Are the posted questions getting worse?

  • Ed Wagner (2/12/2015)


    That seems like an awful lot of pain and is riddled with holes, such as who would set the password to begin with.

    Why, that would be the same two people. They each enter part of it initially.

    Wayne
    Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server 2008
    Author - SQL Server T-SQL Recipes


    If you can't explain to another person how the code that you're copying from the internet works, then DON'T USE IT on a production system! After all, you will be the one supporting it!
    Links:
    For better assistance in answering your questions
    Performance Problems
    Common date/time routines
    Understanding and Using APPLY Part 1 & Part 2

  • Gail and Jeff, I really want to thank you for your input on the SQL Server licensing issue. Not only were we able to get Developer edition added to the request for our Dev and Test instances, we found out that Microsoft is running a special (at least for us). For every current licensed Enterprise edition with maintenance, we get two free Developer editions. Plus apparently someone in corporate did the Core math wrong and was almost charging us for our passive instance.

    We went from 26 Enterprise licenses down to 6. Saved a BUNDLE, especially since that special got us all our Dev / Test / QC instances for free.

    Happy days. Happy days.

    Thank you again for the suggestion of Developer edition. Boss is really happy now.

    Brandie Tarvin, MCITP Database AdministratorLiveJournal Blog: http://brandietarvin.livejournal.com/[/url]On LinkedIn!, Google+, and Twitter.Freelance Writer: ShadowrunLatchkeys: Nevermore, Latchkeys: The Bootleg War, and Latchkeys: Roscoes in the Night are now available on Nook and Kindle.

  • Brandie Tarvin (2/13/2015)


    Gail and Jeff, I really want to thank you for your input on the SQL Server licensing issue. Not only were we able to get Developer edition added to the request for our Dev and Test instances, we found out that Microsoft is running a special (at least for us). For every current licensed Enterprise edition with maintenance, we get two free Developer editions. Plus apparently someone in corporate did the Core math wrong and was almost charging us for our passive instance.

    We went from 26 Enterprise licenses down to 6. Saved a BUNDLE, especially since that special got us all our Dev / Test / QC instances for free.

    Happy days. Happy days.

    Thank you again for the suggestion of Developer edition. Boss is really happy now.

    Seems like very good news!

    Need an answer? No, you need a question
    My blog at https://sqlkover.com.
    MCSE Business Intelligence - Microsoft Data Platform MVP

  • Koen Verbeeck (2/13/2015)


    Brandie Tarvin (2/13/2015)


    Gail and Jeff, I really want to thank you for your input on the SQL Server licensing issue. Not only were we able to get Developer edition added to the request for our Dev and Test instances, we found out that Microsoft is running a special (at least for us). For every current licensed Enterprise edition with maintenance, we get two free Developer editions. Plus apparently someone in corporate did the Core math wrong and was almost charging us for our passive instance.

    We went from 26 Enterprise licenses down to 6. Saved a BUNDLE, especially since that special got us all our Dev / Test / QC instances for free.

    Happy days. Happy days.

    Thank you again for the suggestion of Developer edition. Boss is really happy now.

    Seems like very good news!

    It is. I wonder how many people overpay for licenses because they think they have to have the production licensing in Dev environments.

    Talking to our guy in corporate, Microsoft likes our company because we're honest about where our licenses go. So they give us some leeway in certain situations. I think that's where the free developer editions come from.

    Brandie Tarvin, MCITP Database AdministratorLiveJournal Blog: http://brandietarvin.livejournal.com/[/url]On LinkedIn!, Google+, and Twitter.Freelance Writer: ShadowrunLatchkeys: Nevermore, Latchkeys: The Bootleg War, and Latchkeys: Roscoes in the Night are now available on Nook and Kindle.

  • It's official! The groundhog is a wanted felon!

    If you see him, do not approach. Call the police and let them handle the rascal.

    Brandie Tarvin, MCITP Database AdministratorLiveJournal Blog: http://brandietarvin.livejournal.com/[/url]On LinkedIn!, Google+, and Twitter.Freelance Writer: ShadowrunLatchkeys: Nevermore, Latchkeys: The Bootleg War, and Latchkeys: Roscoes in the Night are now available on Nook and Kindle.

  • Brandie Tarvin (2/13/2015)


    It's official! The groundhog is a wanted felon!

    If you see him, do not approach. Call the police and let them handle the rascal.

    Call in the sniper.

  • Brandie Tarvin (2/12/2015)


    jasona.work (2/12/2015)


    Brandie Tarvin (2/12/2015)


    jasona.work (2/12/2015)


    Is it me, or is it at least once a week minimum someone posts a "How do I keep the DBA / Sysadmin from doing / viewing certain things" type question?

    Where is it this time?

    And my answer to that question: Pink Slip.

    Gail already took care of it, told the poster that to keep the DBA from viewing certain data, they'd need to encrypt said data.

    It actually is a valid question given the amount of identity and data theft we've seen over the past decade. Especially from the disgrunted / greedy employee circuit. Somebody has to be Sysadmin, but that doesn't necessitate them being able to see bank records or tax IDs (etc.).

