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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22Jan 2019 by Grant Fritchey 2 Comments

Critiquing Grant Fritchey: Circa 2008

DevOps, SQL Server
For several years, I ran a regular feature on this blog, Speaker of the Month. I attend a lot of events, so I have the opportunity to hear a lot of people talk about various topics. I decided, as an attempt to help out, to call out individuals that I thought had given a great presentation. There was no other reward beyond my attempts to promote others. In addition to that promotion and praise, I did offer criticism as well. It was never intended to be hurtful or in any way negative. I was hoping to point out people that I thought were great at presenting and provide a tip or two to make them even better. Not everyone liked it. In fact, a few people were decidedly, animatedly, against…
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14Jan 2019 by Grant Fritchey 14 Comments

DevOps and Automation Will Eliminate the DBA

DevOps
I've been reading about the death of the DBA ever since I first made the jump from full time developer to full time data professional. The first time I heard it was when SQL Server 7.0 was released. Did you know that SQL Server 7.0 was self-tuning? In fact, it was so self-tuning that the DBA is a relic of the past and no one will be paid for that kind of work any more. Right. So, twenty years later, several versions of SQL Server with tons of improvement from back in the day, and I'm still working (and I hope you are too). Object databases were going to eliminate the DBA. ORM tools were going to eliminate the DBA. Then of course, NoSQL absolutely eliminated the DBA. In fact,…
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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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30Jul 2018 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

Identifying HIPAA, PCI & SOX Data for Masking

Redgate Software
Working for a company based in the UK (still currently a part of the EU) I had a lot of motivation to learn about the GDPR and what it means for data professionals. Further, the understanding that, through treaties and court precedent, the GDPR can apply to companies around the world also motivated me to learn about the privacy and protection mechanisms that it required. However, there is privacy and protection much closer to home from the data and security definitions in HIPAA, PCI and SOX. I've been doing a bunch of research on all these to better understand how they, along with the GDPR, and a whole slew of new legislation coming from around the world, will impact the database. More specifically, I've been trying to understand how best…
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16Jul 2018 by Grant Fritchey 5 Comments

Databases and DevOps, Tools are the Easy Part

DevOps
Moving your database development, deployment and management into a DevOps methodology does involve choosing and implementing tools and tooling. Tools are a necessary aspect of DevOps because, one of the fundamentals of implementing a DevOps approach is automation. To automate, you need the right tools. However, tools and automation, while they represent a lot of work, are actually the easy part of the process of moving into DevOps. What's the hard part? Changing how you do things. Change is Hard One of the fundamental questions you need to learn when you start to implement a DevOps approach consists of a single word: Why. "We always manually run a script in staging prior to running it in production." Well, why? Why can't that be automated? Is there a reason that the…
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07Jun 2018 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

SQL in the City Streamed: June 2018

DevOps, Redgate Software
Next week, Redgate Software, will be putting on SQL in the City Streamed. These events are a great way to learn about SQL Server, the Microsoft Data Platform, privacy and protection, the GDPR, and, of course, DevOps. All of that, with some great information on Redgate tools and how they can help tossed in there. Agenda Scroll down at the link and check out the agenda. We're covering a pretty wide range of topics this time. I have the keynote, and I'm not going to tell you what it's about yet. OK. I'll tell you a little. Twist my arm. I have a message about DevOps that I think is very important. When it comes to the database, we frequently think about development and deployment as nothing but change, and…
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02Apr 2018 by Grant Fritchey 4 Comments

Buggy Whips 2.0

DevOps, Professional Development
I recently found myself rereading a very old blog post of mine, from the very beginning of this blog, discussing Buggy Whips. I'll save you the long read, I was learning new tech, it made me second guess my working assumptions, I was curious if I was manufacturing a buggy whip while watching an automobile drive by. 2008 to 2018 Well, I'm still here. In fact, Feature Driven Development has disappeared from the lexicon and the project that it was introduced to took years longer than anticipated, performed horribly, and had to have a major redesign and rework to be fundamentally functional (all after I left the old organization). So, my fears that database design was a thing of the past were just that, fears... right? Yes and no. Here…
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19Mar 2018 by Grant Fritchey 1 Comment

Query Monitoring and the GDPR

DevOps
I've been reading the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and discussing the ramifications of the beginning of enforcement with lots of people. The implications of it all are fascinating. The real serious issues remain primarily a business problem, with business defined solutions. However, there are technology issues that we need to think about. For example, performance metrics are going to be impacted by the GDPR. Private Data and Monitoring Queries First and foremost, let me say something I've said before. The vast majority of the focus around GDPR has to come from your business. Second, the bulk of your work and focus must be on ensuring core functionality in support of the GDPR. Third, the attack vectors and leaks for GDPR are not going to primarily be around something like…
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02Mar 2018 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

YouTube Channel Update

Misc
Hey! Here's the latest on my YouTube Channel. Click on through and subscribe. I'll be doing lots of stuff on the Microsoft Data Platform, GDPR, DevOps, Redgate, and all sorts of IT related information. Here are the last couple of weeks worth of videos: Very popular was my discussion of the idea that the reason DBAs don't adopt the latest and greatest piece of shiny is because we're all beholden to vendors instead of trying to make good decisions for our the organizations that pay us (as if the "best" decision is to always grab the new shiny). OK, I'm giving away my thoughts, here's the video: [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TVeRSc3gLg[/embedyt] Next most popular was my question, so, if we're not resisting change because of vendor lock (and we're not) why are…
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