Voice of the DBA

Category: Editorial

  • DevOps and OSS Can Scale

    Microsoft has changed quite dramatically in the last decade, in many ways. One of the more surprising ways to me is their embracing of open source software, while still building products that customers want and use. This is quite a change from the Microsoft that I knew back in the early 90s when I started working with SQL Server. Open Source software was seen as a complete anathema to the Microsoft way.

    One of the very interesting ways that Microsoft works in the open is their use of GitHub as a VCS (version control system) for many projects. From .NET to Azure Data Studio to the new virtual kubelet code, thousands of Microsoft engineers are writing and committing code in a very transparent way. Not all their products are here, but there are more than I would have ever expected.

    Part of the challenge of using a (formerly) third party platform is the infrastructure and administration of users. Microsoft has a scale issue here that most us do not deal with. While we work with dozens or hundreds of developers, they deal with thousands. There’s a good blog post about how they’ve scaled up to ensure 25,000+ developers can work.

    The post has lots of information, both at a high, conceptual level as well as at a detailed, technical level in places. Some of the big themes I see in the post is that automation is important, and that there are tools that facilitate the collaboration of their developers by sharing information, triggering notices and reminders, and by enabling the discovery of others. Collaboration is a huge part of DevOps, and the more software can encourage this while reducing the burdens of tedious work, the better the system works.

    None of this works without a culture change. If Microsoft can do this with thousands of developers and thousands more non-technical staff, any of us can. Microsoft has grown in the recent years to be one of the more valuable companies on the planet. Many of our organizations can learn from this by adopting DevOps, but not just in name or at a technical level. The technical tools are easy, but to get your organization to perform better, you need to ensure culture grows with the Three Ways and a team environment. Let your management know that you can all do better, but only if they truly embrace all the concepts of DevOps, teamwork, feedback, and learning from our previous actions to drive continuous improvement.

    Steve Jones

    Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher or iTunes.

  • The Changing Nature of Data

    Are addresses sensitive or private information? It’s a good question to ask since many of us have address data in our databases. I asked this recently at a SQL in the City event and the room was split. I come down on the side of “no”, for addresses in and of themselves. After all, the domain of addresses is known. It’s public information in most every country.

    A few people pointed out that while the address isn’t private data, when it’s linked to a particular person, it is private. It’s not the address, but the linkage. To me this should give data modelers pause when trying to set up a schema, whether set in an RDBMS or a schema on read in some other type of data store. Separating the user from the address, and having a link that doesn’t necessarily disclose private information can reduce the surface area of sensitive data in your system.

    A second question: have you ever worried about your name being on a door or mailbox? I know some people in larger cities have, but that might be a minority. As I’ve visited friends, a name is often valuable to see on a mailbox, especially in my rural area where houses aren’t very visible from a road. That might change, or need to change. An article in the Washington Post notes that in Vienna names are being replaced with numbers. The linkage to an actual person is being removed in response to a complaint. It this overkill? I don’t know, but it is worth thinking about.

    Google Street View and similar services might be affected. The service blurs faces, but it might need to start blurring addresses or even houses. I’m not sure I think that the images are problematic from a privacy perspective, but I also know that the ability to harvest data remotely and create linkages occurs at a scale and with a creativity that I would never have imagined.

    Could a set of thieves search for people posting a vacation notice, image search for a house and then start correlating those images with Google Street View to find addresses? Sure, though arguably a search of public records for ownership might be easier. Many people rent, so maybe this is a bigger issue than I think? I’m not sure, and really, trying to determine how criminals might use data hurts my head.

    I do try not to be too paranoid, but I do get concerned about data privacy. The stories of abuse I hear in the world are truly stunning. The creativity of criminals is scary. I don’t know where to draw the lines, but I do think that we should neither be cavalier with data nor paranoid. There’s a balance to be found, but one that needs debate and deep thought, not casual dismissal or overreaching concern. I hope as a society that we move in the direction of careful consideration as we derive some framework for both the protection and use of personal data.

    Steve Jones

    Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher or iTunes.

  • Ransomware and DevOps

    Ransomware.

    A scary topic and one attack that is apparently more common than I suspected. Before you go further, if you haven’t restored a database backup in the last month, stop and go verify your DR plan works. That’s one of the overconfident issues facing lots of government and businesses. While this might not help your entire organization, at least you’ll have some confidence in your process and that you can recover a database.

    This is a great article from Ars Technica and worth reading: A take of two cities: Why ransomware will just get worse. I’d recommend you read it and think about a few things. First, do you have insurance because things (or substitute your own word here) happen? Second, have you really tested a DR plan for some sort of software issue like this? You might think about a way to restore systems in an air-gapped manner that prevents them from re-triggering encryption from a remote source, or maybe even in a scenario where you reset dates/times to prevent timer triggered issues. If you don’t think you need to, read this article as well.

    Perhaps the bigger issue is are you actually patching and updating systems? Too many organizations can’t, don’t, or won’t. The former means you aren’t sourcing software properly. Either you’re using vendors with poor practices or have a poor development process. Organizations that don’t or won’t bother prioritizing patching, especially security issues, are likely those that will have issues as more criminals spread and use ransomware and other attacks for profit. Software and environments continue to be more complex, which means that the less you ensure the system is patched, the more likelihood there is of a vulnerability in your environment.

    DevOps and the cloud PaaS/SaaS platforms are attractive for a few reasons. One is that the platforms are constantly kept up to date, forcing you to move along with them. SaaS cloud vendors know this and are constantly patching and updating their software in order to keep it running. DevOps asks that we always have the ability to release, that we have the ability to patch on demand, not only at certain intervals. This is something I try to emphasize when talking about DevOps. It isn’t necessarily about velocity, but it is about being able to release when you need to, whether that’s today or next month. This is especially important for security issues.

    I have had hope for a long time that insurance would drive software to higher quality, and I still do. With the attacks and issues of ransomware, and who knows what other techniques that will be developed, I still believe more companies will buy insurance. I then hope, because of selfish motives, the insurance companies will require frequent patching, regular vendor certification of new platform versions, and better development processes. If insurance drives DevOps, I’m all for it, but I’d prefer you decide to adopt it yourself and start making changes today.

    Steve Jones

    Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher or iTunes.

  • Republish: Dig Out the Root Cause

    Off to SQL Saturday Austin today, so you get Dig Out the Root Cause from the archives.

    Have a margarita and fajitas tonight in celebration of the great food I hope to enjoy in Austin.