When I was growing up, while on trips with the family, we'd always ask my dad if we were there yet. For some reason, we needed to know how much longer we'd be in the vehicle. My dad's answer was always the same. A half hour. This seemed to satisfy us for a while. When we repeated the request, the answer was the same, regardless of the actual time.
Obviously we stopped believing the answer with time. But that didn't prevent us from asking and more importantly, from wanting to know. My own children ask similar questions. My son likes to know what we are doing, or watching, and so on. We humans like to know that things have a finite length of existence. We like to plan things. Start them. Know when they will end or when they will be over.
Recall when you would copy a file in older versions of Windows, the flying file icon and the guessed completion time. It aggravated me to find out that this was just a guess, and was often wrong. Why couldn't it tell me the correct duration? Why couldn't I be privy to this knowledge. It would help me to plan what I would do next, based on how long this action could take.
Where am I going with this? The other day at work, we were performing some tasks. We kicked off the task. As soon as it was running, we wanted to know how long it would take to complete. Sometimes we can lean on scripts and processes that we have previously written. When we do not have canned scripts or tools ready, we often panic. We will try to invent something on the spot. In a few occasions I have asked the twitterverse for assistance, and received help there. Other coworkers have provided help as well. But each time, I wanted to know much sooner than I was able too, when it would be done. What I should have done was taken the time before hand, to create the needed script or tool or means to determine progress, prior to kicking off the process. This is not always an option. Its a good idea though.
Once the process has completed, I want so desperately to spend time writing these scripts or tools. If I can, I will, and save them for the next time. Keeping these tools handy will better allow me to answer these questions next time. Take the time now to better prepare these tools. Do it when your head is clear, and you can write them without the pressure of a running process. Share them with others, coworkers and the SQL community.
Ideas
backups, native and 3rd party
bcp or bulk insert processes
dts/ssis packages and its steps
reindexing scripts
attaching/restoring database
These are the ones that appear on the tip of my tongue. You will have others that ring a bell for you. Identify them now. Come up with the tools to answer that burning question, 'Are we there yet?'
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Release Management - how do you do it?
I've been in different IT shops with many different ways of releasing code to the database. Some have been very loose in their security and processes. Simply pushing code thru a sql tool straight into production, without even testing it in other environments. Sometimes it was written by the DBA or by a developer.
Other IT shops have had much more strict release management processes. Change control boards meet to discuss the changes and approve or disapprove of them. Actions occur based on these decisions.
Still other IT shops have had many layers of systems in the which sql code was released, tested, approved. Different groups pushing code to different servers along the way. Production pushes being the most complex, with a lot of people involved on conference calls to ensure proper execution of planned steps.
I have heard of the perfect world, where everything had been taken care of for us, and at the push of a button, code is released in a controlled fashion, with no problems whatsoever. none of us live there. So lets talk about the world we live in.
For production releases, we have instituted a process that forces as little human interactions with the code as possible. A tool had been created that executes the sql code. This code is stored in a source control system. There is a single document that describes the actual files to be pushed, with filenames. The files are all listed out in this file, within specific groupings and the tool can parse this data and manage it for us. We simply load a production file, and the tool pulls in all the needed files. We can select specific ones to be released, or release them all at once. We simply indicate the server to be released too, and hit a button.
This sounds easy, but it still has some complexities. With certain types of code that will be pushed, we have to do it in a specific fashion. For example, data that needs to be released should only go to certain servers. Pushing ad-hoc sql is not allowed. We've instituted a process for data changes to be included in a stored procedure. This proc is released, executed and dropped. I know what you are thinking, isn't this the same as a human executing the sql? Remember, this is one of the goals, removing the human interactions. The old way we'd do it was to execute the code in a sql tool. But we could select the wrong portion of code, or miss typed the proc name we released, or even put in the wrong parameters.
So, putting the SQL into a tool that performs the action removes that human interactions, the possibility of the DBA miss selecting portions of code. Putting the SQL code into a proc, releasing this to the appropriate database, executing it and dropping it, all from the release tool, makes it even more removed from the human interactions. By forcing this release to be performed and tested in multiple environments prior to production, we can be ensured that it should succeed, in production.
So far, so good. We've been able to successfully release code into all environments in the fashion with few goofups. Where previously we had instances that we executed code in a tool and caused issues. Performing a release is stressful enough. Why introduce more layers of problems with possible code issues.
Well, like it or not, thats the process we are supporting currently. There are parts i like about it, and parts i would like to alter, enhance, and so on. What I'd like to know is how others do their code pushes, mainly to production. Specifically, how you release data changes. There are few permutations to releasing a schema change, new objects, or security. Those are fairly cut and dried. But how we push data changes, I;d like to know how you do it.
Comment on your process, what you like, what you dislike, how you would do it in a perfect world. Lets all learn from each other.
Other IT shops have had much more strict release management processes. Change control boards meet to discuss the changes and approve or disapprove of them. Actions occur based on these decisions.
Still other IT shops have had many layers of systems in the which sql code was released, tested, approved. Different groups pushing code to different servers along the way. Production pushes being the most complex, with a lot of people involved on conference calls to ensure proper execution of planned steps.
I have heard of the perfect world, where everything had been taken care of for us, and at the push of a button, code is released in a controlled fashion, with no problems whatsoever. none of us live there. So lets talk about the world we live in.
For production releases, we have instituted a process that forces as little human interactions with the code as possible. A tool had been created that executes the sql code. This code is stored in a source control system. There is a single document that describes the actual files to be pushed, with filenames. The files are all listed out in this file, within specific groupings and the tool can parse this data and manage it for us. We simply load a production file, and the tool pulls in all the needed files. We can select specific ones to be released, or release them all at once. We simply indicate the server to be released too, and hit a button.
This sounds easy, but it still has some complexities. With certain types of code that will be pushed, we have to do it in a specific fashion. For example, data that needs to be released should only go to certain servers. Pushing ad-hoc sql is not allowed. We've instituted a process for data changes to be included in a stored procedure. This proc is released, executed and dropped. I know what you are thinking, isn't this the same as a human executing the sql? Remember, this is one of the goals, removing the human interactions. The old way we'd do it was to execute the code in a sql tool. But we could select the wrong portion of code, or miss typed the proc name we released, or even put in the wrong parameters.
So, putting the SQL into a tool that performs the action removes that human interactions, the possibility of the DBA miss selecting portions of code. Putting the SQL code into a proc, releasing this to the appropriate database, executing it and dropping it, all from the release tool, makes it even more removed from the human interactions. By forcing this release to be performed and tested in multiple environments prior to production, we can be ensured that it should succeed, in production.
So far, so good. We've been able to successfully release code into all environments in the fashion with few goofups. Where previously we had instances that we executed code in a tool and caused issues. Performing a release is stressful enough. Why introduce more layers of problems with possible code issues.
Well, like it or not, thats the process we are supporting currently. There are parts i like about it, and parts i would like to alter, enhance, and so on. What I'd like to know is how others do their code pushes, mainly to production. Specifically, how you release data changes. There are few permutations to releasing a schema change, new objects, or security. Those are fairly cut and dried. But how we push data changes, I;d like to know how you do it.
Comment on your process, what you like, what you dislike, how you would do it in a perfect world. Lets all learn from each other.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
SQL Quiz : Who has been a great leader in your career and what made them a great leader?
I was tagged by Chris Shaw in his latest SQL Quiz.
As Chris mentioned, great leaders and great managers are not always embodied in the same person. I take this a bit further, and a person may even have flashes of being a great leader or manager or both, and not sustain it. It is difficult to sustain both, but it can be accomplished.
1 bad example was a boss I had recently. His idea was that his people needed training. They needed time set aside for said training. It was understood that you would find the time and get the training you could. This was rather vague and open ended. I completely agree that a company should allow its people receive training, in many different forms, and it should be allowed. The downfall was that no follow through occurred. It would have been better if there was a structure, suggestions, reporting, and so on, on our progress and training. But now. So, that would be an anti-example. But it was headed in the correct direction.
My suggestion here is to create a plan of action to follow through, if this is a goal that you as a manager have. Make it happen. Make it make a difference in the lives of your employees. Not just a 'talk about'.
Let me now give you a good example of a manager and leader. As DBA's, we often work strange hours. This lifestyle is difficult to get used too. I have been in many jobs in IT where I was expected to be in my desk between 8 and 5. If I was not at my desk, it was assumed I was not working. We know that this is not the case, most of the time. This habit was ingrained into me in such a fashion that I had a hard time with a job that required odd hours of work. Some weeks, I would end up working my normal block of 40 hours, only to find that I needed to work 10-20 hours after hours. The expectation that I had was that my boss would somehow 'know' what was going on, and reward me with comp time. As this perceived reward never materialized, I grew increasingly frustrated. This soon became apparent, to my manager. In the best way possible, I would describe my frustrations of how much I was working, how much extra, all the personal events that I was missing, and so on. His response took me off guard. He asked me why I had allowed this to occur. My response to this was, 'what a jerk!' He should have seen how hard I was working and given me that 'reward'. We went on to talk, and I learned some great lessons. He didn't feel that it was his job to ensure that I was not being overworked. He had laid the groundwork of this, set the policies, and expected us to comply. It was within me and under my control to comply and thus, live my work life appropriately.
Granted that this interaction seems short and enlightened here, it was more painful and grueling to work through in my head. The point was he was not only teaching me how to fish, but dumping me on the banks of a river, and letting me do it on my own.
He managed his employees expectations of a work/personal life balance. He lead with example. He expected us to simply comply and have a better life for it.
It has taken some practice, but its a much better life on this side of the fence because of it.
I guess my point here was that a great leader and manager can coexist. They have to see the problems, come up with solutions, continually manage the people until they became habitualized with the new way of doing it, then let them do it on their own. Then he would move onto the next task, and repeat. It has been an interesting journey to watch and travel. Work life balance has improved, moral has improved, quality of work has improved. And its not over. Its a continual battle.
I am tagging the following people.
Kendal Van Dyke (who was tagged by BrentO already)
Pat Wright
Tim Ford
As Chris mentioned, great leaders and great managers are not always embodied in the same person. I take this a bit further, and a person may even have flashes of being a great leader or manager or both, and not sustain it. It is difficult to sustain both, but it can be accomplished.
1 bad example was a boss I had recently. His idea was that his people needed training. They needed time set aside for said training. It was understood that you would find the time and get the training you could. This was rather vague and open ended. I completely agree that a company should allow its people receive training, in many different forms, and it should be allowed. The downfall was that no follow through occurred. It would have been better if there was a structure, suggestions, reporting, and so on, on our progress and training. But now. So, that would be an anti-example. But it was headed in the correct direction.
My suggestion here is to create a plan of action to follow through, if this is a goal that you as a manager have. Make it happen. Make it make a difference in the lives of your employees. Not just a 'talk about'.
Let me now give you a good example of a manager and leader. As DBA's, we often work strange hours. This lifestyle is difficult to get used too. I have been in many jobs in IT where I was expected to be in my desk between 8 and 5. If I was not at my desk, it was assumed I was not working. We know that this is not the case, most of the time. This habit was ingrained into me in such a fashion that I had a hard time with a job that required odd hours of work. Some weeks, I would end up working my normal block of 40 hours, only to find that I needed to work 10-20 hours after hours. The expectation that I had was that my boss would somehow 'know' what was going on, and reward me with comp time. As this perceived reward never materialized, I grew increasingly frustrated. This soon became apparent, to my manager. In the best way possible, I would describe my frustrations of how much I was working, how much extra, all the personal events that I was missing, and so on. His response took me off guard. He asked me why I had allowed this to occur. My response to this was, 'what a jerk!' He should have seen how hard I was working and given me that 'reward'. We went on to talk, and I learned some great lessons. He didn't feel that it was his job to ensure that I was not being overworked. He had laid the groundwork of this, set the policies, and expected us to comply. It was within me and under my control to comply and thus, live my work life appropriately.
