Editorials

Looking to Become a DBA? (The feedback) (RE-SEND)

by Stephen Wynkoop

From the editor…
Due to an error in the newsletter process, the editorial and featured content was not included in today’s email newsletter. We’re re-sending the newsletter with these portions included. Thanks for all the email about the missing bits!

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Database Snapshots first appeared in SQL Server with the release of SQL Server 2005. The quick once-over definition of what a database snapshot is can be covered in a simple statement: “A Database Snapshot is a read only copy of the database”.

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Looking to Become a DBA? (The feedback)
There was a lot of feedback to the questions prompted in the last editorial. Some really good ideas came out like Rob suggesting, “learn the concepts and the ‘why’". I have to admit many times I have been with a client and I am explaining why something is behaving the way it is and they would rather have it corrected. I can understand that seeing how they are the ones paying the bills, but if they had a better understanding of the “why”, chances are it would not happen again.

Mary asked, “What careers in technology do you feel are most needed? “. I see a lot of areas such as SSIS and SSRS appearing as skills that are needed in the industry; I think companies are starting to look at what their data can really tell them. The only place that I think could have a bigger growth area is DBA’s that understand SAN Technology. There is a lot to learn about a SAN and it may be a big jump, however I think you will find that your databases will perform better and have better redundancy when both technologies are understood.

Andy made a great point that I have talked about in the past, but as a new upcoming DBA one of the best things that you can do to help you succeed is to have a mentor, someone to work with that will understand the issues your database is facing and give you suggestions, maybe point you in the right direction to look and, when you are ready, you can become a mentor. A great place to hook up with mentors is at your local user group and I think I am going to suggest that to our group next month.

The final comment I have space for is from Rob. “It takes 20% of the time to learn 80% of DBA work and 80% of the time to learn the last 20%. This last 20% does take hands on time and experience and is needed for senior positions, but I think there is a lot you can do to learn the rest.” Rob, I cannot agree with you more. I can’t help but think about how many good DBA’s we could mentor or train if we all had 20% of our time to study a week when we are first learning. That is 4 days a month for a 20 day work month. I believe that if companies could afford to have their staff take 20% of their time each week and train to learn something new on SQL Server, we would see much fewer mistakes, better written code, failovers plans improved and I think the biggest benefit to the company is the morale it would give the employees…it would be staggering.

Awesome feedback, I cannot wait to see more.

Chris Shaw (chris@sswug.org)


Did You Know?
Did you know that having "Auto-Grow" enabled for your database can impact performance unnecessarily? By telling SQL Server to grow the database as needed, rather than having the space pre-allocated, SQL Server has to do the work of expanding the database. If you have a need for increasing space, consider simply allocating that space based on your projections. It will help keep SQL Server from having to do the work in real-time.

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Author: Stephen WynkoopStephen is the founder of SSWUG.ORG and a Microsoft Data Platform MVP. He contributes editorials, webcasts, and sessions for the site and its associated events.