Voice of the DBA

Author: way0utwest

  • Daily Coping 9 Mar 2023

    Today’s coping tip is set an intention to live with awareness and kindness.

    One of the best things about these coping tips is that I have learned to be more deliberate. I think about things and I pay attention to the world. I also try to be polite and understanding.

    My awareness is higher as I age, often because I realize how many things I don’t know and how many other ways people see the world. It’s often just easy for me to get along with others by being polite.

    I also think kindness is far too often lost when we get stressed, frustrated, we’re online, or we’re thinking only of ourselves. I’m working to think of others more and being kind just because it’s a better way for me to live.

    I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQL Server Central newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here. All my coping tips are under this tag.

  • T-SQL Tuesday #159– Resolutions

    tsqltuesdayI missed T-SQL Tuesday last month. I got busy and distracted with some travel. For #159, Deepthi Goguri hosted. I’ve enjoyed watching her blog and grow her knowledge the last few years and I was honored to meet her in person at the 2022 Summit. Hopefully the first of more meetings.

    She had two choices: SQL Server 2022 new features or New resolutions. Both are tempting. I’m actually in a SQL Server 2022 class with Bob Ward as I start this post, taking a break from overload.

    Hmmm, what do I write about?

    Note: You can always fill in your blog later with T-SQL Tuesday topics. Just pick one and link to it. That’s what I’m doing here.

    A Neat SQL Server 2022 Feature

    I’ve sometimes been excited by new features in SQL Server, sometimes not. In this case, one of the interesting things I learned from Bob Ward was on the new contained AGs in SQL Server 2022. This is a neat implementation that essentially creates a new master and msdb database for the AG that contains the server level objects needed by the AG databases. This gets logins, jobs, etc. into these extra dbs.

    There might be some holes in here, but being able to have these objects automatically synched is huge. The downside is you need to add these objects while connecting to the AG databases, so I can see some admins making mistakes and connecting to the instance rather than the AG, but I’m also hoping some automation, some scripting, etc. is used to ensure this works smoothly in your environment.

  • Has Everyone Had a Data Breach?

    Almost every time that I attend an event, I’ll end up meeting someone that has had security issues at their company. I’m always surprised how many people have had ransomware or other security problem that didn’t get well publicized. It’s not like everyone has had one, but out of 100 people, it seems there is at least one issue.

    Many of us work with third-party companies for either products or services. It’s become standard to use other firms for specific things your organization needs. However, since that’s the practice, many of those firms you partner with have their own partners. After all, they’re using other companies for specialized work just like you are.

    These third- and fourth-party relationships have changed our security and risk profiles for the worse. As the numbers of data breaches and security issues grow, it’s likely that someone in your partner network has had an issue, which might mean that you have an issue. This depends on what you have contracted with partners for, but it seems more and more often this is some sort of service provided, often with your data being shared with the partner. Which could mean your data is shared with their partners.

    An article recently noted that the number of partners are going up and many organizations are not aware of the risk this creates for them and their customers. There are more and more third- and fourth-party partners who have suffered data breaches, and if they have shared our data, we may have liability. The weakest link in a supply chain is the problem, and many of us have lengthened our supply chains quite a bit without paying attention.

    I don’t know that there are good solutions here, but I am seeing more and more companies demanding that suppliers of services prove they have strong security practices and protocols in place. It’s not perfect, but it does help us remember that security is everyone’s business, or at least everyone with whom we share our data.

    Steve Jones

    Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher, Spotify, or iTunes.

  • Daily Coping 8 Mar 2023

    Today’s coping tip is ask someone how their day is going and really listen to them.

    I had the chance to do this with one of the kids I coach recently. This athlete seemed a little distracted and annoyed by things, without great body language one day. It wasn’t busy, so I asked a few questions, wanting to know about this person, what was good, bad, what went well, not well, what was bothering them.

    Not a deep discussion, but one where I could listen to them, express sympathies, but not solve their issues.

    I enjoy getting to know someone I care about better, even when I can’t do anything for them at the moment.

    I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQL Server Central newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here. All my coping tips are under this tag.