Voice of the DBA

Category: Editorial

  • Increasing the Accuracy of Data We Rely On

    When I was a kid, we used physical maps and verbal directions. That, with a good memory and sense of direction helped me navigate across the US on my bike and through many cities in Europe on my bicycle.

    Near the turn of the millennium, we got a number of mapping sites, like MapQuest, which were really designed to replace a paper map with a route drawn in. Since then, the capabilities of GPS combined with the advances of mobile phone OS and app improvements, much of the world depends on GPS working correctly.

    The GPS systems, of which there are many run by different governments, have been in place for years, and have been upgraded at different times. The US government is looking to upgrade GPS (their system) with GPS III, with stronger signals and a longer lifespan. There are a few other items, better security among them.

    There is a lot of GPS data that many of us take for granted. We may not worry about the actual data values, but we may use apps or include integration with services like Google Maps or Apple Maps, and we depend on this data being accurate and available.

    There could be similar types of data that our applications and systems need, where availability, accuracy, and more affect the usefulness and value of some application. I think things like master data and data classification fall into these areas. The problem is that often those projects, or the idea of a project, don’t have a large government agency with a big budget working on them. As a result, they rarely move forward.

    Steve Jones

  • Delivering Patches Quickly

    I love cars. In my life, I’ve owned and regularly driven well over 20 cars. If I count the ones I purchased for my kids and lightly drove, it’s over 30. Just writing this paragraph gets me a little itchy about looking for another car. Actually, I’m looking lightly now, as I expect two kids to move on next year and handle their own expenses. So, next year I’m hoping to add another vehicle.

    Recently I saw a note that there was an exploit against Tesla cars, which are rarely stolen, but there have been a few issues. This one was against the fobs that communicate with the car. Tesla is working on a patch, which is interesting. They’ve not only devised their cars, but also their fobs to get firmware updates. Good, and bad, as this increases attack surface area,

    Tesla can patch their cars in real time, and they do this fairly quickly. I have a 2012 BMW, and I have updated the firmware in it, but patches are rare, and most of them seem to be stuck in the “visit a dealer” paradigm. It seems many other makes of cars fall into the same paradigm, and aren’t built for regular updates.

    In some sense, this reminds me of the way many people deal with the their SQL Server databases. We put code out there, in tables, functions, procs, etc., and often we struggle to update that code quickly. This becomes especially true with applications that use our objects. I often find that changes seem to come slower and slower over time, much like the traditional way that your car is updated by a dealer only.

    Ideally, we’d be able to more quickly update code when there are issues. This is especially true if you have procs or other code that could potentially have security issues. DevOps asks us to move towards this type of flow, making changes, and adjusting quickly. There are certainly still challenges with changing code and adapting applications, but if front end developers and database developers worth together, we can deploy code quicker.

    Our customers don’t care about our challenges we face with writing and deploying code. What they want are new features, functions, better performance, and meeting their needs. DevOps helps, but it’s not easy. You have to automate things, deploy code sooner AND be willing to fix your code mistakes. You not only need testing, but testing that improves over time.

    It is, however, worth the effort.

    Steve Jones

    Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher or iTunes.

  • Black Friday Wishes

    It’s traditionally Black Friday in the US today, with big sales kicking off the Christmas season. This year, many companies have taken different approaches, with the pandemic and separation. Plenty of online training from SQL experts has been on sale and available, and there are certainly other deals to be had.

    I recently ran across a list on 10 tech holiday gifts that will delight your employees. I don’t know that I want any of these, and some of these are quite extravagant for an employee gift. At least, it feels that way to me.

    Today, I’m wondering if there is something you wish your employer would give you this holiday season, other than a bonus. Is there some tech gift that you’d appreciate?

    I used to manage technical people. At different times in my career, I’ve had different size teams, but I always made it a point to give a small gift at Christmas to my staff. I appreciated their efforts and work, and I felt it was important to let them know. I never gave big gifts, usually setting a limit of US$20-25 per person. With some teams as large as 12, this wasn’t inexpensive.

    I did make an effort to think about each person, and get something slightly tailored to them. Usually I had some theme, and people got similar gifts, but with a bit of personalization. These days, I don’t manage people, but I do help my wife get gifts together for her clients.

    Let me know today if you think there is anything you’d like, and feel free to forward this to your management. Maybe they’ll take the hint.

    Steve Jones

    Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher or iTunes.

  • Thanksgiving 2020

    Today is Thanksgiving in the US. I wrote a bit yesterday about my thanks at work, but today I want to just say that I’m grateful my family is healthy and we can mostly be together. My oldest is in Spain, and we’re all thinking of him and missing him, but we’re also happy he’s on an adventure in life for the next year.

    Please remember those that are important to you today, whether it’s a holiday for you or not.

    Life is short. Appreciate the time and people you have while you can.

    Happy Thanksgiving.