Voice of the DBA

Author: way0utwest

  • SQL in the City Slides

    I’m making the slides available from my SQL in the City 2012 talks. You can download them here

    If you attended, you’ll get an email with links to videos to watch soon.

  • Database Maintenance Essentials

    Abstract: SQL Server requires a minimal level of maintenance to ensure that the platform functions at an optimum level without any unnecessary outages or problems. This talk will look at the basics of the maintenance operations that should be performed on SQL Server on a regular basis. The topics covered include:

    • Managing MDF and LDF Files
    • Managing Indexes
    • Maintaining Statistics
    • Checking for Corruption
    • Creating Backups That Will Restore
    • Managing Maintenance Jobs

    I cover the reasons why maintenance is required and include a number of references to help you enable this maintenance in your environment.
    In some presentations I will also cover the Red Gate tools that make this maintenance easier to perform. This is optional.

    Level: 100

    Length: 60 minutes

    Slides: Database Maintenance Essentials (SQL in the City)

    Presentations:

    You can view my complete speaking schedule here: http://wp.me/P14wgJ-1tV

  • Friday at Red Gate

    Looks like I’m not the only one enjoying Friday.

    friday

    Some of the staff at Red Gate had a Hawaiian day. Nice shirts, though perhaps I need to take a few over when I go since I think mine at much cooler Winking smile

    steve_boston

  • A Welcome Delay

    Always delay before you send an email, especially a strongly worded one.

    This editorial was originally released on Nov 30, 2007. It is being republished as Steve is traveling to the PASS Summit.

    Microsoft got in on a deal to Nigeria that Mandriva Linux negotiated with the government there. The story almost sounds like a bad email: the provider of a “free” product complaining that another company gave their product away for free? So does that mean that in a free market where the cost is the same ($0), that Windows is superior?

    There’s some other editorial on that topic, but in this case, what was interesting is that the CEO of Mandriva fired off an open letter to Microsoft, which you can read here. The tone of the letter was a little whiny, and it didn’t seem as though Mr. Bancilhon really thought through what he was writing.

    It’s Friday, and with the holidays approaching, I thought this would make a good poll.

    Do you pause before sending emails?

    In the old days, back when I was younger, if you wanted to fire off a letter, you had to write it and then mail it, usually ensuring some type of delay. Often you had at least one night to think about what you’d written before you dropped it in a mailbox.

    There are plenty of people that still recommend that you delay sending an emotional email for at least a day. I know quite a few people that rethink their position before sending, often saving the email to a drafts folder for ten minutes, an hour, some delay to give themselves a break between writing and proofing.

    I’m actually pretty bad. As I’m sure many of you have noticed, typos slip through the editorials from time to time, often because I’m in a rush. My self-proofing skills aren’t the greatest, and I tend to make mistakes more often than I’d like.

    However I’ve also learned that delays can be good things. I’ve often incorporated a delay in restoring a secondary log-shipped database to give me the chance to recover from an accidental deletion of data. Delaying the send of a potentially inflammatory email allows me the time to cool down and can prevent me from making a big mistake.

    Email is quick and a great tool, but it shouldn’t be abused. Take the time to be sure that the message you’re sending is the one that you want received.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

    Everyday Jones

    The podcast feeds are now available at sqlservercentral.podshow.com to get better bandwidth and maybe a little more exposure :). Comments are definitely appreciated and wanted, and you can get feeds from there.

    The RSS Feed: or now on iTunes!

    Today’s podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music. Support this great duo at www.everydayjones.com.

    I really appreciate and value feedback on the podcasts. Let us know what you like, don’t like, or even send in ideas for the show. If you’d like to comment, post something here. The boss will be sure to read it.