Voice of the DBA

Author: way0utwest

  • Deploy from VCS

    Are you confident in your version control practices and code backups? If so, are you willing to do this? Wipe your applications and database schema from your servers and redeploy things from your Version Control System (VCS).

    I’ve typically maintained code in a VCS, but I have to admit I’d be worried about being positive about which version of code was deployed to which server in many of my previous jobs. Only in one position would I have been positive about which code was deployed to every system.

    I was teaching a class recently with Ike Ellis and he mentioned a consultant he knew always asked this. The reason was that if you can’t be confident of the state of your development code, you can’t really have confidence in your refactoring. There will always be places in the code that no one is willing to allow changes, and your flexibility will be limited.

    That’s very true, though even if you know what code you have, I’m sure there will still be sections of your code that no one wants to change. However, our goal should be to get away from code that’s untouchable.

    We should be able to change any code in the system if we have a good reason. When we can make improvements, we should. We need the confidence that we can alter code when we see the need. That means that we need a repeatable, reliable, adaptable software development process. That’s something we can’t build without making the conscious decision to do so.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 2.0MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and LibSyn. feed

  • Gauges and Alarms

    I was looking through the news this week and found a piece by Michael J. Swart that I really enjoyed. It talks about different types of metrics that he has used when monitoring and alerting on his database servers. Michaal talks about the difference between alarms and gauges, which are usually base on the time scale in which a DBA or administrator needs to react to a situation. Alarms are created when something grows in a short term and causes an issue. The gauges tend to be longer term items that eventually cause a problem.

    I’ve had a similar view in the past. However I look at these types of metrics from the standpoint of how I tackle my job as a DBA. I also try to think about these issues as a developer, ensuring that telemetry helps track issues that occur over time and acute issues cause a graceful degredation (or exit) and not an unexpected one.

    When I’ve needed to manage systems, I ensure that I have alarms set up. I need these for the situations where something goes wrong in a short period of time. However I never want alarms to be based on a lack of visibility into the system over time. I want to try and eliminate as many alarms as possible with better long term monitoring that looks for indicators that the system might have issues. I’ve found that many (not all) of the alarms that I receive could have been prevented if I’d been paying close attention.

    In other words, I’m a proactive DBA, looking at gauges (using MIchael’s terms), not a reactive one counting on alarms.

    I can’t predict everything, but when I find that looking back at data is helpful. If I find a trend that could have alerted me, I’ll evolve my monitoring system to try and track those potential issues in the future. I’ve written my own custom metrics in the past, which track data, either PerfMon type counters or business data, and then let me know when the growth, decline, or change is unexpected. In this way, I tend to find I can often proactively prevent issues. If I can use my data to “predict” an issue my boss doesn’t believe in, I’ve also found my budget for resources may increase a bit, allowing me to manage systems even better in the future.

    Steve Jones

  • Teambuilding

    I worked in a large company at one point in a team of 20 people. My boss made it a point every month to take a long lunch with the team and engage in some teambuilding. Usually one of us would have to remain at the office, but we rotated the duty so that most of use could participate. We would go to movies, go bowling, have a team lunch, watch a baseball game, or something similar.

    At Redgate, the various groups schedule days out, and last month the company had a large “day out”, bringing many of the Americans over from the US to participate. It was a good time, and the chance to get to know some of people in the company I rarely interact with.

    Team building has been hit or miss, but I’m curious how many of you engage in the activity. I know I’ve worked in plenty of companies where there was no effort made to build a team. This week I wanted to ask you:

    Do you engage in team building at work and what events have you enjoyed?

    Maybe I should ask what worked well to help build a team, but sometimes the enjoyment and bonding go and in hand.

    I thought of this recently as my daughter wanted to ride zip lines for her birthday. We packed up the family to go, and while it wasn’t everyone’s first choice, we enjoyed it and had a few hours to laugh and joke with each other. It turned out to be a much better family bonding time than a few people expected. If you’ve never tried it, I might recommend it as a way to have fun with a small group of people.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 2.4MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and LibSyn.

  • OT: The Next STEM Generation

    Now, it’s not a Star Trek reference. I’m actually breaking a bit from life this weekend to try and move my son forward in life. We’ve arranged a tour of the University of Colorado – Boulder campus, specifically with an eye on the aeronautical engineering program. He’s interested in that area, and we are trying to give him options for university next year.

    I’ve hoped my kids would enjoy computers, and they do, but not like I enjoy them. They aren’t interested in building things with computers. They just want computers to do their bidding.

    My oldest wasn’t very interested in computers at all, though I was able to teach him some SQL for his college GIS class the last year. We worked on understanding how to query data, but he never really understood the concepts well and needed help regularly. However he did learn enough to be able to alter my queries to meet the changing needs of different data sets.

    My middle son is a math/science whiz, and spent a few weeks one summer learning programming at a camp. He built a few small applications, but beyond that he wasn’t interested in learning more. While he like chemistry and aeronautics, programming seems silly to him.

    My daughter is the most savvy in moving data around, building web pages for visualizations and working across platforms. She seamlessly will use Windows, OSX, iOS, and Android on any given day across her four devices without blinking. She moves and uses data all the time, but hasn’t ever wanted to do more. She has done well in math and science, and is on pace to get to calculus her senior year of high school.

    I do want to encourage kids to try STEM subjects, and feel comfortable. My daughter certainly has felt pressure, and has female friends that feel the same pressure, to not work in STEM fields. I’d like to eliminate that, but more importantly, I want everyone to try the topics and really get a chance to experiment.

    If you don’t like STEM topics, that’s fine. Find another area you do enjoy more, but at least give STEM a try.