Is your company looking to maximize its SQL Server investment, increase agility, and save money at the same time? If so, chances are you are currently or already have been thinking about consolidating existing databases onto fewer physical or virtual servers. Whether you are the DBA responsible for administering a SQL Server environment, and application developer or owner whose application may be consolidated, an architect responsible for designing and planning consolidation, or even a non-SQL Server IT professional who has to be involved in a consolidation effort that contains SQL Server, this timely series of six webinars is for you.

SQL Server Consolidation Part I: Three info-packed sessions: (each session includes a 75-minute presentation and a live Q&A on Feb 24th)

11:00 am ET: SQL Server Consolidation Basics

Having a solid understanding of consolidation is crucial for a successful effort. You must understand what consolidation is as it relates to SQL Server, why consolidation has become a hotbed topic, and how it can benefit those who implement it. This session will provide those answers from a real-world perspective and set up the background for the other five sessions. This session will also cover some of the non-technical tasks which will be needed for consolidation, such as devising the guiding principles and setting realistic expectations for a consolidated environment.

1:00 pm ET: Gathering Information to Make Consolidation Decisions

The first step of any consolidation effort is to gather information which will be used during planning and implementation. Too much information can be overwhelming, and too little information may not be enough. This session will discuss what needs to be collected (and why those bits of data are important), approaches to documenting, and finally, how to analyze/approach the data to make intelligent decisions that impact everything from the architecture to the schedule of consolidation.

3:00 pm ET: Applications and SQL Server Consolidation

Applications, not databases or instances, have arguably the strongest influence on all aspects of a consolidation effort. No consolidation is ever just as simple as moving databases from instance A to instance B, since there is always an application involved. This session will discuss the application-related factors that must be considered, whether the application was purchased from a vendor or developed in-house.

SQL Server Consolidation Part II: Three info-packed sessions: (each session includes a 45-minute presentation and a live Q&A on March 24th)

11:00 am ET: Considerations for SQL Server Consolidation

1:00 pm ET: Approaches for a Consolidated SQL Server Architecture

There is more than one way to approach a consolidation effort, and you must understand the pros and cons of each. Consolidate on physical hardware? Use virtualization? How will availability be achieved for a consolidated environment? These topics and more will be addressed in this session.

3:00 pm ET: Administering and Maintaining a Consolidated SQL Server Environment

Deploying a consolidated, centralized environment impacts both DBAs and developers when it comes to administration and future deployments. How will the roles and responsibilities change in a consolidated environment? How will the maintenance jobs and daily tasks change? How will future applications and their databases be deployed? This session will inform you on the challenges of having a consolidated SQL Server environment and discuss how to efficiently administer and maintain it.