Voice of the DBA

Category: Editorial

  • The Year of the Community

    Usually at the end of each year I try to look back at the previous year in the database world.  This past year seems to have been an amazing year for the SQL Community and for me it has been the opportunity to meet new people, and also reconnect with so many of the amazing professionals that work with SQL Server.

    The year started early with the decision for PASS to take over the management of the SQL Saturday franchise. Andy Warren and I symbolically passed a key (thanks to Peter Shire of SQL Sentry) to PASS at SQL Saturday #33 in Charlotte, and from there the number of events exploded. When Andy talked with me about this idea almost 4 years ago, we wondered if we would ever get to 50 events, or even if we’d have more than 20 in a year. Right now SQL Saturday #71 is scheduled for Boston in April 2011, and there were 32 events last year. It looks like 2011 might be an even better year, with 14 events scheduled so far. If you are even thinking of having one in your area, contact PASS, or even me for a little help.

    We also had quite a bit of change in the SQL Server world. SQL Server 2008 R2, the Parallel Data Warehouse edition,  and a few service packs, including SP4 for SQL Server 2005, were released. The growth, and support, of the platform from Microsoft continues to give us data professionals more tools, and opportunities, to build amazing applications for our companies. When I look back at where I started, with SQL Server 4.2, the platform is almost unrecognizable. Next year we may get another new version, with some nicely matured subsystems like PBM and Extended Events, that will greatly help DBAs better manage their systems.

    Checking servers from a horse

    Beyond the laptop was a change that amazed me. After having an iPhone, and seeing Surface, I was truly stunned at the success of the iPad, and the rush to build other tablets, like the Galaxy Tab. It’s amazing how versatile and useful these devices can be for consuming information. I expect some amazing new applications, especially in the BI area to be coming in the future. Even my employer has found them useful, giving away dozen’s of iPads in our SQL Monitor launch, which can be used to watch the SQLServerCentral servers in real time.

    There were many more events, from the release of Windows Phone 7 and 4G networks to the growth of the Cloud and NoSQL databases. We had Arnie Rowland’s Project Phoenix, which looks to help unemployed tech professionals, another Exceptional DBA in Tracy Hamlin, and perhaps the beginning of a recovery in the global economy. It seems more people are taking an interest in their career, and poised to take advantage of the hiring that is starting to pick up.

    From my perspective, 2010 was a great year for the SQL community. I don’t know if this community is closer, stronger, or more helpful that those of other technologies, but I do know that it’s an amazing group, and I am better for being a part of it.

    Happy New Year.

    Steve Jones

  • The Office

    The subheading for this article caught my eye. Sixty percent of workers think they can be productive outside of an office in a survey conducted of 2,600 IT professionals. Most of the these people also said that they tended to work extra hours each day outside of the office. The majority also said they would take a lower paying job if they could access the information they needed outside the office.

    That’s actually a smaller percentage that I expected would want to work away from an office,  though more than I expected would actually take less pay to do so. As least in America, it seems that people are very concerned with their salary, and reluctant to ever take a pay cut. I’m glad it seems that some people are starting to understand that value of their time to themselves and their families.

    It’s hard to work at the office, as Jason Fried said recently in a TED Talk. I haven’t worked in an office in some time, but I do remember a constant stream of interruptions. An hour of time without someone talking to you was rare, and I assume that the situation is similar with many knowledge workers today. We have people that we pay to think, and solve problems, but we don’t give them the time to actually work on those problems.

    Steve Jones

  • Strike Force

    Would you want to be part of an elite strike force inside your company? An IT team that can solve complex problems and save the day when there’s a crisis? Or even a large challenge facing your department?

    It sounds cool, and there’s a neat description of an “A-Team for IT” in this article, talking about the types of people that are needed. Overall I think this is a more a list of the ideal types of people that are important for almost any project, especially one that might involve significant investment from a company.

    This started me thinking about the type of person I have been in the technology world. I haven’t provided air support, or been the Über hacker or Fearless Leader that does something amazing. For the most part, I think I’ve been the infrastructure sherpa. Quietly working along, providing support where it’s needed, and just making sure things get done.

    That’s what I think most of us do on a daily basis. We grind away at work, building and fixing things that many people appreciate, but don’t stand out. We don’t get the spotlight, most people in the company aren’t aware of what we do, and that’s fine. Being part of a crisis or strike team sounds cool and exciting, but I think most of us would rather do a solid day’s work for an honest days pay and then go home and get on with out lives.

    Steve Jones

  • Call in the Experts

    Today we have a reprint of an editorial from Feb 1, 2006 as Steve is on vacation.

    Since my data center move last weekend the servers seemed a touch slow. Actually once I checked the mail server I noticed it was substantially slower. With my 100kbps connection on Sunday and Monday, everything seemed slow to me. I solved that DSL problem noting that the satellite receiver didn’t have a filter on it. Once I fixed that, the site was slow, but it was useable. I still wasn’t sure that it was me.

    But I got a few emails from people, so I called my network guy because I wanted him to check things. He said he’d be happy to meet me at lunch to check things since we didn’t have remote switch access (yet). We meet at lunch, me with a couple extra cables just in case. We log in and immediately see that there are tons of CRC errors coming from the switch to the firewall. He knows what it is: duplex mismatch. We open the cage, use a serial cable to connect, and see that the switch is set to 100 full and the firewall is auto. Apparently the negotiation when things don’t match drops to 10Mbps half duplex and can generate lots of CRC errors. We reset it and things are running quicker now.

    The point of this editorial isn’t so much that I’m an idiot about networking or that you should check your switches and NICs to be sure that they are set to match, but more that you should know what you don’t know.

    And quickly call someone in.

    It’s one thing to try to figure things out yourself, work through issues and learn on the go, but you should know the limits of your knowledge. In most areas I can quickly tell when I don’t know something and should just ask. But even in SQL Server I usually have a feel within an hour if I can solve the problem or I’m out of my league. And when I am, I call support or a consultant to help.

    Too often I see people beat on a problem for too long without calling in help. Sometimes they call too soon, but usually they work a problem too long because they are afraid to ask for help. Maybe they think they’ll look bad or the boss will wonder why he’s paying them. I don’t think it’s a knock against you to call for help periodically. I’ve been a DBA a long time and it hasn’t hurt me.

    In any case, knowing what you don’t know is a valuable skill. A skill I’d highly recommend you learn.