Voice of the DBA

Author: way0utwest

  • The Cost of Architecture

    Falling Water is an amazing architectural wonder.

    I saw a note recently about the cost of decisions in programming made over time (thanks to BrentOzar, PLF). It’s an interesting look back at what decisions might have ended up costing computing a tremendous amount of pain and problems over time. It’s a nice read, especially if you remember something about the history of computing and how technology has evolved over the last forty or so years.

    Making decisions and choices early on in the development of a system is hard work. There’s a reason why architects are paid well, and sometimes seem slow to decide how to proceed. The high pay, however, is a reason why so many people crave the architect title, and even find reasons why they should get it, even when under qualified. Unfortunately we have no good guidelines on how to decide what titles someone should have, or they have earned.

    A great developer, a great architect, is often worth much more productive than an average one. Not only while building a system, but also in the future as the system is used, evolves, and is improved by others. Making good choices early on can result in much better software over time, as the ways in which software is improved are often based on the way it was originally built. Future developers try to continue to add to the project, or are constrained, by the early decisions made about the architecture.

    Hindsight always gives you a better view of a decision than you have when you are making it. Even in the article the author points out that the biggest mistake he found in computing was still the best decision at the time. We will hopefully make many good decisions, but all of us will make some bad ones. Whether in specifying hardware, writing T-SQL, or some other choice, we will find over time that some of our choices were poor ones.

    The best thing we can do is learn to look back at our architecture decisions over time and evaluate whether they were good or bad. Learn from our mistakes, and learn from the mistakes others have made, trying to strive to do better in the future with the knowledge that comes from examining the past.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

  • Which Versions of SQL Server Do You Have?

    SQL Server v6.5 retail box
    This was my 5th SQL Server version upgrade.

    I have worked with every version of SQL Server since it was first available from Microsoft on OS/2. Each version has improved the features, the stability, and the scalability, and I’ve looked forward to each change. In many of the companies I worked at, we had a fairly homogenous environment, with one or two versions to support. I think some of that was the timing of my employment dates with the version release dates. If I’d stayed longer at a few jobs, I think I might have ended up supporting three versions of SQL Server in a few places.

    That seems to have changed, however with the long delay of SQL Server 2005, and then the very short delays for SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2. Now it seems many companies have two or three versions at a minimum and might have 4 versions, with SQL Server 2000 servers still available. The last year on Twitter I’ve seen a number of DBAs noting that they are retiring SQL Server 2000 instances at a good clip, with a few people eliminating the version from their environments, but there are plenty of instances still out there.

    This week I wanted to see what percentage of people are still supporting older versions. There seems to be less of a push to upgrade old servers, but we still install the latest version for newer servers. Supporting more versions may mean a higher cost of support for your infrastructure, so I decided to ask this question:

    What’s the oldest version of SQL Server you still support?

    It would be good to know how many versions you are supporting, and if you have older versions (v6.5, v7, v2000), are they used in limited systems, such as keycard systems only. My intention is to try and get an understanding of the shape of the SQL Server community, and the types of work they do each day.

    As SQL Server evolves from a core database engine and includes a wide variety of subsystems and features, I think there is less of a need to upgrade existing instances en masse. Instead targeting those applications that receive large benefits from the changes seems to make more sense. With a very stable engine and very few security problems, I think that companies will use each version longer and require their DBAs to support more versions at any one time. I am sure by the middle of 2010, we will have some DBAs supporting five versions of SQL Server in their companies, going back to SQL Server 2000.

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

  • Fun Pix

    Various photo uploads from the past year.

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  • Penance

    Buck Woody wrote a fantastic post this morning for speakers to think about. All too often I have seen some speakers at technical events adopt the prima donna stance, expecting gifts, special treatment, free food and drinks, and more. I do think that events should try to recognize speakers when they can, but for smaller events, gifts and dinner can be hard. Ultimately I want events to be sustainable, with 100 SQL Saturdays a year and there isn’t enough money to make them all lavish smorgasborghs of delight for those that present.

    speakersThere was a bit of a discussion recently about cancellations and penalties for speakers at events. Cancellations happen, and sometimes are unavoidable, however they have a huge impact on organizers. There are any number of reasons for cancellation, some legitimate, some suspect, and since Andy Leonard likes elegant solutions, I have one:

    If you cancel speaking at an event, the event bans you from speaking the next time they have the event. You get an appeal to the program committee to state your case, but their decision is final.

    But Steve, my wife broke her arm and I had to leave early. Why can’t I speak next year?

    I completely understand. If you have a family emergency, or you’re sick, cancel. Take care of you and yours. That’s understandable, no one can blame you, and you can appeal to the committee and state your care.

    However do your penance. There’s no entitlement here for speaking. I believe in making the decisions that are ethically and morally just for each person, but then be man or woman enough to stand up for your decision, regardless of the consequences.

    I cancelled on SQL Connections a couple years ago because my wife broke her arm as I was landing in Denver between events. I wasn’t speaking, but had committed to help cover the event for my company. They would have been justified in telling me they wouldn’t pay for me to attend anymore. And I would have accepted that as a result of my decision.

    I cancelled on the Louisville SQL Saturday this past January, after I had submitted a session and been accepted. I gave them as much notice as I could, in this case I told them in Nov and they had two months. My reason: my middle son’s black belt test was the same day.

    I am still apologizing to Malathi for my decision, and if she decides not to allow me to speak anymore, or any other SQL Saturdays cite that as a reason to not choose me, I accept the consequences.

    We are adults, we are professionals, and if our other obligations intrude and override our commitment to speak, accept the consequences. It might suck, but it’s the adult thing to do.