Voice of the DBA

Category: Editorial

  • The Load Poll

    Hopefully this isn't the load you see on your servers, but do you know what level of tps would cause this?
    Hopefully this isn’t the load you see on your servers, but do you know what level of tps would cause this?

    I was taking to someone recently and this person had a large transaction load on their SQL Server. At least, I thought it was a large load. This person said they experienced 1000tps most of the time and this made maintenance, DR planning, and more a challenge. That’s a lot lower than the TPCe performance system that has 4,614tps, but it’s nothing to sneer at. That feels like a significant load to me.

    However it’s been awhile since I worked on a variety of systems as a consultant. I often see the forums at SQLServerCentral showing only tens of transactions/sec, based on the performance data that you can see at monitor.red-gate.com. This is the actual data from our servers and it seems like a low number to me.

    This week I was trying to decide what 1000tps really means. Is this a busy system, maybe even an edge case if this is the average for your system over a week or month? Is it a representative system for many companies? I wanted to see what others report from their systems this week:

    What are your average and peak tps for most of the systems you manage?

    I’d like to hear about 1 or 2 systems that you consider to representative of the loads in your environment. Taken across your business time, whether that’s 9-5, 24×7 or something else, can you get the average and peak values for your transactions/sec and disclose them? You don’t need to let us know about your application or company, though industry would be nice.

    I’m curious how busy systems are for some of you and whether this presents you with challenges for migration, upgrades, virtualization, DR, maintenance or more.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

    We publish three versions of the podcast each day for you to enjoy.

  • The Auto OS

    Will we see more integration of computers and cars in the future?
    Will we see more integration of computers and cars in the future?

    Those of you who have followed SQLServerCentral for a long time know that I like cars. I used to do car updates periodically, and still get in car debates on times over Twitter. I love my cars, and despite the age of a few of them, they’re all doing well. My Prius still gets 47-50 mpg (depending on weather) and it’s proven itself to be a great investment. It’s even paid off, and as gas prices rise, I use it more and more.

    For much of automotive history, the advancements have taken place under the hood or in the mechanical systems of the car. Computers have been a part of design and even operation for a long time, but primarily to keep the mechanical systems operating at a high efficiency. The interactions with drivers have mostly  come from entertainment or climate systems.

    That changed a little with the introduction of navigation systems, that allow a driver to spend less time finding destinations and concentrate on driving. I know that hybrids that surface efficiency information to the driver have changed the way I drive, even when I’m in another car. I suspect the same is true for many people that purchased cars with the idea they would save money on fuel. I suspect in the future we will get more interactions with cars in new ways, perhaps even in ways we hadn’t considered before.

    Cars are becoming more complex, and many have their own OSes inside. This might be the next OS war, after the mobile phone competitions that are ongoing between iOS, Android, and Window Phone. I suspect that these two are closely intertwined as I think integration between a mobile vehicle and a mobile phone is essential and I hope there are good APIs and standards that allow any phone to work with any car.

    Data integrity and security will become more important in the mobile platforms as we use them for more services. I hope that companies are paying attention to these issues, and ensuring they not only hire great developers and software engineers, but also good data professionals to help them build their systems. I suspect that isn’t the case, but perhaps a few of you will find jobs in the automotive industry and become strong advocates for data security.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

    We publish three versions of the podcast each day for you to enjoy.

  • Those Who Can, Do

    Getting a certification like this is good if it teaches you new skills and you use them.
    Getting a certification like this is good if it teaches you new skills and you use them.

    There was a time I considered staying in college, getting a masters or PhD and teaching others. I still might follow that path at some point since I enjoy speaking and teaching others how to better work with SQL Server. At some point, however, I became frustrated with the theoretical approaches many teachers had. Like many 20-something-old students I tended to subscribe to the mantra “those that can, do. Those that can’t, teach.”

    I was reminded of that by this piece: Those Who Can Do, Those Who Can’t, Get Ceritified. It compares IT workers to the computer systems they manage, and it points out that if all that’s required is to pass a test, that’s something a computer can do very well, perhaps even replacing those that can just answer questions in their daily work.

    There’s some truth to that. I always wonder about a person that has 3, 4, or more certifications; do they have actual skills with the product?. Have they actually used the knowledge from those certifications in their work? Is the certification the goal, or is it a way to learn skills and knowledge that can be applied at work? If it’s the former and not the latter, then I’d say your efforts to advance your career through certification are poorly aimed.

    However if the certification gives you structure and focus, if it allows you to improve the skills you have, and bolster the weak areas in your knowledge, it can be beneficial to your career. If you are taking that knowledge and using it in your daily work, or even in your spare time, then the certification is merely a stepping stone to something greater.

    I don’t think that people who are certified are somehow incompetent at their jobs, but they have to showcase more than just the certification for me to believe they are valuable employees.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

    We publish three versions of the podcast each day for you to enjoy.

  • Better Licensing for SQL Server

    I don't know why licensing can't be simpler, but if it's not, then make it clear what is needed.
    I don’t know why licensing can’t be simpler, but if it’s not, then make it clear what is needed.

    People post licensing questions constantly at SQLServerCentral about the various scenarios and situations they face with their SQL Server instance configuration.  Many of the are fairly easy to answer, but more and more I read about environments that are complex. The problem is it is not clear from the licensing documents what purchases are needed.

    Multiple cores, virtual environments, and the restrictions for different editions of SQL Server mean there are often no simple answers. I know Microsoft is trying to earn a profit and these days hardware advances complicate matters, but I do think that Microsoft can make this much easier to understand than it currently is.

    There are lots of possible scenarios for systems, but publishing data on the Internet is easy. I don’t understand why the licensing documents do not include 10 or 20 possible configurations for SQL Server environments and explain what the licensing requirements are for each one. I bet that there are even some developers at Microsoft that can build a way for anyone to submit their own scenario, get it added to the list, and an answer published. I would guess there might even be able to build a notification feature for the submitter.

    It’s easy to contact a Microsoft licensing representative, but many of these people aren’t SQL Server experts, and often don’t understand some of the implications of complex environments. What’s worse is I have different friends getting different answers from Microsoft representatives.  By not using published scenarios and licensing requirements, and depending on employees’ interpretation of the documents, Microsoft is as likely to under charge as over charge customers. Neither situation is a fair one.

    I don’t mind paying for the software I use; I just want to know what the cost is before I architect a complex environment.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

    We publish three versions of the podcast each day for you to enjoy.