Windows Azure SQL Database and our Journey from Zero to be Hero. Four years on the market, continuously changing, but still not good enough recognizable. in AD2015 is right time to change this. With a full day Pre-Conf we start on our Premise instances, next we touch the Sky, and as parachute masters we will back to the Earth. On my full day Pre-Conf I want to show you how we can work with Windows Azure SQL Database (formerly known as SQL Azure) and we will focus on: • pros and cons • differences • place to start • security • tools, methods and ideas • SWOT analyze • backup and restore • Service Level Agreements, • compliance and responsibility • best and worst practices Slides, talks and of cours few hour of labs with SQL Server on Premise, SQL Server in the Cloud, In eight (or maybe nine hours) you will learn about everything what you need to start your own journey in the cloud

Data mining as the most advanced data analysis technique is gaining popularity. With modern data mining engines, products and packages, like SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS), Excel, R, and Azure ML, data mining has become a black box. It is possible to use data mining without knowing how it works. However, not knowing how the algorithms work might lead to many problems, including using the wrong algorithm for a task, misinterpretation of the results, and more. This course explains how the most popular data mining algorithms work, when to use which algorithm, and advantages and drawbacks of each algorithm as well. Demonstrations show the algorithms usage in SQL Server Analysis Services, Excel 2013 using the SQL Server algorithms, R, and Azure ML using the R algorithms.

For troubleshooting long running queries, looking at the execution plan is often a good starting point. Once you know how the query is executed, you know why it's slow and what you can do to speed it up. But what if the execution plan is just beyond your understanding? What if it uses operators you have seen before, but do not really understand? What if you look at the execution plan, but just don't see the problem? In this full-day seminar, you will learn everything you need to be able to read and understand any execution plan. We'll start with an overview of execution plans as a whole, and then dive in and look at all the components, and how they fit together. This will increase your understanding on why the optimizer picks a plan, and what you can do to make it pick a better plan. Whether you have read your share of execution plans or whether you wouldn't know where to find them, this seminar will teach you everything you need to know about execution plans. Attend this seminar if you want to hone your tuning skills! Throughout the day, we will have exercises to help you get an even better understanding of the theory. In order to get the most out of the day, attendees are encouraged to bring their own laptop, with SQL Server (any version), Management Studio, and the AdventureWorks sample database installed.