Voice of the DBA

Author: way0utwest

  • The WFH Challenges

    The daily protocol for some of the world is changing rapidly these days. The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting many people. Many of us working in tech are blessed that we have the ability to work remotely, and lots of companies have started to allow working from home (WFH) to rapidly grow in the last month. I worry about those that don’t have the option, and I hope they find ways to cope.

    I’ve been working from home for 17 years. My wife did it for large tech companies for almost 20 years. It’s not hard, but it’s not simple. Kendra gave us three tips last week, and I’m adding a few more since I ran across a piece in the NYT from a writer that’s been forced to work at home more due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It notes that working at home isn’t a panacea, and there are creativity losses from separation. I tend to agree, which is why I normally go to the Redgate offices a few times a year. The facetime is important.

    I will say that the switch to working from home is an adjustment. Alice Goldfuss has a long post on this, and there are a few thoughts from Andrew Pruski on his first two years. If you’re interested, Eugene Meidinger also talks a bit about working for himself at home, and the loneliness of the first three months. Mala also has some resources that might prove helpful.

    If I think back, I remember a lot of the challenges of being at home and not going to an office. I spent over a decade going to an office and starting to work at home was hard. My wife had been doing it for 7 or 8 years at that point and sharing an office was hard. She was always on the phone, which was louder than the open office plan I’d had at JD Edwards. Or she was gone, and I was lonely. I’d go for walks with the dog or hit the gym most days. I learned that I had a kitchen, but I was less prepared for lunch because I didn’t have to make it and take it anywhere.

    At one point I took a part time consulting gig to get out of the house. That gave me more purpose and satisfaction, but it meant my days were more busy and I struggled to separate work from home. I still struggle slightly with this, but I have learned to balance life out. If I need a break on a Tuesday, that’s fine. If I need to work on a Saturday to catch up, that’s fine. Sometimes I actively make that trade, especially during ski season.

    Working from home is a change, and it’s disruptive. I mostly work on solo projects, but I do need to collaborate and find the Slack, Teams, and video calls are helpful. I do have a separate office, and I’ve had to explain to family that working is working, and they should not just interrupt me at any time. I have to learn to take breaks, and I have to learn to build a routine. You will too, and it’s something I’d recommend. Take advice from others and try something for a week. See how it works for you, remembering you have to build some habits and try them out. Don’t abandon something immediately, and don’t think that the way you start working this week is something you’re stuck with forever.

    Stay safe during this time and work to keep yourself mentally health until the world gets back to normal activity.

    Steve Jones

    Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher or iTunes.

  • Secure Enclave Concerns

    We worry about security as data professionals. It’s a constant issue, though it seems that so many of the data breach issues come from simple mistakes. We have lots of automation, configuration as code, and more. These days we should have a protocol and automated process for setting up systems, file shares, and other ways of allowing others to access data.

    Awhile back we had attacks against hardware (Meltdown and Spectre), which required patches to systems to secure them. This was disruptive, but I haven’t seen any widespread security issues as a result of these flaws. Many systems were patched, though it’s entirely possible that there have been exploits.

    In a report this week, researchers have found a way to read data in the secure enclaves of some chipsets. That’s disconcerting because lots of secure software counts on the Intel Software Guard Extensions (SGX) protecting data. This is part of the Always Encrypted enhancements in SQL Server 2019, which I was happy to see added. These are supposed to help ensure you can protect data, even if you don’t have control of the physical machine, which is common in hosted and cloud scenarios.

    A new exploit could be a problem. Intel says it’s not, but they have an interest in saying that. The research looks complicated, and I could certainly see this is hard to do, but attacking a large environment, like a cloud subscription, might be something hackers try. Even if they aren’t successful, there may be performance issues with SGX calculations from a software patch.

    The point of this piece isn’t to alarm you. Likely this is more speculative than reality, but you should be aware there are potential issues. Encryption and security are complex topics, and I’m hoping Intel and Microsoft (and others) come up with better protections and mitigation for the issue. However, ultimately it’s up to us tech professionals to understand what possibilities there are and ensure we are taking every precaution we can.

    Steve Jones

  • Folding for Research

    I saw Glenn Berry’s post on Folding@Home and decided to join. I downloaded the client and installed it.

    From there, I set up an identity and added the SQLFamily team of 236388. I also created a passkey for security with my account. I’m online, and I can see my credits.

    2020-03-11 14_02_59-FAHControl - Folding@home Client Advanced Control

    I can track my contribution on the team as well. So far, nothing from me, but I’m guessing once I get a work unit done, I’ll see some contribution.

    Donating Something

    This is a good project for researchers, who are likely short of funds all the time. It’s a small donation of bandwidth and electricity on my part, but if I can help, I’d like to do so.

    If you’re interested in helping out this way, feel free to join this team that Glenn set up.

    One minor caution note, this can use lots of CPU. In the medium setting, at a low priority, this runs about 65% of my CPU power.

  • Updating Certifications

    When I first started my career, certifications were hot. I worked on the Netware CNE and Microsoft MCSE certs. Nearly 30 years ago these certifications were controversial as plenty of awardees weren’t competent at their jobs in the real world. However, marketing worked and employers wanted these certs, so they mattered.

    Over the years I’ve worked on books for a few certifications and taken a number of tests. Partially as research and partially to test myself. I’ve personally found the certifications to be helpful because they focus my efforts in learning about a technology. I’ve found them to be maddening at times because the questions haven’t always felt very applicable to the world.

    That being said, since I write many of the daily QotD questions, and regularly get complaints on my work, I appreciate how hard it is to write good questions that relate to the real world.

    In any case, I never pursued the MCSA, MCDBA, or MCSD, and I’m somewhat glad I didn’t decide to start. Microsoft is retiring these broad, general certs as of June 30, 2020. If you are working on one of these, you have until then to pass exams. After that, you can’t earn one of these certs.

    Microsoft isn’t abandoning certs, but moving to role based certs. These should be more granular in nature, focusing on the things you might do for a job. Of course, some of these are retiring on Apr 2, so it’s a bit of a mess right now.

    The part that many people might not like about this is that these certs are all Azure based. I think that upsets some people, especially those that only deal with SQL Server on-premises. I think that’s fair, though I do think that most of the skills relate to both, after all, they do have a common code base. Azure doesn’t always mean PaaS, and the IaaS offerings with SQL Server are going to be what you get when you install the software on your own hardware.

    I’m not going to advocate for or against certifications. Like any training or educational achievement, a lot of the value is based on what effort you expended and how you present your work. If you want to earn an older cert, you need to hurry. If you’re looking for a new one that helps you stand out from others, you have some options. If you’re interested in pursuing a certification, let us know today.

    Steve Jones

    Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher or iTunes.