A Joke Come True

  • Thanks for the link. I have full access to our Azure subscriptions so I'm hoping to set up a VM in one of them and get something going there. I feel like there's a definite market out there now for anybody who can take a Windows SQL DBA and show them the ropes on Linux-based SQL Server (from a proper DBA perspective, not just in terms of the basics).

  • It's hard to find free time as DBA, sys admin, or developer, but I encourage folks to try new databases, operating systems and programming languages.

    Linux can run in a VM, the cloud or on decent hardware. There's a ton of documentation and tutorials available, but you can usually get a complete system installed within 15 minutes. I spent 5% of the time getting Linux Mint installed, fully loaded, configured and patched than I spent on Windows 7. On the same laptop. You can be autist and choice a more painful Linux distribution with hours of configuration, but it's not required. I'd stick to the main stream distros that are supported by your application vendor. ( I like to explore all OSes including the fringe ones, but that's a hobby of mine.)

    And you don't need to listen to the neck-breads and use vim or emacs as a editor. There's plenty of decent tools, I'm writing F# and D code in VS Code. Libre Office isn't MS Office, but it doesn't have the billions of man hours of pros working on it for the last 3 decades either. (I still prefer Excel on Windows for financial foo...)

    And for the folks knocking Windows 10, it's not that much different from Windows 7 or Server 2012. No touch screen required, just the keyboard and a bit of mousing if you insist. It does have some quirks, but what operating system doesn't?

  • peter.row (11/18/2016)


    David.Poole (11/18/2016)


    I would not describe myself as an Apple fanboy. What they are is industrial design rather than technical innovation. Unfortunately people tend to praise the things they can physically touch and see rather than the foundations and hidden mechanicals that makes the visible parts anything more than an ornament.

    I can remember the era of Microsoft Multiplan, Chart and Dos 1.3. Word existed and could run from a 360k floppy disk. I always found Word to be easier to use than Wordstar, Multiplan to have a more intuitive interface than Supercalc and Lotus 123.

    I've no doubt that Lotus was the better spreadsheet but it's user interface was like a stone in your shoe.

    Do I actually care about the OS? Not really. I've been quite happy with Windows 10. As a developer I like Linux because it is command line friendly. The command window in Windows is just as crap now as it always has been. I still get frustrated by not having CTRL+C CTRL+V working in it.

    Virtual technology is evolving rapidly. The stuff that is coming down the tracks goes way beyond Docker and other container technologies. The big boys are gearing up for such a world so pushing a heavyweight OS is not the appealing thing it once was

    Do you really use the Windows 10 command line?

    You *CAN* Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V, 100% fact, I do it all the time, using plain old MS cmd prompt.

    Not to mention that you can also have the command prompt default to a powershell instead of the more basic command prompt. If wasn't in the RTM version it came in the first update in November after it RTM'd.

    In the anniversary update MS added bash support effectively giving you access to all manner of Linux commands.

    The day I consider using MacOS will be the day I can install it (legally and with support) on any hardware of my choosing. Until that day it's not a valid comparison to Windows.

    I do for sure. I have Console2 installed on my servers. This is mostly because I'm running Python applications that require command line to test and execute on those servers however.

    I personally find remoting into the whole Windows environment a pain. I have multiple remote screens open and they are major resource hogs. The UI differences between the versions also is a pain when dealing with multiple servers at once compared to Linux shells.

    But everyone is different I suppose. A lot of Windows guys seem to be tied specifically to a GUI to function. 😀

  • TomThomson (11/17/2016)


    I suppose it was inevitable that this editorial would trigger off an Apple fanboy to tell us that Microsoft is a waste of space and Apple has the only useful OS. I guess DJackson is too young to remember that the only reason Apple survived is that Microsoft bailed them out with a decent compiler at peanuts price when Apple had managed to produce only crap, and too thick to realise that the "rectangle with curved corners" design antedated Apple's first use of it by a decade or two (more like three, actually). It's really sad that people are so partisan that they regard companies that have contributed real technical advances to computing as crap while supporting a company which has done nothing but steal other people's ideas and claim them for their own, and act like the basest patent troll. But that's Apple fanboys for you, isn't it?!

    I guess I'm too appalled by the crap I've read here to make any useful comment of my own other than to say what crap I think it is. With luck I'll calm down and make some more useful comment later.

    Wow, grow up. For the record, I never said I like Apple, all I said was they chase Apple. I hear your local school is giving remedial English classes. You might want to take one, if you can pass it.

    Dave

  • Dave, Tom,

    All operating systems suck to a degree. I use multiple different ones daily and I used to collect obscure computers and research operating systems out of shear perverse curiosity.

    The nice thing is that we can more easily explore and utilize various operating systems due to fast hardware and VMs.

    And programming languages aren't much better... 😛

  • Beatrix Kiddo (11/18/2016)


    I'm keen to keep my skills up to date as much as possible and try not to be a refusenik who ends up getting left behind, so I'm going to do a proof of concept of this and see what it's like. My Linux knowledge is seriously limited though; I've used it briefly when I had to do basic administration on some Sybase instances, but I'm not comfortable with it the way I am with Windows. Can anybody recommend a book or training course that would suit a DBA looking to cross-train? I suspect there will be a few of us!

    Or watch the SDTIG classes and read the free book: https://www.meetup.com/San-Diego-Technology-Immersion-Group-SDTIG/events/233986932/

  • I'm not sure how this diverged off to Apple from Linux, but so be it.

    My apologies for the delays in responding. I had to take some personal time.

    If you're looking to get started, I downloaded Ubuntu earlier this year and once the download completed, I had a running VM installed in less than an hour. Most of that time was the install running while I did other work. The SQL install was maybe 20 minutes, again, little of which I did anything during.

    Maybe 30-60 minutes to sort out networking from the host to the VM, but it wasn't too hard to figure out about with a few Google searches. I haven't had a Linux VM in a year or so, but it's not hard.

    As far as SQL Server goes, it's SQL Server. Things just work, though no Windows Auth as of yet. You'll need to set up SQL Auth logins and use those, but my apps, my connection strings, SSMS , all just work.

  • I'm interested in how Red-Gate are approaching the inclusion of Linux as a supported platform for SQL server?

    Are any of the tools porting to Linux or are they sticking with people running Windows with client software on it?

  • David.Poole (11/22/2016)


    I'm interested in how Red-Gate are approaching the inclusion of Linux as a supported platform for SQL server?

    Are any of the tools porting to Linux or are they sticking with people running Windows with client software on it?

    No real plans at this point. We've been a part of the SSoL project for months, and have been looking at things. For now I think we are sticking with Windows, but we could change if there was a demand. I'm not sure how well the .NET platform is supported on Linux v what we need for tools like SQL Compare. Right now I know PoSh is limited, but I'm sure that will change over time.

  • Can only see this as a positive decision by MS.

    Would require more testing, support, ... from their development teams to ensure compatibility but it ensures their cross-platform approach means no lock down

    So, more flexibility, therefore more likelihood of SQL Server take-up

    - Damian

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