August 15, 2009 at 5:00 pm
SQL Lords and Ladies...
My "company" may be losing our DBA come January. For the moment, I am the heir apparent...only because I asked(that no one else wanted to do it didn't hurt either...) all that being equal, I find myself in a position where I need to gather, apply and retain knowledge about a subject matter that is crucial while actually working in the target environment. While I can't say that I am a quick study...I do study hard.
So...if anyone could point me toward some reference material I would appreciate it. I have tried SQL for Dummies and a dizzying whack at Beginning SQL Queries, but I was trying to find the resources that persons who are actually working with the subject at hand use, as opposed to a learned person gathering a plethora of information and regurgitating it in book format. Any thoughts....anyone...anyone...Bueller..?
August 15, 2009 at 9:01 pm
Your best resource may be the one you may be replacing in January. Work with this individual as much as possible while you can. Learn the systems you will be supporting while you have help available that is already knowledgeable.
The next thing, you may want to put down $50.00 USD and purchase the Developers Edition of SQL Server and load that on your system at home and start spending some thing outside of work learning the system. Read the threads on SSC and look at the problems presented and try to solve them yourself. Look at the solutions provided by others and see if you can figure out how they were developed.
Read the articles AND the discussion threads here on SSC. You may also want to start by reading the articles I have referenced in my signature block, particularly the first two, but the others are worth the read as well.
You may also want to look at other articles written by such heavy hitters here on SSC as Jeff Moden and Gail Shaw (GilaMonster) to name a couple.
As for books, my library isn't handy at the moment, but I'll see if I can't get you a few book titles that you should probably look at getting. I'm sure others may also provide you with some as well.
August 16, 2009 at 8:48 am
Congratulations. 😉
This is either a wonderful opportunity or pending disaster, which it will be is up to you.
Here are a few resources to start with.
http://www.sqlskills.com/BLOGS/PAUL/post/Becoming-an-involuntary-DBA-youre-not-alone.aspx
http://www.sqlskills.com/BLOGS/PAUL/post/RunAs-Radio-interview-on-being-an-involuntary-DBA.aspx
Some things that you need to understand at least the basics of, before taking over.
Backups and restores
Transaction log maintenance
Index maintenance
Database integrity checks
Start, as Lynn suggested, with spending as much time as possible with the outgoing DBA. (p.s. why is he leaving?)
Feel free to ask here if you need any info on these topics, or any others.
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
August 17, 2009 at 9:55 am
Congrats on the new position, I found myself in similar circumstances. I went thru this book:
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/book.aspx?ID=9364&locale=en-us
and was able to pass the test on the first try. It took about 3 months studying about 1-2 hrs on weeknights. I am not a quick study either, but study hard too.
I agree with the previous posters about finding as much as you can from your predecessor. Ask about her/his daily checklist:
maintenance plans and backups
log audits
daily tasks
project work
Have her/him give you a list of what they do everyday. It'll begin your journey, you'll also be able to apply what you're learning, so it'll stick with you. Good luck!
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August 17, 2009 at 11:50 am
I agree... if the outgoing DBA is leaving of his/her own free will and is friendly about the whole thing, I recommend "belt looping" that person ever day you can. Learning SQL and SQL Server is one thing... learning a "system" is quite another.
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
August 17, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Tagging on to better posts above:
learning your own data from the outgoing DBA will be best and most applicable.
articles and forums here will get your chops up and running, and point you toward new ideas.
Taking the suggestion of playing with SQL at home is a great one; if you need data, go to www.data.gov and download something, set up a db, try to import it, clean it up, query on it, etc. Would give props to whomever suggested that in a blog recently, but can't find it. (apologies unknown blogger/bloggist) Gives you experience playing with real data at high volume without having to make it up yourself.
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How best to post your question[/url]
How to post performance problems[/url]
Tally Table:What it is and how it replaces a loop[/url]
"stewsterl 80804 (10/16/2009)I guess when you stop and try to understand the solution provided you not only learn, but save yourself some headaches when you need to make any slight changes."
August 18, 2009 at 7:17 am
Thank you. I will try to move into his office with him. He won't be pleased...but I will promise to be a fly on the wall...:-)
August 18, 2009 at 7:28 am
Bishop234 (8/18/2009)
Thank you. I will try to move into his office with him. He won't be pleased...but I will promise to be a fly on the wall...:-)
Squeaky wheel gets the grease, bishop. Don't be the fly on the wall, be the bug in his ear. If you don't get the info you need out of him now, it'll be your rump later. Explain to him politely that you need his help and expertise and that you won't be going away until you get it. If need be, get management involved to jumpstart his help.
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How best to post your question[/url]
How to post performance problems[/url]
Tally Table:What it is and how it replaces a loop[/url]
"stewsterl 80804 (10/16/2009)I guess when you stop and try to understand the solution provided you not only learn, but save yourself some headaches when you need to make any slight changes."
August 18, 2009 at 7:38 am
To all that have replied to my post, I want to thank you all for taking the time out of your day to do so. I am going to follow pretty much every suggestion. The primary being shadowing the DBA - which was his suggestion as well. I have to try several ideas(the whole "old dog,new trick" thing...) and hopefully find one that works well.
One thing I did find out the other day was to not use the "update" without having the handy-dandy "commit" and more importantly "ROLLBACK" command in the same query. Nothing teaches better than having to go through 3670 entries one by one to change 562 entries from "0" to "1"....
Yes, sports fans...I AM a rocket scientist!
Agian, thank you all.
:w00t:
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