I saw a note about an outage on Windows Azure, apparently one that’s been going on for seven hours. Once again it seems that February 29 has struck again with a computer issue, and it makes me worry that if we mess with daylight savings time, we might have similar issues in the future.
I went to the main Azure page, and this is what I saw
I wrote about cloud computing today, and higher salaries. While this isn’t good news for the cloud, perhaps it means that salaries will be even higher.
I think most of us know that the world is not really a meritocracy. We know that the value of many things is not necessarily intrinsic to the item; value is based on perception. That’s a large part of the economic theory of supply and demand. The more people want something, the more it should cost.
I ran across a piece that surveyed some salaries and it shows that people working with cloud platforms are commanding higher salaries, even when the underlying technologies are the same. It seems crazy, but that’s the world we live in. Perceptions drive a lot of things in the world, especially the ones that don’t seem to make sense.
Should you specialize in cloud technologies? In one sense, the platform is not a lot different than what you might run in your local data center. Virtualized machines, connections and deployments to remote networks, and limited access to the physical hardware. There are subtle differences, and learning about them and working with them, could be good for your next job interview, when the HR person or technology-challenged manager asks you about Azure.
Part of your career is getting work done, using your skills and talents in a practical and efficient manner. However a larger part of it, IMHO, is the marketing of your efforts and accomplishments. The words you choose, the way you present yourself, these things matter. I would rather be able to talk about SQL Azure as a skill, and then relate that to local Hyper-V installations of SQL Server than the other way around.
If you are considering new work, or interesting in the way cloud computing might fit into an environment, I’d urge you to take a look at SQL Azure or the Amazon web services. You can get a very low cost account for your own use, and experiment. You might even build a little demo for your next interview that impresses the person who signs the paychecks.
Steve Jones
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One very large and successful site in the technology world is the Stack Exchange collection of sites. They’ve grown and scales with relatively few people, and they have chosen to host thier own systems as opposed to moving to the cloud? Why? One of the administrators talks about it in this blog post. The short answer: they love computers.
That’s pretty cool from my perspective. They have a passion for their jobs, they like the different aspects of it, and they aren’t going to change that to save a few dollars or make their jobs easier. They don’t want to avoid responsibility for parts of their jobs, they want to embrace all of their jobs, as something they enjoy doing.
That’s very cool, and it makes sense for a small company. However I’d hope that even at larger companies there were people that enjoyed their job. I know some DBAs love hardware, and enjoy digging into the specs and enjoying going over the configuration of every new server they procure. Me? I’d like to have three drops downs, with options for CPU, RAM, and disk, and be done with it, letting the people that do love hardware pick the actual configuration. Hopefully all of us love our jobs working with data.
Life is short, and while there will always be things we don’t enjoy about our jobs, there should be plenty of things we do. If there aren’t, I’d hope we’d all be looking for some other job that we do enjoy.
Steve Jones
One of the big concerns with databases and cloud computing is security. I recently ran across an article that asked the question, “how can you make sure your cloud provider can protect your data?”. There aren’t any guarantees, but there is some information in the article about the certifications that your provider might have earned and be able to prove. There are FIPS 200/SP 800-53, ISO 27001/27002, and SSAE 16, SOC 2 & 3 standards listed. Whether these are applicable to you, or provide the security you need is something you will have to decide. Be careful, and do your homework as some of the certifications mean that the certifying company can give you an opinion on security, which is their own and maybe different from the one another company would give.
The article did make some good points about evaluating security for your company. You should understand what these certifications means, and in some cases, make sure the provider has multiple designations. For example, both ISO 27001 and ISO 27002 are needed together to ensure a reasonable level of security. The provider should also be able to provide you with copies of their audits, and contract with you to ensure ongoing audits and vulnerability tests. These are reasonable requests, and they are measures you should have in place for any of your facilities.
Are SQL Azure and Windows Azure secure? Windows Azure does have the ISO 27001: 2005 certification, but I haven’t seen ISO 27002 listed. I also don’t think this covers SQL Azure, but it’s not clear. There is a note that Microsoft has completed the ISO 27001 and the SAS 70 Type I and II certifications, but I haven’t seen PCI listed for Microsoft. It is listed for Amazon Web Services, one of the other large SQL Server cloud hosting providers.
Security is a process, not a product. It is something you need to create, adapt, alter, and monitor on a regular basis. Some cloud providers are diligent about applying and documenting their security controls and audit results, some are not. If you need secure services, it’s important that you get your requirements in writing from your cloud provider, or find a new vendor. No matter what work your cloud provider does to secure their facilities and network, however, it’s even more important that you develop your application securely. Restrict rights, avoid SQL Injection holes, and implement the best practices for secure development of applications as you write your code. It’s usually easier to attack your application than the hosting provider.
Steve Jones
Voice of the DBA 