Voice of the DBA

Author: way0utwest

  • Little Devices

    It seems that I get more and more done with my smartphone all the time. I find myself responding to lots of emails, having text or Twitter conversations, taking pictures, reading, even making notes on my iPhone. I can’t imagine every going back to a non-smartphone device. Whether it’s an iPhone, Android, or WinMo 7 device, I have found that they make me quite productive throughout the day.

    I was just starting to get away from plain phones when I last worked for a large corporation. These days, I see many of my friends sporting smart phones, and getting work done on them. I even have one Windows administrator friend that carries an iPad around work, RDP’ing into servers to handle small tasks.

    So I wonder how many database people can get things done. Since it’s Friday, I thought that it would make an interesting poll:

    How much of your work could you get done from a mobile device.

    I’m wondering if there is a chance that you can see a good portion of your administration, monitoring, or even daily work done from some device that isn’t a full size laptop? It could be a smartphone (Android, iOS, WinMo) or even a tablet (iPad/Galaxy) that allows you to actually knock things off your to-do list when you are away from your desk or don’t have a laptop.

    If you’ve never used a mobile device for doing work, please don’t complain about them. They are great devices and they’ve made me very productive when I can’t sit at a desk or carry a laptop. I think many others agree, and I’m interested in seeing how use mobile devices.

    Steve Jones

    If you’re a DBA, you might want to check out SQL Monitor, from my employer, Red Gate Software. Maybe your boss will let you get a copy and an iPad to manage your servers.

  • Scheduled Out

    I’m all scheduled out for the next week with newsletters and content ready to go through Nov 29. I’m not sure I’ve ever been this far ahead, often counting on someone else to do a few things for me.

    Hopefully this all works out with no phone calls from work next week.

  • The DBA Disconnect

    We all know that security is an issue that we have to pay attention to. At least, those technical people that feel responsible for the security of their systems feel this way. However a short article referencing a DBA survey shows that the rest of the business might not be in sync with the technical people.

    I think most DBAs don’t know what a data breach would cost their company. I’m sure that’s not a number that most places I have worked would even bother calculating. Of course, most places probably would have no clue if there were a data breach in the first place.

    This puts many technical people in a bad position. They want to do a good job, but management often wants to just give lip service to security. When it comes down to it, the performance, availability and convenience of database servers is much more important than good security to many companies. From allowing access for developers or applications with privileged accounts to preventing password changes because of hard coded entries, it seems that companies aren’t that concerned about security in many cases.

    Ultimately some external  force is needed for us to make security a priority. It could be through regulation, insurance from lawsuits, or something else, but I don’t have any confidence that companies are going to take security seriously. However you can do some little things yourself, like making sure there are no default passwords open on your systems.

    Steve Jones

  • The 2010 SQLServerCentral Party

    A quick look at the SQLServerCentral party at the 2010 PASS Summit, thanks to SQLChicken. It’s on UStream

    Not great quality, but some fun commentary from Scott Gleason and Jorge.

    My favorite part? A plug from Jorge: “SQL Compare saves booty.”

    🙂

    http://www.ustream.tv/flash/viewer.swf