Wormhole Switch

No, this is not another space post, but based on the title you might think it is. This is actually what I would consider more of a productivity type post.

My computer setup in my home office is probably very similar to others, where I have multiple computers and multiple screens for each. But, my office setup really only allows for one full size keyboard and mouse that can easily fit on my desk for both computers.

In the past the easy solution to this was to get a KVM (Keyboard Video Mouse) switch. KVMs can be very flexible and work in just about all situations. I was able to use one with my wireless Logitech USB Keyboard and Mouse, but the issue is that I had to manually click a button to switch the keyboard and mouse between the 2 computers (I didn't need to use the video in this case since they were hardwired to the individual computers). Not only do you have to manually switch between the computers but the cables are usually pretty bulky and you have to have them setup to both computers. Some of the newer KVMs do have hotkeys you can setup on the keyboard to switch, but for me this was still not good enough.

Recently there have been many software based solutions that use you existing Wi-Fi or any networking connection to do the same thing as long as both computers are on the same network. I tried different versions of this software like Synergy and Microsoft Garage Mouse Without Borders and none of them worked for me because the one computer that I'm using daily is always connected via VPN to the company I'm working for. Once the VPN connection is started all of these software solutions stopped working because the VPN software "locks" down the network connections and prevented that computer from being visible to the other one. I have read that there are ways to work around this, but it requires getting your networking people to open parts of the VPN, which in my case was not going to happen.

So, based on this I knew that I probably needed a physical hardwired solutions similar to the KVM. Not sure where I saw this online, but there was an article or mention of this new USB solution from J5 Create called Wormhole Switch JUC400.

I'm not sure technically how all of this cable works, but the great thing is there is no disc or downloads required. As soon as you plug it into the first computer it auto detects and installs the required drivers/software  (I've only tested this on Windows 7 computers so far) and waits for the other computer to be connected. Plug the other end to the 2nd computer and the same will happen there and then both computers should show messages that they are communicating with each other.

At that point you just move the mouse across the screens and the mouse/keyboard should move to the computer the mouse is currently on. You might need to configure on which side the computers are on, but that is very easy by right clicking on the Wormhole Server icon in the Windows System Tray. Since this is a hardwired connection it works even when I have started the VPN connection on either or both computers. It's also nice in that it is a single regular USB cable. The version that I purchased (JUC400) works on Windows, Macs and even the iPad with the USB connection kit (only the keyboard is usable on the iPad). There are 2 other models, one that works with Windows/Android devices (JUC200) and the other that is just the basic Windows only version (JUC100). All of the versions also offer clipboard/file sharing between the connected computers which is a really useful feature.

The warning that I would give is that this is only a keyboard and mouse sharing solution, you cannot switch the monitors with this cable. The other warning that I would give is that if one of the computers goes to sleep or is locked it might be difficult if not impossible to get the keyboard/mouse to switch over to it. For my setup I always use the laptop screen on one computer, so the keyboard/touchpad is accessible on that computer at all times, so I moved the USB receiver for my keyboard/mouse over to the other computer (which I consider to be my main computer), then I can just use the laptop keyboard/touchpad on the other computer when that does happen. Not a major issue for me, but it might cause others some challenges depending on your setup.

For my setup this was the perfect solution, so I wanted to share it with others in case it might help you out as well. The model that I purchased (JUC400) is only $39.99 from Amazon and the other 2 models are even cheaper at $23.35 (JUC200) and $24.99 (JUC100).

Dragon

I wanted to take a break from SQL BI today to post about the success of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket with the Dragon spacecraft. For those that may not be up-to-date on the space program here in the United States, the Space Shuttle fleet was retired last year after more than 30 years of service. This left a huge void in the US capabilities to get supplies and astronauts up to and off of the International Space Station (ISS). NASA has been working with private industry in the US to provide these services so that NASA could focus on longer duration space missions. Many companies in the US have been competing for these contracts and SpaceX was one of the first. SpaceX was co-founded by Elon Musk, who also co-founded PayPal and Tesla Motors.

Fast forward to the last couple of years where SpaceX has had their ups and downs on getting their own rockets to launch. But in late 2010 they were able to successfully launch their Falcon 9 rocket (the number 9 signifies the number of rocket engines) with the Dragon capsule. That launch made them the first private company to launch a spacecraft of their own into orbit and return a capsule back to Earth. The next step was going to be similar with a close approach to the ISS, but not be able to dock. After proving their capabilities in that first launch NASA and SpaceX decided to combine 2 flights and allow them to attempt the docking with ISS on the next launch.

