Voice of the DBA

Category: Editorial

  • Artist or Scientist

    Which are you, an artist or a scientist? If you automate, you’re the latter. If you are a scientist, you can go on vacation. You can be more productive. People can count on you. You get things done quickly, consistently, and reliably. Everyone knows what to expect when you’re done with a task. They can expect things to be completed a certain way.

    If you manually run installation programs, click GUIs to configure options from memory, and customize each system you work on, you’re an artist. Artists build works of art, each of them unique. I know some incredibly talented artists working in technology, people who duplicate their work over and over extremely consistently. However at some point they’ll make a mistake, and then I’ll never know what state the system or code is in.

    While we need artists to push boundaries and experiment with new techniques, we don’t want them managing production systems or writing production code.  I want production code to use well known and proven techniques, best practices, good error handling, application of standards, logging and more. I want production systems to be stable, not with a lack of change, but with a lack of issues. I need scientists that produce work that can be counted on.

    Don’t build works of art. In development you must be an artist at times, but when you solve problems, ensure that the code contains best practices (secure coding and error handling among them), and make sure that your team understands and can reproduce the code later. In production, ensure you learn automation (PoSh, scripting, templates) and can build, or rebuild, your systems quickly and consistently. Deploy your builds to QA and development so that all the environments are the same.

    Become more of a scientist and not only will people depend on you, they’ll be less worried when you go on vacation because there will be fewer surprises for the person covering your work.

    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. feed

    The Voice of the DBA podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music. Support this great duo at www.everydayjones.com.

  • Disconnecting Auditing

    We know security is becoming more and more of a topic for IT professionals. As we realy more heavily on our computer systems, we have to be sure that the information contained in them is secure. We know that we can’t necessarily anticipate and protect the applications from every attack, but we can usually detect and respond to incidents. To do that, we need good auditing of all the events that occur.

    The problem, in my mind, is that our auditing efforts and implementations are too tightly tied to the administration of our systems. The auditing features must be configured by administrators, who are also often tasked with the review of the auditing data and logs. This is a fundamental problem as it’s entirely possible that an administrator or privileged user might be just the person that will violate security practices. With their rights inside of the computer system, it’s likely that the same person perpetrating the malicious activity would be able to easily cover up or remove any evidence of the incident.

    I think that auditing is fundamentally implemented poorly. Auditing features in software, including SQL Server, should be separated out from administration, perhaps even configured and enabled by a separate user or account than the person who administers the system. I would anticipate that a person in the finance or accounting departments at most companies might be responsible for managing the audit data. Even if they were unsure of the meaning of the data, having control over the information would prevent problems with the auditing data being compromised. I could even see auditing services being offered by third parties that interpret or review the data for companies without a dedicated security department.

    I doubt we’ll see a disconnect anytime soon, but I do think that the value of auditing is drastically reduced when we don’t have a strong separation of rights, responsibility, and capabilities between auditing and administration.

    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. feed

    The Voice of the DBA podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music. Support this great duo at www.everydayjones.com.

  • The Next Generation

    I was sitting in a Women in Technology luncheon recently when one of the other attendees talked a bit about her career. She said it had been filled with long hours, late night calls, stress, and plenty of other negative events. Although it had been a good career for this lady, challenging, stimulating, and she was well compensated, her daughter wasn’t interested in pursing a career in this field. I’m not sure if that’s because of the demands she had faced in this business, but I was interested in a (rhetorical) question from one of the panelists.

    “How do we get people to enter IT in the future?”

    As much as I do want to encourage more diversity in technology workers, I also just want more people working in technology. We have a shortage of talented workers for many jobs. I think there are lots of opportunities, better than average pay, and a career that you can enjoy for your entire life. It’s a career that could easily be continued into your 70s and 80s if you chose to do so. I hope you don’t have to work that long if you don’t want to, but it’s nice to have the choice.

    With that in mind, how do we continue to excite and interest people in technology? I’m not looking to convince anyone to enter this industry if they don’t want to, but I’d like to see more people experimenting with SQL Server, .NET, and other technologies as a career. I really just want more people to consider working in technology. If they choose not to, that’s fine, but at least give it a try.

    I’m always surprised at how many people I’ve met that studied other subjects in school, and even worked in other industries before discovering that they’d rather work full time with computers. I’d like to see those people get into the computer business earlier in their lives if that’s a field they enjoy.

    Of course, there’s a down side to having more workers in technology. Competition will increase, and those of you already working with computers will need to continue increasing your own skills if you want the best jobs.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio (3.0MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and LibSyn. feed

    The Voice of the DBA podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music. Support this great duo at www.everydayjones.com.

  • How Much for a Laugh?

    I’ve supported a few fundraising efforts in the community over the years, including trying to raise money for a friend’s sick child.

    Argenis Fernandez, friend, MVP, MCM, and well respected member of the community agreed to embarrass himself if a co-worker could raise money for Doctor’s Without Borders. The goal was $5k and was achieved in July, so Argenis was on the hook for the PASS Summit. However a few others in the community agreed to join and try to raise even more for charity.  Brent Ozar, Adam Machanic, and Grant Fritchey all agreed to Rainbow Leggings at the PASS Summit, with Gail Shaw sporting wings and a halo. I joined in as well to get to $10,000. There’s even a stretch goal of $25k, in which Gareth Swanepoel, Jason Strate, Ed Watson, and Kirsten Benzel will get SQL Server tattoos!

    At $6500 in donations right now, I’m not sure I need to go shopping just yet. I hope I have to, and I’m counting on some of you wanting to contribute for the sake of a few laughs.

    We have hundreds of thousands of you in the SQL Server community. I know not all of you see this as a cause that inspires you, but surely a few pictures of your speakers on stage, giving presentations in rainbow ensembles, is worth the $5 price of a drink and tip? I’m sure we can get to $25,000 to help this worthy cause, and have some fun along the way. And if this is a cause the speaks to you, I hope you’ll consider donating a bit more.

    I’m going to wear the leggings, but I’m considering a few other decorative items. What would you like to see me wear in a rainbow theme? Drop a comment with your donation and I’ll take a look.

    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. feed

    The Voice of the DBA podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music. Support this great duo at www.everydayjones.com.