Granted that this interaction seems short and enlightened here, it was more painful and grueling to work through in my head. The point was he was not only teaching me how to fish, but dumping me on the banks of a river, and letting me do it on my own.
He managed his employees expectations of a work/personal life balance. He lead with example. He expected us to simply comply and have a better life for it.
It has taken some practice, but its a much better life on this side of the fence because of it.
I guess my point here was that a great leader and manager can coexist. They have to see the problems, come up with solutions, continually manage the people until they became habitualized with the new way of doing it, then let them do it on their own. Then he would move onto the next task, and repeat. It has been an interesting journey to watch and travel. Work life balance has improved, moral has improved, quality of work has improved. And its not over. Its a continual battle.
I am tagging the following people.
Kendal Van Dyke (who was tagged by BrentO already)
Pat Wright
Tim Ford
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
SSWUG Virtual Conference
Yesterday, I had the distinct pleasure and privilege to goto Tucson Arizona and present on some topics for their Virtual Conference occurring in April 22, 23 and 24. Back in December, Chris Shaw contacted me and asked me if I would be interested in speaking for their organizations virtual conference. I was humbled and surprised to be requested. I prepped a bunch of presentation ideas, abstracts, and submitted them to Chris. I had 7 accepted, 4 for the Virtual Conference, and the others for the ITUplink. So, for the past few months, I have been preparing presentations, practicing, adding demos, and trying to perfect them. It does seem that each time I look at a slide deck, I find a way to alter it, perfect it a bit more. At some point, I have too stop editing them, and simply give the presentation.
I had the chance to practice a couple of these on my User Group, and glad that I did. The more practice, the better. I worked out some kinks, and got further ready to present to the larger audience. Even though, while doing it, there is no audience. You have to imagine it. They will be there, but not when you are recording it. Practicing in front of an audience, large or small, really helps. But presenting to no one is useful too. I've presented a few times to a phone. Or a live meeting with no one talking to you or giving feedback. Each type of presentation is unique and rewarding in its own way. But each is very different.
Presenting for the SSWUG organization is in its own sphere, similar to the other ways described, but unique as well. Having to look into a camera, well, thats something that is not normal for the DBA. If anything, I am usually behind the camera in my personal life, taking pictures of my family. I rarely end up in front of the camera. And especially not in front of nice cameras like the ones at Bits on the Wire. And 3 of them. One on the right side, one on the left, and in the far left, another one that is stuck in the corner, and apparently black & white. While you are presenting, and trying to not lean on the table in front of you, and remember where you are supposed to stand, and the fact that you have no audience to give you feedback, you also have to remember which camera to look into. If you forget, the fine folks in the recording booth will flash a light on one of the cameras to remind you which one you should be looking into. In between the two color cameras, there is a screen with a clock. It lets you know how much time you have used. I would end up looking at it on occasion, and out of the corner of my eye, see a flashing blue light reminding me the camera to look at.
I should backup and describe my experience more fully, though not too detailed. Just the highlights. I chose to film on a Monday, so that I didnt eat into too much work time off. I had to fly out Sunday night to ensure that I reached Tucson to film on Monday. I got in late Sunday, went down the stairs of the airport, and was greated by a gentleman that gave me a ride to the hotel. I had secretly hoped I'd see my name on a paper, cause I've never had that happen to me yet. But a paper with Bits on the Wire was close enough. After getting into the hotel, I had some time to chill and get to sleep. Not terribly eventful. The next morning, I had the entire morning to do nothing, as I was to report to the studio around 1pm. Waking up late seems lie a luxury these days, and I took full advantage of that Monday morning. Waking up late, wondering downstairs to get a free breakfast, with no one telling me what to do, seemed like the most glorious of vacations. After eating, I returned to my hotel room and prepped my presentations. As I have mentioned earlier, I kept making more and more changes.
Before I knew it, it was time to shower, grab some food and then meet my ride to the offices. Once there, I was able to meet Stephen Wynkoop and the rest of the crew. Stephen even sat with me and interviewed me for a bit, making me feel like a celebrity he was excited to finally meet, just as I felt it was to meet him, finally. We had a great little discussion, followed by me jumping right into my presentations. After a quick practice start to ensure I knew which camera to look at (I would later forget), we jumped into the real presentations. The first one that I recorded was the most prepared and ready. This was planned by me, so that I could get an easy one under my belt, before struggling a bit on some parts of the other ones. One after another we cranked them out. In between I would grab my BlackBerry, send a quick tweet, and check for missed calls or emails. Just a quick glance, then back to the sessions and onto the next one. Before I knew it, I had finished 4 presentations, taking close to 5 hours of time. Whew. It was pretty intense, pretty enjoyable, pretty wild.
Once it was all over, a euphoria overcame me. I had one of those natural highs for a bit. I tried to sit back at the hotel, but became bored with TV. Hungry. Yeah, thats it. Venturing out into the outside world, I soon found food. At sometime afterwards, I started to come down from my natural high. Work crept into my world at this time, and I spent a few hours connected to work via VPN until it was bed time. Rising early the next day, I went to the airport earlier than i needed too, and awaited my flight. Once on the ground again in SLC, it was back to normal and back to work.
All the while, before, during and after, I tweeted my journey via Ping.fm. Posting went to Facebook as well as LinkedIn and Twitter. People in all those worlds were able to follow my progress and adventure, adding to my trip with their insights and suggestions. I love being alone, yet connected to so many people, all at the same time.
I hope that my sessions prove to be helpful for people, once they are released in the virtual conference. In the meantime, take a peek at what has been posted as a preview of one of my sessions.
I have a discount code for the SSWUG Virtual Conference. You can register for the conference here and make sure you use my code 'SPVTBESP09'.
More information here : http://tjaybelt.blogspot.com/2009/02/sswug-vip-code.html
I had the chance to practice a couple of these on my User Group, and glad that I did. The more practice, the better. I worked out some kinks, and got further ready to present to the larger audience. Even though, while doing it, there is no audience. You have to imagine it. They will be there, but not when you are recording it. Practicing in front of an audience, large or small, really helps. But presenting to no one is useful too. I've presented a few times to a phone. Or a live meeting with no one talking to you or giving feedback. Each type of presentation is unique and rewarding in its own way. But each is very different.
Presenting for the SSWUG organization is in its own sphere, similar to the other ways described, but unique as well. Having to look into a camera, well, thats something that is not normal for the DBA. If anything, I am usually behind the camera in my personal life, taking pictures of my family. I rarely end up in front of the camera. And especially not in front of nice cameras like the ones at Bits on the Wire. And 3 of them. One on the right side, one on the left, and in the far left, another one that is stuck in the corner, and apparently black & white. While you are presenting, and trying to not lean on the table in front of you, and remember where you are supposed to stand, and the fact that you have no audience to give you feedback, you also have to remember which camera to look into. If you forget, the fine folks in the recording booth will flash a light on one of the cameras to remind you which one you should be looking into. In between the two color cameras, there is a screen with a clock. It lets you know how much time you have used. I would end up looking at it on occasion, and out of the corner of my eye, see a flashing blue light reminding me the camera to look at.
I should backup and describe my experience more fully, though not too detailed. Just the highlights. I chose to film on a Monday, so that I didnt eat into too much work time off. I had to fly out Sunday night to ensure that I reached Tucson to film on Monday. I got in late Sunday, went down the stairs of the airport, and was greated by a gentleman that gave me a ride to the hotel. I had secretly hoped I'd see my name on a paper, cause I've never had that happen to me yet. But a paper with Bits on the Wire was close enough. After getting into the hotel, I had some time to chill and get to sleep. Not terribly eventful. The next morning, I had the entire morning to do nothing, as I was to report to the studio around 1pm. Waking up late seems lie a luxury these days, and I took full advantage of that Monday morning. Waking up late, wondering downstairs to get a free breakfast, with no one telling me what to do, seemed like the most glorious of vacations. After eating, I returned to my hotel room and prepped my presentations. As I have mentioned earlier, I kept making more and more changes.
Before I knew it, it was time to shower, grab some food and then meet my ride to the offices. Once there, I was able to meet Stephen Wynkoop and the rest of the crew. Stephen even sat with me and interviewed me for a bit, making me feel like a celebrity he was excited to finally meet, just as I felt it was to meet him, finally. We had a great little discussion, followed by me jumping right into my presentations. After a quick practice start to ensure I knew which camera to look at (I would later forget), we jumped into the real presentations. The first one that I recorded was the most prepared and ready. This was planned by me, so that I could get an easy one under my belt, before struggling a bit on some parts of the other ones. One after another we cranked them out. In between I would grab my BlackBerry, send a quick tweet, and check for missed calls or emails. Just a quick glance, then back to the sessions and onto the next one. Before I knew it, I had finished 4 presentations, taking close to 5 hours of time. Whew. It was pretty intense, pretty enjoyable, pretty wild.
Once it was all over, a euphoria overcame me. I had one of those natural highs for a bit. I tried to sit back at the hotel, but became bored with TV. Hungry. Yeah, thats it. Venturing out into the outside world, I soon found food. At sometime afterwards, I started to come down from my natural high. Work crept into my world at this time, and I spent a few hours connected to work via VPN until it was bed time. Rising early the next day, I went to the airport earlier than i needed too, and awaited my flight. Once on the ground again in SLC, it was back to normal and back to work.
All the while, before, during and after, I tweeted my journey via Ping.fm. Posting went to Facebook as well as LinkedIn and Twitter. People in all those worlds were able to follow my progress and adventure, adding to my trip with their insights and suggestions. I love being alone, yet connected to so many people, all at the same time.
I hope that my sessions prove to be helpful for people, once they are released in the virtual conference. In the meantime, take a peek at what has been posted as a preview of one of my sessions.
I have a discount code for the SSWUG Virtual Conference. You can register for the conference here and make sure you use my code 'SPVTBESP09'.
More information here : http://tjaybelt.blogspot.com/2009/02/sswug-vip-code.html
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
SQLPASS Auditing & Compliance SIG LiveMeeting
Today, the Auditing & Compliance SIG had our first live meeting event. We held a presentation about Sarbanes-Oxley and the DBA.
Many different topics were presented, with possible solutions provided.
We discussed ways to remedaite the following topics, and how to provide auditable documentation for auditors.
Change Management
Division of duties
Backup and Recovery
Restoration
Data Structure Changes
Back End Database User Access
Database Authentication & Access
Job Monitoring
Data Monitoring Controls
Data Transfer
Physical Access
I felt like it went well, and hopefully helped folks out with their concerns and needs with this topic. A few people asked for the slides or the recording. I hope that it got recorded, but in the short term i have posted the slides here.
When I find out about the recording, I'll post it somewhere we can get to it.
I hope that this is the first of many events that will help us DBA's with Auditing & Compliance.
Many different topics were presented, with possible solutions provided.
We discussed ways to remedaite the following topics, and how to provide auditable documentation for auditors.
Change Management
Division of duties
Backup and Recovery
Restoration
Data Structure Changes
Back End Database User Access
Database Authentication & Access
Job Monitoring
Data Monitoring Controls
Data Transfer
Physical Access
I felt like it went well, and hopefully helped folks out with their concerns and needs with this topic. A few people asked for the slides or the recording. I hope that it got recorded, but in the short term i have posted the slides here.
When I find out about the recording, I'll post it somewhere we can get to it.
I hope that this is the first of many events that will help us DBA's with Auditing & Compliance.
Friday, March 27, 2009
My columns are goofed!!!
