I have received this question a few times from people e-mailing in – I have several posts that are C#/.Net focused, sans SSIS and CLR database references in implementation.
The easiest answer to this question is that I am a consultant in a company with a dynamic client base, so I need to be prepared to support multiple technologies related to my specialty and thus blog on those topics. Also, my background trek through the tech wilderness actually started with web development before moving onto warehousing, reporting and analytics.
Going deeper though, I think with the changes in the Microsoft microcosm that first presented themselves in the form of LINQ to SQL and now moving forward with Entity Framework are going to force a modifications in the way that database professionals, from DBAs to warehouse architects and SQL developers, learn, interact and what they are expected to know and have expert knowledge on.
Jonathan Kehayias posted a good discussion starter from a DBAs perspective back in February of this year, and it brings to point the necessity of learning and being aware of new methods, emerging technologies or new uses for existing technology. Data storage and the use of that data is at the core of almost any solution – whether you are wearing the hat of a DBA, business intelligence professional, warehouse architect, etc., we all play roles where SQL Server is at the core of our work, and it is our duty to advise as best we can how these new access and programming methods impact what I consider the heart of the solution.
Doubtless, this is a daunting task, as we not only have to keep up with the core changes to SQL Server, data storage technologies and other related bits, but now it is becoming increasingly important to peer over the void into that other world of UI, presentation and data layer technologies and be incredibly mindful of how developers will be (you wholly can't stop them, only curb) moving DML off to EF or Linq to SQL.
Putting the blinders and on and running down the hallway screaming "3NF and stored procs, or there is no conversation!" will do nothing but leave you behind – solution developers will just find a way around you in the end.
Keep in mind that I also write this from the perspective of a consultant at a "small" company – while my client work ranges from mom and pop to enterprise, my experiences are not going to be reflective of those who work in large shops and have the opportunity to specialize.
So what is the take-away? Why are there C# posts on my blog?
As much as we would like to silo technology and those that implement it, activities are solution driven and require a holistic approach. Information is at the center of all of these solutions and it is our responsibility to help drive any architecture and implementation towards the best fit for a given scenario. To that end, breaking out of your comfort zone in order to advise and influence the solution will always be better (and less stressful) than passively waiting for the battle to come to you.
I am not advocating becoming an expert in outside arenas, but simple activities such as attending a .Net user group meeting or participating in an application code review will go miles – cross pollination is good for more than just fruits and vegetables!
Couple of references, this conversation is not new!
http://weblogs.asp.net/dwahlin/archive/2007/11/15/the-linq-dilemma.aspx
http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-5897968.html
http://www.sqlmag.com/Article/ArticleID/96637/sql_server_96637.html
Tags: ramblings,
.net,
career,
architecture,
solution,
consulting,
sql server
Categories: General
I have been remiss in paying attention to my visitors – my sincerest apologies to those who use FireFox.
It was not until earlier this week that I realized my previous blog format and CSS was not friendly to FireFox. Personally, I do not use the browser, switching only between IE and Google's Chrome (and Safari on my iPod touch). The problem came to my attention when I was assisting a friend with some queries and we referenced something on one of my prior posts – the ugly scene came alive in his FireFox window and I immediately resolved to correct this oversight.
What makes this more of a travesty is that I have information at my fingertips that removes any excuses. Here is a visitor chart for a given timeframe (Google Analytics):
Why even mention this? Who cares? Just change the template and don't tell me why….(a questioning voice other than my own)
I think it is important for those of us in the business intelligence/analytics field to recognize when there is information readily available, yet not taken advantage of for any number of reasons. It is always important to question the basics, turn over assumptions and look at what is really there.
As for me, I had simply forgotten that people use other browsers. My laptop comes pre-loaded with everything for work, and since I spend most of my time in the lower tiers of the application, I do not often work in the layers of a project where UI validation is an important subject matter. My assumption? That my readers are like me (bad assumption).
The important lesson? In my case, voice of the customer – I need to pay attention to what my readers are doing and how they access my site so that I do not alienate those seeking information or to post a comment.
Have a good weekend!
Tags: business intelligence,
ramblings
Categories: Business Intelligence |
General
I experienced firsthand this past week that some backup strategies that are supposed to be simple are not always so. D'oh!
I volunteer to be a guinea pig for our I/T guys, mostly because I like to play with the cool new toys; the toy this time: Server 2008 x64 on my laptop. I have been itching to play with Hyper V for multiple reasons, but mostly because I want to have 64 bit development images for SQL 2005 and 2008 (Virtualization team blog).
Before imaging my machine from Vista x64 to Server 2008, I had taken a Norton Ghost full backup, converted that backup to a virtual disk, and also separately taken a backup of my files.
