared storage disk is no longer required to configure clustering
  
• One Primary database, four secondary replicas, and two secondary synchronous replicas can be configured
  
• Readable secondaries, supporting DBCC and backups
  
• Log backup and Full backup with COPY_ONLY option can be performed on any replicas
  
• Log backups done on all replicas does not break across replicas and therefore can be used as part of recovery strategy

Read more about the session at: http://sqlserver-help.com/2012/03/20/keep-databases-always-availablealwaysonteched-2012-india/

Explaining the backup capabilities of AlwaysON replicas

Demonstrating the configuration of a “primary” secondary

Lesser Known Facts of SQL Server Backup & Restore

Speaker: Amit Banerjee (B|T)

Backup & Restores are something without which a DBA’s day isn’t complete. Amit Banerjee demystified some of the many myths around backups & restores within SQL Server.

• Three types of Backup Methods are available within SQL Server:
  
  
  
  • T-SQL (the “regular” one)
    
  • VSS (Volume shadow backups)
    
  • VDI (Virtual Device Interface backups)
  
  
• What causes an I/O freeze error during 3rd party backups and is it really an error to be worried about?
  
• For VSS storage, should the underlying backup software also need to support the features extended by SQL Server to use shadow backups?
  
• Various types of backups and their significance:
  
  
  
  • Full/Differential backups
    
  • Log backups
    
  • File & File Group backups
  
  
• Piecemeal restore of a database
  
• What is the importance of the buffer count and max. transfer size values?
  
• Learnt that there is a tool called SQLBackup Simulator that can help troubleshoot failed backups!

Read more about this session on Amit Banerjee’s blog at: http://troubleshootingsql.com/2012/03/13/teched-india-2012-session/

What is this backup/restore all about?

A light-hearted spoof on Balmukund Lakhani (B|T) to break the ice with the audience

Demonstrating SQLBackup Simulator

Day 03 – TechEd 2012 – Closing keynote

After 3 days of power-packed sessions, networking and demos, it was finally time to end TechEd 2012. As we moved towards the keynote area, fans came over to meet Pinal Dave, a.k.a. “SQLAuthority” (B|T) and get their copies of the SQL Server Interview Questions & Answers book signed by him.

Pinal Dave signing a copy of his book for a fan. In the background: Rajashekaran Vengalil

Seize The Opportunity

The closing note started off by a Kolaveri dance by none other than Moorthy Uppaluri, General Manager, Academia, Microsoft Corporation. With absolutely no room (standing, sitting or otherwise), the key takeaways from his session were:

• TechEd India 2012 was the biggest TechEd India event ever
  
• How Microsoft has studied and followed Hype cycles to commoditize IT
  
• Data scientist will be a new profession
  
• Social networking is going to change in the future
  
• It is the time for the developer community to think bold, act big and create differentiated applications to stay ahead – it’s time to seize the opportunity!

The fully-packed keynote hall. Every soul that attended TechEd was here.

Moorthy doing a little “Kolaveri”

Moorthy Uppaluri beginning the closing keynote of TechEd 2012

The hype cycles that Microsoft is current riding

The success stories of India – why India needs to seize the opportunity? 1. Young Entrepreneurs 2. Internet Growth – fastest growing 3G market 3. One of the largest mobile user base 4. Host of the one of the costliest sports – the Indian Grand Prix 5. E-commerce 6. Hollywood is now coming to Bollywood!

The Microsoft Momentum

Presenting the winners of the Windows 8 camp (Hyderabad and Bengaluru) with Intel laptops

Some of the best and most re-tweeted tweets were presented with a gift

The “Go DOs” – 3 key takeaways for all developers

It was a privilege attending TechEd 2012. I will be back for TechEd 2013! Thank-you Microsoft!

Until we meet next time,

Be courteous. Drive responsibly.

As many of you would know by now, these days I am attempting to summarize my experience at Tech-Ed 2012 (India) held from March 21-23, 2012 at Bengaluru, India.

Day 02 was not very good for me. I spent most of the first half outside of the sessions, over the phone and connected to the VPN, working . Still, I am thankful that I was able to attend the keynote and some of the sessions.

Day 02 – Keynote – Embracing the future of technology

Keynotes are always exciting. We have industry leaders or Microsoft seniors sharing their vision, speaking about their passion in technology and providing direction to the community.

My advice: Whenever you go to any event, do not miss out on the opening and closing keynotes. They are a goldmine.

The Day 02 of TechEd 2012 was opened by a keynote from the IIT (Kharagpur) distinguished alumnus 2010 and now MD, Microsoft R&D Pvt Ltd, Mr. Amit Chatterjee. He has spent 23 years in Microsoft and was a key member of the Windows team that shipped Windows 2.1, 3.0, 3.1 and Windows 95.

He talked about the key consumer, developer and business trends and how Microsoft is responding to these trends.

Key Consumer Trends

• NUI – Natural User Interface – the advent of Touch
• Staying connected
• Consumerization of IT
• Becoming social
• Moving towards cloud and cloud based services

Microsoft is responding to these via development of Immersive applications, providing continuous services and a flexible infrastructure.

