Ronald Dameron - IT beats loading bombs

The DBA teams asked if I could create a job in our maintenance routines to do a native backup of the master database instead of a Litespeed backup. Their reason was they weren't able to restore master using Litespeed because the database server had to be in single-user mode to do such a restore and Litespeed required two connections to the server to do the task. I mentioned that there are instructions in the Litespeed help files for a master database restore. The team told me that it didn't work for them. So, I took the task to validate the instructions found here https://support.quest.com/search/SolutionDetail.aspx?id=SOL13484 I took a backup of the master database at 9:44 AM. Next, I created a login on the server after the backup called ThisLoginWillNotBeHereAfterMasterDatabaseRestore to prove the master database restore did in fact happen. This login will no longer exist after the upcoming master database restore because it was not

I was told d uring the initial implementation of Ola Hallengren's Maintenance Solution at my workplace that it was too hard to find database backup files in the default folder structure his solution creates.    The concern was that it took too long to find the oldest file or the biggest file when trying to resolve a space issue on a database server. Ola's solution creates a folder tree with these elements. Drive:\root\ServerName\DatabaseName\TypeOfBackup You specify the backup drive and root folder using the Directory parameter of the DatabaseBackup stored procedure. When I originally solved this problem, Windows XP was in use.  I wish I had spent more time figuring this out because I had to modify Ola's database backup procedure to dump all the backups into one folder in order for the DBA teams to sign off on the initial deployment. It only takes a couple of minutes to search using Windows Explorer in Windows XP but finding files in a folder tree has gotten much easi

When you've done this for a living. This isn't usually that hard. I recall a discussion on Twitter about how IT pros handle stress. My own personal experience was... WORKING CONDITIONS: Works indoors and outdoors, in inclement weather, and on icy, wet, or slippery ramps and aircraft surfaces in temperature and humidity extremes. Subject to dangers from exposure to toxic fumes, high-pressure air and fluids, fast actuating aircraft surfaces such as landing gear, speed brakes, and flaps.  Dangers also include engine noise, jet blast, jet intakes, explosive munitions, electrical voltage cartridge actuated devices, liquid oxygen, fire, aircraft fuels, lubricants, paints, hydrazine, and solvents. When a production outage occurs, wouldn't you rather have someone who has safely handled bombs?  Anything at the office is a cake walk after loading bombs or having RPGs shot at you.  Hire a vet. I salute our nation's veterans on Veteran's Day.   It's

I spoke at the Tampa - Hillsborough SQL Server User Group meeting on Thursday, September 26, 2013. I presented "Cure your sysadmin addiction" covering how to strictly manage your SQL Server sysadmin role membership. The projector cooperated or I've gotten better at using one.  Interestingly, I am presenting a PowerPoint presentation using LibreOffice Impress running on Ubuntu Linux 12.04 LTS. How's that for interoperability? Linux plays nice even with Microsoft formats. There were several good questions and a nice amount of discussion about the topic. The materials can be downloaded here Thank you to all that attended.

On Saturday, September 14, 2013, I presented my session "Cure your sysadmin addiction" at SQL Saturday #232 in Orlando at Seminole State College .  I can prove it. I have pictures.  On the left, I'm wearing my speaker shirt " Bubba-style ".  The best #SQLSat232 tweet was... My session was right after lunch and the speaker group picture so I had to hurry to my session at 2 PM Once again, getting the projector to play nice with my laptop proved to be difficult. I could not get PowerPoint Presenter View to work correctly.   Running Windows 8 as a guest OS in VirtualBox on a Ubuntu Linux 12.04 LTS host should not be this difficult.  Should it? Why does this always happens when  Rob Volk  is in the room? That's Rob on the right. I did test my setup prior to my talk.  It worked at home.  Here's proof.   Believe me now Mr. Dunagan ?  ;-) I think I need to run the Guest OS in F

I'll be speaking at SQL Saturday #232 in Orlando, FL on Saturday, September 14, 2013. The information  for this always outstanding event can be found  here . I will be presenting "Cure your sysadmin addiction" .  If you have the requirement to reduce DBA permissions in your Production environment due to Risk and Compliance mandates, you should attend.  This will be my third time speaking in Orlando and my eleventh SQL Saturday overall. SQL Saturdays are an extremely inexpensive way for IT Pros to gain an edge in a competitive job market and to develop a network that can help you at your current job or find that next job. Get an edge, attend!

I had the pleasure of presenting for the new PASS Security Virtual Chapter on August 29, 2013.   My presentation  "Cure your sysadmin addiction" describes the fundamentals of Separation of Duties, reviews SQL Server fixed server roles and granular permissions and the steps I took to reduce DBA permissions in our Production environments to satisfy a mandate from the management and our IT Risk and Compliance group. If you missed it, the session was recorded.  Please forgive the audio difficulties at the beginning. Once I dialed into the session, it went smoothly. Thank you to K. Brian Kelley , Argenis Fernandez , and Robert Davis for the opportunity.