Voice of the DBA
A series of episodes that look at databases and the world from a data professional's viewpoint. Written and recorded by Steve Jones, editor of SQLServerCentral and The Voice of the DBA.
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The Need for 256GB
01/21/2022
The Need for 256GB
I have seen a few people call for raising the RAM limit in the Standard Edition of SQL Server. In 2016, , and for 2019, . In the last newsletter of the year, Brent Ozar asked Santa for a 256GB limit. I wonder how many of you would really take advantage of that. In , to get beyond 128GB of RAM, you need to go to 32 cores. , you need to purchase even more cores. require 32 cores to get to 256GB. Read the rest of
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Most of Us Are Vulnerable
01/19/2022
Most of Us Are Vulnerable
I saw this study recently, where most people think they are better-than-average drivers in the US. I thought about it myself afterward, and I think I'm maybe average. I do pay attention most of the time, I try to be more careful when it's wet or snowy and give myself more time to slow down. I try to be aware of the other cars and obstacles on the road. I also usually have a drink (coffee, soda, water) with me, and I certainly mess with the music player. reminds me constantly when I've strayed near a line, so a few months of driving seems to tell me I'm not great. Certainly not above average. I would expect that most of us think we've done a good job with security for our systems. We don't expect to get hacked or deal with ransomware. I don't know how realistic that is, as a recent set of penetrations tests shows . Read the rest of
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It Isn't Worth Automating
01/17/2022
It Isn't Worth Automating
Every year I'm responsible for a portion of the Database Weekly newsletters. I used to do half, but right now Kathi, Grant, and I are on a rotation. Our boss puts out a schedule each year, which tells me the weeks for which I am responsible. Each January I then set up a recurring appointment for Mon/Wed/Fri on my weeks to remind me to curate articles and write an editorial. Each year I also think about whether or not I can automate this. Last year I spent a few hours looking into the , at , and (which is a nightmare). I spent a few hours, got frustrated, and gave up, just manually creating appointments. Read the rest of
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Teams Security Issues
01/14/2022
Teams Security Issues
At some point during my career sharing files and links in email became a security concern. There were all sorts of malware problems and issues that spread throughout organizations because someone unknowingly clicked on or forwarded a malicious item. At a couple of large organizations, we had to turn off email for days while we cleaned out systems. Fortunately, antivirus and other types of scanning software improved to prevent most of these problems. It seems that not all developers learned the lessons of the past. inside it based on link sharing in the chats. One of the issues is that the preview features aren't well implemented, though Microsoft security doesn't think this is a problem as a user would notice the link would be incorrect. I think that's a huge leap and not a very safe one to make. Read the rest of
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A New Language
01/14/2022
A New Language
In my life, I've mostly dealt with people that speak English. I tried Latin in high school and Japanese in university, but I wouldn't say I learned a lot. This past year I've been working on Japanese (konichi wa) and French (Bonjour) on a regular basis, but I'm still fairly uni-lingual. At least compared to many of the people I've met in my travels that speak multiple languages. I'm mostly just trying to read a bit, and that's quite hard. In my career, I haven't met many technologists that only know one programming language. Even the SQL professionals know a little C# or a scripting language. Quite a few people know a bit about many languages, and some are very competent. I used to think it would be good to master one language before moving on, but I find that trying different languages can give you an appreciation for others, or even an appreciation for your primary one. Comparing and contrasting code might even help you learn faster. Read the rest of
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Coding for the Future
01/12/2022
Coding for the Future
about some code. In this case, it was the start of a for loop, but with two things in it that I didn't like. The code is shown here: for ($i = 2011; <= 2021; ++) { Both the starting point and the ending condition were problematic for me. This code is used in a scheduling application, to populate a dropdown that I used regularly. It's always worked, since about 2017 or 2018, and I had no reason to even think about the algorithm. I assumed the code was something like this: Read the rest of
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What Were Your 2021 Wins
01/07/2022
What Were Your 2021 Wins
sent me a prompt just before Christmas that asked me to write a post on my 2021 wins, using the #2021wins hashtag. I thought it was a neat idea, and before I left for my final vacation. I primarily had work items in there, though a couple of work-related things. To me, while 2021 was disappointing in some ways, it was still a great year for me in many ways, and I've tried to keep that in mind. Not focus on things that didn't go well but those that did. It's the first week of the new year, and many of you are likely starting to look forward at work and in your career. You might have made resolutions, or maybe you are just re-focusing after the holidays. Either way, on this Friday I'd like you to think back to last year, focusing on how your career might have changed throughout the second year of the COVID pandemic. Read the rest of
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Challenging Trends
01/05/2022
Challenging Trends
