New SQLonCall Show Is Live
In this week’s show, Chris talks about how to get started on the job as a DBA: Your First Month on the Job – Things to think about, working triage on the job, lessons learned. Find out about how to dig through the noise and figure out where you should start.
> Watch the Show Here
> Watch the latest SelectViews Here
Make SURE Your Servers Are Sync’d
Transfer database changes from one server to another quickly and safely. Whether you are a developer or a database administrator xSQL’s tools will save you significant amount of time and effort. They support both SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2000 and they allow for cross-version database comparison. They even come with the xSQL Command Line Utility and they are available for FREE as a fully functional Lite Edition for smaller databases, inclusing SQL Server Express. Read the 5-star SSWUG review, or get your own copy of the software here.
Webcast Tomorrow: Moving from SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2005 Security
We’ll look into the differences between the approaches to security, how they apply to your database, the information you’re managing and tips along the way. There are some strong abilities in SQL Server 2005 and this show will look to explain the differences from the perspective of moving from SQL Server 2000. We’ll compare and contrast and make sense of the updates so you’re ready to move forward.
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> Oct 4 2007 at 12:00pm Noon Pacific
The Eternal DBA Conflict
Ralph responded to my post yesterday about the whole "you’re responsible, but don’t have any authority" type post. Not exactly what I was saying, but I’ll exercist poetic license.
Here’s what Ralph had to say:
"As I see it, from the perspective of 35+ years of involvement in multiple companies, there are some fundamental issues involved in this discussion.
On the one hand, upper and middle management is coming under increased pressure and scrutiny with regard to data integrity and data security (e.g. SOX and other legislation to say nothing of pressures from consumers/business clients). This leads them to feel the need to "address" those issues and to establish some comfort level (and, all too often, some level of "plausible deniability") with regard to their considerations of those issues. As such, they want a database/system design that they can understand and that they can perceive to have addressed and mitigated the issues of data integrity and security.
On the other hand, upper and middle management has an incredible amount of corporate inertia that tends to perpetuate whatever has been done in the past. As a result, they don’t really want to change how they have done things. Couple that with the fact that they don’t seem to really trust IT (probably because they don’t really _understand_ IT) and you get a hesitancy (if not aversion) on the part of upper and middle management to include _any_ IT in corporate decision/policy making, even with regard to data. Now, add in the fact that a DBA will tend to give them answers to their questions and to critique their proposed data handling based upon the _actual_ need for and solution to data integrity and security rather than the _desired_ answers/critiques that upper and middle management want to hear and you get a further tendency for them to exclude DBAs.
Of course, whether IT and/or DBAs are included in the corporate decision/policy making process or not, it is incumbent upon upper and middle management to require IT and DBAs to ensure the data integrity and security and, therefore, to require IT and DBAs to accept any blame for any failures in those areas. "After all, it is not the job of upper and middle management to make sure the data is secure nor is it their job to maintain data integrity. That is the job of IT and the DBA and the failure of IT and/or the DBA to use the appropriate tools and standard industry practices to maintain data integrity and security cannot be laid at the feet of upper and middle management." (Note: The quote is taken from a "root cause analysis" of a situation that occurred at a previous employer . . . the only "root cause" that was judiciously omitted by the politically astute committee was the fact that the "appropriate tools" had been requested but denied and the "standard industry practices" had been bypassed at the direct insistence of upper and middle management. 😉 "
I have to say, I really appreciate the SSWUG audience. The comments and feedback sent in as we explore different topics is really outstanding. Many thanks for this and SO many other messages now and before – it’s great to work with you all!
Webcast: Infrastructure Optimization for Mission-Critical SQL Server
For SQL Server, the difference between an optimized infrastructure and a disjointed one is the difference between spending nights and weekends reacting to changes in your IT requirements versus being in control of your IT environment and a proactive strategic partner with your business units. When it comes to maintenance and management requirements, capacity changes and service availability, IT organizations can realize tremendous gains by uniting and optimizing the infrastructure components they already own. In this HP-sponsored webcast, you’ll learn techniques to eradicate server sprawl, slash overhead and find dramatic improvements in management and availability for even your most mission-critical SQL Server environments.
> Register Now
> Oct 10 2007 at 12:00pm Noon Pacific
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