On May 22, 2012 SpaceX launched another Falcon 9 rocket with another Dragon capsule on board. This time the Dragon capsule was loaded with over 1,000 pounds of cargo for the ISS. The Dragon capsule was able to prove that it could perform the required tasks for docking and it was able to be successfully captured by the ISS on May 25, 2012. The crew of the ISS was able to open the capsule and swap out the cargo with items that could be returned to Earth. This is a very important difference then any of the other vehicles that can currently dock with the ISS, as this is the only one currently proven that can return cargo back to Earth. The Dragon capsule lands in the ocean the same way the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo capsules used to. And today the Dragon capsule was released from ISS and safely landed in the Pacific Ocean.

This is a huge step in US space capabilities and I'm sure that it will lead to many other successes in the future for SpaceX and the other private companies that will be providing this capability. I'm sure there will be more setbacks, but I hope that these companies can continue to provide these capabilities and others. Hopefully SpaceX will also be allowed to use these Dragon capsules to take human crews up to the ISS and other space habitats built in the future and maybe even go on from there to the Moon or further.

Congratulations SpaceX and NASA!

SSIS 2012 Microsoft Connector for Oracle Upgrade Issues

For anyone that uses SSIS to get data from Oracle data sources you have probably had the pain of working with the components provided by Microsoft in the default installation of SSIS. You may have even downloaded the free Oracle tools for Windows that provide some more options for connecting to Oracle. Both of these choices are ok and may work fine in your environments, but for the best solution Microsoft worked with Attunity to make their connectors available for everyone to use without any additional licensing cost (FREE)! These connectors have been considered the best Oracle connectors that you can use with SSIS for quite awhile now. When SQL Server 2012 was released in April v2.0 of these connectors were also released, along with an updated v1.2 for older versions of SSIS.

Now for the twist in the story, what is the upgrade path if you are currently using Microsoft Connectors v1.1 for Oracle by Attunity (wow, that is a mouth full) and you want to upgrade your SSIS packages to SSIS 2012? Logic would tell you that you should be able to install SSIS 2012 and the Microsoft Connectors v2.0 for Oracle by Attunity and then just run the upgrade wizard in SSDT (SQL Server Data Tools) to get your packages up and running in SSIS 2012 and latest Oracle connector, right? Not so fast, unfortunately if you try this your package will be upgraded to SSIS 2012, but your Oracle components that you created using the older versions of the Attunity connectors will no longer work and you may not be able to edit or even delete them from your package! Below is a screenshot that shows what your component will look like after the upgrade:

You will also see errors, similar to this:
Error loading xxx.dtsx: The component is missing, not registered, not upgradeable, or missing required interfaces. The contact information for this component is "Oracle Source;Microsoft Connector for Oracle by Attunity; Attunity Ltd.; All Rights Reserved; http://www.attunity.com;2".

Error loading xxx.dtsx: The component metadata for "Oracle Source" could not be upgraded to the newer version of the componenet. The PerformUpgrade method failed.

You will not be able to edit the component to try and fix it and depending on how many of these components you are using in each package you may even see this error message when you try to delete the component from your package:

So, if you are unable to edit or even delete these invalid components from you package, what do you do? The only option available to you at this point is to edit the .dtsx file in a text editor so that you can see the XML, but if you go that route and you are not very familiar with XML structure or how the XML for SSIS is setup you might end up making a bigger mess.

Thankfully, after a week or so of fighting this same issue for a client that I'm currently working with we were able to get a solution from Microsoft Support that is very quick and will prevent you from losing any of your query, mapping or metadata! The fix is to use a text editor (I prefer Notepad++) and you can do a search and replace for the following GUID in your packages:
{4CAC6073-BCA7-430E-BD29-68A9F0012C6D}
and replace it with:
{CB67CD40-126C-4280-912D-2A625DFAFB66}
The first GUID should be unique to v1.1 of the connector, so if you have upgraded to v1.2 that GUID may be different.

Once I completed this on all 120+ packages that used the Oracle connector and reloaded the updated versions in SSDT all of the error messages went away and the data flows appeared correctly as shown below:

I am not sure if this will be a continuing issue with these connectors as new versions are released or if this is because of the major changes required going from previous versions of SSIS to SSIS 2012. Either way, I wanted to make sure this information was out there for those are upgrading to avoid some of the problems we had.