I was studying for the DP-900 exam recently and in one of the Microsoft resources, I ran across this quote: "Historical data is equally important, to give a business a more stabilized view of trends in performance." This was in context of looking at database performance, but it would apply to any part of your business. The world has changed dramatically in the last two years. In early 2020, at this point, I was finalizing work and from work. I managed to get the last sabbatical before the world shut down and most people didn't see the value of one during a pandemic. I returned from sabbatical, with a trip planned to the UK in early March that I canceled. Since that time, I can't imagine the quote above applies to the airlines' business. I've flown a bit across the last year, but rarely for work. I suspect most of their models and ideas about how to manage their business had to dramatically change. Read the rest of
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Data Cleanup
01/03/2022
Data Cleanup
The end of the year is when I do a little data cleanup. Not a lot, but some. Work slows down, with no major deadlines, so I'm able to spend a bit of time organizing myself. I usually go through my downloads and documents folders, deleting files I don't expect to use. I ensure that my jobs removing older log and temp files are running, especially on the laptops. A lot of disuse in 2021 had a few of them filling disks with more files than I had expected. In a few positions I've had as a DBA, this was a time when we'd look to archive away some older databases, and even some data. It was rare, but always invigorating because we knew queries would run faster in systems when we could archive off data. I haven't ever started with clean databases in a new year, but in a couple of jobs we'd archive off all data that was more than one or two years old into another database. It was available if someone needed it, but the main OLTP databases would contain only one or two years' worth of data, helping queries perform quicker at the start of the year. Read the rest of
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Looking Back at 2021
12/27/2021
Looking Back at 2021
Today is my last day of work for 2021. I'm off to a family vacation for the rest of the week to enjoy time together and celebrate the New Year. I wanted to take a look back at the year before I leave and give you a few thoughts on various data-related topics. The big news for those Microsoft data platform people is that SQL Server 2022 is coming. No idea when, and without public CTPs, I think it might be a 2022 H2 release, but Microsoft committed to the naming. There have been a number of talks, at Ignite, the PASS Data Community Summit, and the SQL Server and Azure SQL Conference. I had the chance to talk with Bob Ward and Pedro Lopes, and they are excited and proud of the upcoming release. Read the rest of
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Wellness Week
12/22/2021
Wellness Week
I work for a great company, one that I feel cares about me as more than a "resource", gives me opportunities (with responsibility and accountability), and has some nice benefits. I actually used one of those last week. I get a volunteer day every year, where I can spend time with a charity and get the day off. I used mine to volunteer for . During the last two years, Redgate has approached the pandemic and remote work with the idea that we need to be reasonable with each other. We need to understand that some employees might have more people in their homes during work hours and may need to provide care for others. They might have other challenges, or just be struggling to cope. We were asked to work with people, rather than against them, and try to support each other as best we could. I think it worked out well, and it showed us that company cares about us. Read the rest of
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The Challenge of Edge Security
12/20/2021
The Challenge of Edge Security
We know that our organizations will adopt and use more devices over time. Given the growth of cheap computing, frameworks for managing devices, and the desire for more data, I expect some of those devices will collect data, or even contain databases. use is growing, and we will see more devices that contain it (or another database platform), which means we have a larger attack surface area for that data. There was a recent report on a vulnerability in edge devices used by AT&T that was detected as part of an attack. The attack used a known vulnerability based on default credentials. The vulnerability was fixed, but the patch required manual work. From various reports, it is unclear whether devices have been patched. It's also unclear if customer data was accessed. Here is , but there are others, all with similar information. Read the rest of
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The Tech of My Youth
12/17/2021
The Tech of My Youth
I saw a note recently that . There was a time I had a number of Panasonic products, from music players to telephones. My wife had them as a client and got a few swag items in the early 2000s. However, I don't often buy electronic appliances, and I haven't seen the Panasonic brand name in some time. As I approach the end of one year and the beginning of another, I find myself nostalgic for brands that I used to seek out. I read a biography of , founder of Sony a long time ago and I admired their products. At some point, I had a rack of Sony gear in high school, including the double cassette deck. I bought my first TV, a , in college. I can't remember the last time I picked up or used something from them, having moved on to Apple for most of my music needs and Samsung for TVs. Read the rest of
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No-so-smart Contracts
12/15/2021
No-so-smart Contracts
