Voice of the DBA

Author: way0utwest

  • The Hybrid

    I’m off to SQL Server Connections next week and looking forward to the conference. This is my first time attending, but I have wanted to go for some time. This is one of the few events that is not specifically focused on one technology. In fact, it’s actually 7 conferences in one, co-locating events on ASP.NET, Silverlight, SQL Server, Visual Studio, Sharepoint, Windows, and Exchange.

    It seems that more and more of us working in information technology are called upon to work with a variety of products and platforms. While you might primarily be a DBA that deals with T-SQL or SQL Server administration, you probably are called upon to use other skills as well. You might need to help with Windows security, or Exchange administration, or even do some .NET development. As wide as the SQL Server platform is, it seems that often we have the need for skills with other technologies.

    Even if you don’t actually work in other areas because of regulations like Sarbanes-Oxley, understanding those other technologies can really help your career. You might better understand how to integrate SQL Server into your environment or better secure an application. You might even be able to offer ideas that  help a co-worker in their job troubleshoot a problem.

    I’ve felt that the most talented people in IT usually have a varied background and understand a wide variety of technologies. They bring that wide view of the forest to bear on a problem, and often find a solution because they can think laterally and are not tied down to the boundaries of a specific product.

    Steve Jones

  • Why Read?

    I love to read. Like my friend, Paul Randal (blog, @PaulRandal), I read a lot of books every year, usually over 50. As long as I can remember, I’ve enjoyed reading books, primarily fiction, and it’s been a part of my life that I often look forward to. It’s a joy to see both my boys enjoying reading, and even reading books I’ve recommended. Having my little girl starting to read on her own, and get wrapped up in books and read through them in one sitting makes me smile.

    I ran across this link, The Plot Escapes Me, from the NY Times Book Review column, and at first I was surprised. A book reviewer can’t remember plots?

    I just recommended The Treasure Hunter to my middle son. That’s a non-fiction book, about someone that hunts for Treasure all over the world as a part of his life, going to different countries for the adventures. Emeralds in South America, sunken ships in the Caribbean, old Indian graves in Central America and Mexico. I read that book as a kid, one of the few non-fiction ones I read multiple times. A friend of the family gave it to me, and I still have it on a bookshelf. I remember two authors, one Robin something, a former Green Beret having toured Vietnam. It’s one of the few hardbacks that I have carried from my youth, through moves and marriage, across the country and back.

    I believe that books make us better, they round us out, and they enrich our lives. That’s part of what the author of the New York Times article talks about. We are affected by the books, even if we don’t often remember them. They change our lives, and help us grow.

    As I age, I slowly realize that all the classes I didn’t like in college were actually good for me. The philosophy, the chemistry, the other classes that weren’t practical, and I haven’t used in my life, have contributed to who I am, and they have helped me be a more rounded person. I see more in life than just a narrow focus.

    I think it’s important to consume arts, whether that’s music, art, literature, or something else. It helps you to grow and expand who you are. It’s one reason that I now mix non-fiction and fiction when I read, trying to grow, trying new things, trying to expand my horizons.

  • The Land of BBQ

    I’m off to Kansas City today for SQL Saturday #53 and looking forward to a great speaker’s dinner tonight at the Royals game. It should be good catching up with a few people I haven’t seen in some time, as well as 4 other speakers who were at SQL Saturday #52 last weekend in Colorado.

    This is my first trip stopping in KC, despite having driving through there 3 or 4 times, and I’m looking forward to some good BBQ, and hopefully time to hit the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, started by the late, great, Buck O’Neil.

    If you are in town, or nearby, be sure to come to the event Saturday, and get some great SQL Server training for free. That’s a deal you can’t beat, even if you have to drive an hour or two in order to come.

  • Are there that many GUIDs?

    Do a lot of people actually use GUIDs as Primary Keys? I haven’t used them much, and I would have thought that more people chose identity keys. It seems that most of the demos and examples I see from bloggers and speakers are constantly using identities.

    However an informal survey from Peter Bromberg showed that four times as many people actually had GUIDs as their primary keys. The blog actually says that GUIDs are not a good choice, but I’m not sure I agree with that. You can use sequential GUIDs, and you can avoid making them the clustered key, so I think they can work as well as anything.

    There’s nothing inherently wrong with GUIDs, and they should be unique across all of your rows. There have been some reported cases of duplicates, but for most practical purposes, especially in database work, you ought to be able to count on a GUID as unique. They even have the nice capability of being generated by clients, removing the need for an extra round trip when a client needs to insert multiple rows.

    I typically don’t use them because they’re long, hard to remember and type, and hard to view on the screen. I can’t easily compare rows in multiple tables, and it’s easier for me to work with integers.  I don’t recommend them, but if you are going to use them, be sure you understand the pros and cons, and use them appropriately.

    Steve Jones