SSIS 2012 Presentations

I'm going to be getting back into presenting again! I used to present on a variety of topics at local User Groups in the past, but took an extended break when I got really busy at work and life. Things are finally settling down again and now I'm really looking forward to getting back into presenting on a more regular basis.

My first presentation will be a 30 minute presentation at this Thursday's Denver SQL Server User Group meeting. This presentation will be a preview of a presentation that I hope to present in many different venues on the new features in SSIS 2012. I came up with what I think is a very clever title for these presentations, "SSIS 2012: More Than Just a Pretty UI". I was looking for a title that was catchy and also captured what a lot of people have already heard about SSIS 2012. This will be a demo only presentation showing as many features as I can, and there probably are enough new features in SSIS alone that I could go for hours. I'll probably change around what I demo each time I present as I find out what items demo better then others. For those that have not presented, this is probably the most dangerous type of presentation to do, where you are doing as many live demos as you can.

I will also be doing the first full length version of this presentation on Saturday 5/19/2012 at Rocky Mountain Tech Trifecta! I'm really happy to be a speaker at this event, I have attended this event and even volunteered to help set it up in the past. This will be my first time presenting at this event, so I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone at this annual free training event that covers Development, SharePoint, Office and SQL Server among many other topics. Make sure you register at http://www.rmtechtrifecta.com/#register and come to my presentation!

Keep your eyes open and I may be presenting in an area near you!

Virtualization on Laptops and Windows 8

I wanted to cover something that is not Microsoft BI specific today, but still related.

I love to have the newest OS and software available to try out things and for presentations/demos, and like anyone else that does this I prefer to not carry around multiple laptops or connect via sometimes unreliable Internet connections to servers to do this. Over the years I have tried many different versions of virtualization technologies on both Microsoft and Apple platforms. I have used the paid versions like VMWare and Parallels along with the freely available ones like VirtualPC and VirtualBox. While all of these have their pluses and minuses lately I have been using Microsoft's Hyper-V technologies. Currently the biggest downside to using Hyper-V is that it is only available in it's most complete form in Windows Server 2008R2. This is a bit inconvenient for use on a laptop, but I currently have my MacBook Pro setup with BootCamp (Apple's dual-boot technology) to allow me to run both OS X Lion and Windows Server 2008R2 Enterprise without any virtualization. Then I can use Hyper-V in the Windows partition without any issues.

To get my Windows partition setup on the Mac so that it works more like Windows 7 then Windows Server I used the resources on win2008r2workstation.com and Mathieu Chateau's blog to get everything up and running as good as possible (I still have some strange driver issue, but it doesn't prevent any of the regular functions from working correctly). With all of these changes I'm still able to do "normal" things in the Windows partition like run Office and play Star Wars: The Old Republic. I have even been able to take advantage of the Thunderbolt port on my MacBook Pro in Windows to drive the 27" Apple Thunderbolt display and a 1TB LaCie External Thunderbolt harddrive. With the 16GB RAM and the 512GB SSD in my MacBook Pro this setup as worked very well for over the last 18 months.

Now with the new Lenovo laptop that I got from Pragmatic Works I have been trying to figure out a better solution than using VirtualBox. Don't get me wrong, VirtualBox is a great tool and is the only free solution that allows you to run both 32bit and 64bit virtual OS systems. But, now that I'm used to Hyper-V, I'm really looking for that to work on this laptop without requiring Windows Server 2008R2.

Thankfully Microsoft has the answer coming soon with Windows 8! For those that didn't hear the news yesterday, Microsoft has finally announced that they won't be going version crazy with Windows 8. For traditional Windows computers there will really only be 2 different versions, basic and Pro (there will probably also be an Enterprise version). And from that announcement the Hyper-V functionality will be moved down to the Pro version of Windows 8 (now being referred to as Client Hyper-V)! This should fix many issues that I have had with laptop setup over the years. On some of the Hyper-V blogs it does appear that the issues with using wireless networks in Hyper-V have been resolved, which is great news. They have also been able to remove the restriction on the different power states when running Hyper-V as well (for those that have not installed Windows Server with the Hyper-V role on a laptop, you are currently not allowed to use hibernate or sleep modes if the role is running).