Perhaps the best quote I've seen in a long time: "These kinds of attacks are common in smart contracts because many developers do not put in the legwork to define security properties for their code..." I'm sure that this would apply to many kinds of software, not just smart contracts. This is from an article on . In this case, tokens used to replace parts of the contract overwrote other tokens, which allowed a smart hacker to change prices and make more money. Or steal it, with a contract change, I don't know that theft is actually the correct term. Read the rest of
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Acknowledging Success
12/13/2021
Acknowledging Success
Today is the Redgate annual award event, and I'm honored to be hosting again. I've been asked a few times, and I used to look forward to the gathering in Cambridge followed by our annual Christmas party. Last year this was virtual, as it is this year, so I'm hosting again from my home office. Not what I had hoped would happen, but I'll have some fun. Last year I had a number of shirt changes between my parts, and I may do that again. I know there are often annual sales awards in many companies, usually with some vacation or prize being given out, but not a lot outside of the sales department. In most of my jobs, we've usually had some sort of holiday party, but nothing else for most employees. Read the rest of
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Worse Before Better
12/06/2021
Worse Before Better
There was inside an organization. IT notes that often there is a problem and someone is assigned or hired to fix them. Often when someone starts to dig in, they can fix some things and reduce the pain. That's good, as things get better. However, as you gain more knowledge of the issue, sometimes you realize there are more fundamental problems. If you try to fix them, you might make things worse. This could result in a repeat of the process of worsening and bettering of the problems over time. You might not make much progress if new people are constantly assigned when things get worse. If you stick with the person that is working on underlying problems, things get better over the long term. I don't know how often I find management willing to stick with the same person. Read the rest of
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Getting Beyond Passwords
12/06/2021
Getting Beyond Passwords
Most of us that work with SQL Server likely use either the Windows authentication or a user name and password when connecting to an instance in SSMS or ADS. It's how we've operated for years, and likely will for some time to come. If you connect to Azure cloud resources, perhaps you use some multi-factor authentication (MFA), but that's a minority of us. If is a picture of the real world, far too few people are using authentication beyond passwords for many services. While plenty are using fingerprints, patterns, or face recognition on a mobile device, that's usually the extent to which they actually go beyond a password. I've actually started to see people using PINs on laptops instead of a password, which feels like a step backward. Read the rest of
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When to Use a Database
12/03/2021
When to Use a Database
One of the trends of the last ten years has been for many developers to try and avoid using a relational database where possible. Some look to NoSQL data stores, and others even consider flat file type stores of JSON or other formats that allow developers to work with speed and agility. Quite often it seems that applications grow to require some sort of relational store, often as an additional data store. I ran across that is often performing work in R or Python on datasets. At some point, the post notes that when your dataset(s) become larger than memory, you might want to consider using a local database of some sort. Read the rest of
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Taking Stock of Your Career
11/26/2021
Taking Stock of Your Career
Yesterday was Thanksgiving in the US, a day where families typically celebrate together and many people give thanks for what is going well in their lives. It's also one of the days when more businesses and services are closed than any other day of the year. This is the time of year when most businesses look forward and plan the future. It's also a time when lots of individuals may do the same thing, getting ready to make resolutions or attempt to change their lives in the new year. Read the rest of
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A Strange AI Achievement
11/23/2021
A Strange AI Achievement
We are seeing AI and ML becoming used in more and more industries, but one that seems to be a place where it is embraced with some success. From speech recognition and transcription to analyzing imaging, computers have helped medical professionals improve the care they give to patients. Just as CAD has helped manufacturers, AI systems are being used in medical research, trying to model and screen medications to try and determine which ones are potentially useful in treating various diseases. We also have used them to better tailor treatments for certain diseases, like some cancers. It seems that applying computing against vast troves of data is proving itself beneficial. Read the rest of
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The Complexity of Modern Systems
11/22/2021
The Complexity of Modern Systems
I am a big advocate of version control and testing for your software. The main reason is that modern systems are incredibly complex, and capturing what has been done (and what is happening), along with looking for potential issues, is important. It might be critical for ensuring you have success in building software. Part of the reason is . Now I don't think the complexity is killing software developers. I do think it adds to developers' stress, and in poorly managed environments, the complexity makes for a poor job experience for many. While I do think most people are smart, and they find ways to overcome this, they just don't enjoy the process. Read the rest of
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Where is the Puck Going?
11/19/2021
Where is the Puck Going?
