Voice of the DBA

Category: Editorial

  • Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas

    I looked back at my thoughts last year, on Christmas Eve. It seems so long ago, and yet, not so long. Some things changed back from the strange 2020 world to more like 2019 for me, but not many. Instead, I found myself navigating a world where many things changed, including my personal life as my children have grown up and moved on.

    This year I find myself less disrupted in life, coping better, and mostly going along with the flow of the world. I hope that those of you reading this are finding the world easier to live in now than last year, and you have things to look forward to in 2022.

    I’ve said it over in different editorials and presentations, but remember that we work to live, not live to work. Enjoy the time you have with loved ones and friends, appreciate the good things, and do your best to get past the bad. Reach out when you need help and ask for it. Give others support as often as you can.

    Above all, find reasons to smile more days than not.

    Happy Holidays, and Merry Christmas.

  • Wellness Week

    I work for a great company, one that I feel cares about me as more than a “resource”, gives me opportunities (with responsibility and accountability, and has some nice benefits. I actually used one of those last week. I get a volunteer day every year, where I can spend time with a charity and get the day off. I used mine to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity in Denver.

    During the last two years, Redgate has approached the pandemic and remote work with the idea that we need to be reasonable with each other. We need to understand that some employees might have more people in their homes during work hours and may need to provide care for others. They might have other challenges, or just be struggling to cope. We were asked to work with people, rather than against them, and try to support each other as best we could. I think it worked out well, and it showed us that company cares about us.

    I know some other companies have done this, though not many. When a friend talks about how their employer supported them or others in difficult times, it’s always a surprise, and I am often impressed with how the organizations behave. I thought about that last month when I saw Spotify take a “wellness week” where they closed all their offices for a week. It won’t necessarily cure stress and overwork, but it is a bonus chance to let some people unwind.

    A few organizations have closed between Christmas and New Year’s, or around the holidays, often when they don’t have much business taking place. Often this is a chance for them to avoid some costs, and a fair number of them have done this without paying people for that time. It doesn’t affect white-collar workers, but it does affect blue-collar ones, and I think that’s a very poor message to send to your staff. Giving people an option of more time off is nice, but don’t prevent them from working if they need the paycheck.

    Lots of organizations slow down around this time of year, and they accept a lower amount of work getting done. I think that’s a better strategy, especially if you give people more flexibility to spend time with family or take care of business. Personally, I’d like to see more companies close down for the week and pay employees. If you’re not accomplishing much, maybe you should accept that and gain some goodwill by giving people a break.

    I know there are lots of roles where this isn’t easy. Knowledge workers have it easy compared to those that need to interact with people or things in the real world. We do know, however, the engaged and happy workers will do a better job. They’ll get more done, and they’ll produce more quality work. I like the idea of “wellness time” where possible to give employees a break. Even if you had to split your employees into two groups and give each half a break during different days, it might be a good investment to make in your staff.

    Steve Jones

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

  • The Challenge of Edge Security

    We know that our organizations will adopt and use more devices over time. Given the growth of cheap computing, frameworks for managing devices, and the desire for more data, I expect some of those devices will collect data, or even contain databases. Azure SQL Edge use is growing, and we will see more devices that contain it (or another database platform), which means we have a larger attack surface area for that data.

    There was a recent report on a vulnerability in edge devices used by AT&T that was detected as part of an attack. The attack used a known vulnerability based on default credentials. The vulnerability was fixed, but the patch required manual work. From various reports, it is unclear whether devices have been patched. It’s also unclear if customer data was accessed. Here is one such report, but there are others, all with similar information.

    When developers build something, whether a device or just software, we often set up easy ways for us to access the system to test features and functionality. Certainly when software is deployed to users, there is often a default credential that is supplied. I don’t know if this is good or bad, and if the management of random credentials for each device might result in better or worse security. Strong passwords might lull customers into feeling that they don’t need to change anything.

    I do think that the installation of any software ought to require a strong password. Once one is entered, and defaults ought to be permanently removed or changed. Leaving around defaults for maintenance or ease of updates is a sure way to get hacked. If we’ve learned anything in the age of computing it ought to be that anything you deploy in the wild will be taken apart and analyzed by someone. Hard-coded values or default accounts will become known.

    The bigger problem might be that patching is still a problem and even more of a problem when it’s not easy. I know that the SQL Server update system is fairly easy, but not dead simple. Many people still don’t apply patches. Heck, even when updates are built into something like Windows, people try to avoid patching their systems.

    For those of us that work with databases, we may or may not control the update process. We can, however, ensure that those that do are aware of when patches are available, how far behind the system is, and where to get the patch. That information, and a little pressure, will become increasingly important as we deploy and work with data on more edge devices.

    Steve Jones

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

  • The Tech of My Youth

    I saw a note recently that Panasonic had a data breach.  There was a time I had a number of Panasonic products, from music players to telephones. My wife had them as a client and got a few swag items in the early 2000s. However, I don’t often buy electronic appliances, and I haven’t seen the Panasonic brand name in some time.

    As I approach the end of one year and the beginning of another, I find myself nostalgic for brands that I used to seek out. I read a biography of Akio Morita, founder of Sony a long time ago and I admired their products. At some point, I had a rack of Sony gear in high school, including the double cassette deck. I bought my first TV, a Sony, in college. I can’t remember the last time I picked up or used something from them, having moved on to Apple for most of my music needs and Samsung for TVs.

    Nokia and Motorola used to be the phones to buy, and they aren’t really in today’s conversations. Palm Pilot and Blackberry devices were on belts in purses everywhere. Today I know none in use.

    Radio Shack was where I shopped regularly for all sorts of parts to fix things. I grew up with an Atari for games, a Commodore 64 for programming, and lots of floppy disks. I remember learning I could punch a hole in a disk case to make it double-sided. I used to drive to Blockbuster when I wanted to see a movie. I wish they had somehow found a way to transition and compete with Netflix.

    I used to covet Sun Workstations, a huge company that no longer exists. I bought and assembled quite a few Compaq servers. One of my early jobs had me helping the boss use Alta Vista to search the burgeoning web on Netscape Navigator. For that matter, ESDI, IDE, and SCSI, and even spinning disks are no longer a part of my world.

    As I walk down memory lane, I think about this thing that used to sit on my bedside table. From middle school until about 4 or five years ago, I had an “alarm clock” that woke me up in the morning. First no-name analog ones, then Sharp, Sony, and other digital brands. First for paper routes, then school, then work. Now I use a smart watch with a vibrating alarm. That alarm clock device is one piece of technology my wife is glad doesn’t exist anymore.

    Steve Jones

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