I have a table in production and dev environments that is not getting replicated data via GoldenGate replication properly. I have spent the last 2 weeks on and off the phone with support. We have tried this way and that way to get the data to pump from source to destination. All without fail.
2 days ago, the support tech suggested that we create a new table, and map to it on the destination, and see if we can pump the data from source to destination that way. Something had to be wrong with the original destination table. I thought this was an odd test, but in fairness, figured anything is worth trying. I will often do silly things to test that i may not think would or should work, if for no other reason than to eliminate them from the possible choices.
So, I create another table, and setup replication to map to this new table. I update a record, and viola! it worked... Wild. Ok, so what's the difference between these tables? Where are the discrepancies? I start digging in to see whats different, if anything, and find nothing. Other than the table name, i see no obvious differences. There are some constraint names different between them, but thats a SQL naming thing, and can usually be ignored. So, I drop the table, and recreate it with another script. This one from Enterprise Manager (previously created the table with a script from SSMS). Once the table was created, I altered data on the source, expecting to see it flow to the destination, and no. Was denied. Now it wasn't working.
So, I thought I had narrowed it down to something. Different tools had created 2 distinct scripts, something had to be different between these two scripts for this new table. So I dropped the table, and recreated it with the original SSMS script, and repeated my steps to update data. Nothing flowed. Now it wasn't working again.
Much to my dissapointment, and the support techs, we didnt know what had caused the 1 instance of success.
Back to the drawing board, which had now become a brick wall, upon which i had bloodied my forehead through repeated banging. None of which seemed to help, but did help me forget my problems for a moment as I furtively impacted my head to wall.
Later that day, the support tech suggested i execute a query to pull some info out about the Identity field. Guess I should explain about the oddness of this table first...
The table has a primary key of UserName, which is a varchar. It also has an ID field in the field list that is an Identity int field. Why this field is not the PK, i do not know. It is the way it is. This seemed to be causing our problems, having an identity field, not the PK, and another the PK. So, when we mapped this with replication, we needed to use KeyCols and include both these fields, to ensure we had unique constraints for GoldenGate replication to properly apply the data.
Ok, back to the query the support tech requested.
select
col.colid,
col.name,
ColumnProperty(col.id, col.name, 'IsIdentity')
from syscolumns col
where col.id = Object_Id('dbo.users')
This was going to prove to them and me, what fields were Identity fields once and for all. This has caused quite a bit of confusion during the process, as we were constantly confused at the UserName being the PK, and having an ID as an Identity.
So, I run the query on dev environment, and give them the results from both the source and destination table. I did this quickly, as I didnt see the need for it, not the interest. I knew and had repeated what the PK was, and what the Identity was, well, repeatedly. Why the support tech was so worried about this, I do not know. But I am happy he was covering all his bases. For out of this query result, we found an interesting thing.
Look back at the query, you'll notice that we return the colid field with each field. Nothing special about this in the query, in fact, it really didnt even need to be there for the purpose of finding the Identity field. But the numbering, the ordering of the results were key. Colid 1 is UserName. This we expected. Its the first column. The second column in the table is FirstName. Its colid should be [2]. It is not!!! It is [3]. From there on out, the number is consistent.
So, in our table of 16 fields, we have colid 1,3-17, missing colid 2 entirely. A quick check show that this is true in dev as well as in production. A quick check of a new table I create shows the colids in order 1-16. I attempt a new test, and sure enough, the data moves to this new table, with the correct colid numbering sequence.
It would appear that GoldenGate replication needs this colid to be in sequence properly to function properly. This one table seems to have been goofed at sometime, colids all out of whack, and this could be the cause for why replication is having a hard time moving data to it.... Yeah!
The story ends here, as this is as far as I have gotten. I actually stopped working on it to document it as it was fresh in my mind. As I find solutions to this issue, I will update this or post another entry to cover it.
Yeah, though. Up until now, we had no idea what was causing our issue. Tons of attempted tests and supposed resolutions have all proved fruitless. Along the way, I have learned a lot of valuable information about the replication system with GoldenGate. I have been able to gain experience with a lot of different aspects of it, so the entire process has been positive, even though frustrating.
Now to figure out how this happened to this table... search for a solution to it, and even investigate other tables, see if they have missing number sequences... maybe other tables are having issues that we do not know about.
2 days ago, the support tech suggested that we create a new table, and map to it on the destination, and see if we can pump the data from source to destination that way. Something had to be wrong with the original destination table. I thought this was an odd test, but in fairness, figured anything is worth trying. I will often do silly things to test that i may not think would or should work, if for no other reason than to eliminate them from the possible choices.
So, I create another table, and setup replication to map to this new table. I update a record, and viola! it worked... Wild. Ok, so what's the difference between these tables? Where are the discrepancies? I start digging in to see whats different, if anything, and find nothing. Other than the table name, i see no obvious differences. There are some constraint names different between them, but thats a SQL naming thing, and can usually be ignored. So, I drop the table, and recreate it with another script. This one from Enterprise Manager (previously created the table with a script from SSMS). Once the table was created, I altered data on the source, expecting to see it flow to the destination, and no. Was denied. Now it wasn't working.
So, I thought I had narrowed it down to something. Different tools had created 2 distinct scripts, something had to be different between these two scripts for this new table. So I dropped the table, and recreated it with the original SSMS script, and repeated my steps to update data. Nothing flowed. Now it wasn't working again.
Much to my dissapointment, and the support techs, we didnt know what had caused the 1 instance of success.
Back to the drawing board, which had now become a brick wall, upon which i had bloodied my forehead through repeated banging. None of which seemed to help, but did help me forget my problems for a moment as I furtively impacted my head to wall.
Later that day, the support tech suggested i execute a query to pull some info out about the Identity field. Guess I should explain about the oddness of this table first...
The table has a primary key of UserName, which is a varchar. It also has an ID field in the field list that is an Identity int field. Why this field is not the PK, i do not know. It is the way it is. This seemed to be causing our problems, having an identity field, not the PK, and another the PK. So, when we mapped this with replication, we needed to use KeyCols and include both these fields, to ensure we had unique constraints for GoldenGate replication to properly apply the data.
Ok, back to the query the support tech requested.
select
col.colid,
col.name,
ColumnProperty(col.id, col.name, 'IsIdentity')
from syscolumns col
where col.id = Object_Id('dbo.users')
This was going to prove to them and me, what fields were Identity fields once and for all. This has caused quite a bit of confusion during the process, as we were constantly confused at the UserName being the PK, and having an ID as an Identity.
So, I run the query on dev environment, and give them the results from both the source and destination table. I did this quickly, as I didnt see the need for it, not the interest. I knew and had repeated what the PK was, and what the Identity was, well, repeatedly. Why the support tech was so worried about this, I do not know. But I am happy he was covering all his bases. For out of this query result, we found an interesting thing.
Look back at the query, you'll notice that we return the colid field with each field. Nothing special about this in the query, in fact, it really didnt even need to be there for the purpose of finding the Identity field. But the numbering, the ordering of the results were key. Colid 1 is UserName. This we expected. Its the first column. The second column in the table is FirstName. Its colid should be [2]. It is not!!! It is [3]. From there on out, the number is consistent.
So, in our table of 16 fields, we have colid 1,3-17, missing colid 2 entirely. A quick check show that this is true in dev as well as in production. A quick check of a new table I create shows the colids in order 1-16. I attempt a new test, and sure enough, the data moves to this new table, with the correct colid numbering sequence.
It would appear that GoldenGate replication needs this colid to be in sequence properly to function properly. This one table seems to have been goofed at sometime, colids all out of whack, and this could be the cause for why replication is having a hard time moving data to it.... Yeah!
The story ends here, as this is as far as I have gotten. I actually stopped working on it to document it as it was fresh in my mind. As I find solutions to this issue, I will update this or post another entry to cover it.
Yeah, though. Up until now, we had no idea what was causing our issue. Tons of attempted tests and supposed resolutions have all proved fruitless. Along the way, I have learned a lot of valuable information about the replication system with GoldenGate. I have been able to gain experience with a lot of different aspects of it, so the entire process has been positive, even though frustrating.
Now to figure out how this happened to this table... search for a solution to it, and even investigate other tables, see if they have missing number sequences... maybe other tables are having issues that we do not know about.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Presenting for the Auditing & Compliance SIG
On April 1st at 12PM MST, that’s 11AM to those of you on the West Coast, and 2PM for those on the East Coast, I will be giving a presentation for the Auditing & Compliance SIG about SOX (Sarbanes Oxley), and the DBA perspective.
Many years ago, I was tasked with bring a system into compliance that I was DBA for. We started at scratch, and built up policy, procedure and a few systems to assist us. I later used this knowledge setting up another shot. Now I want to share this with you.
Live Meeting URL: http://www.sqlpass.org/Community/SIGs/AuditingandComplianceSIG/tabid/84/Default.aspx
Audio Dial-In Information:
Conference Dial in: (866) 379-8990
Conference code: 6489756
More information locate on the SIG page:
http://www.sqlpass.org/Events/ctl/ViewEvent/mid/521.aspx?ID=103
A few articles I've written on the subject.
http://www.sql-server-performance.com/articles/audit/Automate_Audit_Requests%20_p1.aspx
http://www.sql-server-performance.com/articles/audit/Audit_Data_Modifications_p1.aspx
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Auditing/63249/
Many years ago, I was tasked with bring a system into compliance that I was DBA for. We started at scratch, and built up policy, procedure and a few systems to assist us. I later used this knowledge setting up another shot. Now I want to share this with you.
Live Meeting URL: http://www.sqlpass.org/Community/SIGs/AuditingandComplianceSIG/tabid/84/Default.aspx
Audio Dial-In Information:
Conference Dial in: (866) 379-8990
Conference code: 6489756
More information locate on the SIG page:
http://www.sqlpass.org/Events/ctl/ViewEvent/mid/521.aspx?ID=103
A few articles I've written on the subject.
http://www.sql-server-performance.com/articles/audit/Automate_Audit_Requests%20_p1.aspx
http://www.sql-server-performance.com/articles/audit/Audit_Data_Modifications_p1.aspx
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Auditing/63249/
Friday, March 20, 2009
PASS Call for Speakers Now Open
Hey, is that a bandwagon i see? Wonder if I should hop on? Yeah, it will be a fun ride. I know lots of the guys on there, and it seems they are having fun. So, here I go!!!
I rarely blog these types of infos, since others typically do before me.
But today, i was in a weird mood, and wanted to do a fun blog for a Friday, and this was all i could come up with.
Since others have already done this, i'll just list their blogs, and count them as my own... hehe
http://sqlbatman.com/2009/03/pass-call-for-speakers-now-open/
http://wiseman-wiseguy.blogspot.com/2009/03/pass-summit-2009-call-for-speakers.html
Well, it turns out, thats it. Those are the only ones so far that have blogged about it. Crud, I shoulda jumped on the bandwagon and blogged about it. Wait, thats what I'm doing, but under the disguise that I am doing a funny blog about it, and not actually doing the call for speakers... so, you decide.
I was just bored on a Support call, saw a few tweets come across my screen, and got a funny notion in my head. Its probably only funny to me, but in the end, that all that really matters. Did I make me laugh? If so, blog it. Check and mate.
So, i hit Search.twitter.com and looked for more. I did find more folks talking about it there...
sql_joker: SQL Batman - PASS Call for Speakers Now Open: Did you want to speak at the upcoming PASS 2009 Commun.. http://tinyurl.com/cf3egu (expand)
23 minutes ago from twitterfeed
AndyLeonard: RT @SQLBatman: [Blog] PASS Call for Speakers Now Open:Did you want to speak at the upcoming PASS 2009 Community Summit? http://s3nt.com/d8rb
34 minutes ago from TweetDeck
SQLBatman: [Blog] PASS Call for Speakers Now Open: Did you want to speak at the upcoming PASS 2009 Community Summit? Well, now ... http://s3nt.com/d8rb
36 minutes ago from Ping.fm
unclebiguns: New blog post: http://tinyurl.com/cv4k9e (expand) - PASS Summit 2009 Call for Speakers Open
about 2 hours ago from web
SqlAsylum: RT @sqlpass: PASS Summit 2009 Call For Speakers Opens Friday 3/20 and will close on Friday 4/10. Check out the PASS Home Page for details.
