There are many tools you can use to work with SQL Server and provide guidance and information about things that need attention in your systems. From best practices analyzers to classification tools, to performance management tools – there are a whole host of utilities that can help in significant ways. However, as you’re deploying and using these tools, it’s critical […]
Author: Stephen Wynkoop
Cloud Challenges: Updating Environments
Something that is becoming a significant effort in working with SQL Server and other systems in the cloud (whether it be on AWS or Azure or other services) is the fact that updates are happening nearly constantly. There have been other columns about that here on SSWUG, but it’s important to take a few minutes and think through your implementations. […]
Complexities of Deep Customer Knowledge
It’s the dream, really, to know more about your customers. To know how they use your services or goods and how you can better serve them. To have some sort of predictive knowledge about what they’ll want and to be able to be right there, right on time, just as they need, so they’ll never stray. This requires information – […]
How People Use Data, Is Changing Fundamental Tools
There is a great post by Haroon Choudry on LinkedIn, talking about whether SSRS’s days are numbered. In particular, is the use of PowerBI overshadowing the need for SSRS – and where do the respective data tools live, and where are they headed? These are clearly very different tools, and clearly very different applications. Or are they? It’s interesting that […]
With Privacy Laws Come New and Different Storage Requirements
It’s a pretty commonplace thing now to be meeting with a client and talking through their requirements, the tossing in the “what about data privacy and ownership – what are your requirements there,” question. It’s not a small thing, and it’s something that has been morphing over time. I think the morphing part comes from uncertainty and fear. Uncertainty because […]
Cloud Services… and the bill for them. DBA Opportunity?
So much has been written about DBAs, the cloud and the impact cloud-based resources and services have on the role of the DBA. There’s no doubt the impact has been substantial. In many cases, however, it’s been a good thing. The mundane “noise” of managing databases has become a game of options. You have the option to have a fully-managed […]
The Great Hack, The Creepy Line, and Our Job
These are some really intriguing movies (Netflix, etc.) – they’re finally talking about data, data use, data ownership, privacy, customization (sort of) and all sorts of things that have significant implications on our career ethics and responsibilities. When you watch these, they can quickly lead to a rabbit hole of TED talks, blog posts and more. Probably result in some […]
Data is Like Evidence
When you hear about breaches, so many times it’s because someone didn’t do their job protecting their SQL Server, protecting the data, or protecting the pipes that feed and move the data around. It’s a big deal – and with your (likely) cloud environment, the model and approach to all of this is changing. Chain of custody… “that records the […]
Old Guidelines Still Apply
Back in the day… standard advice was to get that SQL Server off the Internet, public-facing access, if at all possible. Sometimes this worked, sometimes it didn’t because of application access and other issues with moving it to a private segment. But the key is to remove those sensitive layers of access to SQL Server – control the surface area […]
A New Variable in the RFQ Process – (Recognizable) Brand Names
Some interesting things happening in the process of RFQs and software platform analysis prior to purchase. More and more we’ve been seeing people inquiring about infrastructure. It’s not like they didn’t care before, certainly they did. But now, it’s about two different “levels” of infrastructure. The first is functionality. We’ll see a lot of questions about how things are set […]