Voice of the DBA

Category: Blog

  • Daily Coping 10 Mar 2023

    Today’s coping tip is to notice three things you find beautiful in the outside world.

    I haven’t been outside a lot lately. It’s been cold and I’ve been busy working, coaching, and even traveling inside a lot. Not spending much time outside, so I had to stop and take a few minutes the other day.

    The things I noticed:

    1. After a light snow, the trees were sparkling with just a light coating of frost. Everything looked bright, clean, and fresh.
    2. The air, while cold, was crisp and refreshing. If you weren’t out too long. At 12F, it gets cold quickly.
    3. The sky was cloudy and gray, but bright in the early morning. This was at 6am and everything looked like a bright Ansel Adams print.

    I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQL Server Central 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.

  • Daily Coping 9 Mar 2023

    Today’s coping tip is set an intention to live with awareness and kindness.

    One of the best things about these coping tips is that I have learned to be more deliberate. I think about things and I pay attention to the world. I also try to be polite and understanding.

    My awareness is higher as I age, often because I realize how many things I don’t know and how many other ways people see the world. It’s often just easy for me to get along with others by being polite.

    I also think kindness is far too often lost when we get stressed, frustrated, we’re online, or we’re thinking only of ourselves. I’m working to think of others more and being kind just because it’s a better way for me to live.

    I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQL Server Central 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.

  • T-SQL Tuesday #159– Resolutions

    tsqltuesdayI missed T-SQL Tuesday last month. I got busy and distracted with some travel. For #159, Deepthi Goguri hosted. I’ve enjoyed watching her blog and grow her knowledge the last few years and I was honored to meet her in person at the 2022 Summit. Hopefully the first of more meetings.

    She had two choices: SQL Server 2022 new features or New resolutions. Both are tempting. I’m actually in a SQL Server 2022 class with Bob Ward as I start this post, taking a break from overload.

    Hmmm, what do I write about?

    Note: You can always fill in your blog later with T-SQL Tuesday topics. Just pick one and link to it. That’s what I’m doing here.

    A Neat SQL Server 2022 Feature

    I’ve sometimes been excited by new features in SQL Server, sometimes not. In this case, one of the interesting things I learned from Bob Ward was on the new contained AGs in SQL Server 2022. This is a neat implementation that essentially creates a new master and msdb database for the AG that contains the server level objects needed by the AG databases. This gets logins, jobs, etc. into these extra dbs.

    There might be some holes in here, but being able to have these objects automatically synched is huge. The downside is you need to add these objects while connecting to the AG databases, so I can see some admins making mistakes and connecting to the instance rather than the AG, but I’m also hoping some automation, some scripting, etc. is used to ensure this works smoothly in your environment.

  • Daily Coping 8 Mar 2023

    Today’s coping tip is ask someone how their day is going and really listen to them.

    I had the chance to do this with one of the kids I coach recently. This athlete seemed a little distracted and annoyed by things, without great body language one day. It wasn’t busy, so I asked a few questions, wanting to know about this person, what was good, bad, what went well, not well, what was bothering them.

    Not a deep discussion, but one where I could listen to them, express sympathies, but not solve their issues.

    I enjoy getting to know someone I care about better, even when I can’t do anything for them at the moment.

    I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQL Server Central 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.