1 day ago from TweetDeck
AndyLeonard: RT @sqlpass: PASSSummit2009 Call For Speakers Opens Friday 3/20 and will close on Friday 4/10.Check out the PASS Home Page for more details.
2 days ago from TweetDeck
BetsyLM: RT @sqlpassPASS Summit 2009 Call For Speakers Opens Friday 3/20 and will close on Friday 4/10. Check out the PASS Home Page for more details
2 days ago from web
sqlpass: PASS Summit 2009 Call For Speakers Opens Friday 3/20 and will close on Friday 4/10. Check out the PASS Home Page for more details.
2 days ago from TinyTwitter
SqlAsylum: RT @sqlpass: PASS Call For Speakers opens 3/20, closing on 4/3! Get your abstracts together folks. it's going to be a great Summit!
7 days ago from TweetDeck
peschkaj: RT @sqlpass: PASS Call For Speakers opens 3/20, closing on 4/3! Get your abstracts together folks.
7 days ago from TweetDeck
statisticsio: Retweeting @sqlpass: PASS Call For Speakers opens 3/20, closing on 4/3! Get your abstracts together folks.
7 days ago from OutTwit
AndyLeonard: RT @sqlpass: PASS Call For Speakers opens 3/20, closing on 4/3! Get your abstracts together folks... it's going to be a great Summit!
7 days ago from TweetDeck
sqlpass: PASS Call For Speakers opens 3/20, closing on 4/3! Get your abstracts together folks. With your help it's going to be a great Summit!
7 days ago from TinyTwitter
So, get out and get your presentations dusted off. Submit them. Prepare yourself for an incredible experience at PASS by becoming a presenter. Its a thrill of a lifetime. Or so i have been told. I'm to scared to do it myself, and who would wanna listen to my half baked ideas anyway. Wait, i should listen to the other advice i just gave, and do it myself. I did submit an abstract a couple years ago... Maybe i still have it somewhere....
I rarely blog these types of infos, since others typically do before me.
But today, i was in a weird mood, and wanted to do a fun blog for a Friday, and this was all i could come up with.
Since others have already done this, i'll just list their blogs, and count them as my own... hehe
http://sqlbatman.com/2009/03/pass-call-for-speakers-now-open/
http://wiseman-wiseguy.blogspot.com/2009/03/pass-summit-2009-call-for-speakers.html
Well, it turns out, thats it. Those are the only ones so far that have blogged about it. Crud, I shoulda jumped on the bandwagon and blogged about it. Wait, thats what I'm doing, but under the disguise that I am doing a funny blog about it, and not actually doing the call for speakers... so, you decide.
I was just bored on a Support call, saw a few tweets come across my screen, and got a funny notion in my head. Its probably only funny to me, but in the end, that all that really matters. Did I make me laugh? If so, blog it. Check and mate.
So, i hit Search.twitter.com and looked for more. I did find more folks talking about it there...
sql_joker: SQL Batman - PASS Call for Speakers Now Open: Did you want to speak at the upcoming PASS 2009 Commun.. http://tinyurl.com/cf3egu (expand)
23 minutes ago from twitterfeed
AndyLeonard: RT @SQLBatman: [Blog] PASS Call for Speakers Now Open:Did you want to speak at the upcoming PASS 2009 Community Summit? http://s3nt.com/d8rb
34 minutes ago from TweetDeck
SQLBatman: [Blog] PASS Call for Speakers Now Open: Did you want to speak at the upcoming PASS 2009 Community Summit? Well, now ... http://s3nt.com/d8rb
36 minutes ago from Ping.fm
unclebiguns: New blog post: http://tinyurl.com/cv4k9e (expand) - PASS Summit 2009 Call for Speakers Open
about 2 hours ago from web
SqlAsylum: RT @sqlpass: PASS Summit 2009 Call For Speakers Opens Friday 3/20 and will close on Friday 4/10. Check out the PASS Home Page for details.
1 day ago from TweetDeck
AndyLeonard: RT @sqlpass: PASSSummit2009 Call For Speakers Opens Friday 3/20 and will close on Friday 4/10.Check out the PASS Home Page for more details.
2 days ago from TweetDeck
BetsyLM: RT @sqlpassPASS Summit 2009 Call For Speakers Opens Friday 3/20 and will close on Friday 4/10. Check out the PASS Home Page for more details
2 days ago from web
sqlpass: PASS Summit 2009 Call For Speakers Opens Friday 3/20 and will close on Friday 4/10. Check out the PASS Home Page for more details.
2 days ago from TinyTwitter
SqlAsylum: RT @sqlpass: PASS Call For Speakers opens 3/20, closing on 4/3! Get your abstracts together folks. it's going to be a great Summit!
7 days ago from TweetDeck
peschkaj: RT @sqlpass: PASS Call For Speakers opens 3/20, closing on 4/3! Get your abstracts together folks.
7 days ago from TweetDeck
statisticsio: Retweeting @sqlpass: PASS Call For Speakers opens 3/20, closing on 4/3! Get your abstracts together folks.
7 days ago from OutTwit
AndyLeonard: RT @sqlpass: PASS Call For Speakers opens 3/20, closing on 4/3! Get your abstracts together folks... it's going to be a great Summit!
7 days ago from TweetDeck
sqlpass: PASS Call For Speakers opens 3/20, closing on 4/3! Get your abstracts together folks. With your help it's going to be a great Summit!
7 days ago from TinyTwitter
So, get out and get your presentations dusted off. Submit them. Prepare yourself for an incredible experience at PASS by becoming a presenter. Its a thrill of a lifetime. Or so i have been told. I'm to scared to do it myself, and who would wanna listen to my half baked ideas anyway. Wait, i should listen to the other advice i just gave, and do it myself. I did submit an abstract a couple years ago... Maybe i still have it somewhere....
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Facebook Tag
I was tagged by my wife on Facebook with another quiz of sorts.
This one just asks questions to get to know you a bit more.
I tend to like these types of quizzes and always fill them out.
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=57073598859&ref=mf
So, I wanted to stick this one on my blog, in case anyone wanted to know more about me. I also always like to try to apply these to my blog interest here, which is career, writing and SQL Server. So, in the next few days, I hope to find a way to apply this.
I do recall something similar to this that I attempted previously with SQL, and got a bunch of responses from others, of questions to ask. So, maybe i need to find that, and reinvent it, now that the thought has crossed my head again.
This one just asks questions to get to know you a bit more.
I tend to like these types of quizzes and always fill them out.
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=57073598859&ref=mf
So, I wanted to stick this one on my blog, in case anyone wanted to know more about me. I also always like to try to apply these to my blog interest here, which is career, writing and SQL Server. So, in the next few days, I hope to find a way to apply this.
I do recall something similar to this that I attempted previously with SQL, and got a bunch of responses from others, of questions to ask. So, maybe i need to find that, and reinvent it, now that the thought has crossed my head again.
Friday, March 06, 2009
My Twitter Roll
Since I have seen people doing #FollowFridays via twitter, and listing out the folks that they are following, I thought i would do the same.
However, since twitter only allows 140 chars at a time, that is much to small for a list. My next thought was too pull all the tweeps that i do follow into a list, and categorize it. Why not post it to my blog? Yeah, i thought it was a great idea too. :)
SQLPASS Tweeps (tweeps i know from PASS)
-----------------------------
@sqlpass / PASS
@kekline / Kevin Kline
@SQLBoyWonder / Chuck Heinzelman
@mike_walsh
@NeilDavidson / Neil Davidson
@SQLDBA / Kendal Van Dyke
@SDyckes / Stephen Dyckes
@RachelHawley
@simon_sabin / Simon Sabin
@marcbeacom / Marc Beacom
@jmkehayias / Jonathan Kehayias
@wendy_dance / Wendy Pastrick
@sqlfool / Michelle Ufford
@billgraziano / Bill Graziano
@dbaduck / Ben Miller
@lyndarab
@Kevin3NF
@Bugboi
@blythemorrow
@sqlinsaneo
@SqlAsylum
@GFritchey / Grant Fritchey
@Peter_Shire / Peter Shire
@jessicammoss / Jessica M. Moss
@AaronBertrand / Aaron Bertrand
@debettap / Peter DeBetta
@donalddotfarmer / Donald Farmer
@peschkaj / Jeremiah Peschka
@brianknight
@sqlgirl / Mindy
@joewebb / Joe Webb
@SQLShaw
@douglasmcdowell
@stuarta / Stuart R Ainsworth
@DevSQL / Todd Robinson
@auntkathi
@SQLBatman
@JeffWharton / Jeff Wharton
@BrentO / Brent Ozar
@TimFord
@SQLDiva / Melissa Demsak
@AndyLeonard
@rushabhmehta / Rushabh Mehta
@way0utwest / Steve Jones
@sqlagentman / Tim Ford
@statisticsio / Jason Massie
@greglow / Greg Low
@wardy / Peter Ward
@PaulNielsen
@bradmcgehee / Brad M McGehee
@drsql / Louis Davidson
SQL Tweeps
-----------------------------
@alibro / Ali Brooks
@kekline / Kevin Kline
@SQLBoyWonder / Chuck Heinzelman
@lotsahelp / Eric Humphrey
@SQLCraftsman / Geoff Hiten
@camassey / Chris Massey
@carpdeus
@Adam_Godfrey / Adam Godfrey
@mike_walsh
@rhyscampbell / Rhys Campbell
@whimsql / WhimSQL
@Tim_Mitchell / Tim Mitchell
@NeilDavidson / Neil Davidson
@BenchmarkIT / Colin Stasiuk
@SQLDBA / Kendal Van Dyke
@SDyckes / Stephen Dyckes
@RachelHawley
@simon_sabin / Simon Sabin
@h4ppyd4y / Jason Strate
@marcbeacom / Marc Beacom
@coffegrl
@jmkehayias / Jonathan Kehayias
@wendy_dance / Wendy Pastrick
@BetsyLM / Betsy Mendenhall
@mrdenny
@unclebiguns / Jack Corbett
@SQLServerLog / Neil Watkins
@SQLSocialite / Scott Stauffer
@sqlfool / Michelle Ufford
@ilkirk
@billgraziano / Bill Graziano
@dbaduck / Ben Miller
@lyndarab
@Kevin3NF
@Bugboi
@blythemorrow
@sqlinsaneo
@jcumberland / Jason Cumberland
@sstranger / Stefan Stranger
@DamonRipper / Damon Clark
@sh3n3rd / Mitsi McKee
@SqlAsylum
@GFritchey / Grant Fritchey
@Peter_Shire / Peter Shire
@RobPaller / Rob Paller
@alangham / Arthur
@jessicammoss / Jessica M. Moss
@AaronBertrand / Aaron Bertrand
@Phil_Factor
@debettap / Peter DeBetta
@wharrislv
@dfravel / Dave Fravel
@Andrew_Pfeiffer
@jmarx / Jeremy
@JamesMarsh / James Marsh
@donalddotfarmer / Donald Farmer
@peschkaj / Jeremiah Peschka
@plevexier
@brianknight
@sqlgirl / Mindy
@joewebb / Joe Webb
@SQLShaw
@swynk
@douglasmcdowell
@russjohnson / Russ Johnson
@Vendoran
@alent1234
@stuarta / Stuart R Ainsworth
@DevSQL / Todd Robinson
@auntkathi
@MisterDBA
@SQLBatman
@ocjames / James Cornell
@wendyneu
@rob_farley / Rob Farley
@JeffWharton / Jeff Wharton
@arcanecode / Arcane Code
@BrentO / Brent Ozar
@TimFord
@SQLDiva / Melissa Demsak
@AndyLeonard
@redondoj / Jose Redondo
@rushabhmehta / Rushabh Mehta
@cfrandall / Chris Randall
@sqlpass / PASS
@way0utwest / Steve Jones
@kbriankelley / K. Brian Kelley
@sqlagentman / Tim Ford
@hallidayd / Dan Halliday
@statisticsio / Jason Massie
@mistersql
@greglow / Greg Low
@DenisGobo / Denis Gobo
@larsra / Lars Rasmussen
@wardy / Peter Ward
@PaulNielsen
@bradmcgehee / Brad M McGehee
@drsql / Louis Davidson
SQL Groups / Companies
-----------------------------
@Simple_Talk
@SQLServerCentrl / SQLServerCentral
@redgate
@PerfSig
@sqlteam / SQLTeam.com
@sqlblog / SQLblog
@PASS_UCSSUG
@TulsaSQL
@Quest_SQLServer
SQL Silly Tweeps
-----------------------------
@dbahole
@SQLJackBauer
@SQLAgenthottie
@SQLBatgirl
@SQLDumbass
Companies
-------------------------------------
@Rockler / Rockler Woodworking
@TillamookCheese / Tillamook Cheese
Friends / CoWorkers
------------------------------------
@Emad_ / Emad Sarraj
@marcuslyon / Marcus Lyon
@michellecoon / Michelle Coon
@christyleonard
@michaeldroz / Michael Droz
@VJensen / Valerie Jensen
@ksondere
@Kybug
@bryanschmidty
@atarihomestar
@christybelt
Celebrities / Well known folks
-------------------------------------
@gtdguy / David Allen
@levarburton / LeVar Burton
@BrentSpiner / Brent Spiner
@donttrythis
@roadrider57 / Robin Williams
@wilw / Wil Wheaton
Random interests of mine
-------------------------------------
@Racquetball / Knight Racquetball
@USAALL / USA-ALL
@twit / This Week in Tech
@breakroom
@UtahGov / Utah.gov
@TheRayGroup / Josh Ray
@billgates / Bill Gates
Twitter specific stuffs
-----------------------------
@tweetsql
@MrTweet / Mr Tweet
As you can tell, these will not fit in 140 chars.
