Voice of the DBA

Category: Blog

  • Where’s My Laptop

    It’s been almost 4 weeks without my laptop. I mailed it back to Toshiba and they received it on Dec 4. They then worked on it, and I got a few updates before they shipped it back on Dec 13, which was within their 7-10 business day window. I got a great lack of data about what was wrong in the package with a blank tech report. I did get some updates on the web, which listed a replacement system board and graphics board.

    I had it for about 12 hours, having it blue screen while booting up on Dec 16th at night. I even pulled the memory chips out one at a time, replacing them back in to check on those being bad. I also tried to reload the OS, none of which worked. It constantly core dumped before loading Windows.

    So I immediately took it back to the UPS store after calling Toshiba on Dec 17 and shipped it out. The Depot had it on 12/21, and since then I’ve had one note on 12/23 that says "diag – error code 0x0000009C""

    No idea what that means, and I can see the tech having the 24th and 25th off, but today? Nothing?

    Shoddy service, and it’s a huge pain. On the 12th I almost bought a new laptop from Amazon thinking that it would be good to have a spare. Then this past weekend, being unable to write upstairs, I started looking again.

    I remember Glenn Barry talking about his PDC gift, and I checked out the specs. It’s a nice machine and has one thing I think is pretty cool: it will connect with broadband by inserting a SIM. That might be handy, and easier to use the tethering, which still seems immature. I found one for sale on Craigslist and I’m tempted to get it, but I want to be sure the keyboard isn’t too small.

    I also tried out the 11” laptop I got my oldest and that seems like the keyboard might just work, so if I don’t get the Acer tablet, I think I will get a spare 13” or 14” laptop just in case.

  • PCI and Encryption

    It surprises me how often I see people posting questions about what type of encryption to implement for credit card data. If you are processing credit cards yourself, and storing the data, you need to comply with the PIC regulations that exist. Here’s a good place to get started: https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/.
    Actually the place you need to start is with your bank or processing company. They should be able to guide you in what requirements need to be met for safe data storage.
    However if you’re running some service and perhaps trying to store a credit card for a customer to make it easy to charge them over and over, that doesn’t mean you don’t need to comply. You are holding financial information about a customer and if something happens to the data, you’re at fault. Your company could be liable, and possibly even you personally if you make the recommendation to build something yourself.
    Good security isn’t magical, and it isn’t secret. It involves you using well known algorithms, protecting the keys, and following best practices. There are some great encryption technologies in SQL Server 2005/SQL Server 2008, but don’t just implement them without learning a few things about what best practices are and how these technologies work.

  • Netbook Replacing a Laptop

    My laptop died recently, actually died completely, unable to boot. The hard drive was fine, and I managed to stick it in my desktop and recover my files. The critical stuff (writing) was backed up with Live Mesh and had moved to the desktop already, but hadn’t been on the netbook as it hadn’t been powered on in about a week or two. So I fired it up to ensure that I had 2 copies of the critical stuff.

    Once things had moved across, I was hoping to actually get some work done away from my desk. About two-thirds of more of my writing takes place away from my desk. I lie in bed, or work in a coffee shop, before karate, etc. It’s more inspirational to me, and I depend on it.

    However the netbook really slowed me down. I’ve written before that I run many things on here, Office, SQL Server, I blog, write, etc. and it works well. It does work well once I’m doing something like writing, but switching applications, getting started, it’s slow. In fact so slow that I was frustrated getting the browser started and OneNote fired up.

    I traced some of this to a full drive, with over 15.8GB of stuff on my 16GB drive, and had to clean that out.

    Once that was done, things improved, but it was still slow to get started. When you try to switch applications, things take time and you have to be prepared for that. When I’m just writing, this is OK as I’m moving at a slower pace, I need to think, etc.

    However when I’m doing other work, editing, checking on the site, moving between aplications, it’s very, very frustrating. So much so that I know that this netbook isn’t a possible full-time replacement for a laptop. I’d considered one for the kids, especially my oldest, but it’s not going to work. He’ll need a real laptop for college, not a netbook.

    I still like the form factor, and times like this, where I’m catching up on blogging or writing while waiting for the kids at karate or tutoring it’s much nicer. The form factor works well. I can do email, browse, or write on it. But trying to really work, or get multiple things done doesn’t work so well.

  • Expert SQL Server 2008 Encryption

    51s2ofIFTrL._SL500_AA240_ Encryption is a tough subject, but it’s one that’s fascinated me for years. I downloaded PGP when it came out nearly two decades ago, and learned about the intricacies of symmetric and asymmetric keys. I thought it was fun, even when I couldn’t convince many people to consider using it.

    Last year at PASS I ran into Michael Coles, who I’ve known for a few years and had just finished tech reviewing a book for. He was planning on a new book and asked me if I’d be interested in doing another one, this one on encryption. I jumped at the chance, and sometime this past spring started getting chapters.

    I knew a lot, but had to learn a lot as well. I spent a lot of time Googling various terms and double checking historical references as well as algorithms and terms. I think I did a good job, and Michael and his co-author, Rodney Landrum, did a fantastic job.

    I found a package on my desk this morning, and opened it to find my copy of the book. It’s now out, and available in bookstores, including Amazon.

    So check it out, and learn a bit about this very important topic for DBAs. Not a lot of companies use encryption, but the ease of administration has grown with SQL Server 2008 and more companies are using it every day. I expect to see it start coming up in interviews soon.