Voice of the DBA

Author: way0utwest

  • Learning some DAX

    I’ve not done much BI work in my career, other than simple aggregates in reports. I’ve wanted to tackle projects, but I’ve rarely had a chance to spend time in this area at work.

    Recently I had a bit of time and decided to look at some Power BI courses.  At Pluralsight, when searching Power BI, I got a learning path that showed a number of courses from different authors. In the intermediate track, the first course was from Eugene Meidinger.

    2019-12-09 13_40_32-Microsoft Power BI for Analysts Path _ Pluralsight

    I met Eugene last year at SQL Saturday Pittsburgh and decided to give his course on Getting Started with DAX Formulas in Power BI, Power Pivot, and SSAS. Not quite what I wanted, but since I was curious about DAX, I decided to give it a try.

    Understanding DAX

    The intro is interesting. Eugene makes a good case for why DAX is important in the Microsoft stack. I tend to agree as I see this being incorporated into many products, including Excel. I’ve felt somewhat out of touch in that I haven’t known much about it and how it works. Even when I flip through our Stairway series, I’m somewhat skimming and haven’t really understood what it means.

    I think Eugene does a good job of trying to explain DAX as different than, but similar to Excel. Thinking of this as an expression language, rather than a query language, isn’t something I’ve considered. Maybe I’ve heard this, but it didn’t stick.

    He also lets me know this isn’t easy, which is what I’ve thought. I’ve seen Bill Pearson and Reza Rad talk some DAX, and it wasn’t quite clear to me. It felt clear when they were speaking, but not later. I’m hoping Gene teaches me a bit more in my office rather than in a 1 hour session.

    Going Through the Overview

    I went through the first few modules, which give you an overview and basic understanding. Eugene tries to explain the differences between DAX and SQL, which is a good way to approach the problem. Many of us are familiar with SQL, so this is helpful.

    The third module starts to get into data governance and where you use DAX with your data. This is interesting, and it’s a good look at what type of organization you deal with for data. How is your data managed, which is something that most companies don’t really have a good, or consistent, data governance strategy.

    One good thing is that Eugene explains  the different places where DAX is supported for queries. That’s good since I’ve been thinking of DAX as the Power BI language, but it’s not. It can be used in Excel with PowerPivot.

    The fourth module is the one where we start to understand column storage and the value this gives us. Still no DAX, but it’s a good module for analysts and relation people.

    In getting through 4 modules, no real technical stuff that’s helped me, but it’s given me a little better baseline.

  • 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.