I know that there are more people following me than I am following. As a rule, when people start engaging me directly via Twitter on SQL topics, or things I care about, I add them. I rarely seem to get the time to go searching for new tweeps to add. But if you come across my plate and are interesting to me, I will add you. So, as time marches on, I will be adding more folks to follow. And I hope to have a larger list in the future.
I often wish there was a way to data mine twitter, so i could grab everything someone says, and follow their conversations, pulling in what other tweeps say, and following the entire conversation.
Or just a way to catch up on what my favorite tweeps have said.
Maybe someone will write something like that....
However, since twitter only allows 140 chars at a time, that is much to small for a list. My next thought was too pull all the tweeps that i do follow into a list, and categorize it. Why not post it to my blog? Yeah, i thought it was a great idea too. :)
SQLPASS Tweeps (tweeps i know from PASS)
-----------------------------
@sqlpass / PASS
@kekline / Kevin Kline
@SQLBoyWonder / Chuck Heinzelman
@mike_walsh
@NeilDavidson / Neil Davidson
@SQLDBA / Kendal Van Dyke
@SDyckes / Stephen Dyckes
@RachelHawley
@simon_sabin / Simon Sabin
@marcbeacom / Marc Beacom
@jmkehayias / Jonathan Kehayias
@wendy_dance / Wendy Pastrick
@sqlfool / Michelle Ufford
@billgraziano / Bill Graziano
@dbaduck / Ben Miller
@lyndarab
@Kevin3NF
@Bugboi
@blythemorrow
@sqlinsaneo
@SqlAsylum
@GFritchey / Grant Fritchey
@Peter_Shire / Peter Shire
@jessicammoss / Jessica M. Moss
@AaronBertrand / Aaron Bertrand
@debettap / Peter DeBetta
@donalddotfarmer / Donald Farmer
@peschkaj / Jeremiah Peschka
@brianknight
@sqlgirl / Mindy
@joewebb / Joe Webb
@SQLShaw
@douglasmcdowell
@stuarta / Stuart R Ainsworth
@DevSQL / Todd Robinson
@auntkathi
@SQLBatman
@JeffWharton / Jeff Wharton
@BrentO / Brent Ozar
@TimFord
@SQLDiva / Melissa Demsak
@AndyLeonard
@rushabhmehta / Rushabh Mehta
@way0utwest / Steve Jones
@sqlagentman / Tim Ford
@statisticsio / Jason Massie
@greglow / Greg Low
@wardy / Peter Ward
@PaulNielsen
@bradmcgehee / Brad M McGehee
@drsql / Louis Davidson
SQL Tweeps
-----------------------------
@alibro / Ali Brooks
@kekline / Kevin Kline
@SQLBoyWonder / Chuck Heinzelman
@lotsahelp / Eric Humphrey
@SQLCraftsman / Geoff Hiten
@camassey / Chris Massey
@carpdeus
@Adam_Godfrey / Adam Godfrey
@mike_walsh
@rhyscampbell / Rhys Campbell
@whimsql / WhimSQL
@Tim_Mitchell / Tim Mitchell
@NeilDavidson / Neil Davidson
@BenchmarkIT / Colin Stasiuk
@SQLDBA / Kendal Van Dyke
@SDyckes / Stephen Dyckes
@RachelHawley
@simon_sabin / Simon Sabin
@h4ppyd4y / Jason Strate
@marcbeacom / Marc Beacom
@coffegrl
@jmkehayias / Jonathan Kehayias
@wendy_dance / Wendy Pastrick
@BetsyLM / Betsy Mendenhall
@mrdenny
@unclebiguns / Jack Corbett
@SQLServerLog / Neil Watkins
@SQLSocialite / Scott Stauffer
@sqlfool / Michelle Ufford
@ilkirk
@billgraziano / Bill Graziano
@dbaduck / Ben Miller
@lyndarab
@Kevin3NF
@Bugboi
@blythemorrow
@sqlinsaneo
@jcumberland / Jason Cumberland
@sstranger / Stefan Stranger
@DamonRipper / Damon Clark
@sh3n3rd / Mitsi McKee
@SqlAsylum
@GFritchey / Grant Fritchey
@Peter_Shire / Peter Shire
@RobPaller / Rob Paller
@alangham / Arthur
@jessicammoss / Jessica M. Moss
@AaronBertrand / Aaron Bertrand
@Phil_Factor
@debettap / Peter DeBetta
@wharrislv
@dfravel / Dave Fravel
@Andrew_Pfeiffer
@jmarx / Jeremy
@JamesMarsh / James Marsh
@donalddotfarmer / Donald Farmer
@peschkaj / Jeremiah Peschka
@plevexier
@brianknight
@sqlgirl / Mindy
@joewebb / Joe Webb
@SQLShaw
@swynk
@douglasmcdowell
@russjohnson / Russ Johnson
@Vendoran
@alent1234
@stuarta / Stuart R Ainsworth
@DevSQL / Todd Robinson
@auntkathi
@MisterDBA
@SQLBatman
@ocjames / James Cornell
@wendyneu
@rob_farley / Rob Farley
@JeffWharton / Jeff Wharton
@arcanecode / Arcane Code
@BrentO / Brent Ozar
@TimFord
@SQLDiva / Melissa Demsak
@AndyLeonard
@redondoj / Jose Redondo
@rushabhmehta / Rushabh Mehta
@cfrandall / Chris Randall
@sqlpass / PASS
@way0utwest / Steve Jones
@kbriankelley / K. Brian Kelley
@sqlagentman / Tim Ford
@hallidayd / Dan Halliday
@statisticsio / Jason Massie
@mistersql
@greglow / Greg Low
@DenisGobo / Denis Gobo
@larsra / Lars Rasmussen
@wardy / Peter Ward
@PaulNielsen
@bradmcgehee / Brad M McGehee
@drsql / Louis Davidson
SQL Groups / Companies
-----------------------------
@Simple_Talk
@SQLServerCentrl / SQLServerCentral
@redgate
@PerfSig
@sqlteam / SQLTeam.com
@sqlblog / SQLblog
@PASS_UCSSUG
@TulsaSQL
@Quest_SQLServer
SQL Silly Tweeps
-----------------------------
@dbahole
@SQLJackBauer
@SQLAgenthottie
@SQLBatgirl
@SQLDumbass
Companies
-------------------------------------
@Rockler / Rockler Woodworking
@TillamookCheese / Tillamook Cheese
Friends / CoWorkers
------------------------------------
@Emad_ / Emad Sarraj
@marcuslyon / Marcus Lyon
@michellecoon / Michelle Coon
@christyleonard
@michaeldroz / Michael Droz
@VJensen / Valerie Jensen
@ksondere
@Kybug
@bryanschmidty
@atarihomestar
@christybelt
Celebrities / Well known folks
-------------------------------------
@gtdguy / David Allen
@levarburton / LeVar Burton
@BrentSpiner / Brent Spiner
@donttrythis
@roadrider57 / Robin Williams
@wilw / Wil Wheaton
Random interests of mine
-------------------------------------
@Racquetball / Knight Racquetball
@USAALL / USA-ALL
@twit / This Week in Tech
@breakroom
@UtahGov / Utah.gov
@TheRayGroup / Josh Ray
@billgates / Bill Gates
Twitter specific stuffs
-----------------------------
@tweetsql
@MrTweet / Mr Tweet
As you can tell, these will not fit in 140 chars.
I know that there are more people following me than I am following. As a rule, when people start engaging me directly via Twitter on SQL topics, or things I care about, I add them. I rarely seem to get the time to go searching for new tweeps to add. But if you come across my plate and are interesting to me, I will add you. So, as time marches on, I will be adding more folks to follow. And I hope to have a larger list in the future.
I often wish there was a way to data mine twitter, so i could grab everything someone says, and follow their conversations, pulling in what other tweeps say, and following the entire conversation.
Or just a way to catch up on what my favorite tweeps have said.
Maybe someone will write something like that....
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Are You Being Treated Fairly?
Chris Shaw posted a question on his blog and tagged me:
Do you feel like you are being treated fairly at your current or past employers? The question stems from the fact that very few people today stay at a company 20 to 30 years like they did when I was growing up. Do you feel like the company feels a loyalty toward the employee or do you think that they look at you just as head count? No reason to get yourself in trouble, so you can refer back to past employers.
My first job was right out of College. It was kinda a sweatshop for developers. But we were all glad to work nearby the school we had just left. We were all happy to be in the real world. I learned a lot of things at this company. Not all of them good. One of my team leads would typically pack up everything he needed between 430 and 5pm, and sit quietly at his desk. I noticed this once, when I turned around, he was just sitting there, staring at a blank screen. His machine was off. He awaited that 5pm bell; and as soon as he heard it, he stood up, and walked out. This was a habit I learned I didn't want. Amongst all the habits that I learned there, some where good and have helped in my career, but I was fired from that place. Not exactly sure why, but I was. This let me realize that no matter how hard I worked, or how I thought I worked harder than others, I was always expendable.
