Voice of the DBA

Category: Editorial

  • Data Security Policies

    Does your organization have some policy around data security on mobile devices? Do your fellow employees care about data security? A new study says that most organizations don’t, and potentially that’s an issue.

    Many of us are data professionals, and we might have no idea how much data a user can access using today’s modern mobile devices. Potentially we can help them understand that the $500 smartphone they use can actually contain and access much more than $500 worth of data. If their device is the cause of a data breach, the cost could easily be much closer to $50,000 than $500.

    Security is always a big gamble, and rather than the old models of controlling all devices and limiting access, we need to learn to educate users, work with them to secure their devices and report losses quickly. The survey shows that most employees don’t even know how to report the loss of a device that might cause a data breach. At the very least, we can establish some procedures that will allow an account to be quickly turned off. And to ensure productivity doesn’t suffer, we need a procedure that also engages a new account for a user quickly.

    My guess is a lot of security issues could be handled quicker if we ensured that users were aware of issues and penalized for ignoring them, but made sure those penalties were balanced with an understanding that there it is inevitable people will make mistakes and accidents. Forgive mistakes and ask for reports of potential issues quickly.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 1.8MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and Mevio . 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 Internet of Things

    The Internet of Things is upon us. I’ve heard this term quite a bit recently, and certainly there’s been no shortage of new hardware items that are being onnected to the Internet. The last ten years have seen all sorts of products get IP addresses: mobile phones and cars, along with washing machines and refrigerators. Some have been silly attempts to make a connection to the Internet without a practical problem being solved, but some have been very interesting.

    However I think we will truly start to see more and more devices created in the next decade. The advent of cheap hardware (Raspberry Pis and Arduinos as two examples) and the ability to construct new cases and programs (with 3D printing) will lead to many individuals, as well as companies, starting to build their own devices to capture data as sensors, or perform small tasks that we find handy.

    Should we care? Yes. Many of these items will produce logs or other status information. Much of this data will be stored in databases. Perhaps in relational platforms like SQL Server, perhaps sampled and queried as a stream with much of the data discarded (using StreamInsight and SQL Server), perhaps stored in some NoSQL type platform (HDInsight/Hadoop, anyone?). For many of us that means more data to manage, new information to develop software against, new patterns to discover with creative queries.

    It should also mean more work, probably more employment, and hopefully, more money.

    Steve Jones

     

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast
    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 1.9MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and Mevio . 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 http://www.everydayjones.com.

  • Telepresence

    I remember seeing the telepresense robot on The Big Bang Theory and thinking it was somewhat silly, and not a great substitute for a live person. The whole episode was a bit humorous and funny, with Sheldon attempting to prevent himself from befalling any harm by using the robot to substitute for him at work.

    It’s amazing how your view of the world can change in a few years. The past three years have had me traveling 15+ times a year to various events to deliver presentations on a variety of topics. However I’m cancelling all future talks in 2014, at least for live travel.

    The VGo telepresence robot has been offered to Red Gate on a trial basis for us to test it in a number of ways. We are looking to use this robot to allow us to reach more users and deliver more talks as well as perform consulting for some of our customers. We have worked with VGo to not only allow a broadcast presence of myself or a developer from Red Gate, but we have built a turnkey demonstration system.

    With a custom shipping container holding the VGo and a Gigbyte BRIX mounted on it, anyone can easily unpack the robot in minute, unfolding it in a room, plug it into power, a microphone, and a video projector. It will automatically power up and log onto the Verizon network, where I can connect to it from home and reconfigure it for local networking. I can not only control the robot and address an audience (as well as hear them), I can also control the various VMs on the BRIX and demonstrate any SQL Server setup that suits the talk.

    As you might guess, this will allow me to broadcast to SQL Saturday events every week as well as attend many other conferences. If things work well, Red Gate is looking to deploy a few of these for not only presentations, but also for consulting in helping our customers use our tools to build robust software delivery piplines. We can ship one to a customer and then work with them in a remote situation.

    I’ve very excited about the entire pilot, mostly because it’s a joke on April 1. For now. Perhaps we’ll give this a try at some point.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast
    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 2.9MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and  Mevio . 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.

  • X in Technology

    I have attended quite a few of the women in technology sessions across the last few years at various SQL Server events. I think the effort to promote technology careers to women and support them in the challenges they face is a worthwhile effort. I hope the groups continue and I look forward to more local chapters forming, like the Denver WIT group that is starting this year.

    However not everyone agrees. I heard from someone not to long ago that thought these groups were divisive and might end up fragmenting the community. This person asked me if I thought WIT was a good idea, then should we also have a black men in technology group?

    I do.

    I was asked if I thought there should be a Hispanics in technology as well?

    I do.

    I do think that any minority group that feels they want to support others in their group should consider setting up an organization to help their members. Different groups of people face different challenges in being part of a minority. Finding support from others in similar situations can help you overcome the obstacles that are in your way. It can help you realize the possibilities and opportunities that exist. Lots of groups do this, why not technology? The WIT and other minority organizations I’ve seen aren’t advocating against white males or any other majority. They’re just trying to help their own members have better careers.

    If we can encourage others to consider technology careers, become better professionals, and support people as they go through their lives, I think that’s something worth doing.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 1.9MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and Mevio . 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.