Voice of the DBA

Author: way0utwest

  • Daily Coping 26 Jul 2021

    I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral 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. 

    Today’s tip is to remember a tough time during the pandemic and how you got through it.

    The pandemic seems to be easing for me the last month, so I’m definitely coping better. However, I talk with people around the world, and their experiences often remind me of how life was months ago for me.

    One of the tough times I had in the last year was last fall. I friend died from COVID, I got the disease, and Colorado locked down quite a bit more than we had before that. I couldn’t go places, visit people, and even my coaching outlet shut down for awhile. There were some days in the late fall when things felt hopeless. I knew they weren’t, but to me, I was struggling to be positive.

    One thing that helped me was talking.

    I don’t do that well, or often enough, with those close to me. I especially don’t share my struggles well, but I learned to share more with my wife, and she supported me. I talked with my kids, and a few friends, getting them to remind me of good things, to try and find ways to get me to smile, relax, and find hope.

    It worked, and many things got better in life and the world.

  • How Often Do You Patch?

    I saw two things recently. First, CU25 for SQL Server 2017 was released. I realized that I was CU8 locally, so I had work to do. Second, I noticed that SQL Server 2016 fell out of mainstream support on 13 Jul, 2021. Amazing that it’s been around for 5 years already and has moved into Extended support. We’ll still get security updates, but nothing will be fixed from that version, which it seems many people are running.

    Microsoft also announced they will put out a final Service Pack for SQL Server 2016. I am glad to see that, as I’ve often wanted to know there is a final patch that is released for each version, as I can know when I’m done patching.

    Today I’m wondering if you track this at all. Do you actively look to ensure your instances are patched? Are you on a schedule of some sort, maybe matching Microsoft’s every-other-month pace, or perhaps just a few times a year? Or is this more ad hoc?  When I go visit companies, I often find instances at all different levels, often without any reasoning as to why systems aren’t consistently patched.

    I used to try and ensure we patched every quarter, though certainly, I faced resistance from some business owners of systems over the worry that a patch might break something. Valid concerns back then, and still somewhat valid today, though if a patch gets through a few months without reports of issues, it’s probably safe for most systems. Still, make sure you test, especially for business critical workloads.

    These days, with so many hacking attempts, ransomware distribution channels, and no end to phishing, it makes sense to stay on top of patches and make sure you are up to date or at least planning to do so. Some of the high-profile hacks, like the Equifax one, have occurred on systems where patches were available but not applied. I don’t know that many of the patches are closing holes in SQL Server, but there are definitely issues with Windows where you would want to ensure your host OS was patched. Maybe that’s something you ought to check on today and ensure you have a plan to apply those updates.

    Steve Jones

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

  • Daily Coping 23 Jul 2021

    I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral 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. 

    Today’s tip is to take a break and do something for yourself.

    I’m actually taking a break tomorrow. After the world’s longest volleyball season, we said goodbye to kids in Orlando at our last tournament. It was a bit rushed, not all parents were there, and it felt a little incomplete.

    Tomorrow we set up an end of year party. This is late, especially as most kids are already on a team for next year, and back to their summer lives and involved with their high school teams. However, we’re getting together, and while I’ll do some chores, I’ll take a break and spend some time just having fun, reminiscing with everyone and closing out the 10+ months I spent with these kids every week.

  • Daily Coping 22 Jul 2021

    I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral 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. 

    Today’s tip is to let go of small stuff and focus on something that matters.

    Small stuff is just that. It’s not really important in life. I’m very blessed in that most of my life is pretty perfect. There are little things that annoy me, but they are little.

    Last week I lost my wallet. I ran some errands, used a card, and the next day realized I didn’t have my wallet. I didn’t see any fraudulent charges when I turned off all my cards. I searched all over the house, but couldn’t find it anywhere. It really annoyed me, more than it should. There were a few hundred dollars in various currencies in there, and a number of credit cards, but nothing that was really that important.

    After a few hours of looking, I gave up and started replacing cards and my license. I had to decide to stop being upset and just move on with life. The important things that day were spending some time with family, and this wasn’t enough of a problem to interrupt that.

    All in all, it’s a minor hiccup in life, no matter how annoying at the time.