This has left a rather large scar on me that has been with me for a long time now. I don't know if I will ever truly be rid of it. But from this scar, I have tried to make myself stronger because of it. (did you know that wood that is glued together with a wood glue, is often stronger than the rest of the wood surrounding it). I realize now that no matter what the employer says, it can change at a moments notice. My second job was with a small company, a family run business. My boss once stated that I had a job for life with him. 5 years into working there, this was no longer true. It happened on a Friday afternoon, and I no longer worked there, with very little explanation as to why. I recently ran into him (10 years later) and asked him why. He could not remember. We had a great chat, I got caught up on the company, his family, it was like it was when I worked for him. Cozy, friendly, and familiar. But he had fired me. Was I treated fairly by him? By the company? I did learn a lot there, and some of the skills were used elsewhere to better myself. So, remember, no matter what the employer says, it can change at a moments notice.
This is the same for me. I may be entirely loyal to one employer, and in an instant, this can change. I have to be true to myself. I have to be true to the employer too, but ultimately, I am the only one that truly wants to keep my best interest at heart. For short and hopefully long periods of time, both you and your employer will have your best interest at heart. But this will not be an absolute. So, beware of the signs. Set yourself goals. Realize the direction you want to head. If you and your employer can go there together, than you are truly blessed. If not...
This leads me to another point. I worked for a small group within a large at one time, where I was the most technical person on the team. Since it was a semblance of an IT shop, I stood out with knowledge that most others didn't have. This lead my manager to treat me differently. You would think it would be well, but it wasn't. The helpdesk people were treated often above all else. And this endeared them to the manager. I say 'helpdesk people', not in a derogatory term, but in this case, they were the lowest paid people in the group. I don't expect that since I made more than them, that I should be treated better. What I did expect was that we would all be treated with the same respect, regardless of our position or station. I do not consider myself better than another. Regardless of pay rate, years experience, job title, etc. We are all along this path of life and career, and are at different, rotating stations. One day, I am the noob, the next, I have more experience than most. But in either station, I deserve respect, just like the others on the team do. Long story short, I ended up leaving this job of my own will, because of the lack of respect I received, and lack of growth I currently perceived. In retrospect, I could have sat back, gotten an office, and chilled in this job for many, many years. But it didn't satisfy me. Did they treat me fairly?
So, in this last example, I was the highest paid employee. Yet, I didn't get treated fairly in other areas. In my first job, I didn't get treated fairly in areas other than money; I was a noob and made little money. It's not all about title, money, whether you have an office, and so on. There arealways many facets that make up a job, and you can be treated unfairly in or many of them.
Unfortunately, each time i have felt i have not been treated fairly, I have had to really dig in and look. Sometimes, it is entirely my perception. Other times, its entirely my fault. Other times, it is the employer's fault. But these are rarely absolute across time as well. They peak and valley.
Its important to review your station, position, demeanor, mood and so on, on a regular basis. Not too often, but often enough to make the slight course corrections needed to get back to where you need to be. And realize that no matter what it feels like, it may be your fault. I often wonder why the guy on the road cut me off. But in looking at that statement, I am attributing intent and foreknowledge to a complete stranger. Why would they cut me off? It has nothing to do with me, it just happened. But I feel slighted. This same scenario holds true often in the workplace. You may feel slighted, but are not, its just you think you are. So, be honest with yourself.
Have these little one-on-ones with yourself from time to time, and evaluate your place in life. If its time to move on, then do it. If you can fix some small habits or even large ones, then by all means, work on these and get them fixed. But its rarely as cut and dried as "I'm not being treated fairly". Get all the variables in the open and evaluate them. You may be surprised at what you find out.
Do you feel like you are being treated fairly at your current or past employers? The question stems from the fact that very few people today stay at a company 20 to 30 years like they did when I was growing up. Do you feel like the company feels a loyalty toward the employee or do you think that they look at you just as head count? No reason to get yourself in trouble, so you can refer back to past employers.
My first job was right out of College. It was kinda a sweatshop for developers. But we were all glad to work nearby the school we had just left. We were all happy to be in the real world. I learned a lot of things at this company. Not all of them good. One of my team leads would typically pack up everything he needed between 430 and 5pm, and sit quietly at his desk. I noticed this once, when I turned around, he was just sitting there, staring at a blank screen. His machine was off. He awaited that 5pm bell; and as soon as he heard it, he stood up, and walked out. This was a habit I learned I didn't want. Amongst all the habits that I learned there, some where good and have helped in my career, but I was fired from that place. Not exactly sure why, but I was. This let me realize that no matter how hard I worked, or how I thought I worked harder than others, I was always expendable.
This has left a rather large scar on me that has been with me for a long time now. I don't know if I will ever truly be rid of it. But from this scar, I have tried to make myself stronger because of it. (did you know that wood that is glued together with a wood glue, is often stronger than the rest of the wood surrounding it). I realize now that no matter what the employer says, it can change at a moments notice. My second job was with a small company, a family run business. My boss once stated that I had a job for life with him. 5 years into working there, this was no longer true. It happened on a Friday afternoon, and I no longer worked there, with very little explanation as to why. I recently ran into him (10 years later) and asked him why. He could not remember. We had a great chat, I got caught up on the company, his family, it was like it was when I worked for him. Cozy, friendly, and familiar. But he had fired me. Was I treated fairly by him? By the company? I did learn a lot there, and some of the skills were used elsewhere to better myself. So, remember, no matter what the employer says, it can change at a moments notice.
This is the same for me. I may be entirely loyal to one employer, and in an instant, this can change. I have to be true to myself. I have to be true to the employer too, but ultimately, I am the only one that truly wants to keep my best interest at heart. For short and hopefully long periods of time, both you and your employer will have your best interest at heart. But this will not be an absolute. So, beware of the signs. Set yourself goals. Realize the direction you want to head. If you and your employer can go there together, than you are truly blessed. If not...
This leads me to another point. I worked for a small group within a large at one time, where I was the most technical person on the team. Since it was a semblance of an IT shop, I stood out with knowledge that most others didn't have. This lead my manager to treat me differently. You would think it would be well, but it wasn't. The helpdesk people were treated often above all else. And this endeared them to the manager. I say 'helpdesk people', not in a derogatory term, but in this case, they were the lowest paid people in the group. I don't expect that since I made more than them, that I should be treated better. What I did expect was that we would all be treated with the same respect, regardless of our position or station. I do not consider myself better than another. Regardless of pay rate, years experience, job title, etc. We are all along this path of life and career, and are at different, rotating stations. One day, I am the noob, the next, I have more experience than most. But in either station, I deserve respect, just like the others on the team do. Long story short, I ended up leaving this job of my own will, because of the lack of respect I received, and lack of growth I currently perceived. In retrospect, I could have sat back, gotten an office, and chilled in this job for many, many years. But it didn't satisfy me. Did they treat me fairly?
So, in this last example, I was the highest paid employee. Yet, I didn't get treated fairly in other areas. In my first job, I didn't get treated fairly in areas other than money; I was a noob and made little money. It's not all about title, money, whether you have an office, and so on. There arealways many facets that make up a job, and you can be treated unfairly in or many of them.
Unfortunately, each time i have felt i have not been treated fairly, I have had to really dig in and look. Sometimes, it is entirely my perception. Other times, its entirely my fault. Other times, it is the employer's fault. But these are rarely absolute across time as well. They peak and valley.
Its important to review your station, position, demeanor, mood and so on, on a regular basis. Not too often, but often enough to make the slight course corrections needed to get back to where you need to be. And realize that no matter what it feels like, it may be your fault. I often wonder why the guy on the road cut me off. But in looking at that statement, I am attributing intent and foreknowledge to a complete stranger. Why would they cut me off? It has nothing to do with me, it just happened. But I feel slighted. This same scenario holds true often in the workplace. You may feel slighted, but are not, its just you think you are. So, be honest with yourself.
Have these little one-on-ones with yourself from time to time, and evaluate your place in life. If its time to move on, then do it. If you can fix some small habits or even large ones, then by all means, work on these and get them fixed. But its rarely as cut and dried as "I'm not being treated fairly". Get all the variables in the open and evaluate them. You may be surprised at what you find out.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Index Maintenance
I'm prepping a presentation for SSWUG on index maintenance. I have had experience with this in most of my jobs. some, I have even had to create systems to perform the maintenance. One such shop was ready to purchase hardware to upgrade their servers, but I started maintaining indexes periodically at night, the worst performing indexes, and it improved performance enough, that we didnt have to upgrade hardware, like they had previously intended. This little system was improved upon over the years, but would basically perform ShowContigs to get the status of indexes, then maintain them as needed.
In my current job, we have the need for maintenance after some ETL processes on a monthly basis. Tonight is one of those nights. After a couple parts of the process have been run, then we have to maintain the indexes. I've written an automated script that helps me out by dumping the results of the ShowContig to a temp table, performss maintenance on the worst performing indexes, and then runs another ShowContig. These results are gathered, and shared with the team to prove that things are in good working order.
Back to the SSWUG presentation. I have a virtual server that i am creating temp data for, so i can show off the steps of this system. I created a table, and was adding random names to cause an index on the names to get out of whack. Initially I found a sql script that had a ton of names in it, that I had used before to create tons of random names. After all that effort, I realized that adding my families names, in order, would produce an fragmented index.
My name is TJay. Starts with 'T'. My wife is named Christy. 'C' is before 'T'. So, alphabetically, these are not in order. Next is Kylie. Then Alyssa. And finally Treyson.
I created a simple table at work. Inserted 100 records for each name, in that order, and check the table afterwards, and its density, as reported by ShowContig, is not near 100, and indicates its out of whack.
I just thought it was pretty cool that the names of my family was in such an order that it could be easily used for a scenario for testing fragmentation. Obviously, its a better test scenario to add tons of distinct names. I just thought it was cool.
In my current job, we have the need for maintenance after some ETL processes on a monthly basis. Tonight is one of those nights. After a couple parts of the process have been run, then we have to maintain the indexes. I've written an automated script that helps me out by dumping the results of the ShowContig to a temp table, performss maintenance on the worst performing indexes, and then runs another ShowContig. These results are gathered, and shared with the team to prove that things are in good working order.
Back to the SSWUG presentation. I have a virtual server that i am creating temp data for, so i can show off the steps of this system. I created a table, and was adding random names to cause an index on the names to get out of whack. Initially I found a sql script that had a ton of names in it, that I had used before to create tons of random names. After all that effort, I realized that adding my families names, in order, would produce an fragmented index.
My name is TJay. Starts with 'T'. My wife is named Christy. 'C' is before 'T'. So, alphabetically, these are not in order. Next is Kylie. Then Alyssa. And finally Treyson.
I created a simple table at work. Inserted 100 records for each name, in that order, and check the table afterwards, and its density, as reported by ShowContig, is not near 100, and indicates its out of whack.
I just thought it was pretty cool that the names of my family was in such an order that it could be easily used for a scenario for testing fragmentation. Obviously, its a better test scenario to add tons of distinct names. I just thought it was cool.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Google Analytics
I started blogging back in November of 2008, just prior to the PASS Summit in Seattle. During the summit, I discovered Google Analytics, and applied the code necessary to my blog to allow it to be tracked. Every few days I'll go out and check it out, usually after a blog post. Its interesting to see the progress and see that people are actually hitting my blog. I don't pretend to be very widely read, but I have had a few comments from kind folks that they enjoy my writings. Thats the point of why I blog. To help someone out there with my particular opinion, view, experience. When I am no longer accomplishing this small task, I will cease the activity. Sometimes the person that it truly helps is myself.
So, Google Analytics. I thought it would be interesting to show off a couple images of the dashboard, that were recently snapshotted of my blog.
This first pic is a simple timeline, with the high points being quantity of hits to the blog. Its rather up and down. As expected, most of the down times are on a weekend. However, I've had some weekends with 15-20 hits on them. Odd.
I have had a few peaks, when a particular blog post got a lot of attention. I am grateful for those periods.
