The next EightKB is coming on January 27th, kicking off at 2pm UTC.

Once again we have 5 mind melting sessions on 5 in-depth SQL Server internals topics, from 5 top notch speakers.

Registration is free and you can sign up here: – https://eightkb.online/

Let’s have a closer look at the sessions 🙂

SQL Server Memory Internals & Troubleshooting – Amit Bansal @ 14:15

Welcome to the dungeon.

Yes, SQL Server memory concepts are like entering a dungeon where you are guaranteed to get lost. It’s dark and complex out there and not many have come back alive.

Join Microsoft Certified Master of SQL Server, Amit Bansal (b|t), and find your way out from the dungeon.

In this deep-dive session, you will understand SQL Server memory architecture, how the database engine consumes memory and how to track memory usage. Complex concepts will be made simple and you will see some light beyond the darkness.

This session will be an eye-opener for you. Assured.

The Ins and Outs of SQL Server Data – Bob Pusateri @ 15:45

While data compression is best-known for reducing a database’s size on disk, it’s also an effective tool for making your queries fly. Come see how reduced disk usage and increased performance mean that with compression, less really can be more!

Join Microsoft Data Platform MVP and MCM, Bob Pusateri (b|t), who will arm you with the knowledge and understanding to capitalize on both of these aspects of SQL Server’s row and page compression features, as well as columnstore and updateable columnstore indexes.

This session will combine a lesson on the internals of compression with real-world scenarios to show you how to determine the most appropriate compression type for any situation.

Since there’s no such thing as a “free lunch” in computing, the drawbacks of these features will also be discussed.

Intelligent Query Processing? What’s up with that? – Gail Shaw @ 17:00

One of the major changes in SQL Server 2017 and 2019 is addition of Intelligent Query Processing, which includes a number of improvements to the way queries are optimised and executed.

Join Microsoft Data Platform MVP and MCM, Gail Shaw (b|t), who will show why this is a radical departure from the way that things worked previously and how it can improve the performance of some query forms.

This session will look at the places where Intelligent Query Processing works and compare the performance of queries using these features to see just what kind of improvement it can make.

Latches, Spinlocks, and Lock Free Data Structures – Klaus Aschenbrenner @ 18:30

You know locking and blocking very well in SQL Server? You know how the isolation level influences locking? Perfect!

Join SQL Server expert and author, Klaus Aschenbrenner (b|t) in this session for a deep dive into how SQL Server implements physical locking with lightweight synchronization objects like Latches and Spinlocks. He will cover the differences between both, and their use-cases in SQL Server.

You will learn about best practices how to analyze and resolve Latch- and Spinlock contention for your performance critical workload.

This session will talk about lock free data structures, what they are, and how they are used by the new In-Memory OLTP technology that is part of SQL Server since 2014.

Scaling SQL Server beyond two CPU’s – Thomas Grohser @ 20:00

Join SQL Server Infrastructure Architect and Engineer, Thomas Grohser for this session on how to build and configure a large SQL Server (CPU, Memory, Storage, Network) and how to modify your data model to support the scaling.

The whole talk is based on real world examples with servers as large as 224 cores and over 2 PB of storage.

We are REALLY excited for this event, it’s going to be a blast 🙂

Hope to see you there!

We’re back!

The first EightKB back in July was a real blast. Five expert speakers delivered mind-melting content to over 1000 attendees!

We were honestly blown away by how successful the first event was and we had so much fun putting it on, we thought we’d do it again 🙂

The next EightKB is going to be on January 27th 2021 and the schedule has just been announced!

Once again we have five top-notch speakers delivering the highest quality sessions you can get! Expect a deep dive into the subject matter and demos, demos, demos!

Registration is open and it’s completely free! You can sign up for the next EightKB here

We also run a monthly podcast called Mixed Extents where experts from the industry join us to talk about different topics related to SQL Server. They’re all on YouTube or you can listen to the podcasts wherever you get your podcasts!

EightKB and Mixed Extents are 100% community driven with no sponsors…so, we’ve launched our own Mixed Extents t-shirts! Any money generated from these t-shirts will be put straight back into the events.

EightKB was setup by Anthony Nocentino (b|t), Mark Wilkinson (b|t), and myself as we wanted to put on an event that delved into the internals of SQL Server and we’re having great fun doing just that 🙂

Hope to see you there!

Today we announced the schedule for EightKB

EightKB was setup by Anthony Nocentino (b|t), Mark Wilkinson (b|t), and myself as we wanted to put on an event that delved into the internals of SQL Server.

We’re talking straight up, geeking out on the techy side here. We wanted mind-melting sessions with tonnes of demos and well, that’s exactly what we got!

This is an absolutely amazing line-up with in-depth sessions from people who are the top of our industry.

I couldn’t be more excited!

I want to say a massive thank you to all the speakers who submitted. Selection was difficult as we kept this first event small, with only 5 slots available for the 70+ sessions that were submitted, which meant making difficult decisions (there was foot stamping and childish name calling).

N.B. – that last bit didn’t happen, we all get along 🙂

EightKB will be back however! And we will be in touch with the new dates so we will be reaching out to you soon.

EightKB is happening on the 17th of June, kicking off at 9am EDT. Registration is free and you can sign up here

Hope to see you there!

With all the events that have been cancelled over the next few months due to the on-going COVID-19 crisis, Mark Wilkinson (b|t), Anthony Nocentino (b|t), and I wanted to do something for the SQL community.

So, why not put on a virtual event?

There are a few great new events coming up so how do we make our event stand out?

Enter, EightKB. A new virtual event running on June 17th that focuses solely on SQL Server internals hosting level 300 sessions and above.

We want this event to delve into SQL Server…with some truly mind melting sessions! We’re looking for in-depth technical sessions, with the more demos, the better!

Our call for speakers is open until the end of April. So if you have a session focusing on internals, we would love for you to submit!

If this sounds like an event you’d want to attend, it’s completely free and you can sign up here.

We’ll announce the full schedule at the start of May and from the quality of the sessions already submitted…it looks to be a good one!

Hope to see you there!