New SQL Server Show
[Watch] On the show today, Donald Farmer, Jeremy Lowell and Ben Hoelting. Tips, industry direction and insight, how-to information and a lot more in these great interviews.
Take a look at the show – I guarantee you it’s unlike any you’ll see anywhere else. 😉 I’d also love to have your feedback – what segments would you like to see in the future (take a look at the archives for other non-interview episodes) – we’re looking at book reviews, user group information, continuing tech tips and even remote guests and experts. What else would you like to see? Drop me an email and let me know.
Also Available:
[Watch] SelectViews #126 – We had some more amazing people in the office this week and we have some great interviews. Watch the interviews with Chris Shaw, Daniel Galant, Rachel Appel and Rebecca Isserman – great information sharing!
[Watch] Adam Levithan, Vishal Shukla, Sarah Barela and Shannon Callaway.
[Watch] Eric Johnson, Josh Jones, Craig Utley, Erik Veerman.
Managing Your SharePoint Security
Keeping track of security, including who has access to which resources on your system, is a really important and challenging aspect to managing your servers. Without the right steps in place, you can be unpleasantly surprised to find out that someone you thought was covered with limited access actually is enjoying full access to things they simply shouldn’t have. Idera’s Security Reporter tool in their SharePoint Admin Toolset will take care of this for you – it’ll let you know what’s going on throughout your SharePoint installation. Make sure you know, from site collections to libraries and documents, exactly what people are able to get to. Check out Idera’s SharePoint Admin Toolset and see how it works in your own environment with their free 14-day trial. Get more information here.
Featured Article(s)
Database Snapshot in SQL server 2005
Step by Step Database Snapshot in SQL server 2005
Database Pro Skills – A Reality Check
Leave it to SSWUG.ORG readers to keep things grounded in reality. Laura wrote in with a reminder that things aren’t always operating in a "best-case" type of situation. For sure, this is a huge consideration for most, if not all, of us:
"I definitely agree with your database fundamentals list, in a “best case” scenario.
In my situation, having an understanding of what you are working with is critical. Many of us are dropped into the DBA position in order to deal with “SQL Sprawl”. For me, that meant creating an inventory of where SQL was installed – no list existed – I used an AD/port “sniffer” to find all our SQL instances. More than half of these were not being backed up, and other maintenance was almost non-existent. Services were not set to restart, passwords were standard, and log files consumed disk space to the breaking point. So the first step required gaining a little bit of SQL knowledge and a lot of secretarial work.
“Extra” knowledge – TSQL coding, analysis, tuning – was gained on my own time. The daily SQL “chores” consume most of my time, especially now that we are “making do with less”. Those of us left in this field of I.T. must do the “fundamental” work on our own time, not company time. So, your comprehensive list is somewhat overwhelming – there are only so many hours in the day."
This is a really important point. You need to almost layout your targets, then pick at them in tiny pieces to keep moving forward. Certainly it’s not a case where you can just devote all of your time (unless you’re exceedingly lucky) to new skills and moving on new ideas.
That said, if you feel you want or need to move into these other things, by all means, make the time. Do whatever you can – and in some cases it might be a teeny-tiny step for now, but over time, it will really add up. Find out how to link up Excel. Find out out to work with permissions and build a simple report. Just do something, anything, to move forward and keep tuning your skills.
Featured White Paper(s)
Thinking Beyond Tape: The Case Against Tape Backup
Many companies are already backing up their main and branch office systems to tape, but what they don’t understand is just ho… (read more)