Building a Better Workstation
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Building a Better Workstation Steve Wake Consultant, RevGen Partners President, Denver SQL Server User Group
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Doesn't matter if you are a SQL Developer, BI Developer, DBA or a combination of those, we all need to have the right tools to get our jobs done. Now that many of the tools for SQL Server are no longer being included with the installer we will all have to do more work to get everything setup and ready. What are BIDS and SSDT? What version(s) of SSDT do I need? Can I install multiple different versions of these on the same workstation? Can I do .NET development and SQL Server development in the same tools? These are just the start of the questions you may be asking when getting a workstation setup. There are lots of other tools out there that you might find useful and tips/tricks in the tools you are already used to. Some time will also be spent on the advantages/disadvantages to using VMs for your development workstation. By the end of this session you will be able to build the best development workstation and be able to keep it up-to-date into the future.
Transcript of Building a Better Workstation
Building a Better Workstation
Steve WakeConsultant, RevGen Partners
President, Denver SQL Server User Group
Agenda
• Hardware• Local vs. Virtual vs. Cloud• VM Platforms• Virtual Drive Setup/Organization• SQL Server Installs• BIDS, SSDT & Visual Studio• Handling Updates• Recommendations
Hardware
• Laptop or Desktop?
• Usually comes down to portability vs. remote access as hardware has become so similar
Laptop Desktop
Portable More power/capabilities
12-16GB RAM at a minimum Easy to upgrade
SSDs Redundancy possible
Not as easy to upgrade Usually not portable (remote login)
Local vs. Virtual vs. Cloud
• Things to think about:– Is speed important (performance testing)?– Ability to reset and re-use– RAM/Drive Space/Processor– Access to Internet at reliable speed– Cost (licenses & usage)
• In my experience choice between Local & Virtual
Which VM Platform?
• Main choices:– Hyper-V– VMWare Workstation (Fusion on Mac)– Parallels (Mac only)– VirtualBox
• After years of trying all of the above I have found VirtualBox to be the most flexible and is FREE
• Install additions into each VM
Virtual Drive Setup/Organization
• Fixed Size vs. Differential drives?• Create base OS images with other
required software/settings• Copy/Clone base OS images to create
multiple separate VMs• Full Clone/Linked Clone?• Take advantage of snapshots to handle
updates/changes
SQL Server Installs
• Single version or Multiple versions?• For VMs take advantage of clones to save
time installing• Keep licensing in mind• Don’t forget to install appropriate version
of BIDS/SSDT/SSDT-BI/VS and any other tools you need
BIDS & SSDT
• SQL tools change with each version of SQL Server and Visual Studio
• SSDT/SSDT-BI no longer included in installer with SQL Server 2014 (SSMS still included)
• Move to web install to allow for more frequent updates (sync up with Visual Studio)
Tool SS 2005 SS 2008 (R2) SS 2012 SS 2014
BIDS X X
SSDT X X X X (VS2013)
SSDT-BI X X X (web only)
BIDS & SSDTTool AS
05IS 05
RS 05
DB 05
AS 08
IS 08
RS 08
DB 08
AS 12
IS 12
RS 12
DB 12
AS 14
IS 14
RS 14
DB 14
BIDS 2005 X X X
BIDS 2008 (R2) X^ X^ X^ X X X
SSDT VS 2010 X^ X^ X^ X^ X^ X^ X^ X X X X
SSDT VS 2012 X^ X
SSDT VS 2013* X^ X^ X
SSDT-BI VS 2012 X^ X^ X^ X X X
SSDT-BI VS 2013 X^ X^ X^ X^ X X X
* SSDT functionality for SQL Server 2014 is included with all versions of Visual Studio 2013 and cannot be downloaded separately any longer
^ Previous versions supported, but will upgrade project files to specified current version
Visual Studio
• Visual Studio is NOT required for ANY SQL Server BI project development
• Visual Studio licensed versions can be installed on same machine as BIDS/SSDT
• BIDS/SSDT will add project templates to existing Visual Studio versions
• Visual Studio Express 2013 is FREE for 5 or less developers, includes VS Online!
Handling Updates
• Protect your systems before doing OS/application updates
• VMs – snapshot before doing updates, restore snapshot if update goes wrong
• System Restore for local/cloud – create manual restore point (System control panel/System Protection tab)
Steve’s Recommendations
• Laptop with 12GB min, SSDs (as big as you can afford), multiple cores capable of Intel VT-x (BIOS setting) – use Intel ARK
• VirtualBox• Dedicate 6-8GB min to VM• Differential drives in VM to save HDD space• Create base OS VM• Use base OS VM clone for SQL Server VMs
Summary
• Hardware recommendations• Local, VM or Cloud• Hyper-V, VMWare or VirtualBox• Fixed/Differential Disks in VM & Cloning• SQL Server Installations• BIDS, SSDT & Visual Studio
September 20, 2014 on the University of Denver campus!
Multiple tracks of sessionsSpeakers from across the countryGreat SponsorsLots of PrizesAll of this for FREE!
Register @ denversqlsaturday.com
Pre-Cons! This year we are offering all day pre-cons on Friday, September 19th at Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church
• Getting Started with Biml by Tim Mitchell & Reeves Smith• Murder They Wrote by Jason Brimhall & Wayne Sheffield• A Day of High Availability and Disaster Recovery by Ryan Adams
Details and links to register for pre-cons @ denversqlsaturday.com
organized by volunteers from Denver SQL Server User Group (denversql.org)
