Voice of the DBA

Author: way0utwest

  • High Performance Encryption

    It is becoming more and more important to protect your data from anyone that should not access it, including the DBA. Learn how you can use column level encryption as well as TDE to protect your data files, with minimal performance impact to your SQL Server instance.

    This session will look at securing data

    • in flight
    • at rest
    • inside the database

    We do this with

    • IPSec/SSL Communications
    • Transparent Data Encryption
    • Partial Hash Bucket values with symmetric encryption.

    Slides:

    Code:

  • Smart Gadgets

    I saw this post on what a smartwatch should look like and it got me thinking. I’ve got a Kreyos watch coming (I hope) and it fulfills some of the things I was looking for, and a few that the Pebble didn’t.

    However I wonder where we’ll go with gadgets in the future. My son and I sometimes dream, trying to decide what we’d like to see built in the future. One of the main things we talk about is how we might wear things. A bracelet of some sort seems to be the consensus. Getting something larger that we can see better, but more convenient then a smart phone. Already I think the 5″ ones are a bit large and cumbersome to use. One of my complaints about the Galaxy S4 was that I couldn’t easily use it with one hand.

    Glasses are an interesting idea. Google Glass has some good ideas, though I think the idea of including the camera was one that caused a lot of concern from people, and rightly so. Even though cell phone cameras haven’t caused too much of a problem, there certainly have been privacy incidents. I think I’d like the idea of getting some information in my field of vision, and I’d like to try some “smart glasses” at some point.

    I found this post on gadgets out there, and most of them aren’t revolutionary and a few aren’t interesting. A USB drive in cuff links or a necklace? Doesn’t seem that interesting to me. What I’m looking for is perhaps some type of mix of gadgets that can work together.

    Could I get a phone that connects with various devices that can run for a long time? Perhaps a belt buckle that provides power and also tracks movement like my Fitbit flex? It can connect to my watch as well, providing me with information from a device in a pocket. Ultimately I’m not sure what would be enhance the phone much. Any jewelry might not provide much more than notification of information through vibration, or possible light, and you’d still need a device.

    Ultimately I think I’d like to have more ways to connect devices together. Easily get my phone to project on a larger monitor when it’s available, like in the kitchen or car, perhaps even using a camera there to communicate with others.

    My hope is we’ll get gadgets that communicate, but with the separation of platforms and the reluctance for many to work together on common APIs, I’m not sure we’ll get there.

  • An Open Letter to Brogrammers

    It’s not in the language I would write it in and it’s not necessarily safe for work, but it gets the point across.

    An Open Letter to Brogrammers

    One reason I do support Women in Technology, and other groups opposing discrimination. Apart from it’s poor behavior, it’s often just not even valid.

  • How Long Before You Upgrade?

    It’s 2014. SQL Server 2000 is 14 years old, but there are still quite of you managing instances. SQL Server 2005 is 9 years old, and I’m sure more of you still deal with that version. I know because I work for a software vendor and I’m constantly asked if our software will run against those two versions.
    For many of you, however, if you’re managing a SQL Server 2000 instance, it might only be 9 or 10 years old. Your company might still have been installing SQL Server 2000 in 2005. The same is true for SQL Serve 2008. I wouldn’t be surprised to find companies still setting up 2005 instances in 2008 or even 2009.
    Companies don’t care much about versions. They tend to mostly care about databases getting the job done, and sometimes, support. Many organizations don’t see value in upgrading too often because of the overhead. I suspect many managers would prefer to get many years usage out of a platform before they change in order to minimize work that doesn’t add value to their business.
    The question this week asks you about the longevity of your database instances. Think about the average instance, or even the majority of your applications and how long they will remain on a particular version.
    How many years will you run a platform before you upgrade it?
    Years ago I heard someone at a large Fortune 100 company say their stated policy was to get 10 years of service out of a database server. At the time I thought that was a long time, but the more I think about it, the more I think that might be a minimum amount of time I’d want from a platform.
    Let us know this week what you experience, and perhaps what you’d prefer.
    Steve Jones