Voice of the DBA

Author: way0utwest

To Infinity and Beyond

This isn’t data related, but a story caught my eye recently, and I suspect quite a few of you will enjoy reading it.

One of the tasks I had to do in university was try and rewrite the landing software for the Mars Viking lander. This was in a software engineering class, and we treated the task like a project, each of us having to work on different parts and integrate them together. We had the same requirements in terms of memory and disk space, though not CPU. We ended up building a small piece of software that worked in the professor’s simulation, but the real joy was going through the process and solving the problem. It was quite a challenge.

In the real world, quite a few people around the globe have been disappointed by the very limited space travel efforts of our species. After sending multiple missions to the moon, not much happened outside Earth orbit for decades. A few recent actions with rockets have gathered attention, and with the interest shown by SpaceX and other companies, it seems that we might be poised for more exciting opportunities in space across the next few decades.

A company’s application to send a commercial mission to the moon has been approved by the US federal government. There are rules that require each country to authorize and supervise space activities, and it’s quite a process in the US. However Moon Express has gotten the approval and they want to send a spacecraft to the moon. And not before the end of the decade, as the US tried to do in the 60s. They’re looking to land on the moon before the end of 2017. That’s just over a year away.

I think the idea of space travel is really cool. Well, it’s cool for others. Not for me. Until there’s artificial gravity, I’m not interested, but I know plenty of others are. Friends in technology dream of going. The DBA in Space contest from Redgate was a hit that many people wanted to win, and get the chance to ride a rocket. My son even wants to study aeronautical engineering in college, hoping to get the chance to work in space someday. Even as launching rockets gets to be commonplace, there are many people that dream of the chance to one day leave the planet.

The explosion in aircraft innovation came when a variety of private companies began to build and fly aircraft. I suspect a similar thing will happen with space flight, especially as the technology advances in computing, 3D printing, and more have become affordable for many private concerns. I expect that the next few years will start to see space tourism become a regular, expensive but affordable option, even as a few private groups will make the first steps toward moon exploration, and someday, colonization.

Steve Jones

The Voice of the DBA Podcast

Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 4.1MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and Mevio .

August 15, 2016
Opening .SQL Files in SSMS 2016 by Default #SQLNewBlogger

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

This is an easy one, but you’ll want to try this yourself.

As I’ve been trying to move off the various SSMS versions I have installed to the new, free, updated SSMS 2016, I’ve found that on every system (4 so far) that the default action for .SQL files is to open SSMS 2012 or SSMS 2014. That used to be OK, but it’s annoying. I have SSMS 2016 open (maybe just SSMS?) and waiting on the long load times for 2012/2014 SSMS, especially in demos, is annoying.

If I right click a .SQL file, I get the chance to choose, but what do I choose?

A little experimentation shows that I want SSMS, not SQL Server Management Studio. So let’s change that.

First, open the Control Panel. On Windows 10, this is the Win+I key combination. I find it hard to know where some things are located, but I like the Search in the upper right.

When I type “default,” I get a list of things. The fourth one down is the one I want to click.

This brings me a list of each file type and the app. Boy, there are a lot of types to go through. You’ll want to scroll down about two thirds of the way to find .SQL.

Once I find the file, I click the icon on the right, where it says SQL Server Management Studio. This brings up a “Choose an app” dialog as shown below. I click the SSMS choice.

Now when I double click a file, it just opens in SSMS (2016). Quickly.

SQLNewBlogger

A handy tip. This shows I saw a problem and fixed it. I’m sure some of you could write this in 10 minutes. Some might even built a .reg file or some other automation to show off skills that would help you fix this.

August 11, 2016
Keyboard Hardlines

A few years ago, I had a keyboard die. At the time, I needed something quickly and ended up with a Logitech wireless model that included a mouse. I’m not sure of which model, but I’ve ended up getting two or three more Logitech devices over the years. I think I go through a keyboard every 18-24 months, though the mice seem to last longer. For me, having devices available without cords is more important for the mouse than the keyboard, but since Logitech will bundle them, I get both at the same time. I’m currently with a K350 keyboard and an M510 mouse, both of which seem to hold up well.

However, I’m at home, usually working alone, so I haven’t been concerned much about security. In corporate environments, I remember playing jokes by moving someone’s mouse to my desk, and giving them a disconnected replacement, trying to mimic their movement. Or doing the same with a keyboard. That’s a great typing challenge if you ever try it.

I thought about those times when I read this piece on the security of wireless keyboards, or maybe the lack of security. Apparently a relatively simple device can intercept and replace, or just record, keystrokes made on a variety of keyboards. These devices use their own dongles, not a Bluetooth connection, and security is non-existent. Perhaps I’ll take one to the Redgate office this fall and see who’s actually vulnerable.

Actually, I think this is an issue, especially in large companies that may regularly hire consultants. Who knows what temporary workers might do with information they can gather by just sitting in proximity to a domain administrator. Or a DBA. We might be disclosing passwords to all our systems. Even malicious insiders may end up with access they shouldn’t have, including the ability to run queries or commands under another individual’s account.

Since keyloggers are cheap and simple, perhaps this seems like an unwarranted concern. However making the move to actually touch someone else’s machine, and add a device that could be noticed is much more dangerous than just sitting, or even standing with a tablet, by someone’s workspace. Even a simple conversation, asking an admin to look up information could result in a breach of security.

Fortunately this hack targets a few devices, and doesn’t work against Bluetooth devices. However, there are attacks against those, and against wireless access. I know some environments have very sensitive information, or even tight security regulation. I really hope we don’t find our administrators going back to hardlines for administrative access from specific machines, or even only using secured wired because we can’t strong wireless security for our devices.

Steve Jones

The Voice of the DBA Podcast

Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 4.3MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and Mevio .

August 10, 2016
What’s a Database Pipeline?
One of the things I ran into a few years ago was the idea of a software pipeline. A set journey across machines and stages that your software takes. In modern, DevOps style development shops, this usually means:
- A development machine(s)
- A Version Control System (VCS)
- A CI/Build server/system
- An artifact repository
- Test server(s)/system(s)
- Production server(s)/system(s)
Usually software flows along this path as code is written, compiled, and moved from one stage to the next. You may have more or less stages in your environment.

For databases, this should be similar, with databases in
- development
- test/QA
- staging/pre-production
- production
You could also have other stages like integration, beta, user acceptance, etc. I’ve seen people with 7, 8, or 9 databases in their environment, all a part of their entire development and operational areas.

The database development pipeline is the set of databases that your code flows through. We’ve represented this with visually in DLM Dashboard as a flow, allowing up to 5 environments to be defined. You can see one of my pipelines in this image:

Keeping code flowing smoothly along this pipeline is the goal of any development effort. We know this at Redgate, and our mission is to build tools to help you do this efficiently.
August 10, 2016