Voice of the DBA

Category: Editorial

  • Zombie Data

    Most of us that work with data are concerned about losing any of the bits or bytes we are responsible for. Many of us practice restores when we can, we complain about the low disaster recovery budgets we’re allowed, and we regularly check our systems for corruption. Even those of us that aren’t extremely diligent in our daily data protection are often worried about losing our jobs if a disaster causes data loss. Many of us don’t even trust our users, preferring to implement logical deletes in applications rather than physically running a DELETE statement.

    However there are times that we do want to remove data from our systems. We may find data quality is poor and want to erase the results of an ETL load. We may find ourselves bound by regulations that require the removal of data from our systems. We may upgrade old software and end up with copies of obsolete databases whose contents have been copied and reformatted by a new version of an application.

    This article talks about the data-pocolypse, and in somewhat of a jesting way, but it has a few good points that we may want to consider when we do need to remove data permanently. We should understand that deletes are not always deletes, and if a permanent solution is needed, we should use a utility to wipe the drive or physically destroy the hardware. However there are other places we should worry about old copies of data. Backups should be deleted from remote storage that might not have cleanup jobs running anymore if the servers are decommissioned. We should be wary about taking databases offline, or detaching them without physically removing the files. Development machines, laptops, etc. should have data removed if we are sure we don’t need it again.

    We should be especially careful about security access to servers that we are not using. Users might easily have links or pointers to old servers, and mistakenly connect. Make sure you remove access when you decommission the instance. Be careful about keeping old file exports, such as reports or feeds that were generated in the past. It might not be practical to wipe backup tapes, but be sure you’ve changed documentation and surfaced the information to all administrators that copes of databases restored from tapes after xxx date are not useable in DR situations.

    Of course the first thing you should do is make sure you have a good backup of the most current version of your data before you start deleting older copies. Delete this last, after you’re absolutely sure that users are no longer going to request a restore. I wouldn’t even ask users about this, however, because they may not be sure themselves. Instead I’d set a reminder a few months in the future to go back and delete this one, last, most current backup.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 3.3MB) 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.

  • Big Data Comes to Hiring

    I remember first seeing kiosks a few years back in some stores such as Best Buy, Target, Barnes and Nobles, etc. The devices had banners above them that invited people to apply for a job using the computerized system. This was just before my oldest son started applying for jobs, and shortly thereafter I found a few articles that stated quite a few of these large corporations were using the same company to manage the kiosks and pre-screen candidates. Not only were they considering the applications, but they were examining employment records, noting which candidates might have been terminated or left another job quickly. They were trying to use analytics to decide which applicants to interview.

    That entire process reminded me of the “black mark” on your record that I heard about as a kid. It was a reminder to not make too many mistakes, at least not serious ones, that might follow you forever. It appears now that it’s not just entry level jobs that are starting to use data and analysis for hiring decisions. It seems as though some companies are starting to evaluate candidates with different types of algorithms and applications for a wide range of positions. This piece from the Atlantic talks about the history of hiring and a few ways in which data is being gathered about workers and used to analyze their performance. Even more interesting the section about halfway down that talks about how they analyze developer’s work from afar.

    It’s expensive, time consuming, and stressful to hire people. We’ve proven in technology over and over that many of the hiring decisions made, aren’t made that well. We find talented people being underpaid and quick to leave, while other employees are overpaid and are happy to toil away in their positions for years. Neither situation is good for the employer, and often not good for the employee either. It’s less than motivating for any of us when we don’t find some challenge and enjoyment in our jobs.

    Ultimately I know more “people analytics” will be used in the hiring process by some companies, but I find that even with the data, there’s one thing that seems to matter more: personal referrals. Networking matters, and there is no shortage of companies that are placing lots of value on their employees’ networks. Some of them are even looking to conduct the majority of their hires through networking. So make sure you’re networking with others in technology. You never know when it will be the way you get your next job.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 2.8MB) 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.

  • Adding to SQL Server

    The next version of SQL Server will release in a few months. Most of the development is complete, and the feature list is set for SQL Server 2014. However there is work already underway for a version of SQL Server that will likely release in late 2016.

    Each product cycle brings with it new capabilities and enhancements to existing features. Despite the large resources that are devoted to SQL Server, we also find that choices are made and some features, functions, or tools that are ignored. As get ready for the release of SQL Server 2014, I wanted to ask you to look beyond this version.

    What feature, area, or tool would you like to see enhanced in SQL Server 2016?

    As I review the list of changes in each version, I find myself as disappointed as I am excited. The new features are interesting and bring about new ways to build on the SQL Server platform, but I find that so many existing areas receive little work and don’t mature over time.

    Service Broker has never had good tooling, and despite the fact that it underpins many features, and is a fantastic way to scale SQL Server, it seems to be largely ignore with each new release. Replication is barely changing, and spatial data seems to be a very low priority. Perhaps the most disappointing area for me is Management Studio, which seems to get the bare minimum of changes each version to support new features.

    The Connect system allows us to communicate with the SQL Server team, but the signal to noise ratio seems so low that I suspect the product managers don’t find it very useful. However if you could set a priority in one area for the next version of SQL Server, let us know what it would be in the discussion below.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

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

    The Voice of the DBA podast 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.

  • Software Patents

    I highly dislike the current patent system in the US. I think awarding patents for an idea like “1-click purchasing” is a poor practice that discourages innovation. There are numerous problems with our patent system, not the least of which is that it can stifle new ideas and prevent small companies from building on similar ideas that are, well, what I’d all common sense. I don’t quite share Richard Stallman’s view of software patents, but I do think we have fundamental flaws in the way we handle this intellectual property.

    I do, however, think that software has value, and the work we do as software engineers deserves compensation, as noted in this post. We should have some patents, and we should reward those that create truly innovative, and not common sense, ideas in the digital world. How we define those, and how we measure innovation isn’t clear to me, but I do think that non-trivial ideas deserve protection.

    Our legal systems around the world are slow to catch up to the digital world, and may never do so. As quickly as we can debate patents, copyright, trademarks, and more, the digital world grows, expands, and changes to stretch and challenge our thinking of how the world works. It almost seems as though digital ideas and software defy analogies and explanations that we can relate to the real world.

    I don’t know how I’d change patents, but I don’t want them to go away completely. I do, however, know what I’d do with copyright. I’d change it back to the original system we had, granting 14 years exclusivity to creators, with a single option to renew for 14 years and that’s it. The world certainly changes too fast to wait 95 years to use someone else’s work.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 2.4MB) 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.