Voice of the DBA

Tag: misc

  • It’s the Bits

    This was a very interesting book years ago to read.
    This was a very interesting book years ago to read.

    This editorial was originally published on Mar 3, 2008. It is being re-run as Steve is traveling.

    Years ago I read Being Digital by Nicholas Negroponte and while I enjoyed the book, there was one very interesting story in there. Dr. Negroponte was crossing the border from the US to Canada and customs stopped him, checked his computer, and asked what the value was. He responded with “$2,000,000”, which is a lot of money. The customs person seemed taken aback and had expected some sort of value closer to $2000-5000. He responded that the bits inside, meaning his writings and other data, were way more valuable than the hardware.

    That’s how I feel about my laptop and why I love my 1GB and 2GB flash drives. I rarely travel, but I back up my documents, which are mostly text documents, before I go and keep the flash drive separate from my laptop in case of problems. I can always buy a new laptop if I need it, but I can’t easily replace the data.

    Some of you might have seen this article where a woman is suing Best Buy for US$54M because they lied about her stolen laptop and deceived her. Now I think this is an outrageous amount and it’s like the woman that received millions from McDonalds for being burned by their coffee. both ladies deserve compensation, but it should be in line with what happened. You can make the point without suing for an outrageous amount. Even $1M would make the point, and that would be too high. Sue them for $100,001 if you want attention. That might be more in line with the cover up that occurred.

    This really brings to mind two different things to me. First, keep good backups of your important data. I try to organize my stuff into a few areas and then get that to fit onto media that I can physically separate from my first machine. My wife used to go so far as to keep a 2nd laptop hard drive in her suitcase that contained copies of everything. That way if her laptop was stolen or damaged, she should plug the second drive in another laptop and be off and running.

    It’s easy to think of the physical device as being valuable, but I think for most of us the digital information inside is way more valuable than the hardware. And I think this is a trend that will continue over time, with the bits value dwarfing the electronics.

    And if you haven’t backed up your data recently, you might want to stop and make a quick copy of the important stuff.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

    Everyday Jones

    The podcast feeds are now available at sqlservercentral.podshow.com to get better bandwidth and maybe a little more exposure :). Comments are definitely appreciated and wanted, and you can get feeds from there.

    Overall RSS Feed: or now on iTunes!

    Today’s 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.

    I really appreciate and value feedback on the podcasts. Let us know what you like, don’t like, or even send in ideas for the show. If you’d like to comment, post something here. The boss will be sure to read it.

  • Checking In

    Just checking in for a few days

    It’s been a crazy couple of months for me, with the US tour of SQL in the City and the fallDevConnectionsconference taking me away from the ranch and to a variety of places. Those events had me away from home and delivering 14 talks on a variety of topics with a few more coming next week at SQL in the City – Seattle 2012. I’m just stopping by for a few days at home before I head back out to the Pacific Northwest for a few days.

    My job is not the typical job that DBAs have, and my schedule results in a number of trips all around the US and sometimes to Europe. Despite that travel, my daily chores still need to get complete. I don’t have to manage servers like many of you, but I do have a certain number of processes that need to run every day and require me to prepare things in advance when I’m away. I’m glad for all the automation since I’m not sure how I’d cope otherwise.

    It’s not that much different than my former production DBA routine. There were times when I was in a class, or attending an event, or even working on a large deployment of some application. At those times I’d often be away from my desk, and less available then other times, but I still had to keep an eye on the rest of the systems. Like many of you, I setup automation, crossed my fingers, and hoped that no major issues would crop up while my attention was focused elsewhere.

    Over time I learned to let go a little as a DBA. If something broke, then it had to wait, or a manager had to decide which crisis needed to be handled first. I realized I couldn’t stress myself out about other systems and had to count on them running while I was away. These days I also do the best I can, but I also realize that at times I might have something break while I’m away. I have to trust that someone else will fix it, or I’ll deal with it when I return.

    Next Thursday.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

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

  • TTYL

    Please don’t communicate like this in business.

    Today’s editorial was originally released on Nov 20, 2007. It is being republished as Steve is at DevConnections.

    OMG! The DB if FUBAR.

    The sysop added an HDD and did a RAID rebuild OTF. AFAIK, the Vol with the MDFs got wiped for the CRM that runs 24/7.

    I’m ROFLMAO. AWHFY? TTYL.

    Can you imagine someone talking to you like that. I mean actually speaking with “words” like “T-T-Y-L?”

    I saw this article about how most people are speaking English in business today, but with the globalization of many companies, it’s easy to not only mis-communicate, but also offend. And that can be a big problem with not only co-workers, but also customers.

    Whether we standardize on English or some other communication, I hope that we continue to keep the skills of our language alive. The new generation of workers, working in shorthands and their own slang, seem to be losing out on the ability to effectively communicate with others. Too often they want to bang something out on a keyboard rather than talking directly to someone.

    I’m sure I sound like an old man, lamenting the good old days of paper, ink, and phones without voicemail. However it’s not the shorthand or slang that bothers me as much as the lack of the ability to clearly articulate themselves that plagues many people in the IT world. When I started in this business, it was always an issue communicating because things were so highly technical and few people understood how computers worked. The geeks that could truly make a computer sing had trouble communicating with business users.

    I think the same thing is true today with communication, despite the advances in making computer interations simpler, greater familiarity, and a comfort level with technology by many business users. For every step we’ve made in computing becoming more accepted by users in all aspects of society, we’ve gotten worse in our overall communication skills with acronym and shorthand overload. I almost shudder to think of the text-messaging generation entering the workforce.

    Technical jargon is important. It helps us quickly, clearly, and easily communicate with other IT workers with very specific meanings, but it’s not the way that we should communicate with those outside of IT. Even if you are never any type of analyst, designer, architect, it pays to be able to clearly and effectively communicate your ideas, thoughts, and concerns to others.

    Save the shorthand and slang for those times when it’s appropriate and be sure that you can communicate using clear and generally accepted English (or your native language) with everyone else you encounter in your career.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

    Everyday Jones

    The podcast feeds are now available at sqlservercentral.podshow.comto get better bandwidth and maybe a little more exposure :). Comments are definitely appreciated and wanted, and you can get feeds from there.

    The RSS Feed: or now on iTunes!

    Today’s 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.

    I really appreciate and value feedback on the podcasts. Let us know what you like, don’t like, or even send in ideas for the show. If you’d like to comment, post something here. The boss will be sure to read it.

  • Question what you think

    Good advice from Jeff Bezos.