    Plus somewhere in the region of a million.

    Goes even more for third party suppliers. I get heartily sick of them taking hissy fits when they ask for sa (or more likely Full Rights, whatever they are) or other enhanced privileges, and get the only sane response.

    I'm a DBA.
    I'm not paid to solve problems. I'm paid to prevent them.

  • Sioban Krzywicki (2/12/2015)


    Ed Wagner (2/12/2015)


    Sioban Krzywicki (2/12/2015)


    Eirikur Eiriksson (2/12/2015)


    Brandie Tarvin (2/12/2015)


    jasona.work (2/12/2015)


    Brandie Tarvin (2/12/2015)


    jasona.work (2/12/2015)


    Is it me, or is it at least once a week minimum someone posts a "How do I keep the DBA / Sysadmin from doing / viewing certain things" type question?

    Where is it this time?

    And my answer to that question: Pink Slip.

    Gail already took care of it, told the poster that to keep the DBA from viewing certain data, they'd need to encrypt said data.

    It actually is a valid question given the amount of identity and data theft we've seen over the past decade. Especially from the disgrunted / greedy employee circuit. Somebody has to be Sysadmin, but that doesn't necessitate them being able to see bank records or tax IDs (etc.).

    My 2Cents, a DBA that cannot see the data is as useless as a blind driver, alternative measures have to be in place such as

    1) pay them well enough

    2) keep them happy

    3) audit everything

    4) bullet proof NDAs

    ...etc....

    Obviously it goes without saying that the sensitive data must be encrypted/protected as necessary. Insider threats (such as DBAs) cannot be mitigated with a technology only approach.

    😎

    Last time I went to a security lecture, the recommendation was that the DBA should not be able to see any data except in an emergency. During said emergency a separate computer would be used by a minimum of 2 DBAs at a time, each of whom was entrusted with half the password. The password is randomly created at each use.

    The dedicated machine is keystroke audited (along with other auditing).

    That seems like an awful lot of pain and is riddled with holes, such as who would set the password to begin with.

    Wouldn't it be easier to find a DBA that's trustworthy and implement Erikur's list above.

    Password is software generated, IIRC

    It is hard enough to find a DBA that knows what they're doing, now you want trustworthy too? : -)

    Seriously though, that's really hard to know from an interview.

    I laughed through most of the presentation because it required so many more resources than ANY place I'd ever worked had. Not least of which: time.

    I kept thinking "Yep, that sure would be secure. Good luck finding more than a handful of companies that can/would do this."

    It sounds the kind of thing that they'd have for certain MoD systems, but in any system C, I and A http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_triad#Key_concepts have to be balanced.

    I'm a DBA.
    I'm not paid to solve problems. I'm paid to prevent them.

  • Koen Verbeeck (2/13/2015)


    Brandie Tarvin (2/13/2015)


    Gail and Jeff, I really want to thank you for your input on the SQL Server licensing issue. Not only were we able to get Developer edition added to the request for our Dev and Test instances, we found out that Microsoft is running a special (at least for us). For every current licensed Enterprise edition with maintenance, we get two free Developer editions. Plus apparently someone in corporate did the Core math wrong and was almost charging us for our passive instance.

    We went from 26 Enterprise licenses down to 6. Saved a BUNDLE, especially since that special got us all our Dev / Test / QC instances for free.

    Happy days. Happy days.

    Thank you again for the suggestion of Developer edition. Boss is really happy now.

    Seems like very good news!

    Normally I just haunt this thread as my daily entertainment, but I have to share my pain on this topic. We actually have Enterprise on every single instance, regardless of what it's used for. They stopped wanting to buy SQL 2012 because licensing cost so much. Suggestions of Developer Edition have been met with wild ideas of support concerns and the "headaches" of sorting it out.

  • SqlSanctum (2/13/2015)


    Koen Verbeeck (2/13/2015)


    Brandie Tarvin (2/13/2015)


    Gail and Jeff, I really want to thank you for your input on the SQL Server licensing issue. Not only were we able to get Developer edition added to the request for our Dev and Test instances, we found out that Microsoft is running a special (at least for us). For every current licensed Enterprise edition with maintenance, we get two free Developer editions. Plus apparently someone in corporate did the Core math wrong and was almost charging us for our passive instance.

    We went from 26 Enterprise licenses down to 6. Saved a BUNDLE, especially since that special got us all our Dev / Test / QC instances for free.

    Happy days. Happy days.

    Thank you again for the suggestion of Developer edition. Boss is really happy now.

    Seems like very good news!

    Normally I just haunt this thread as my daily entertainment, but I have to share my pain on this topic. We actually have Enterprise on every single instance, regardless of what it's used for. They stopped wanting to buy SQL 2012 because licensing cost so much. Suggestions of Developer Edition have been met with wild ideas of support concerns and the "headaches" of sorting it out.

    Let me guess. None of these complainers are actual DBAs.