During the PASS Data Community Summit last week, , and it was great. I really enjoyed the format and topic, and I look forward to how someone else might be creative next year with the time. I'd certainly love to do the keynote, though not sure I'd be eligible. I'm hoping a few others get interested and compete for the slot in 2022. One of the things Brent mentioned was about looking for skills to focus on, primarily for "builder," or those that develop new applications. He used : "I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been." The reference is to pick things that will be relevant in the future (where the puck will be), not where things are today. Read the rest of
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The API Bottleneck
11/17/2021
The API Bottleneck
While talking with a client recently about their performance challenges, I was relieved to find that the database wasn't the problem. Instead, their API server was overloaded by the number of calls taking place in their application. While the database did provide the backing for the API calls, there was a fair amount of caching. However, as they'd moved to microservices, more and more of the interaction between modules was taking place as a network call to a single server, which became overloaded.Certainly, they could add more API servers, or break out different types of API servers, but each of these changes potentially has downsides. Data can become out of sync across two systems, which is why we often want a single database storing all data. Distributed systems are hard to architect and implement, and I suspect as more developers try to build them, we'll find more issues like this. Not that developers are doing anything wrong, but they often don't realize the challenges of building a distributed system when the workload scales. Read the rest of
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Summit Reflections
11/16/2021
Summit Reflections
This is the second year that the annual PASS Data Community Summit has been virtual. Last year, as a pandemic gripped the world, I thought we might never see another one. I'm glad we have one this year, and I look forward to going back to . That being said, this year's event has been better than I expected in many ways, mostly because of . I can remember walking through the hallway of the Washington State Convention center and seeing coming the other way. We stepped to the side of the hallway and had a chat among hundreds of people walking by. I thought about that in the Community Zone when he and I, with a couple others, were talking with each other in a group, away from others that were also in the room. We could see their avatars, but we were far enough away in the virtual space that our conversation didn't upset others. Read the rest of
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Is the Database a Series of Microservices?
11/12/2021
Is the Database a Series of Microservices?
Not too long ago I was explaining to a group of developers a few reasons why database development and deployment is more challenging than application work. As I was talking about the different objects and the dependencies between them, an analogy occurred to me. The database is like a series of micro-services. Read the rest of
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A Summit Rebirth in 2022
11/10/2021
A Summit Rebirth in 2022
This year the SQL Server and Data Platform community is getting together for the annual Summit virtually. You can for free. The content is also being recorded, and if you register, you can watch it later, or re-watch it, at your convenience. It's free training for your career across , so take a moment and fill out the form. There's another good reason to register now. Next year's Summit will be hybrid, with the in-person portion happening back in Seattle next fall. However, there will be a limited number of tickets available for those that want to travel to the event and be in the same room as other professionals. Tickets for the live portion are only going to be available to people registered for this year's event, so make sure you head over to . You can also read about the announcement on . Read the rest of
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SQL Server vNext
11/08/2021
SQL Server vNext
We now know when the next version of SQL Server is coming. At Ignite last week, , which comes nearly 3 years after the last version, SQL Server 2019. Apparently, the pandemic's effects include delays in product development as it's been nearly three years since SQL Server 2019. The new version is in preview, with a few new features announced. There's also , but if you want a quick summary of things, read on. There were a few items that get me a bit excited about the changes. The first is that we get some query improvements with regard to parameter sniffing in stored procedures. This has been a constant problem for many databases and workloads for years. This is because only one plan has been kept in the cache. That changes in SQL Server 2022, as the instance can now keep multiple plans around. It will be interesting to see if this helps many customers. Read the rest of
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What I Learned at Community Summits
11/04/2021
What I Learned at Community Summits
I went to the first Community Summit in 1999. This was one of the first conferences of my career, and I was excited to have one focused on SQL Server and data. I met Kalen Delaney and shook her hand after having her educate me about how tempdb worked in SQL Server 7. That event started a 20-year journey of traveling to subsequent Summits nearly every year since. Over the years, I have a lot of memories from Summits, mostly of people that I've met and talked with. Much of the time I've been at any of the Summits was spent on networking and business purposes more than learning, but I have picked up a few things along the way. Early on Brian Knight and I delivered a presentation in a debate format. We were talking about the pros and cons of using identities. It was an enjoyable session and one where we learned a few things. A developer from Microsoft was in the audience and helped clarify some of the specific numbers related to limitations and scaling issues with using the feature. Read the rest of
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Pulling Together
10/07/2020
Pulling Together
When the COVID-19 Pandemic grew rapidly in early 2020, medical supplies were in short supply. Different areas and organizations struggled with different types of issues, and one of the higher profile issues was with ventilators. In March, the projections were dire and quite a few hospitals were worried about the supplies of these devices. This was especially disconcerting given how many people were being placed on them and how long it takes to produce them. I met someone at that time that said getting a car company to produce these wasn't possible. The factories were specialized and converting machinery and people wasn't something that could be done in months. This was someone that claimed to have over 30 years of manufacturing experience. Read the rest of
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Build the VCS Habit
03/16/2020
Build the VCS Habit
I've preached the value of Version Control Systems (VCS) for many years now. In , in the on development, CI, DevOps, and more, I always talk about the value of a VCS. One thing I often say is that if someone won't use version control, they aren't a professional. I don't say professional developer, professional DBA, or anything else. You're not a technology professional without knowing how to use a VCS in 2020. You certainly can't work for me if you won't use one. I saw a on the ways in which a SQL Server professional can benefit from a VCS. Many of us working with SQL Server aren't developers, we may not be some DevOps engineer. We might be someone that manages systems or handles backups. We might be someone that deals with complex HA, DR, or replication processes. We may be report writers or ETL developers. Read the rest of
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