You would think reasonable safe right? A VHD, a Ghost full drive backup and Norton file backup – only problem with my grand scheme was due to my haste in moving to my new OS: I had backed all up to the same drive!
Luckily it was not a full drive failure (and as one buddy pointed out with the WD Passport drives, he frequently re-formats it to avoid corruption), but it did keep me from doing a nice and easy full restore of my image to Hyper V. Countless hours later……………….
I am back up and loving running my "old" Vista 64 machine as a Hyper V machine -- definitely a lot faster than VM Workstation and loads faster than Virtual Server 2005.
Evaluation VHDs are available for download from Microsoft here. The second link on the page is for a 32-bit version of Server 2008 to run under Virtual Server 2005.
Tags: server 2008,
virtualization
Categories: General
So I am still playing around with Vista on my work laptop; experiencing a few joys and quite a few pains as well. One of the pains came recently in configuring Virtual Server 2005 R2 -- after installation, configuring IIS, etc., it always came up to the configuration screen asking me to connect to an instance, and the event viewer below let me know that I did not have access to view the events. I finally found this blog entry that helped some with the issue:
http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2006/10/10/Installing-Virtual-Server-2005-R2-on-Vista-RC1-_2F00_-RC2.aspx.
For my particular issue, right clicking on IE and running it as an administrator solved the immediate issue, I was up and running, able to create Virtual Machines and reconnect previous ones -- but that is only part of the story. You might want to follow the steps presented in the blog entry listed below as well, most people know about changing the IE 7 settings on their credentials, however the Virtual Server setting is a little less known.
From the blog:
When you are running Windows Vista, you have the added complexity of having to run the Administration Website in Internet Explorer as administrator when User Account Control (UAC) is enabled. If you are running in an isolated test environment, you can avoid this additional step by disabling UAC. Otherwise, follow these steps to grant your user account full administrative privilege in Virtual Server and eliminate the need for UAC:
- Right-click the Internet Explorer icon in the Quick Launch section of the task bar, and choose Run As Administrator from the menu.
- In the User Access Control dialog box, click Allow.
- In the Internet Explorer address bar, type in the URL to the Administration Website.
- In the Virtual Server navigation menu, click Server Properties.
- Missing Step for VS 2005 R2: Click Virtual Server Security link located in content pane
- Click the Add Entry button.
- In the new Permission Entry, type in your account name in the User Or Group text box.
- In Permissions, select the Full check box to give your account full control.
- Click OK.
Full Blog post:
http://vscommunity.com/blogs/virtualzone/archive/2007/11/28/virtual-server-2005-r2-common-issues-and-tips-always-prompted-for-credentials.aspx
Tags: virtualization
Categories: General
I had several posts planned for this past week, however Christmas Eve I fell ill from food poisoning and all that was planned went out the window. It's been a very slow week in recovering, but I'll be back on track soon and have my planned items posted soon. I hope everyone had a good holiday season and I personally am looking forward to a great year in 2008 -- so best of luck to everyone out there for the coming year!
For those of you who like podcasts, here is something published by SQLServercentral.com: http://sqlservercentral.podshow.com/
Tags:
Categories: General
I'm not going to get into what platform is better for virtualization, but rather talk about a common issue for those of us using virtual machines to test and develop. I personally run Virtual Server 2005 R2 on my laptop, mostly because it's free, but also because it is a decent platform for what I do.
Running out of virtual hard disk space can be a pain, and I dislike attaching more virtual drives to a particular machine because I do not want the complexity -- the virtual machines are for testing and developing, not production. So what to do when you have accidentally set the virtual hard disk size too small for your needs? Here is where this awesome tool I found comes in handy: http://vmtoolkit.com/files/folders/converters/entry87.aspx
It's called VhdResizer; it simply makes a bit for bit copy of the image you have and resets the hard drive size to your new requirement. Pretty simple.
After installing, launch the app -- it straight away goes to a file dialogue box. Be sure to have stopped the virtual machine you are resizing:
Here is the main action screen. Choose a new name for the file, new size and go!
It will copy and create your new file:
Detach the old image from your VM and attach the newly created one. When you log back in, you will need to configure the disk, but the extra space is now there:
Tags:
Categories: General
I'm re-purposing my Dell Dimension E510 and trying it out as a full media center machine using Windows Vista Ultimate. I have Vista Business on my work laptop currently (mixed reviews in using development tools and VPN connections). I'll post how the work goes and what issues I run into in making it work for recording shows, using surround sound, T.V. and general media use.
Tags: non productive
Categories: General
I noticed that the current site template for my blog has some quirks if you are using Internet Explorer 6.0 -- mostly related to the column formatting and width settings (posts look a little squeezed). Mozilla 2.0 seems to work just fine, but I'll play with the CSS to see if I can make it a little backwards compatible for those using IE 6.0.
Thanks!
Tags:
Categories: General