Last week, Steve Jones (@way0utwest), Grant Fritchey (@GFritchey), and I spent a few days at the Redgate Headquarters in Cambridge. Meeting at the office would not be unusual except for the times that we live in right now, as we typically get there about once a quarter. This is the first time that we’ve all … Read more
Each year Redgate runs a survey to determine the state of database monitoring. This year, instead of one large report, we are publishing four insight reports, each on a different topic. The first came out this month: The real-world challenges of growing server estates. The respondents reported several trends: DBAs are managing more instances than … Read more
I recently became a certified Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO). As of today, there are less than 110,400 of us in the world. When a colleague asked me what I had learned, I prattled off the usual salient features of what it means to be a PSPO. The same evening, however, the question returned to … Read more
The 2002 movie Minority Report is about a police unit called PreCrime, which can predict when people will commit a crime so they can be arrested before it happens. Things go awry when a team member played by Tom Cruise is himself “pre-accused.” To make predictions, they use technology and the special abilities of the … Read more
I am trying so hard not to roll my eyes right now. I re-read the sentence. “Cherish criticism instead of getting offended by it!” says the feedback in bright, breezy tones with a liberal dollop of self-righteousness. Try as I might, I cannot keep the patronising tone out of my head. I give up, and … Read more
No one is good at something right when they start. When starting something new, it’s normal to feel terrified or have “imposter syndrome.” You’ll constantly be rubbing shoulders with people that are more experienced, more talented, or seemingly more confident. It takes a long, long time to get good at something. Of course, there are … Read more
It was always important to me to keep up with the latest versions of SQL Server, but especially so when I was a database administrator or consultant. I wasn’t always able to work with the new versions right away in production, but at least I had an idea about features, capabilities, and benefits. Fifteen years … Read more
I recently presented a session about DevOps for DBAs, explaining what it is and why DBAs should care. One of the comments I received was “I thought I knew what DevOps was. Thanks to your session, now I know better.” Here’s one definition of DevOps: The union of people, process, and products to enable continuous … Read more
Many of you know that Redgate purchased some of the assets of PASS, namely session recordings, domain names, and trademarks. Shortly after that purchase, we began talking about what it would take to put on an event to revive PASS Summit. The first step was to survey to find out what people liked and wanted … Read more
Everyone needs deadlines. Even the beavers. They loaf around all summer, but when they are faced with the winter deadline, they work like fury. If we didn’t have deadlines, we’d stagnate. ― Walt Disney I hate deadlines. Really. I truly hate them. The problem is: they are usually unrealistic, often not much more than a wild … Read more
I began attending PASS Summit in 2003. I had no idea that it would change the course of my career and, well, life. Becoming part of the community I found through PASS inspired me to take my career to the next level by presenting and writing. It also led to some wonderful friendships and lots … Read more
Someone recently asked me which queries are ad hoc in SQL Server. An ad hoc query is a single query not included in a stored procedure and not parameterized or prepared. Depending on the server settings, SQL Server can parameterize some statements initially written as ad hoc queries. Ad hoc doesn’t mean dynamic. Here’s a … Read more
Redgate released the 2021 State of Database DevOps Report in February, and I wrote a short article talking about the key insights from the report. More recently, I decided to take a deeper look at the data, especially how folks from different roles answered the survey questions. To simplify my analysis, I grouped respondents into … Read more
When I was a DBA responsible for 40 to 50 SQL Server instances, I didn’t have many third-party tools to help me do my job. I remember that I was able to buy a tool to compress database backups before that functionality was built into SQL Server. I also had a handful of licenses for … Read more
I’ve noticed that some television shows have been incorporating the Covid-19 pandemic into their recent episodes. (There are some spoilers here, so read with caution!) A medical series, “The Good Doctor,” featured it in two episodes and then, magically, the pandemic was over. The popular series “This is Us” is trying to set a good … Read more
Synonyms inside SQL Server are one of those useful but forgotten features. A synonym is a database level object that allows you to provide an alternative name for another database object such as a view, user defined table, scalar function, stored procedure, inline table valued function (tvf), or extended stored procedure. They can also be … Read more
Recently, the editor of SQLServerCentral.com, Steve Jones, shared a video in our team Slack channel that talked about how you shouldn’t feel like an imposter when you get out of your comfort zone. It talked about how incredibly successful people didn’t know how to do what they eventually accomplished back when they started. For example, … Read more
This is the fifth year that Redgate has surveyed IT professionals about their organization’s DevOps practices. Each year, the number of respondents increases, reaching 3,200 submissions this year. An interesting new topic to consider this year is how the Covid-19 pandemic affected DevOps practices. Here are the some of the key insights found in the … Read more
If you are lucky enough to enjoy the work you do, it could be because you are frequently “in the zone.” The zone is a state of complete concentration, also called “flow,” where time seems to stand still, and performance is at its peak. Before I heard these terms, I often experienced deep concentration while … Read more
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Compliant Database DevOps
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Monitor performance and availability
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