Voice of the DBA

Category: Editorial

  • The Wish List

    It’s the holiday season and a joyous time for many of us. I do hope you are feeling the giving spirit and looking to creates smiles for others as you prepare for your particular celebration during the break from work next week. This is certainly a time to remember that many others are less fortunate that most of us that work in technology, and I’d encourage you to consider giving something to help others.

    Howver, many of us will receive gifts this holiday season, and in the spirit of having some fun, I wanted to make a fun poll this week.

    What is on the top of your wish list that would help improve your time at work?

    If you are like me, the one thing you’d really like is more time. It’s unlikely I (or you) will receive that particular gift, but I know that it’s the one resource that is always limited for me. Barring that, I think there are a few things that might make work time a bit better for me.

    I’m not in an office, but having a nice set of headphones to help me concentrate on a task, or even relax while traveling would be good. My laptop is starting to have some issues, so I’ll be looking to replace it at some point, but many of you might find yourself working faster with a newer, more powerful machine. No matter what your hardware, you need a place to work, so maybe 2015 is the time to try a taller, or faster, desk. Perhaps you just need a few more USB ports, a little power on the go, or even a new way to commute to the office.

    The array of possibilities for changing work continues to grow as technology advances the world. We can work anywhere, though it is important to stop working and relax. Perhaps the best thing for many of us might be a way to refresh and recharge away from work so that we’ll be ready to hit the ground running when we return. The best way to do that is to take your vacation.

    Let us know what might be on your fun list, and have a fantastic holiday season. I know I will as I’m leaving tomorrow for a week in Steamboat Springs.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 2.3MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and LibSyn.

  • Deleting Data

    Like Tim Berners-Lee, I find the “right to be forgotten” law in Europe to be dangerous. The tremendous growth of data in our world means that searches become increasingly important in order for us to find data. If data is removed from searches, then for all practical purposes, it might cease to exist.

    I think that is disturbing. As a data professional, I try to ensure that the quality and integrity of data is maintained. I really to try to avoid ever deleting data (preferring to archive or hide it) in case it’s ever needed later. Far, far too often I’ve had someone ask me to remove something, only to have them ask for it’s return a short time later.

    I know that this law isn’t removing the data. The original sources will still contain the data, but search engines won’t return it. On one hand that means that many of us won’t ever realize that the data exists. In some sense, this will return us to the very limited, analog search engines of the past, where we depending on indexes compiled on microfiche to find information stored in libraries. On the other hand, perhaps this will give rise to data investigators that will develop their own methods and archives that enable them to offer services where they can find the “forgotten” data.

    I can’t decide if I think this law is a huge step back, or a correction against some of the overzealous data creation that occurs in the spur of the moment. Certainly data about past events is valuable and important, but the way much of the world uses a search engine, clicking on a link or two and accepting the information as valid, can be misleading. Time will tell if this is a good idea or not, and I’m curious to see how well the law performs.

    Steve Jones

     

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 2.0MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and LibSyn.

  • Go Small

    The SQL Server community is a surprisingly close knit one. I find that people are much more willing to help each other and share knowledge. We have so many events and user groups, it’s amazing to me that on almost every weekend of the year, some event is taking place, somewhere in the world. I’ve been to dozens of SQL Saturdays, and most of them are run very well, but I’ve also seen lots of extravagance in putting on the events. There’s competition between the events and organizers, which is mostly healthy, but I do worry about the long term health of our community.

    Most events depend on some sort of sponsorship to get going. Venues can cost a good bit of money, and while many events now charge for lunch, the breakfast, coffee, sodas, etc. are the burden of the organizers. Add in signs, printed guides, gas, etc., and events can get expensive. Many events get shirts for volunteers and speakers (or a small gift), as well and a Friday night dinner to thank everyone for their help. These expenses have become commonplace.

    However as we continue to add new events, I can tell you that the overall cost to vendors is significant. I can’t speak for other vendors, but I know Red Gate wants to support these events, and we plan to continue providing sponsorship, as well as sending Grant and myself to speak. However we also have to make choices about which events to support and how many we can participate in. That means that as more events are run, fewer will get funding. Many existing events might see less funding from all vendors.

    I really like the idea of bare bones events. Jen McCown proposed a format and I like it. As we look to grow more events in the future, we need to be lean, efficient, and most importantly, focus on the goal: teaching. Big events are fine, and if you can make them happen, great. However let’s not let the lack of a big budget get in the way of helping teach people about SQL Server, growing our skills and bond as a community.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 2.5MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and LibSyn.

  • Drop and Recreate

    Those of you that manage replicated environments have learned to have one thing handy: a script that recreates your replicated publishers, distributors, and subscribers. I was reminded of my past needs for those scripts recently when I saw this post on dropping and recreating all the synonyms for a database.

    It’s easy to depend on backup and restore to recover from issues, but how often do you face problems with an environment that aren’t related to data? If you lose a stored procedure, or have a problem with the configuration of jobs, or principals, can you easily drop and recreate an object? That code is usually tiny, but if the only copy you have is in a backup file, you have to restore a lot of data just to get some code.

    Certainly everyone should keep all this data in version control, and I’d encourage you to be sure that not only development code (tables, views, stored procedures, etc) are kept in there, but also configuration settings, jobs, roles, and the various other things a DBA is responsible for in a production environment.

    However I’d also go one step further and ensure that you have scripts to recreate all aspects of your environment if you need to do it. Many of the comparison tools will let you store a snapshot of database schema items in a folder and then easily help you recreate a script if needed. That covers the database, but for the instance level items, you need to be sure you have an easy way to checkout a copy from version control (you are using version control now, right?) and execute the scripts on a SQL Server. You can use T-SQL, PoSH, or even VBScript, but be sure you have the code handy.

    Do you?

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 1.8MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and LibSyn.