Key Developer Trends

• Need for agile development
• Quality Enablement
• DevOps
• Continuous Delivery

This was discussed via a demo showcasing how Microsoft’s new Visual Studio 11 can help in turning these continuous delivery impediments into enablers.

Key Business Trends

• Agility, Faster innovation
• Flexibility, Scalability and Availability
• Cost, Operational Efficiency
• Modern workstyle enabled solutions

Microsoft is responding to these by encouraging cloud computing, that provides pooled resources, self-service, elasticity and usage based costing model. It also provides private cloud – a cloud that is dedicated to the business which allows for higher levels of control and customization.

Just as the keynote was getting over, I got a call on my cell phone that changed the day. It was from the office, and so, I headed over to the hotel lobby to start working.

Day 02 – Visiting the Showcase area & Socializing

After work was over, I headed over to the showcase area, where I planned to visit booths from all the sponsors of TechEd India 2012, namely: Pluralsight, Intel, Telerik, Nokia, Plantronics, Microsoft Virtual Academy and many more. (Get the full list here).

Pluralsight Booth: Book Signing by Pinal & Vinod

The Pluralsight booth was perhaps the busiest booth on Day 2. After all, it was hosting a booking signing event – visitors could have their copy of “SQL Server Interview questions & answers” signed personally by the authors: Pinal Dave, a.k.a. “SQLAuthority” (B|T) and Vinod Kumar, a.k.a. “Extreme Experts” (B|T).

The pluralsight booth with Vinod Kumar, a.k.a. “Extreme Experts” (B|T) & Pinal Dave, a.k.a. “SQLAuthority” (B|T)

After spending some time at the Pluralsight booth, I headed over to the Intel booth, where it was time for some fun (more like becoming children again). They had a small glass chamber with a huge fan underneath and some balloons. All one had to do was to collect 3 blue balloons and win a very cool Intel baggage tag. I won!

At the Intel booth – Within the glass chamber after collecting 3 blue balloons.

As Tejas Shah (a.k.a. “SQLYoga” – B|T) and I were coming out of the Showcase area, we ran into Manas Dhash (B|T) and Sudeepta Ganguly (B|T). We discussed at length the recent happenings at our respective user groups and future plans. After about 30minutes (maybe even more!), it was time for some photographs:

(Left to Right:) Manas Dhash (B|T), Sudeepta Ganguly (B|T), Tejas Shah (a.k.a. “SQLYoga” – B|T) and Nakul Vachhrajani (B|T)

Day 02 – Session

Notice that I used the singular – “session” above. That’s because I could not attend the following because the rooms were full by the time I made my way from the keynote hall to these sessions:

1. Introducing Visual Studio 11 – What’s new for developers? by Kiran Balijepalli
2. Working on an agile team with Visual Studio 11 and Team Foundation Server 11 by Nahas Mohammed

The following I could not attend because I was working!

1. Unit Testing with Visual Studio 11: MSTest, NUnit, xUnit.net, and Code Clone by Abhishek Agrawal
2. Demystifying IntelliTrace with Visual Studio 11  by Tejaswi Kumar

I am looking forward to the recorded sessions to catch up on these. Now, about the session I attended…

Designing Secure Enterprise Applications using on-premise SQL Server

Speaker: Vinod Kumar, a.k.a. “Extreme Experts” (B|T)

Vinod dealt with multiple common security pitfalls and discussed their mitigation. Issues like protection of the backup data against intentional manipulation while “in-transit”, login security and auditing were discussed. The following cartoon says it all:

Here’s a teaser: http://blogs.extremeexperts.com/2012/02/06/teched-india-2012-architecture-track/

Day 02 – Demo Extravaganza

The Day 02 of DemoEx was focused on two products – the Windows 8 phone and SQL Server! Here are some photographs:

Nahas Mohammed and Harish Vaidyanathan kicking off DemoEx – Day 02

Did you know that Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chip powers these windows devices?

Pinal Dave & Harish Vaidyanathan

Time for some….um…..er….Entertainment with SQL Server spatial data-types

Pinal Dave uses technology and SQL Server spatial data types to prove that Lord Rama (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rama) was not wrong – the “Ram Setu” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam’s_Bridge) is the shortest way from India to Sri Lanka

That’s it for Day 02. Day 03 was the SQL Server day. Stay tuned for my summary of the same in the final part of the TechEd 2012 series.

Until we meet next time,

Be courteous. Drive responsibly.

As many of you would know by now, these days I am attempting to summarize my experience at Tech-Ed 2012 (India) held from March 21-23, 2012 at Bengaluru, India.

Day 02 was not very good for me. I spent most of the first half outside of the sessions, over the phone and connected to the VPN, working . Still, I am thankful that I was able to attend the keynote and some of the sessions.

Day 02 – Keynote – Embracing the future of technology

Keynotes are always exciting. We have industry leaders or Microsoft seniors sharing their vision, speaking about their passion in technology and providing direction to the community.

My advice: Whenever you go to any event, do not miss out on the opening and closing keynotes. They are a goldmine.

