24Jun 2019 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

The Constant and Constantly Changing Role of the DBA

DevOps, Redgate Software, SQL Server
I've been working in and around data for over 30 years now. My title has changed a number of times and is poised to change again. My responsibilities have also shifted fairly continuously over that time. Even though it has been more than 20 years since I first took on the title of DBA, some aspects of the job are the same. However, over that 20 years, a stack of new technologies and processes have fundamentally changed a whole swath of what I do. The DBA Song Remains the Same Are your servers online? Are all databases available? Did the data load process run successfully last night? When was the last time a backup was run on this database? I honestly don't care if you're in the cloud, on-premises, or…
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22Apr 2019 by Grant Fritchey 3 Comments

Data Breaches: All Your Fault

DevOps, Redgate Software
One part of my job is to understand the compliance landscape. This means that I read a lot about the GDPR and related similar laws. I also have to read a lot about data breaches in order to understand how and where laws like the GDPR apply to them, and how they happened so that I can better prepare people through good DevOps practices to prevent them. The more I read about data breaches, the more I realize: It's You. It's your fault. Don't believe me? Let's walk through a few recent data breaches together. Passwords? We Don't Need Stinking Passwords. The Collection #1 data that represents 21 million unique email addresses and passwords for a combination of up to more than 700 million, was found by Troy Hunt... on…
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19Mar 2019 by Grant Fritchey 2 Comments

Monitoring Your Databases and Servers and…

Redgate Software
You absolutely need to know about the servers you have under management in your estate. You need to know about the databases. Uptime, performance, behaviors, errors, corruption and a much longer list of items that will frankly fill this blog post, are very important to you. I've been doing work in and around data and databases for over 30 years now (OMG, I'm so old). I feel like I know how monitoring works, what's important, what's not, what's vital and what's trivial. However, I know that you have different needs, different requirements, different problems. Those problems need different solutions. Tell Us The Problems You're Solving, and How Or not. I'm assuming that you're doing the work you need to do to solve these issues, but maybe you just don't know…
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18Mar 2019 by Grant Fritchey 1 Comment

Compliance Ain’t Easy

Redgate Software
I'm sure by now you've heard of the GDPR and some of the large scale data breaches that have occurred within it. If you haven't heard of the GDPR, you've been under a rock, or, you're like me, a United States citizen (it's amazing how little we know about this oncoming train). If you're seeing the four letters GDPR strung together for the first time, then you better jump on learning about it right now. Why? Let's string together more letters, CPPA. That stands for the California Privacy and Protection Act. That's a law modeled off the GDPR that goes into effect in 2020 (yeah, nine months). Compliance Isn't Always Spelled GDPR Maybe you're not in an EU country and you don't have any person's data from there. Maybe you…
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13Mar 2019 by Grant Fritchey 4 Comments

Database Development Gone Wrong

Redgate Software
I recently shared a story about how I was personally responsible for a development project going off the rails (and oh boy, did it go off the rails). It's a very painful story to share since I was the principal bad guy. However, I learned a lot of lessons from it. Now, it's your turn. Redgate Software (yes, my employer), is running a contest between now and March 20, 2019. We want to hear your story about database development gone wrong. It can be a horror story like mine, or just a simple story of the pain involved when developing databases ('cause there's always a little pain). Inspiration! What, the chance to $150 or more isn't inspiring? OK, how about this, here's Kendra Little's story about her database development... not…
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10Dec 2018 by Grant Fritchey 4 Comments

Privacy and Protection in the Age of the GDPR

Redgate Software
We're seeing more and more GDPR-style laws coming out from various governments. With the GDPR starting to do enforcement at long last, it's pretty clear that privacy and protection is a growing thing. Add to this the fact that SQL Injection is still an issue along with all the other ways you can get hacked. Let's face it. We have to secure our servers better. SQL Census The Redgate Foundry is pretty much what it sounds like, a place to build tools. Basically, it's where pie-in-the-sky style experimentation takes place at Redgate. That's not to say that we don't also do very down-to-earth experimentation. In fact, for this whole privacy and protection thing, we're working on a number of tools. The one I want to draw your attention to right…
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05Nov 2018 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

What Is Happening, Right Now, At the PASS Summit?

PASS, Redgate Software
Honestly, that's a very hard question to answer. I mean, first of all, you can look at the schedule. There will be all day pre-conference seminars going on today (when this is published) and tomorrow. The rest of the week has all the breakout sessions. During the event this week, if you're not there, you can take part in some of the event by visiting the PASSTV web site. Other than that, you can follow me on Twitter (@gfritchey). It really is one of those "you need to be there" kind of events. If you're not there this year, start planning for next year. However, Redgate is here to help. What We Learned at PASS Summit Redgate is going to hold a webinar on Tuesday, November 20th. The title of…
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19Sep 2018 by Grant Fritchey 5 Comments

Databases and DevOps, It’s Not Just Me

Redgate Software
Anyone who subscribes to my blog or my YouTube channel as well as anyone following me on social media knows that I talk about DevOps and databases a lot. I can't help it. I have a real passion for the topic. I sincerely believe we should all be taking advantage of the ways we can improve what we do offered by DevOps. It's not just me. Gene Kim on DevOps If you haven't read book The Phoenix Project, you should. Go get that done. I'll wait. You back? Good. Loved it right? One of the authors of the book will be presenting a webinar with Redgate Software (my employer) on Tuesday, September 25th on 2018 at 17:00BST (that's 11:00 CDT here in the US). He'll be joined by Steve Jones…
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03Sep 2018 by Grant Fritchey 1 Comment

Back to University, Redgate University

Redgate Software
Let's be really clear, Redgate makes ingeniously simple tools. That's a fact. Nothing has changed. However, if you really want to get the full range of capability out of the tools, you need to understand how best to put them to work. Enter Redgate University. Redgate University The concept is very simple, one might even say ingeniously so; have a course on how to get more out of the tool. So, for example, I can demo SQL Clone and SQL Data Masker in about 3 minutes each. You'll understand what they are, how they work and how they'll help you in your company. Done. You can even install them and have them working within your environment within about 15 minutes or so on each. Cool. However, you won't be taking…
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21Aug 2018 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

SQL in the City Summit

Redgate Software
This fall, in October, Redgate Software will be hosting three, live, in-person events. These events will take place in New York, London and Chicago. They are on the 12th, 18th, and 26th of October, respectively. You can follow this link to read all the details. I'll be speaking there, along with other Redgaters like Steve Jones and Tom Austin. There will also be other, quite amazing, speakers; Bob Ward of Microsoft, Brian Randell from MCW Technologies, Ronit Reger of Microsoft, Bob Pusateri consultant and Bob Walker of Octopus. We're going to be providing excellent educational content done in the way that only Redgate does it. We'll cover a number of topics, all related to our central theme of Compliant Database DevOps. I want to tell you a little about my…
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