Voice of the DBA

Author: way0utwest

  • Continuous Integration with Local Agents and Azure DevOps

    Abstract:

    One of the fundamental tools for modern DevOps software development is continuous Integration (CI). This process provides an automated independent validation and verification of your code, with quick feedback for developers that are under pressure to write higher quality software at a rapid pace. This session examines how Azure DevOps or TFS can be used to manage this process and run a database CI process inside of your data center, on your own instances.

    We will explain CI and Azure DevOps as an orchestrator and see a live DevOps flow of the process running on local instances, but controlled from the cloud. Learn how this can start improving your database development teamwork immediately.

    Goals:

    • Understand continuous integration (CI)
    • Learn how Azure DevOps can run inside your local data center
    • See how a database build process can work with your code changes

    Length: 60 minutes

    Slides: AzureDevOps_LocalHostedAgents.pptx

  • AI Can Improve Healthcare

    It’s early days, but I found this article to be very interesting. In this case, an AI model was trained to use some patient feedback on knee pain, as opposed to a previous methodology. The old methodology did work, but it had some problems with some populations.

    I haven’t thought that much of our ML/AI (machine learning/artificial intelligence) work is particularly smart. The algorithms learn well and they can match or out-perform humans, but these systems are really mimicking what humans do. They can be more reliably and definitely more scalable, but it’s doing what we humans do, not often leaping ahead.

    Often we train these models based on previous data and results from human experts. However, often what we think of as expert advice, what many people accept, is flawed in and of itself. Humans often work with a small set of data and experiences. They find patterns and create a solution that works, but not always as well as we’d like. Especially as the solution is applied to a wider variety of situations.

    In this case, researchers looked at alternative methodologies, and used AI/ML to test whether a different solution might be better. This isn’t going to replace the current methodology for now, but it might get more doctors and researchers to rethink how they approach this particular issue.

    This might be one area where AI/ML truly help humans move forward. By looking for gaps, oversights, and other problems in our existing methods, the computer might spur humans to make new leaps that help us drive forward.

    Steve Jones

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

  • Daily Coping 8 Feb 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 ask a friend how they have been feeling lately.

    The last couple weeks have been crazy, both at work and in my personal life. I’ve heard from quite a few people about the events at Redgate. It’s been hectic and overwhelming at times.

    However, I also know there are some people that I haven’t contacted in some time. I know a friend had a rough Q4 last year, and I hadn’t heard from them, so I decided to reach out and just wish them well. This turned into a short, but nice conversation about how we each were coping with current things.

    Worth the effort on my part.

  • Hardware: Check the Drivers First

    This isn’t a database post, instead, I’m going to talk about my laptop.

    I got an HP Spectre x360 a couple years ago and was using it for work and presentations while traveling. Everything was fine, and then the COVID-19 pandemic shut down travel. I rarely used it across the last year, mostly working on my desktop, or using another laptop I have around. I didn’t sit idle for a year, but I might have used it every 2-3 months for a few hours.

    I know I have updated some software, including Windows in the last year, but a  few weeks ago I picked up the laptop and took it with me on a trip to work. I opened it to get something done and the screen kept flickering, sometimes going dark. I rebooted, and it seemed to do better.

    I used it a few more times across the last few weeks and each time the flicking got worse. It was essentially unusable, and I assumed that the hardware hinge between the keyboard and screen was damaged somehow and causing flickering. I started to go down the support process for repair, but then stopped.

    I’m not sure why, but I searched for “hp spectre screen flickering”. Google auto completed the last word, so I suspected that this was a known issue. I still assumed hardware, but I clicked and read a few posts, like this one.

    The medium answer (we’re past short here) is that the driver for this laptop from HP causes flickering. It acted like a poor connection, but when I downloaded the drivers from Intel and installed them, the flickering stopped.

    Crazy.

    It always pays to do a little research and ask some questions before assuming you know what’s wrong. In this case, I found a solution I never would have thought of: using the generic chip drivers instead of the manufacturer.