Monthly Archives: July 2012
Money, My Two Cents
For some unknown reason, I have seen many articles and blogs lately regarding money. Maybe its my subconscious, I don’t know. Here are a couple of things that I have learned over the years.
First of all, money does buy happiness, to some degree. If you are not a happy person, then chances are whether you have money or not will not matter. I used to tell people who only rich people said that money cannot buy happiness and to some degree that is true because when you have money you can buy a jet ski. Have you ever seen anyone unhappy on a jet ski. I didn’t think so. Unless you just ran out of gas.
Don’t get me wrong, there are people who win the lottery everyday and they are miserable and then they eventually go broke. Why? Because they thought money would bring them happiness. It doesn’t work that way. Money only buys you the opportunity to be happy, it is up to you to make it happen.
Now for the elephant in the room, making more money in your job. A pay increase can only go so far to making you happy especially when the environment is toxic. However, I have found that the opposite is also true. When the market continues to move upward and your pay remains stagnant, it is only a matter of time before you will feel undervalued. There are people who stay for other reasons, obviously, but there will be a value to other intangibles and once that threshold is met, most people will leave for greener pastures.
I would think that if a company was unwilling to pay you the market value for your services, then you probably will not be happy in general for an extended period of time. I also understand that with some companies, there is no amount of money that will make you happy because there are too many other problems to compensate for the increase in pay. What do you think?
Presentation Ponderings
After my first presentation at SQL Saturday Pensacola, I am ready to do another and need to submit for SQL Saturday Orlando later this month. All of that is not a problem, I just don’t know if I should do what I did in Pensacola and expand on it because the audience seemed to enjoy it or forge a new path. I have good arguments for both, maybe I will submit both and see which one gets picked, if they get picked, of course. I have three weeks to decide, but I should not wait until the last minute.
The presentation that I did in Pensacola was the Seven Deadly Sins of the SQL Server DBA. The other one I am thinking about doing is just a straight up best practices install guide. I am very passionate about best practices and there are so many people who I’ve spoken with said that they wish they had known some of the best practices at the time of their install instead of correcting them after the fact. It also may help that I was asked to give the Seven Deadly Sins at the next Tampa Bay user group meeting this month, so we will see how that goes, maybe it was a one-hit wonder and the decision will be made for me? What do you think?
SQLChicken’s New Tool
Preparing to blog, I saw a new blog post by Jorge Segarra (blog | twitter) that will identify and alert you when you have long-running alert jobs. This is something that I have had on my list to sit down and write when I found some extra time (translation: never going to happen any time soon). I was so excited, I thought I would pass it on to you before I even played with it myself. The life of a DBA sometimes does include doing the happy dance when you see something totally cool. Enjoy!
Sunday Funday
Today’s installment of Sunday Funday is brought to you by the Code Project introducing the spatial datatypes available in SQL Server 2008: SQL Battleship 2008. Enjoy!
SQL Schoolhouse: Myths and Misconceptions Reading
Paul Randal (blog|twitter) did a wonderful month-long series on the Myths and Misconceptions with SQL Server a couple of years back and I thought it would make an excellent read for the Schoolhouse. Here is the link for the 60 page completely documented PDF version of the blog series. Enjoy!
Know Your (Pre-Defined DB) ROLE!
Yesterday we talked about the Rock and how he can help you with SQL Server security ala “know your role.”
Do you know your SQL Server pre-defined database security roles?
These pre-defined roles will allow their respective members to perform defined sets of activities within each database. It is important to realize that these exist in every database and you cannot drop these roles. They are as follows:
- db_owner Role: This is the Mac Daddy of fixed database roles as it can perform all configuration and maintenance activities on the database including dropping the database. It is the only role that members can add additional users to this role.
- db_securityadmin Role: Members of this role can modify role membership (except db_owner) and manage permissions.
- db_accessadmin Role: Members of this role can add or remove access to the database for Windows logins, Windows groups, as well as SQL Server logins.
- db_backupoperator Role: Members of this role can back up the database, that is all.
- db_ddladmin Role: Members of this role can run any Data Definition Language (DDL) command in a database, in other words they can run ALTER, CREATE, DISABLE TRIGGER, ENABLE TRIGGER, DROP, TRUNCATE, and UPDATE STATISTICS statements.
- db_datawriter Role: Members of this role can add, delete, or change data in all user tables.
- db_datareader Role: Members of this role can read all data from all user tables.
- db_denydatawriter Role: Members of this role cannot add, modify, or delete any data in the user tables within a database.
- db_denydatareader Role: Members of this role cannot read any data in the user tables within a database.
There are several of these that I rarely use, but they are there if I need them. Like the Rock says “know your role!” Enjoy your weekend!
Know Your ROLE!
In the famous words of The Rock “know your role and shut your mouth!” Well mainly we were going with “know your role.”
Do you know your SQL Server security roles?
A SQL Server role defines exactly what a user can and cannot do inside a database. It is also possible for multiple users be it AD users and groups or SQL Server users can share this role. Roles are similar to AD groups in Windows security except they only control security within databases.
