I can’t think of many conversations I’ve had with those considering new versions of database software and/or cloud that haven’t included “…and we won’t need DBAs??” This has been true of moving to new releases of SQL Server, and new functionality in the cloud or even working up hybrid solutions. Egad. I was reading this post on Network World that […]

I was reading an article on eWeek (actually a slideshow) that was talking about best practices to apply to secure your database (technically your data). While the usual suspects are there – encryption and access controls and the like (which is great), I was surprised at the recommendation to use open source databases for a more secure environment. The post […]

This sort of reminds me of the “I don’t use the GUI, I’m a command line person, or “I use ISQL still, it’s faster and cleaner” or… yeah. I’d have to say that, early on, I did tend to avoid overly complex GUIs and advanced tools where the information about our systems was shown first in a graphical, very pretty, […]

There are a huge number of different alternatives when it comes to platforms and tools that you have available to you when laying out your systems. How are YOU choosing? I ask after reading Craig Mullins post to TechTarget, talking about all of the different tools and choices you have when it comes to operational database systems. This was, frankly, […]

I think more and more we’ll see some really cool things happening with the integration of machine smarts into the flow of work and operations… There is real leverage to be had by an always-on watchful eye on our systems. Things can start to be detected in process, things like unwanted access, breaches, runaway code, etc. By looking at what […]

More than a decade of patches and updates later, Slammer is back. This is all about keeping current and keeping your systems updated. In this case, beyond SQL Server 2000. Yes. 2000. It’s hard to believe there are some out there still trying to execute this exploit. But what may be harder to believe is, unless they’re just simply crazy, […]

When we decide to make our big move to the cloud, we learned… a lot. We learned all sorts of things about options, settings, security and not-custom infrastructure things. Quite a bit of this is good to know, and best practices, but some was just a fact of moving as we did. This is part 2 of moving to the […]

We’re soft-announcing a new thing for the virtual conference (sounds so official, yes? “a new thing”). It’s our incubator series. What it comes down to is a free booth for new startup type companies. The idea is that we really want to support the growing community of developers, companies, new companies and such – those that are just getting started […]

So far, I’ve been talking mostly about the good that has come out of our move to the cloud for hosting and services on SSWUG.ORG (and vConferenceOnline.com). But of course there have been some lessons learned too. Along the way, we’ve learned quite a bit about how to, and perhaps not to, do things in the cloud. Here are a […]

We have had a large assortment of learnings from the move to fully-hosted services. Yesterday’s post talked about these a litlle, and I wanted to expand on that a bit with some additional things that have gone really well in our transition. Better Accessibility to Updates Perhaps one of the most evident changes as we’ve moved to a more managed […]