The Day 02 of TechEd 2012 was opened by a keynote from the IIT (Kharagpur) distinguished alumnus 2010 and now MD, Microsoft R&D Pvt Ltd, Mr. Amit Chatterjee. He has spent 23 years in Microsoft and was a key member of the Windows team that shipped Windows 2.1, 3.0, 3.1 and Windows 95.

He talked about the key consumer, developer and business trends and how Microsoft is responding to these trends.

Key Consumer Trends

• NUI – Natural User Interface – the advent of Touch
• Staying connected
• Consumerization of IT
• Becoming social
• Moving towards cloud and cloud based services

Microsoft is responding to these via development of Immersive applications, providing continuous services and a flexible infrastructure.

Key Developer Trends

• Need for agile development
• Quality Enablement
• DevOps
• Continuous Delivery

This was discussed via a demo showcasing how Microsoft’s new Visual Studio 11 can help in turning these continuous delivery impediments into enablers.

Key Business Trends

• Agility, Faster innovation
• Flexibility, Scalability and Availability
• Cost, Operational Efficiency
• Modern workstyle enabled solutions

Microsoft is responding to these by encouraging cloud computing, that provides pooled resources, self-service, elasticity and usage based costing model. It also provides private cloud – a cloud that is dedicated to the business which allows for higher levels of control and customization.

Just as the keynote was getting over, I got a call on my cell phone that changed the day. It was from the office, and so, I headed over to the hotel lobby to start working.

Day 02 – Visiting the Showcase area & Socializing

After work was over, I headed over to the showcase area, where I planned to visit booths from all the sponsors of TechEd India 2012, namely: Pluralsight, Intel, Telerik, Nokia, Plantronics, Microsoft Virtual Academy and many more. (Get the full list here).

Pluralsight Booth: Book Signing by Pinal & Vinod

The Pluralsight booth was perhaps the busiest booth on Day 2. After all, it was hosting a booking signing event – visitors could have their copy of “SQL Server Interview questions & answers” signed personally by the authors: Pinal Dave, a.k.a. “SQLAuthority” (B|T) and Vinod Kumar, a.k.a. “Extreme Experts” (B|T).

The pluralsight booth with Vinod Kumar, a.k.a. “Extreme Experts” (B|T) & Pinal Dave, a.k.a. “SQLAuthority” (B|T)

After spending some time at the Pluralsight booth, I headed over to the Intel booth, where it was time for some fun (more like becoming children again). They had a small glass chamber with a huge fan underneath and some balloons. All one had to do was to collect 3 blue balloons and win a very cool Intel baggage tag. I won!

At the Intel booth – Within the glass chamber after collecting 3 blue balloons.

As Tejas Shah (a.k.a. “SQLYoga” – B|T) and I were coming out of the Showcase area, we ran into Manas Dhash (B|T) and Sudeepta Ganguly (B|T). We discussed at length the recent happenings at our respective user groups and future plans. After about 30minutes (maybe even more!), it was time for some photographs:

(Left to Right:) Manas Dhash (B|T), Sudeepta Ganguly (B|T), Tejas Shah (a.k.a. “SQLYoga” – B|T) and Nakul Vachhrajani (B|T)

Day 02 – Session

Notice that I used the singular – “session” above. That’s because I could not attend the following because the rooms were full by the time I made my way from the keynote hall to these sessions:

1. Introducing Visual Studio 11 – What’s new for developers? by Kiran Balijepalli
2. Working on an agile team with Visual Studio 11 and Team Foundation Server 11 by Nahas Mohammed

The following I could not attend because I was working!

1. Unit Testing with Visual Studio 11: MSTest, NUnit, xUnit.net, and Code Clone by Abhishek Agrawal
2. Demystifying IntelliTrace with Visual Studio 11  by Tejaswi Kumar

I am looking forward to the recorded sessions to catch up on these. Now, about the session I attended…

Designing Secure Enterprise Applications using on-premise SQL Server

Speaker: Vinod Kumar, a.k.a. “Extreme Experts” (B|T)

Vinod dealt with multiple common security pitfalls and discussed their mitigation. Issues like protection of the backup data against intentional manipulation while “in-transit”, login security and auditing were discussed. The following cartoon says it all:

Here’s a teaser: http://blogs.extremeexperts.com/2012/02/06/teched-india-2012-architecture-track/

Day 02 – Demo Extravaganza

The Day 02 of DemoEx was focused on two products – the Windows 8 phone and SQL Server! Here are some photographs:

Nahas Mohammed and Harish Vaidyanathan kicking off DemoEx – Day 02

Did you know that Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chip powers these windows devices?

Pinal Dave & Harish Vaidyanathan

Time for some….um…..er….Entertainment with SQL Server spatial data-types

Pinal Dave uses technology and SQL Server spatial data types to prove that Lord Rama (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rama) was not wrong – the “Ram Setu” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam’s_Bridge) is the shortest way from India to Sri Lanka

That’s it for Day 02. Day 03 was the SQL Server day. Stay tuned for my summary of the same in the final part of the TechEd 2012 series.

Until we meet next time,

Be courteous. Drive responsibly.