Voice of the DBA

What is the Cloud?

Posted on June 22, 2026 by way0utwest

Last week we had a training session at Redgate Software on the Cloud. One of the first slides from John Q Martin asked the question, “what is the cloud?” The next slide had the answer: it’s just someone else’s computer.

I mean that’s true, but it’s not Grant’s computer. He’s got a creaky, 4 year old HP that I don’t want running my workload.

The cloud is many things, it’s hard to define, it does so much, and at the same time, can do so little for you. Except cost a lot. We certainly find no shortage of people spending a lot of money in the cloud and not necessarily happy about it.

John was trying to educate others on the IaaS v PaaS, the challenges of cloud migration, giving them a perspective on what the cloud changes, and how customers think about the cloud. Apart from the basic details of what the cloud entails, he said an interesting thing (I’m paraphrasing here): the cloud does things that 95% of organizations couldn’t do themselves.

It’s not just someone else’s computer. It’s a whole bunch of computers someone else owns and has put a lot of security, infrastructure, planning, tooling, and more to enable you to flexibly create systems at a pace you would struggle to match inside your organization.

For most people.

The cloud is amazing. It’s is someone else’s (large rack of) computers that you can rent. They will charge you for the flexibility, and they’re not doing all your work for you, but they give you the ability to configure things the way you want them. Or you can ask one of your buddies, Claude or Copilot, to set up the configuration for you.

The cloud is a set of Lego bricks, some pre-built Lego models, a surface on which to place them, and a few rules to keep you from going too crazy, but you still have to do some work.

The cloud is a great enabler for many things. Not all, and not always for those things, but it’s up to you to find where it works, where it doesn’t, and where it’s worth the money.

That’s the cloud.

Steve Jones

Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Spotify, or iTunes.

Note, podcasts are only available for a limited time online.

Posted in Editorial | Tagged Cloud Computing | Leave a comment

Brain Exercises: Fun Away from Work

Posted on June 22, 2026 by way0utwest

I do like using my brain and trying different activities. Trying to solve T-SQL puzzles, or writing some code, or even playing some games that require me to think.

Recently my wife and I took a cruise. We’ve done this before and one of the things we’ve enjoyed it the trivia contests. They’re fun and they tax your memory a little, and reveal how much you know about the world around you. A few years ago we (with my son) won one of the contests and got a pin. This time we were hoping to repeat as winners at least once during the week.

We learned there are lots of smart people. We tried a few different contests and were close, but multiple questions away from winning. There are usually 16 questions, of various points, and we often knew 10-13, but often multiple teams fared better. Especially with the last, bonus question, which was worth more points. A few things we didn’t know:

Italian snack food made in 600AD inspired by children praying (pretzel)
how many stars are on the New Zealand flag (4)

We did get a few things right

Australian snack made from leftover brewers yeast (vegemite)
honey never spoils (true)

One of the days had a Michael Jackson theme. We are big fans, and as we listened to the songs, we knew most of them. The one we didn’t know, and in fact only one of the 25 or so teams knew, was Liberian Girl. One that my daughter knew, which none of us did, was Chicago. That was the bonus question and we needed it as we won by one point.

We got a sticker for the win, which was fun, but it was nice to stop and try to think under pressure, but not too much pressure.

We won a second time, this one with TV Show intros. That was truly a group affair. I didn’t know many, but between my wife, my daughter, my son and his finance, we tied with 19/20 points with 2 other teams. We got a tiebreaker, and my son recognized the OC Theme, which one one else knew and I got a second sticker.

This makes me think I ought to do some trivia at a Day of Data sometime.

Posted in Blog | Tagged fun | Leave a comment

Changes, Happiness, and a Few Tears

Posted on June 19, 2026 by way0utwest

Change is inevitable for most of us. The jobs we hold, the places we work, the people we know, even our families grow and change over time. As I get older and live longer, I’ve learned to accept, appreciate, and flow with changes. I might resist, delay, embrace, or anticipate tomorrow, knowing there is always a positive and negative side to things.

This week, one of my colleagues retired. Annabel has been a part of Redgate nearly as long as I have, and we’ve worked together for many years. If you’ve ever attended a Redgate event, live or online, she likely had a part to play in the planning, organizing, execution, financing, and every other part of the process.

My colleague, Allison, made a wonderful post yesterday, on Annabel’s final day with memories and thoughts from their time together. I wrote my own post with pictures and memories of our time together. There are so many more, and every time I think about our history, I’m touched, blessed, thrilled, and sad.

At PASS Europe last week, we said goodbye to Annabel at the last event she’s worked on. We toasted, laughed, and cried. She shed tears, which is a rarity, but Grant and I probably cried the most. She’s been a part of our lives and careers for many, many years.

Even typing these words brings tears to my eyes.

The future brings opportunity and excitement. It also brings sadness and wistfulness of the past. I can enjoy the memory of what I’ve experienced, miss the way things were, balancing those feelings with the my view forward to what is coming.

I can also think about what didn’t go well previously. We’ve had some issues at events, challenges, stressful times. Both at events, and while working with others in technology. I can learn from the past, be proud of the war stories, be glad we got past the failures, celebrate our successes, and plan to do better tomorrow.

The thing I miss most about growing older and moving forward are the people who I enjoyed spending time with. Those are the memories that stick with me more than the projects, the successful tech solutions, the elegant and fast code, the awards, bonuses, and achievements.

I miss the humans who have touched my life, and hopefully, whose lives I’ve touched.

I wish Annabel the best in retirement, I’m excited for where she journeys tomorrow. I hope those of you reading this make, cherish, and enjoy the great friends in your life.

Steve Jones

Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Spotify, or iTunes.

Note, podcasts are only available for a limited time online.

Posted in Editorial | Tagged life | 1 Comment

A Career of Memories

Posted on June 19, 2026 by way0utwest

Annabel retired from Redgate Software this week. Across most of my career at Redgate, I’ve participated in many events, some we hosted, some we sponsored. At most of these events, Annabel has been a part of organizing, financing, executing (or all three) the events with me. From SQL in the City to SQL Saturdays to Redgate Summits to the PASS Summit, she and I have been in so many cities and venues around the world.

She has become a dear friend, and someone I look forward to seeing. A friendly face, a supportive friend, a joy to be around.

I’m happy for her future, sad she’s moving on, and grateful for the time we shared together. I look forward to quiet lunches and drinks, but will miss the chaos of travel and events.

I have so many memories across the years. Annabel might be the person I’ve worked with the most in my career. We’ve stood on stages together. I don’t have a picture of us, since I’m often on stage, but here she is with Kendra.