The next image shows the timeline, along with some other helpful data, along with a map. This I find fascinating. I've had many hits from Europe, Africa, even 3 from Iran. A lot of hits from USA and Canada, as expected. Its interesting.
In any event, I just wanted to share this interesting information. I do think it would be interesting for others to do the same thing, and report their analytics of their blog. I find it fascinating.
So, Google Analytics. I thought it would be interesting to show off a couple images of the dashboard, that were recently snapshotted of my blog.
This first pic is a simple timeline, with the high points being quantity of hits to the blog. Its rather up and down. As expected, most of the down times are on a weekend. However, I've had some weekends with 15-20 hits on them. Odd.
I have had a few peaks, when a particular blog post got a lot of attention. I am grateful for those periods.
The next image shows the timeline, along with some other helpful data, along with a map. This I find fascinating. I've had many hits from Europe, Africa, even 3 from Iran. A lot of hits from USA and Canada, as expected. Its interesting.
In any event, I just wanted to share this interesting information. I do think it would be interesting for others to do the same thing, and report their analytics of their blog. I find it fascinating.
My First Computer
I was tagged again, this time by Mr Denny who wants me to try to remember my first computer.
My brain went back to my first computer as an adult. I recall having to get a loan from mom and dad to pay for it, as it cost me $3800. I recall that each computer after that purchase dropped half in price. We seemed to get a new computer each time we had a kid too. It just worked out that way. For the kid's first birthday, they would be surrounded by computer parts, and photos were taken. They had no idea, and the family needed a computer. So, we've had 3 kids, and had 4 computers as they were raised. Each kid was about 3 years apart from their siblings, so were our computer upgrades. We finally had to start simply buying new computers, and stop having kids for the last few upgrades.
But that wasnt the point of the blog requested. What was my first computer?
In college, i recall my loving parents sending me to BYU to study Computer Science, and shipping me off with a typewriter. It made an excellent foot rest. When my parents asked if I was using it, I would inevitably reply, 'Every day'. This was true. I often put my feet up on it. I do not think I ever used it. I did purchase an 8088 while in school. Monitor was 2 colors. Off=Black and Purple. We used to do all kinds of crazy things with that machine, like goto bbs's. Wow, we were insane with it... I remember upgrading my modem from a 2400 baud, to 9600, then 14.4. Wow, so fast, what would I do with all that speed.
Wait, that wasn't my first computer either.
Back in the day, I remember my mom, who was a budding romance novel writer, coming home with a computer. An Apple IIe. It lived on our dining room table for the longest time, as an office space did not exist in our home. She had set it up, and was trying to get it useful to writing her books. Later she moved to a Kaypro, as it was easier.
So, I wonder into the dining room one day, see the computer and manuals. I pick up the manual, and start reading. I come across a command 'init home' and attempt it. I figured that this would get the computer thing going and doing stuff. I entered the command, and nothing seemed to happen. The next thing I recall was that feeling i have grown to not be able to live without. That feeling of utter despair that I screwed something up. Nothing was happening on the machine. It just whirred and whirred. I hollered out to my Mom. What did I do? All I did was this command, 'Init Home'. What did that do? Well, it erased the disk that was in the drive. Making it new and shiny. So, my first action on my first computer was to wipe away all its storage.
From there, its been a downhill battle. I still love working with computers. I love using them to solve problems. I love the creative process that is involved with computing. I love to work with databases.
But, from time to time, I get that feeling in my stomach. I retrace my steps. Sure enough, I did another 'Init Home' command.
I’m going to tag Pat Wright, Tim Ford, Louis Davidson
To ensure that this keeps moving, I will contact the above via twitter, so that they can read my blog, and move it along.
My brain went back to my first computer as an adult. I recall having to get a loan from mom and dad to pay for it, as it cost me $3800. I recall that each computer after that purchase dropped half in price. We seemed to get a new computer each time we had a kid too. It just worked out that way. For the kid's first birthday, they would be surrounded by computer parts, and photos were taken. They had no idea, and the family needed a computer. So, we've had 3 kids, and had 4 computers as they were raised. Each kid was about 3 years apart from their siblings, so were our computer upgrades. We finally had to start simply buying new computers, and stop having kids for the last few upgrades.
But that wasnt the point of the blog requested. What was my first computer?
In college, i recall my loving parents sending me to BYU to study Computer Science, and shipping me off with a typewriter. It made an excellent foot rest. When my parents asked if I was using it, I would inevitably reply, 'Every day'. This was true. I often put my feet up on it. I do not think I ever used it. I did purchase an 8088 while in school. Monitor was 2 colors. Off=Black and Purple. We used to do all kinds of crazy things with that machine, like goto bbs's. Wow, we were insane with it... I remember upgrading my modem from a 2400 baud, to 9600, then 14.4. Wow, so fast, what would I do with all that speed.
Wait, that wasn't my first computer either.
Back in the day, I remember my mom, who was a budding romance novel writer, coming home with a computer. An Apple IIe. It lived on our dining room table for the longest time, as an office space did not exist in our home. She had set it up, and was trying to get it useful to writing her books. Later she moved to a Kaypro, as it was easier.
So, I wonder into the dining room one day, see the computer and manuals. I pick up the manual, and start reading. I come across a command 'init home' and attempt it. I figured that this would get the computer thing going and doing stuff. I entered the command, and nothing seemed to happen. The next thing I recall was that feeling i have grown to not be able to live without. That feeling of utter despair that I screwed something up. Nothing was happening on the machine. It just whirred and whirred. I hollered out to my Mom. What did I do? All I did was this command, 'Init Home'. What did that do? Well, it erased the disk that was in the drive. Making it new and shiny. So, my first action on my first computer was to wipe away all its storage.
From there, its been a downhill battle. I still love working with computers. I love using them to solve problems. I love the creative process that is involved with computing. I love to work with databases.
But, from time to time, I get that feeling in my stomach. I retrace my steps. Sure enough, I did another 'Init Home' command.
I’m going to tag Pat Wright, Tim Ford, Louis Davidson
To ensure that this keeps moving, I will contact the above via twitter, so that they can read my blog, and move it along.
Monday, February 16, 2009
SSWUG VIP Code
I have received a discount code for the SSWUG Virtual Conference. You can register for the conference here and make sure you use my code 'SPVTBESP09'.
The discount is for $10 off the registration price of $125, and can be used in conjunction with other discounts, such as the Early Bird ($80).
I have not attended this event in the past, but have heard great things about it. I hope you will think of attending, and learning from some of the greats out there in the SQL Community. And stop by my presentations as well. I hope to help someone out there with my experience.
The discount is for $10 off the registration price of $125, and can be used in conjunction with other discounts, such as the Early Bird ($80).
I have not attended this event in the past, but have heard great things about it. I hope you will think of attending, and learning from some of the greats out there in the SQL Community. And stop by my presentations as well. I hope to help someone out there with my experience.
SSWUG Virtual Conference Presentations
For the first time, i will have the honor of presenting a few topics at the SSWUG Virtual Conference on April 22-24th.
It was suggested by my handler (Chris Shaw) that I submit as many topics as possible, to ensure that I get at least 1 accepted. So, I submitted a slew of them, and had 4 regular sessions accepted, and 3 uplink sessions accepted.
Now, I am going thru them, making sure that they are in a good state to present, and practicing. One of the topics I presented at my UG last month. I will present another one in March.
vConference abstracts
Auditing your Users
Periodically, an auditor would stop by my desk and ask me to show them all the users and their permission’s on a particular database. Most of us know how to do this, and it is easily gathered. Typically, the next question is ‘What has changed?’. After a couple iterations of this, you will realize that you need to devise a way to store this information to adequately respond to this question. A snapshot of the user information needs to be gathered from time to time, and stored. In this presentation, we’ll discuss reasons for storing this information, show code for tables, and explain processes that will enable you to quickly and effectively answer the auditors requests in a consistent and timely manner.
Best Practices
Having worked with databases for some time now, I felt it important to get some best practices documented. This presentation will touch on the simple things that we often take for granted while using our favorite database systems. From naming conventions, to cursors, to temporary, derived and variable tables, to the use of dynamic sql. We’ll touch on a great many different ideas and hopefully further cement your own best practices, making you a more exceptional DBA or Database Developer.
Job execution system
In a production environment, as a DBA protecting the environment, you do not want to give out Admin rights to many, if any individuals in the company. Granting the least possible permissions needed is the desired route. This is a protection for the system you have a responsibility to care for. However, people often need to gain access to perform their job functions. When folks need jobs to be executed outside of the normal execution times, how do we solve this dilemma? This presentation will detail a system that solves this problem.
Monitor Index Fragmentation
As our databases are being used, our index fragmentation can tend to increase. Having an automated system that defrags or removes the fragmentation is necessary. Even a rarely used system will peak the fragmentation with their periodic executions. Keeping track of the level of fragmentation prior to and after fragmentation has been removed will help gather metrics on your systems. Automating this process will relieve pressure on your on-call staff, pressure on your database system, and even increase performance. Let’s discuss ways to accomplish this task.
ITUplink sessions
SQL Server Profiler and Tracing
We have all needed to know what is happening in our database systems. We have often been tasked with finding poor performing queries. Maybe we are being hit with Auditing and Compliance needs. All these and many more issues can be resolved with SQL Server Profiler. Maybe with SQL Server Trace. But which one, and when?
Auditing databases can be tiresome, but a good trace and supporting reports can really help out.
This presentation will show you some of my own ideas, along with others' ideas on best uses for Profiler and Trace.
Once armed with this knowledge, you should be able to take it back to your shops and implement systems that assist you track down these issues more easily.
Auditing & Compliance and the DBA
Sarbanes-Oxley laws are changing the way companies collect, retain, and manage information. Database Administrators need to understand what is happening in the corporate business world, what auditors will be seeking and how it will directly impact their job role. What do auditors want? And how can we help?
This is one DBA’s tale of auditing his databases for modifications. There will be many different ways that you can approach this task, and reach a solution. I will explain how I reached my solution, and give you some good ideas of how to accomplish a similar task, for your own systems.
I am excited to participate in this event. I hope that my sessions go well, are informational, and help people out.
It was suggested by my handler (Chris Shaw) that I submit as many topics as possible, to ensure that I get at least 1 accepted. So, I submitted a slew of them, and had 4 regular sessions accepted, and 3 uplink sessions accepted.
Now, I am going thru them, making sure that they are in a good state to present, and practicing. One of the topics I presented at my UG last month. I will present another one in March.
vConference abstracts
Auditing your Users
Periodically, an auditor would stop by my desk and ask me to show them all the users and their permission’s on a particular database. Most of us know how to do this, and it is easily gathered. Typically, the next question is ‘What has changed?’. After a couple iterations of this, you will realize that you need to devise a way to store this information to adequately respond to this question. A snapshot of the user information needs to be gathered from time to time, and stored. In this presentation, we’ll discuss reasons for storing this information, show code for tables, and explain processes that will enable you to quickly and effectively answer the auditors requests in a consistent and timely manner.
Best Practices
Having worked with databases for some time now, I felt it important to get some best practices documented. This presentation will touch on the simple things that we often take for granted while using our favorite database systems. From naming conventions, to cursors, to temporary, derived and variable tables, to the use of dynamic sql. We’ll touch on a great many different ideas and hopefully further cement your own best practices, making you a more exceptional DBA or Database Developer.
Job execution system
In a production environment, as a DBA protecting the environment, you do not want to give out Admin rights to many, if any individuals in the company. Granting the least possible permissions needed is the desired route. This is a protection for the system you have a responsibility to care for. However, people often need to gain access to perform their job functions. When folks need jobs to be executed outside of the normal execution times, how do we solve this dilemma? This presentation will detail a system that solves this problem.
