Voice of the DBA

Tag: Redgate

  • DevOps Day – Atlanta

    No tour this year, but Redgate does have a few DevOps events scheduled. I’m hoping for more, and the first one for me this year is Atlanta. You can register for the DevOps Day Atlanta Workshop on May 15, just a few weeks away.

    I’ll be there to set the stage and give a high level view of how Redgate approaches better database code management and deployment with Flyway. We’ll also have a whiteboarding session if you have questions to solve some architectural challenges.

    If you can make it, please register today and come enjoy a day with us.

  • The Book of Redgate: Customer Quotes

    Many organizations list customer testimonials and quotes on their websites or literature. It makes sense to show off those places where you’ve done well in hopes of influencing others to do business with you. We seek this out, and while we get a lot at Redgate, they take effort to put together.

    I was surprised to find some of these in the Book of Redgate. After all, this was an internal publication for the employees. We don’t need customer referrals.

    And yet, seeing these quotes brings me some pride. I’d hope most employees felt that way, but here are a few samples:

    “I raised an issue with Redgate regarding functionality in their SQL Compare product … and a couple of months later the items identified had been rewritten”

    “Whenever I show people any Redgate software, it’s like they just escaped from communist Russia and have a new life to live.”

    “SQL Data Generator has overnight become the principal tool we use for loading test data to run our performance and load tests”

    That last one is from Grant, before he joined us as an employee.

    There are many more, and I recently saw a large spreadsheet of quotes from customers that we can use externally. It’s amazing how many people love our tools and have benefitted from them.

    It’s nice to work in a successful and profitable business, but it’s really motivating when so many of our customers appreciate what we do.

    I have a copy of the Book of Redgate from 2010. This was a book we produced internally about the company after 10 years in existence. At that time, I’d been there for about 3 years, and it was interesting to learn a some things about the company. This series of posts looks back at the Book of Redgate 15 years later.

  • Monday Monitor Tips: Finding the Hostname for Queries

    I was chatting with a customer recently and they wanted to know which host was sending in queries that were causing problems in real time. This post looks at where you can find the hostname for running queries, which is in two places.

    This is part of a series of posts on Redgate Monitor. Click to see the other posts.

    The Server Overview

    There are two places where you can see the host name. From the server overview, you can go to the current activity, or the new Query Executions tab in preview.

    Current Activity

    In the server overview, there is a lot of data, but most people scroll down to see the list of queries, such as this list from the ssc-db-n3 instance.

    2025-04_0089

    There is the database and lots of data, but no hostname. The reason is that these are aggregates. Each of these queries has run many times, possibly from different hosts. This is a historical view.

    The better way to look for details on certain problem queries now is to look for current activity. I’ve zoomed in and highlighted this item below.

    2025-04_0090

    If I click that, I get an sp_who, or sp_whoisActive view of the server, and I can see the logins listed here. That’s helpful.

    2025-04_0091

    Still no hostname, but if I pick a query from a login, and see the details, I see this view.

    2025-04_0092

    In the lower left corner, I get the hostname. I’ve zoomed in below.

    2025-04_0093

    We could add that in the main box, but we’re trying to surface the most important info, and for most of our customers, that isn’t the hostname. However, we have added it in the detail.

    If you’re like it in the main box, or would like to choose which fields are there (maybe host and not program?), send us a note to your rep or to sales@red-gate.com.

    Query Executions

    For some of our servers, we have a new Query Executions tab that uses Extended Events to get some data. The Workload02 system has this enabled. You can see the tab at the top, and then the view of this below.

    Query Execution tabs

    If I zoom in to the lower right, you can see the hostname as part of the details for query executions, along with other data. As you are examining the details of those queries which have run for over 5 seconds, you can get the metadata about the host, application, and more.

    Zoom in to hostname details

    Summary

    Hostnames are available, you just need to learn where to look. Hence this post. Hopefully this gives you a quick tip on how to find them.

    Redgate Monitor is a world class monitoring solution for your database estate. Download a trial today and see how it can help you manage your estate more efficiently.

  • The Book of Redgate–Being Reasonable

    As a part of the Book of Redgate, we have a series of (red, of course) pages with the title “What we believe”. These are our values, as set up by the founders. The first one of these is:

    You will be reasonable with us

    We will be reasonable with you

    Two simple sentences, but they really encapsulate how we try to work together. We know there are stressful times, there are hard times, and while we all want to follow the golden rule (treat others as you would want to be treated), we sometimes fail. However, we try to be reasonable with each other.

    If I ask for something, others should try to accommodate me. If I ask for too much, and they tell me that, I should try understand that. Being reasonable is having sound judgment, being fair and sensible, not being extreme.

    We try to get along with others. Some good examples of this are us setting normal working hours, but being willing to flex with others. If someone goes above and beyond, we recognize that and perhaps go out of our way to make it up to them.

    One example of this stands out in my mind. At our annual company meeting our CEO told a story of a deal that they were trying to close during the year. A crucial part of this deal was one employee, who had scheduled a holiday previously. As the deal was getting close, and in danger of problems, this employee came off vacation to help finish something. Our CEO not only recognized this, but personally thanked them in front of the company, gave them more holiday to make up for it and sent a gift.

    We are reasonable with each other, all of us being willing to bend and flex, but not abusing that willingness.

    Just like a family does with each other. At least, my family does.

    I have a copy of the Book of Redgate from 2010. This was a book we produced internally about the company after 10 years in existence. At that time, I’d been there for about 3 years, and it was interesting to learn a some things about the company. This series of posts looks back at the Book of Redgate 15 years later.