I have been a judge for the Exceptional DBA of the Year Awards ever since its inception, and one of the questions that is asked on the application form is “What is the biggest mistake you have made as a DBA, and how did you deal with it”. This question produces some interesting answers, many of which provide important lessons for all DBAs. I have collected some of those responses from past years, not for the current 2011 Exceptional DBA of Year Awards entries, which I think you will find educational. I have edited these entries for readability and to remove any potential confidential information. Hopefully you will learn from these DBAs’ mistakes, and not make the same ones yourself.
Author Archives: Brad
Where Do You Go for Authoritative SQL Server Best Practices?
Reprinted from my editorial in Database Weekly.
In early 2000, I started a new DBA job with a large organization, as their first full-time SQL Server DBA. My first job was to clean up the mess left by several accidental DBAs who had gone before me, and who had implemented several SQL Server instances without really knowing what they were doing.
Do You Ever Physically Defragment Your SQL Server MDF & LDF Files?
Every since the first file was written to a floppy disk drive using DOS, physical file fragmentation has been a problem. Essentially, when the OS writes a file to a disk subsystem, and if contiguous clusters are not available, they are written elsewhere on disk. So when a file is stored on disk in a non-contiguous manner on a disk subsystem, the file is considered to be physically fragmented. Physical file fragmentation can contribute to an additional load on your I/O subsystem and reduce performance because the disks have to work harder to read and write data. This is because the heads on disk drive have to randomly jump around to different physical locations on the disk to find all of the data, instead of reading and writing the data sequentially, as when the data is contiguous.
devLINK Technical Conference to be Held in Chattanooga, TN, August 17-19
This year’s devLINK Technical Conference will be held at the Chattanooga Convention Center, Chattanooga, TN this upcoming August 17-19, 2011. This three day event includes over 120 sessions, costs only $100, the least expensive full conference you can attend anywhere. While the conference is developer-oriented, it still offers plenty of SQL Server sessions.
I will be presenting a session on “Inside the SQL Server Transaction Log”. Other SQL Server speakers include Joe Webb, Robert Cain, David Buckingham, and Jeremiah Peschka.
Nominations are Open for the Fourth Annual Exceptional DBA Awards
SQLServerCentral.com, along with Red Gate Software, are glad to announce that nominations for the fourth annual Exceptional DBA Awards are now open. Four years ago, the award was established to help bring about more awareness regarding the importance of the DBA role among the IT community. So far, three DBAs have won the award, and you or a co-worker could be the winner this year if you enter.
100% Microsoft?
Reprinted from my editorial in Database Weekly.
When I was a junior DBA many years ago (even before the company I work for now, Red Gate Software existed), I ran across some third-party software for SQL Server that I thought could really benefit my productivity and save my organization money. I presented my case, proving how the new software would be beneficial to the company. My boss agreed with that the new software would indeed boost my productivity, he refused my request. When I asked why, he answer was “We are a 100% Microsoft shop, and I don’t want to introduce any third-party software into the mix.” He continued to say, “If we should every have any problem with the third-party software, then Microsoft and the third-party software company would point fingers at each other, and the problem would never get solved.”
Brad M McGehee 