Voice of the DBA

Category: Editorial

  • NoSQL Complaints

    I think that NoSQL databases are a really interesting set of technologies, however they aren’t necessarily a panacea for many problems, including scalability. There are likely some problem domains where a particular NoSQL technology might work better than an RDBMS, and perhaps some situations where many types of databases would work well.

    I ran across a piece that looked at some of the complaints that companies have with NoSQL technologies. It’s a generic piece, perhaps too generic, since a graph database is not like a document database. However it does talk about the issues that companies see, such as performing analytic queries. While a row-based RDBMS isn’t ideal for these queries, often the platforms work very well for a wide variety of reporting requirements.

    I do think some of the problems people have noted have to do with the maturity of the systems. There are a lack of references for how to run a high uptime NoSQL database, not many data models to review that may or may not work well, and relatively few administrative techniques to maintain these databases. The problem isn’t that NoSQL databases can’t meet your needs, or run quickly, or provide many 9s of uptime, but rather many enterprise professionals might not know how to find the information to accomplish these goals. That’s something easily solved across time.

    Ultimately I think the NoSQL world has a lot of maturing to do, and we, as professionals and media, need to start to differentiate among the various flavors of databases. I am glad to start seeing articles and blogs refer to graph databases when they cover a product like Neo4j rather than writing NoSQL. Slowly I am seeing MongoDB referred to more often as a document database, not a NoSQL database. It’s good to start to separate technologies and not confuse one with another.

    One thing in the piece I did notice is that it’s likely that we will see more platforms and products incorporate both RDBMS and non-RDBMS technologies together. We see that in SQL Server already with the addition of columnstore technologies in the last few versions and Polybase to SQL Server 2016. I expect we’ll also start to see some of the capabilities of DocumentDB added to SQL Server, along with, perhaps, graph based technologies in the future.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 2.7MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and LibSyn.

  • Just Say No

    Just say no was a tagline from my youth. As I recall, it didn’t work well then, but I hope it will work better for a different audience and in a different context today. I was reading Brent Ozar’s note about one of the toughest things for consultants to do: saying no. While I certainly think this isn’t a problem for some people that can’t find work, I do think this is an issue, and one that isn’t just a problem for consultants.

    I have worked with many people across my career, and one of the things that most of them have struggled with is saying no. Maybe it’s fear over being scolded (or worse) by a manager. Maybe it’s the simple desire to please others. Perhaps it’s because we simple are eternal optimists, and we think we can handle everything thrown at us. No matter what your reason, many people find the inability to say no plagues them throughout their careers.

    I’ve learned to say no across the last decade. I probably say no to more things than I agree to accomplish. There are times that I worry about how much I decline to tackle things at work. However I have learned to deliver what I agree to, and deliver it well. I’ve learned that to do that, I can’t tackle every project, idea, or assignment. There are times I have to push back and refuse (politely) to do something.

    It’s a luxury for sure. I have been successful in my career, and I’m not in a position where the loss of my job would wreck my life. However I also realize time is the most valuable resource I have at work. Time is also the most valuable resource I have in life, and I have to learn to balance my use of that resource to continue to be successful. Hopefully you learn that as well.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 2.1MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and LibSyn. feed

  • The Biggest Data Breech (For Now)

    I keep reading the words “the largest data breach in history” in a variety of stories. In fact, given the tremendous growth of data acquisition, I’m guessing that this headline will continue to repeat itself over and over. I think I’m getting to the point where I’d rather just see a story say that xxx million customers were affected. At least then I’d be able to easily put some scale to the loss of data.

    What’s interesting in this case involving JP Morgan is there are indictments being handed down, to at least two men that somehow participated in hacks that copied over 100million people’s data. JPMorgan admits 76 million households and 7 million small businesses were compromised, which isn’t 100, but perhaps there’s something I’m missing. However the data wasn’t just sold, but rather hackers used the information to market stocks to the individuals compromised. That’s an interesting level of sophistication, and a scary one.

    Can you start to imagine criminals using the information intelligently to not directly sell the data but to make a secondary use of the information. Perhaps they will enagage social engineering by bundling the information with other data to perform some other attack on individuals? It’s entirely possible that we will see more sophisticated uses in the future as criminals work to evade or avoid the fraud detection systems that have been put in place.

    I have no doubt that bigger data breaches are coming. Perhaps we could reduce the impact and frequency with better security frameworks and development practices, but I’m not sure that any company out there will place a high priority on security over ease of access and speed of development. I do continue to hope that market forces will drive companies to build better detection and protection mechanisms, and our vendors will build better security mechanisms into all platforms.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 2.4MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and LibSyn.

  • Visual Studio Subscriptions

    Many of us that work with SQL Server do so exclusively through SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS). I find so many people really do the majority of their jobs with SSMS, Outlook, and a web browser. Even back in 2003 when I was a full time DBA, I probably spent the majority of my time in those three applications.
    However I also see more and more people using Visual Studio and other tools to accomplish their jobs. The growth of new tools, like Powershell, the expansion of our work into BI areas, and more mean that more and more people are using tools besides SSMS to work with SQL Server data.
    This past week there was an announcement that MSDN subscriptions were changing. At most of my jobs, I’ve had an MSDN subscription available to me. In fact, some of you might remember the large binders of CDs (and later DVDs) that arrived on a regular basis and contained copies of all Microsoft software. However many of you out there haven’t had MSDN available to you, or you’ve struggled to justify the yearly $1000+ cost, but you do want to work on your careers and practice with Microsoft software.
    At first I saw the yearly cost of MSDN at $799, which is a pretty large investment. However as I looked to the side, I saw a monthly subscription, no large commitment, available for $45. That’s not an extremely low cost for much of the world, but it’s very reasonable in the US. It’s also a great way to build a setup that allows you to work with a variety of Microsoft technologies at an affordable cost. What’s more, you can stop paying at any time. Or start again at any time.
    I know that it can be a struggle to invest in your own career, probably more difficult to find time than money. However this is a good way to get access to the various development and server tools for a period of time if you want to tackle a project or force yourself to learn a new skill.
    I’m glad that Microsoft has moved to a subscription model for MSDN. I expect to see this subscription growing as small companies use a small investment that scales linearly with new hires to provide their employees with tools. I can only hope that many other vendors adopt this same model and allow us to rent our tools, and upgrade, for a very reasonable cost. I just hope they all let us backup and save our settings in case we interrupt our subscription for a period of time.
    Steve Jones