Monitor Index Fragmentation
As our databases are being used, our index fragmentation can tend to increase. Having an automated system that defrags or removes the fragmentation is necessary. Even a rarely used system will peak the fragmentation with their periodic executions. Keeping track of the level of fragmentation prior to and after fragmentation has been removed will help gather metrics on your systems. Automating this process will relieve pressure on your on-call staff, pressure on your database system, and even increase performance. Let’s discuss ways to accomplish this task.
ITUplink sessions
SQL Server Profiler and Tracing
We have all needed to know what is happening in our database systems. We have often been tasked with finding poor performing queries. Maybe we are being hit with Auditing and Compliance needs. All these and many more issues can be resolved with SQL Server Profiler. Maybe with SQL Server Trace. But which one, and when?
Auditing databases can be tiresome, but a good trace and supporting reports can really help out.
This presentation will show you some of my own ideas, along with others' ideas on best uses for Profiler and Trace.
Once armed with this knowledge, you should be able to take it back to your shops and implement systems that assist you track down these issues more easily.
Auditing & Compliance and the DBA
Sarbanes-Oxley laws are changing the way companies collect, retain, and manage information. Database Administrators need to understand what is happening in the corporate business world, what auditors will be seeking and how it will directly impact their job role. What do auditors want? And how can we help?
This is one DBA’s tale of auditing his databases for modifications. There will be many different ways that you can approach this task, and reach a solution. I will explain how I reached my solution, and give you some good ideas of how to accomplish a similar task, for your own systems.
I am excited to participate in this event. I hope that my sessions go well, are informational, and help people out.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Things I wish I had Known When Starting my IT Career
I was tagged by Tim Mitchell in the latest get-to-know-you question. This one asks, “What do you wish you had known when you started?”
Sometimes I think I may have forgotten more than I have learned. But I always feel like we can learn more and more every day. In fact, its one of my driving forces. I always seem to be trying to learn more things and get the things I learned more perfectly implemented.
Being open to helping
Many moons ago, I was excited to be in the IT industry out of college. I’d imagine with a similar enthusiasm as a fresh IT degree grad. I felt I had a great...
Sometimes I think I may have forgotten more than I have learned. But I always feel like we can learn more and more every day. In fact, its one of my driving forces. I always seem to be trying to learn more things and get the things I learned more perfectly implemented.
Being open to helping
Many moons ago, I was excited to be in the IT industry out of college. I’d imagine with a similar enthusiasm as a fresh IT degree grad. I felt I had a great...
Many moons ago, I was excited to be in the IT industry out of college. I'd imagine with a similar enthusiasm as a fresh IT degree grad. I felt I had a great quantity of knowledge, and often didnt share it with other coworkers. Regardless of the knowledge I may or may not have had, the point here is that I had a hard time sharing it and helping others out. I tended to gaurd the information that I had for job security. Later, I learned, that I needed to be more open with info and share with others. Of course, I often will go to the other extreme and share way too much. Its a fine science to find that middle ground of not being selfish with knowledge, but not overwhelm when not needed.
We all work with people that have a variety of information in their brain stores, and some will appreciate being taught, and others will not. And I need to remember that I too am on that sliding scale, and I need to accept knowledge that I do not currently have.
User Community
I have seen others mention this, and I felt it warranted a mention in my list of things I wish I had known. When I was in college, there was a community of people that were surrounding me, learning, willing to learn, and so on. We all tended to help each other out in class and study sessions. This group effort seemed to buoy us all up a bit more. When I entered the job force, it seemed that I hadto stand on my own. After all, I went to interviews alone. Went to work alone. Granted I had coworkers, but in the end, I felt like I had to stand up and prove my skills. At this point, looking back, I wonder what would have happened had I entered into the SQL Community...
I have benefited so much from attending Community events, and volunteering. Networking is a great benefit, and the knowledge that comes these interactions has added to my own. I suggest to all to partake in this opportunity.
Be yourself
As I am surrounded by people much smarter than myself, I need to remember that I to have a level of smarts. I have different skills that others, and bring different opinions and perspective to the table. Its often difficult to remember that one has a distinct set of skills that others. When you begin to compare yourself to others, you tend to loose yourself and your own skills in the mix.
Remember that you have abilities that others may not have. Expand your knowledge. Learn from others. But do not try to be just like them. Find your own path to SQL Stardom, or wherever your career journey takes you.
These are the first items that pop into my mind that I wish i had known. Most of them are things I am still working on.
I’m going to tag Pat Wright, Tim Ford, Louis Davidson
To ensure that this keeps moving, I will contact the above via twitter, so that they can read my blog, and move it along.
We all work with people that have a variety of information in their brain stores, and some will appreciate being taught, and others will not. And I need to remember that I too am on that sliding scale, and I need to accept knowledge that I do not currently have.
User Community
I have seen others mention this, and I felt it warranted a mention in my list of things I wish I had known. When I was in college, there was a community of people that were surrounding me, learning, willing to learn, and so on. We all tended to help each other out in class and study sessions. This group effort seemed to buoy us all up a bit more. When I entered the job force, it seemed that I hadto stand on my own. After all, I went to interviews alone. Went to work alone. Granted I had coworkers, but in the end, I felt like I had to stand up and prove my skills. At this point, looking back, I wonder what would have happened had I entered into the SQL Community...
I have benefited so much from attending Community events, and volunteering. Networking is a great benefit, and the knowledge that comes these interactions has added to my own. I suggest to all to partake in this opportunity.
Be yourself
As I am surrounded by people much smarter than myself, I need to remember that I to have a level of smarts. I have different skills that others, and bring different opinions and perspective to the table. Its often difficult to remember that one has a distinct set of skills that others. When you begin to compare yourself to others, you tend to loose yourself and your own skills in the mix.
Remember that you have abilities that others may not have. Expand your knowledge. Learn from others. But do not try to be just like them. Find your own path to SQL Stardom, or wherever your career journey takes you.
These are the first items that pop into my mind that I wish i had known. Most of them are things I am still working on.
I’m going to tag Pat Wright, Tim Ford, Louis Davidson
To ensure that this keeps moving, I will contact the above via twitter, so that they can read my blog, and move it along.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Twitter Rocks or how Data tweeted me
Today, after lunch, I had the need to do some research on a Replication issue we are facing at work. So, I did a couple google searches. I found my way to BOL from Microsoft on the command, as well as an article on SQL Server Central. Both of which were great assistance to me. However, I had the need to communicate with humans to see their experience. So, I looked at my Instant Messenger, looking for a DBA buddy that has a lot of experience with Replication. He was not online at the moment. So, there I sat, with questions and concerns and no where to turn.
That's when I remembered Twitter. Yeah, I use Twitter a lot. I tell my tweeps that I am at the gym. I tell them some random thoughts as they cross my mind. I recently quoted a U2 song via Twitter. I'll often send out random tweets about random things. But I tend to forget the reason I joined Twitter. It was to link up with fellow DBA's and gain from their experience.
So, I posted the question. Almost immediately I got a couple responses and follow-up questions. A dialogue ensued between a few Tweeps (@SQLFool, @SQLDBA). I was able to glean from their experiences and lend them to my own. This is one of the amazing things that come out of a simple question on Twitter.
Later that night, I was showing this off to my wife, amazed at the power that resides here. Not long after showing off Twitter, I received a random tweet from someone not of the DBA world. A while back, I started following @BrentSpiner and @LevarBurton, from StarTrek fame. It's been interesting to see into the tweets of these celebraties. So, a tweet comes across my screen from @BrentSpiner about work he is doing. I respond with a question. I have responded to tweets from both these folks, but never expected a response. @BrentSpiner has nearly 18000 followers. Since he mentioned working with other folks in show biz, I had asked him what his favorite Celeb encounter was. And he responded. There I sat at home, staring at my computer screen with a tweet from Data from StarTrek. How cool is that? Of course, I could only sit for a bit, before I ran upstairs to tell my wife how cool that was. I'm sure I'll pull this little gem out on various times and show off that @BrentSpiner responded to me.
The best thing about twitter is making connections. Not all the tweeps you follow will talk to you. Just like you will not talk to all the tweeps that follow you. But here and there, a connection will be made. A thought shared. A joke told. And maybe you too will have an encounter that can become a story to tell others. Maybe Twitter will help you out or just raise your mood. I goto bed tonight having spoken to Data from Star Trek. Just once. Briefly. But Twitter Rocks!!
That's when I remembered Twitter. Yeah, I use Twitter a lot. I tell my tweeps that I am at the gym. I tell them some random thoughts as they cross my mind. I recently quoted a U2 song via Twitter. I'll often send out random tweets about random things. But I tend to forget the reason I joined Twitter. It was to link up with fellow DBA's and gain from their experience.
So, I posted the question. Almost immediately I got a couple responses and follow-up questions. A dialogue ensued between a few Tweeps (@SQLFool, @SQLDBA). I was able to glean from their experiences and lend them to my own. This is one of the amazing things that come out of a simple question on Twitter.
Later that night, I was showing this off to my wife, amazed at the power that resides here. Not long after showing off Twitter, I received a random tweet from someone not of the DBA world. A while back, I started following @BrentSpiner and @LevarBurton, from StarTrek fame. It's been interesting to see into the tweets of these celebraties. So, a tweet comes across my screen from @BrentSpiner about work he is doing. I respond with a question. I have responded to tweets from both these folks, but never expected a response. @BrentSpiner has nearly 18000 followers. Since he mentioned working with other folks in show biz, I had asked him what his favorite Celeb encounter was. And he responded. There I sat at home, staring at my computer screen with a tweet from Data from StarTrek. How cool is that? Of course, I could only sit for a bit, before I ran upstairs to tell my wife how cool that was. I'm sure I'll pull this little gem out on various times and show off that @BrentSpiner responded to me.
The best thing about twitter is making connections. Not all the tweeps you follow will talk to you. Just like you will not talk to all the tweeps that follow you. But here and there, a connection will be made. A thought shared. A joke told. And maybe you too will have an encounter that can become a story to tell others. Maybe Twitter will help you out or just raise your mood. I goto bed tonight having spoken to Data from Star Trek. Just once. Briefly. But Twitter Rocks!!
Friday, January 16, 2009
Words Words Words and Wordl
A few folks have been putting up Wordl images about their blogs.
I saw this a while back, and our family put in a bunch of words that were important to us. Goals, interests, and so on. We came up with some interesting word jumbles that described our family. After it was generated, I had no idea what to do with it, but it was sure fun to do anyways.
So, I plugged in my blog to Wordl to see its result. I was expecting to see some words in there that I did not see. And some were more prominent than I expected. Odd. But like any good report, it only shows what it can show. Reality. So, here it is... my blog Wordl representation.
Blog Wordl
So, this got me to thinking, what about twitter? What about my hobby blog? What about my live space that has family trips recorded in it? What about my resume? What about... what other things can we think of that we can use this word jumble on?
Twitter
Hobby Blog
Live Space
Resume
All Articles I've written
Scary stories I wrote the past 2 Halloweens
Google results of searching my name
I saw this a while back, and our family put in a bunch of words that were important to us. Goals, interests, and so on. We came up with some interesting word jumbles that described our family. After it was generated, I had no idea what to do with it, but it was sure fun to do anyways.
So, I plugged in my blog to Wordl to see its result. I was expecting to see some words in there that I did not see. And some were more prominent than I expected. Odd. But like any good report, it only shows what it can show. Reality. So, here it is... my blog Wordl representation.
Blog Wordl
So, this got me to thinking, what about twitter? What about my hobby blog? What about my live space that has family trips recorded in it? What about my resume? What about... what other things can we think of that we can use this word jumble on?
Hobby Blog
Live Space
Resume
All Articles I've written
Scary stories I wrote the past 2 Halloweens
Google results of searching my name
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