Why is it such a cliché to complain about our parents? You hear it from friends or in films all the time…”damn, I have to go to my folks for dinner. It’s gonna be rough.” It’s a tale as old as time. As our parents age (and retire), they inevitably participate in the world less. They interact with the world far … Read more
Every year, folks make resolutions and set goals for the new year. It would be interesting to have some real numbers comparing success in 2020 to a typical year, but I bet that many of us have failed or at least had to postpone plans and goals. I had no idea that my trip to … Read more
This year has been difficult for most of us, and it’s almost over. The lives of people throughout the world have been turned upside down. Many of us, myself included, already worked remotely, but now face a multitude of new challenges. When confronted with the looming crisis in March, Redgate thought first about the safety … Read more
Do you cringe while scrolling through social media? When have you ever felt better after scrolling? If you feel like social media is a net-loss for collective mental health, you’re not alone. We post in superabundance with flailing emotions. We flaunt our duck-faced selfies with smooth-faced filters until we don’t even look human. We hammer … Read more
Redgate has recently opened the 2021 State of Database DevOps Survey. Whether or not your organization does DevOps, I would love for you to take the survey. The survey will require around 15 minutes of your time, but I think it’s a great investment as it will benefit the whole community of database administrators, developers, and … Read more
I attended a training session at Redgate this week by Chris Spalton. Chris’ session topic was “An Introduction into Planning User Research.” Chris pointed out that there’s much more to User Research, but that planning the research is particularly important as it is the foundation for everything you do later. If you’re a database administrator … Read more
Conventional wisdom says that communication is the critical for success in just about any aspect of life, be that personal relationships or within teams or corporations. Of course, miscommunication can cause all sorts of problems. Communication has changed drastically over the past few centuries due to technology. We’ve gone from the ability to speak mostly … Read more
Whenever I teach database topics to a class of beginners, someone inevitably says that Microsoft Excel is a database. Excel is an amazing tool with built-in functionality for financial calculations, statistics, and more, but it’s not a database. It’s great for keeping track and organizing small amounts of data, but it doesn’t meet the requirements … Read more
A very common tenet used when building out a DevOps style approach to automated deployment is the concept of failing fast. You want to identify issues with the changes in your code and structures as early as possible to protect the production environment. One of the most common methods to meet this requirement is setting … Read more
Classifying the data within an organization is not just something nice to do. It’s critical for complying with regulations such as The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), The Australian Privacy Act, and a host of other privacy laws enacted throughout the world. … Read more
Think of online conferences in the same way you would an in-person event … and then think again. Here at Redgate, there’s a strong emphasis on learning and development that continues in this new world where COVID-19 has stripped away the chance for us to meet face-to-face safely. As Redgate’s Events Marketing Manager, it’s been … Read more
Many are finding the quarantine a net gain for mental health. Here’s why… The FOMO has been eliminated. There is no longer a “fear of missing out”. For the first time in memory, that type of FEAR is gone. There are no events, no places to be, nowhere to go…everyone is in the same boat. Our worlds are … Read more
I gave a session for the recent PASS Marathon entitled “Modern T-SQL for Better Performance.” During the session, I talked mostly about windowing functions. These functions introduced in 2005 and 2012 not only make writing T-SQL code easier, but often it’s better performing as well. In many cases, they can help you avoid self-joins and … Read more
Books are usually meant to be read in an analogue fashion. Start at page one and keep on going until the book is done. Some people take an early peek at the end of mysteries to see how they turn out, but isn’t that cheating? In today’s digital world, it isn’t easy – at least … Read more
While individual buzzwords will come in and out of fashion, the ideas at the heart of DevOps aren’t going anywhere. Like any good buzzword, DevOps may mean different things to different people. There are several good definitions of DevOps out there. My favorite definition comes from @IanColdwater, who defined DevOps in terms a teenager would understand: Devops … Read more
The PASS organization announced last week that the 2020 Summit, originally planned for Houston this November, will now be held virtually. This is bittersweet for me, since going to the Summit has been the highlight of almost every year since 2003. I had decided, however, that I would not attend in person this year unless … Read more
We’ve lived in our current home for 30 years and have managed to accumulate a lot of possessions. We have closets, drawers, cabinets and a storage shed filled with things, many of which we don’t remember buying or receiving in the first place. I haven’t quite gotten into the Marie Kondo way of organizing yet, … Read more
This marks the third year that Redgate have launched a survey to better understand how organisations monitor their databases. This year, 971 database professionals from around the world responded. Here are some of the key insights from the survey: Estates are growing more than ever Companies who reported over 1,000 SQL Server instances grew 9% … Read more
A lot of folks have taken advantage of more time at home recently to pick up new skills and hobbies. In my case, I have started learning more about 3D printing. I bought an entry level 3D printer about a year ago to have something fun to do with my grandson during the summer. The … Read more
Most of us have found our lives turned upside down in recent weeks as we try to shelter in place, work from home, or care for our families. There are many ways to cope with the situation. On Facebook, I see my friends talk about cooking and baking, watching hours of streamed content, trying to … Read more
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Compliant Database DevOps
Standardize team-based development
Automate database deployments
Monitor performance and availability
Protect and preserve data
