Monthly Archives: February 2012
Dear Recruiter
Dear Recruiter:
I appreciate that you need to find someone to fill a position in order to make a living. I understand that and have used your services in the past. What I do not understand is why you continue to contact me about positions for technologies that I stopped using over ten years ago. I know its hard to find good talent, but please read my resume before you call and e-mail me multiple times. That is all!
Enjoy!
Database Snapshots, A Polaroid Into Your Soul
Database snapshots were introduced with SQL Server 2005 and are only available with Enterprise and Developer edition. Disclaimer is out-of-the-way, now onto the good stuff!
You can use snapshots to provide a snapshot into the soul of your data at a particular point in time. The snapshot is read-0nly, of course and is great for reporting or auditing purposes. Snapshots are much quicker than the previous method of restoring a backup to another database and setting it to read-only access. There is also some considerable space savings in a snapshot versus another copy of your MDF/LDFs.
Keep in mind the following limitations if you do decide to explore snapshots:
- Snapshots cannot be taken for system databases (not that big of a deal, in my opinion)
- Snapshots can only be created on an NTFS file system.
- As mentioned above, snapshots are read-only copies of the database, so changes to the data are obviously not p0ssible.
- Snapshots are I/O intensive and this should always be considered especially with limited resources.
- Snapshots are not supported for filestreams!
- Snapshots cannot be backed up or restored.
- Snapshots cannot be detached or attached.
- The source database cannot be detached, dropped or restored while there are snapshots present.
- If the source database is unavailable, then so will the snapshot be unavailable.
I feel like I am leaving off a couple of more limitations, but these are the ones I deal with mostly. I will blog more on this subject at a later time. Enjoy!
“You Can’t Sit Here!” Forrest
Do you remember the scene from Forrest Gump where he gets on the school bus for the first time and hears:
“This seat’s taken!”
“You can’t sit here!”
How many of us look for Jenny to invite us to sit down? Do you welcome new employees with open arms or do you throw them to the wolves? The environment in which employees work can determine their longevity and level of success. I would like to think that I am the male version of Jenny because that is how I would want to be treated. Do you teach others your SQL knowledge or do you hoard it?
What about you? Enjoy!
Upcoming Training…Yeah Baby
I’m stoked! My upcoming training class has been approved and my registration submitted! The class is three weeks away and I’m like a kid at Christmas waiting to open his present. Oh, it’s not your run of the mill Microsoft SQL Server training class….which would be great because I love training! This is Paul Randal’s (blog : twitter) Immersion Event for Internals and Performance (IE1). I cannot wait to blog about that class in three weeks!
Enjoy!
Sunday Funday
Sunday is a great day for SQL funday, so every Sunday I will post some fun, SQL related links for your enjoyment….
Today’s installment is a surprise! This is a clever and fun T-SQL script, so check it out!
Enjoy this #SQLAwesomeness!
Saturday SQL Schoolhouse
In our first installment of the Saturday SQL Schoolhouse for February, I wanted to share a blog post from SQL guru Paul Randal (blog : twitter) regarding shrinking your data files. Since this day is reserved for learning on this blog, I hope that every DBA will learn this fundamental lesson: DO NOT SHRINK YOUR DATA FILES! Read the following and talk amongst yourselves: In Recovery… | Why you should not shrink your data files.
Enjoy!
Insert Blog Title Here
[Insert witty comment here]. [Insert funny anecdotal story regarding life, my past, or my workplace]. [Insert second witty comment].
[Start new paragraph]. [Hope the reader hasn’t clicked on their Google bookmark on the favorites bar]. [Insert Google link just in case]. [Insert uplifting statement of hope and inspiration].
[Insert silly trademark ending such as ‘Enjoy!’]
P.S. This blog post has been brought to you by the Society For Mold Breaking (and you thought it stood for Server Messaging Block…silly rabbit tricks are for kids)
What Do You Wanna Be When You Grow Up?
When my teenagers were younger, I would often ask them this question and then I would ask their friends. The answers were amazing. I continued to ask them as they got older and the answers generally got better, more detailed. They were full of hope and promise. They were invincible.
I’ve asked this questions to my colleagues. Their answers aren’t generally as exciting and usually lacking in the hope department. When did we stop dreaming? When did we lose that dream we had as a five-year old?
Don’t ever stop dreaming. Make a list of goals. Create a personal development plan. Capture that magic you had as a five-year old! Enjoy!
Make the Time!
Learning SQL Server can be a full-time job. I hear from people in the IT community all the time that say they would love to learn SQL Server or some other cool technology….wait a minute, there is no other cool technology so strike that last comment. The response I give to them is simple: MAKE THE TIME!
If you want to remain gainfully employed it is necessary to take a proactive approach to continuing education. You cannot avoid doing this on your own, unless your employer sends you to several training classes every year. I love going to training classes! There I said it, I love training! On a routine basis, I beg my employer to send me to training and not just because I enjoy travel and hotel living. I love training classes! MAKE THE TIME!
In order to become a better DBA or programmer, you are going to need to spend time outside of work learning about SQL Server either through SQL Saturday, Code Camps, blogging or tweeting! MAKE THE TIME!
Enjoy!
SQL Swampland 