Voice of the DBA

Author: way0utwest

  • A Fun Distraction

    As we approach the Christmas holiday, this is a time when work usually slows down and many of us spend some time trying to relax and recharge away from the challenges and responsibilities we face in technology. Unless you work in an organization that looks to profit from the holiday, I suspect this is the slowest time of the year for you. Budgets haven’t been decided for the new year and many of us aren’t pressured with deadlines between Christmas and New Years.

    Since lots of us might have some extra time, I thought I’d ask the question about what might entertain you across the next few weeks. I’m sure a few of you have some ideas, perhaps something to catch up on that might be geek related. I’m also guessing that some of you don’t have any plans, and might be looking for something to entertain and distract you.

    Today I’m asking you to share with everyone a way that you might spend some of your time away from work the next two weeks. Perhaps there’s a science fiction book you’ve been wanting to read. Maybe there’s a geeky movie or TV show that you’d like to see. Perhaps you’re working on maker project that’s fun, like building a drone, a clock, or some other technological gadget. Or maybe you’re doing something non technical. Perhaps you’ve got a cooking project or a car improvement, or just want to learn how to open a lock.

    I’ll be traveling in Ireland for the next week with my family, so we likely won’t be tackling any projects, but I am going to try and read The Three Body Problem, on a recommendation from my oldest. Other than that, if I find time, I might see if I can convince my family to watch some of the classic sci fi I haven’t seen yet.

    Have a great holiday, and share some of your ideas for leisure activities this week and I’ll be back after Christmas.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 2.6MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and Libsyn.

  • Connecting to a Specific Port–#SQLNewBlogger

    Another post for me that is simple and hopefully serves as an example for people trying to get blogging as #SQLNewBloggers.

    I recently blogged about finding the port your SQL Server uses. At the end of that post I showed a connection to a server using a port. This is something I’ve used rarely, but it’s been very helpful.

    The specification for specifying a port can vary. For example, my build server at home runs TeamCity on port 8077. In my case, the URL to connect is:

    http://192.168.1.201:8077/overview.html

    If I had an FQDN, I might have this instead:

    http://Atlas.dkranch.net:8077/overview.html

    When I connect to SQL Server, I get this dialog:

    2016-11-15 15_28_10-Connect to Database Engine

    Some of you might note there is a “Connection Properties” tab, but there’s no port setting there, even if you choose TCP/IP.

    2016-11-15 15_28_27-Connect to Database Engine

    When I connect, I give a server name. In the example above, I used “.\SQL2016”. The default is that my client will try to connect on 1433 or use the SQLBrowser to get the port. However, I could specify the instance name like this:

    .\SQL2016, 1433

    For this instance, that wouldn’t work as the port is 6077. I’d have to write this:

    .\SQL2016, 60087

    But since I’m choosing a port, I don’t need that. I can use

    .,60087

    and I’ll connect.

    Learn to use the port in your connection string. At some point, this will help you to troubleshoot connection issues.

    #SQLNewBlogger

    This is a quick, easy post to write. It’s five minutes work for most of you. Maybe 10 if you have to Google/Bing.

  • Live #SQLintheCity–Behind the Scenes

    Here’s a shot from our engineer, behind the scenes of my live talk today.

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  • SQL in the City 2016

    It’s time for SQL in the City 2016 to start today. Actually, by the time some of you read this, we may already be underway. This year the event is being broadcast from the Redgate Software offices in Cambridge, UK. Along with Grant Fritchey and a number of other Redgaters, we’re holding our annual conference live for the world to watch. In fact, to ensure everyone can watch, we’re going to broadcast both today and tomorrow (Dec 15) at different times to reach the entire world. If you can’t tune in today, come back tomorrow as the content is the same, just about 4 hours later. That means an early day in the office for me today, and then a late one tomorrow, but it’s worth it to give you a fun show.

    I’ve enjoyed being a part of SQL in the City for many years, in quite a few cities around the US as well as London. Each year we spend time trying to showcase new products and features from Redgate that can better help you develop software. That’s the mission at Redgate. We want to make you more productive as you build applications on top of SQL Server. Part of doing that is showing you examples and providing education in addition to selling software.

    As an evangelist, I’ve been proud that Redgate continues to give back to the community and invests heavily in SQLServerCentral, Simple Talk, and many other conferences and events around the world. We truly do want to be a part of the #sqlfamily and try to ensure that every one of us gets better at our job over time. To me this is one of the great things about the SQL Server community in that we all support, inspire, assist, and share with each other. I’m happy to help contribute what I can to educate SQL Server professionals every day.

    This should be a fun couple of days, and I hope you enjoy the sessions we’ve been developing this fall. We’ve got some great new products that have been under development in 2016 and should be releasing soon. I think you’ll like what we’ve been working on.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 3.2MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and Libsyn.