Today we will discuss the fixed roles which are setup across the server instance and apply to all objects on the server. They are as follows:
- SysAdmin Role: This is the Mac Daddy of roles as it can perform any and all actions on the server.
- ServerAdmin Role: This role can change configuration options on the server. They can also shut down the server, choose them wisely.
- SetupAdmin Role: This role can manage linked servers, SQL Server startup options and tasks.
- SecurityAdmin Role: This role can only manage server security. They can also reset passwords saving you from the mundane task, if you have your own minions.
- ProcessAdmin Role: This role has the ability to kill processes running on the SQL Server aka SPID killer aka Die SPID die!
- DbCreator Role: This role can create, alter, drop and restore databases, which is pretty powerful just now Genie from Aladdin powerful.
- DiskAdmin Role: This role can manage the SQL Server disk files.
- BulkAdmin Role: This role can only run the bulk insert command (I have personally never seen used before).
- Public Role: Every user belongs to the public role by default and therefore you cannot change membership to this role. Keep in mind if you assign any permissions to this role it will apply across the entire instance.
There are several of these that I rarely use, but they are there if I need them. Like the Rock says “know your role!” Tomorrow we will discuss pre-defined database roles. Enjoy!
Happy Independence Day
I hope everyone had a great and safe Independence day today. I spent the entire day in the pool with friends eatinf jerk chicken and great ribs! Enjoy!
Friends, They Make Life Worth Living
Contemplating a couple of technical articles, but with a holiday tomorrow all I can think about is having a great holiday tomorrow. We are going to another family’s house for a pool party barbecue. We have many friends and many levels of friends, but having great friends makes all the difference in the world. We have other great friends, but we share vacations with this couple and we just enjoy hanging out with them.
That is the greatest feeling, having friends you love to be around that is. Now if my other friends are reading this, don’t worry we love you too. The more friends you have in your life the more rich your life will be. I hope you have great friends, too. If not, then invite me over because I am fun to hang out with ;-).
Personal Development Plan…Midway Status
Six months for 2012 are now in the books and I thought it would be a good time to revisit my original goals for the year and see what needs to still be done. My updates will be highlighted in bold.
- I will post daily to this blog in order to give back to the SQL community that has helped me so much over the years. So far so good here!
- I will spend time daily helping people on twitter, SQL blogs, and various SQL-related websites such as SQL Server Central. So far I have only been able to help on twitter and blogs.
- I am setting a goal of 300 followers on Twitter which would double my existing followers for 2011. I now have 315 followers, that is awesome, thank you everyone!
- I will attend at least ten of the twelve Tampa Bay SQL Server User Group meetings. So far I have not missed a monthly meeting.
- I will attend three to five other SQL User group meetings, such as the Tampa BI group or Orlando’s MagicPASS. I need to get going on this one as I have not made one of these yet, bad boy.
- I will attend every Tampa VMWare User Group meetings which occur quarterly. This is spot on, since the Tampa VMUG has not had a meeting since Dec 2011, I have not missed one yet.
- I will attend other events that interface with SQL Server or VMWare such as the Orlando IT Pro Camp scheduled for January 21, 2012. Missed the Pro Camp, will look for others.
- I will attend one Microsoft SQL training course this year, but I cannot say at this time what that course will be as that will depend upon my employer ;-). I would like to attend Course 2778a (Writing Queries Using Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Transact-SQL) and Course 6234 (Implementing and Maintaining Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services. Even better, I got to attend a SQLskills.com training!
- I will attend every SQL Saturday offered in the Orlando, Tampa, and Jacksonville areas. I would also like to attend some others, if possible, within driving distance. I am already registered for SQL Saturday #110 in Tampa on March 10, 2012. Had to miss Jacksonville because of a final in one of my college courses, but made up for it by going to Pensacola.
- I will volunteer to help with at least one SQL Saturday this year. Volunteered at Tampa, will do others later in the year as well.
- I would like to attend SQL Rally in Dallas this year and I would definitely like to attend the SQL PASS Summit, but with one child in college this year and two more entering over the next two years, I may have to pass on this one for a couple of years until they are situated and my bank account returns to normal. Rally was a no go, still hopeful for Summit.
- I will continue to take at least one to two classes a semester online in order to complete my degree in Business Administration. All those Engineering and Computer Science classes I took 20 years ago are not relevant today and I would like to possibly return to consulting in five or ten years and that degree would be more beneficial in that long term goal. Still attending classes regularly.
- I will continue SQLAndy’s recommendation to meet at least three people at every SQL event. This is a great recommendation for networking. It is hard sometimes to break out of our introverted ways. So far so good.
- I will attain my VMWare Certified Professional 4 certificate this year for VMWare. Not going to happen as VMWare retired the exam before my one year was completed, and I have not focused on VMWare as much as SQL Server.
- I would like to speak somewhere this year, my local SSUG, VMUG, or even a training session at work. I need to get over my fear of public speaking. 2012 is the year to step it up and take it to another level. Presented at Pensacola SQL Saturday and now will do my local user group.
Wow, I am well on track this year!
SQL Swampland 