This will greatly simplify my setups on laptops, I have not yet installed the Consumer Preview of Windows 8 to verify all of this. It does look like Windows 8 will be the way to go if you need to run virtual environments on a laptop.

SQL Server 2012 Certifications

For the last 2 weeks I have been taking the new SQL Server 2012 beta exams, to see how things are going to be in the new exams. Since I had to accept an NDA to take the exams I cannot reveal the details of the exams. But I can present my general thoughts. There are quite few new "technologies" being used for some of the questions and I think that those people that have struggled answering certain types of questions will find the new setup much better. My focus was on all of the Business Intelligence exams. Below are the exams that I took (since starting this post all of the 71's have been changed to 70's, see further in this post):

71-461 - Querying Microsoft SQL Server 2012

71-462 - Administering Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Databases

71-463 - Implementing a Data Warehouse with Microsoft SQL Server 2012

71-466 - Implementing Data Models and Reports with Microsoft SQL Server 2012

71-467 - Designing Business Intelligence Solutions with Microsoft SQL Server 2012

The biggest take away I got from this process was to never schedule taking this many exams over only 7 weekdays. Also, make sure you do pay attention to the amount of time they give you to take each exam. I assumed the length of these exams would be similar to the previous SQL Server 2008 exams and found that there is a lot more reading involved in the new exams. This may change when they go out of beta.

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Since I started writing this entry last week, Microsoft just released the official plan for the SQL Server  certifications. No longer are there the MCTS or MCITP certifications, the new titles are MCSA (Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate) and then MCSE (Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert). MCM (Microsoft Certified Master) has also been renamed to MCSM (Microsoft Certified Solutions Master). MCSE is the specialized level of certifications, everyone that wants to get a SQL Server MCSE will have to pass all of the SQL Server MCSA exams:

70-461 - Querying Microsoft SQL Server 2012

70-462 - Administering Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Databases

70-463 - Implementing a Data Warehouse with Microsoft SQL Server 2012

Once you get your SQL Server MCSA then you can work towards the MCSE: Data Platform or MCSE: Business Intelligence. In the end the MCSE certification will require you pass a total of 5 exams, but if you want to get both the SQL Server MCSE specialties you will only need to take a total of 7 exams.

There are also going to be a set of upgrade exams offered for existing MCTS and MCITP SQL Server 2008 certifications, if you go to this page, Microsoft Training has done a good job outlining the upgrade path.

Overall this looks like a good change to me, makes the specializations very clear and requires that everyone have the same basic set of skills. All of these new exams should be available in June, so start studying now! Good luck.

Getting Started with SQL Server 2012

Now that SQL Server 2012 is generally available more of you may be asking where you can get more information on all of the new features (and also all of the licensing changes).

The first stop is Microsoft’s main SQL page at http://www.microsoft.com/sql. The site has been updated with all of the resources on SQL Server 2012. A couple of other links that are also at the top of that page are worth highlighting as well.

Microsoft held a virtual launch event for SQL Server 2012 on 3/7/2012 and all of the resources from that event are available at: http://www.sqlserverlaunch.com/. There are over 30 pre-recorded sessions covering all of the new features in SQL Server 2012 along with videos of the keynotes presented by Ted Kummert and Quentin Clark of Microsoft.

Microsoft has also made a free ebook, Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2012 by Ross Mistry and Stacia Misner. The ebook is available in PDF, EPUB and MOBI formats. For more details on the chapters of the book you can go to this blog post from Microsoft Press. This book is also available in hardcopy from O’Reilly.

Now that you have read all about SQL Server 2012, download the free evaluation version or get it from MSDN and TechNet now!

Installing PowerPivot and Power View

For those that want to have all of the newest SQL BI toys installed in a VM or on your laptop, I have found a couple of really good resources that I use each time I need to install them.

Step by step guide on installing PowerPivot for SharePoint on a single machine
Checklist: Reporting Services, Power View, and PowerPivot for SharePoint

The first link is from PowerPivot-info.com, which is a great resource for PowerPivot. The second is an MSDN article that provides the Microsoft perspective on getting it setup. Both of these resources were posted before SQL 2012 was RTM and have been updated since RTM, so they both work very smoothly.

For those that are new to PowerPivot and Power View and wondering why these tools require detailed installation resources is because both of these tools require SharePoint Server 2010 be installed. For those that have not installed SPS2010 yet, it can be challenging, especially to make sure you get the PowerPivot Gallery installed correctly. Thankfully Power View, the newest SQL BI tool on the block, works very well with PowerPivot, so once you have PowerPivot setup Power View is not too hard to add on.

Have fun and enjoy PowerPivot and Power View!

New Beginnings, Part 2

Has it already been June of last year since I posted to my blog last? Time flies!

As I mentioned in my previous post I started a new job after 14 years at the same company, which was a very big step for me. After 8 months on the new job I realized it just wasn't exactly what I was promised or looking for at this time in my career. On President's Day weekend I saw a posting in LinkedIn for a Microsoft BI Consultant with Pragmatic Works and jumped at the chance to work for a premier Microsoft Business Intelligence consulting firm. To be honest at the time I didn't think that I had a chance at getting this position, not sure if it was low self-esteem or just feeling that I lacked certain skills, but I decided to try anyway. I was contacted immediately on President's Day and went through both the initial and technical interviews on that day. After a couple of weeks I  got an offer from Pragmatic Works!

For those that don't know Pragmatic Works is a very well known Microsoft BI/SQL Server consulting company based in Jacksonville, Florida. The company is built on a core of each employee giving something back to the community, which is how I got to know the company many years before even considering applying to work there. All of the consultants are encouraged to respond to questions in the MSDN and BIDN forums as well as blog and of course present at events throughout the world. This is one of the keys to why I wanted to work for Pragmatic Works, as I have started to contribute more of my time to the SQL Server community and wanted to make that as much a part of my career as everything else I do.

So, you may be asking, does that mean Steve is relocating to Jacksonville? Not necessary! Pragmatic Works is growing so fast and has clients across the country, having me in the Denver area is actually a great asset for them. When I am not traveling on client site, I will be able to work from home. This presented another new challenge for me since I did not have a home office at the house before now. Thankfully we still had a spare bedroom, which I have now converted into a great home office where I can look out and see the mountains.

I am very thankful for all of my past accomplishments because they would not have prepared me for the amazing opportunities that I have now and I look forward to all of the new challenges that will be coming.

This should be the start of new entries in this blog on a very regular basis going forward. so stay tuned!

New Beginnings

After 14 years at my previous employer (major financial services company) I decided that it was time to move on and pursue my ideal Microsoft BI position. Unfortunately I had to leave my previous company when I came to the realization that I was never going to get that position there. I must have timed this at the perfect time as the job market started to rebound in the Denver area since I had a few interviews for great positions within days of starting to look. I didn't really broadcast it loudly to the world that I was looking for a new job, since I had some very specific ideas on what this position would be and the type of companies I would consider.

The first priority for me is that it had to be a Microsoft BI focused position, not a do everything, Microsoft BI and .NET developer and SQL developer position (there are a lot of those positions out there, but I really question the judgement of the companies wanting someone that tries to do so much). I also didn't want something that was focused on just one of the Microsoft BI tools. I wanted to work in a place where I could contribute with all of the skills that I have learned over the years and make a real difference using these technologies (and the future technologies coming). Another big priority for me was to work for a much smaller company, when I started at the company that I worked for the previous 14 years it was a very small company which I have found that I miss greatly over the years and it became bigger and bigger with all of the issues that go along with a large corporate environment.

I only ended up doing interviews for 3 different companies and had 2 that I was really hoping to get. The first one didn't pan out, which ended up being a good thing because it forced me to look a little bit more for other options. Before this I was going off of positions that were being sent to me directly by friends or posted on LinkedIn (great resource for job search), now I tried to look at monster.com and dice.com to see what else might be out there. Applied for a few positions on dice.com and within hours of applying for one of the jobs on dice.com I got a call that one of them wanted to interview me. That company ended up being the one that I accepted, I immediately hit it off with the people that I interviewed with and the job description fit all of the criteria I listed above and more!

While it can be quite scary to leave a place that you are comfortable in after many years, some times you have branch out. I have not regretted the decision in anyway and it gives me the chance to do what I have been wanting to do with my career for at least the last 3 years, if not longer. I still don't want to give out company names, but my new title is Manager, Reporting and Business Intelligence (or BI Manager for short) at a Microsoft Gold Partner that delivers custom Microsoft Dynamics solutions in the Retail and Food/Beverage industries.

Thanks to all of those that help me along in this journey!

P.S. I will be at the SQL PASS Summit 2011 in Seattle this October as well, so I'll see all of you there that will be attending this year as well!