    Brandie Tarvin, MCITP Database AdministratorLiveJournal Blog: http://brandietarvin.livejournal.com/[/url]On LinkedIn!, Google+, and Twitter.Freelance Writer: ShadowrunLatchkeys: Nevermore, Latchkeys: The Bootleg War, and Latchkeys: Roscoes in the Night are now available on Nook and Kindle.

  • Brandie Tarvin (2/13/2015)


    SqlSanctum (2/13/2015)


    Koen Verbeeck (2/13/2015)


    Brandie Tarvin (2/13/2015)


    Gail and Jeff, I really want to thank you for your input on the SQL Server licensing issue. Not only were we able to get Developer edition added to the request for our Dev and Test instances, we found out that Microsoft is running a special (at least for us). For every current licensed Enterprise edition with maintenance, we get two free Developer editions. Plus apparently someone in corporate did the Core math wrong and was almost charging us for our passive instance.

    We went from 26 Enterprise licenses down to 6. Saved a BUNDLE, especially since that special got us all our Dev / Test / QC instances for free.

    Happy days. Happy days.

    Thank you again for the suggestion of Developer edition. Boss is really happy now.

    Seems like very good news!

    Normally I just haunt this thread as my daily entertainment, but I have to share my pain on this topic. We actually have Enterprise on every single instance, regardless of what it's used for. They stopped wanting to buy SQL 2012 because licensing cost so much. Suggestions of Developer Edition have been met with wild ideas of support concerns and the "headaches" of sorting it out.

    Let me guess. None of these complainers are actual DBAs.

    Presumably they're not Accountants either 🙂

  • Gazareth (2/13/2015)


    Brandie Tarvin (2/13/2015)


    SqlSanctum (2/13/2015)


    Koen Verbeeck (2/13/2015)


    Brandie Tarvin (2/13/2015)


    Gail and Jeff, I really want to thank you for your input on the SQL Server licensing issue. Not only were we able to get Developer edition added to the request for our Dev and Test instances, we found out that Microsoft is running a special (at least for us). For every current licensed Enterprise edition with maintenance, we get two free Developer editions. Plus apparently someone in corporate did the Core math wrong and was almost charging us for our passive instance.

    We went from 26 Enterprise licenses down to 6. Saved a BUNDLE, especially since that special got us all our Dev / Test / QC instances for free.

    Happy days. Happy days.

    Thank you again for the suggestion of Developer edition. Boss is really happy now.

    Seems like very good news!

    Normally I just haunt this thread as my daily entertainment, but I have to share my pain on this topic. We actually have Enterprise on every single instance, regardless of what it's used for. They stopped wanting to buy SQL 2012 because licensing cost so much. Suggestions of Developer Edition have been met with wild ideas of support concerns and the "headaches" of sorting it out.

    Let me guess. None of these complainers are actual DBAs.

    Presumably they're not Accountants either 🙂

    I hear you there. My company won't buy EE because of the cost. I've heard it referred to as "Expensive Edition" before. 😛

  • Ed Wagner (2/13/2015)


    Gazareth (2/13/2015)


    Brandie Tarvin (2/13/2015)


    SqlSanctum (2/13/2015)


    Koen Verbeeck (2/13/2015)


    Brandie Tarvin (2/13/2015)


    Gail and Jeff, I really want to thank you for your input on the SQL Server licensing issue. Not only were we able to get Developer edition added to the request for our Dev and Test instances, we found out that Microsoft is running a special (at least for us). For every current licensed Enterprise edition with maintenance, we get two free Developer editions. Plus apparently someone in corporate did the Core math wrong and was almost charging us for our passive instance.

    We went from 26 Enterprise licenses down to 6. Saved a BUNDLE, especially since that special got us all our Dev / Test / QC instances for free.

    Happy days. Happy days.

    Thank you again for the suggestion of Developer edition. Boss is really happy now.

    Seems like very good news!

    Normally I just haunt this thread as my daily entertainment, but I have to share my pain on this topic. We actually have Enterprise on every single instance, regardless of what it's used for. They stopped wanting to buy SQL 2012 because licensing cost so much. Suggestions of Developer Edition have been met with wild ideas of support concerns and the "headaches" of sorting it out.

    Let me guess. None of these complainers are actual DBAs.

    Presumably they're not Accountants either 🙂

    I hear you there. My company won't buy EE because of the cost. I've heard it referred to as "Expensive Edition" before. 😛

    Oh no, every DBA has tried to convince them that this is a good idea. The problem is so far up the chain that I don't even think we are talking to the source yet. The really sad part is that there are complaints about needing to cut the budget, but then we have Enterprise Edition on development boxes...

  • SqlSanctum (2/13/2015)


    Ed Wagner (2/13/2015)


    Gazareth (2/13/2015)


    Brandie Tarvin (2/13/2015)


    SqlSanctum (2/13/2015)


    Koen Verbeeck (2/13/2015)


    Brandie Tarvin (2/13/2015)


    Gail and Jeff, I really want to thank you for your input on the SQL Server licensing issue. Not only were we able to get Developer edition added to the request for our Dev and Test instances, we found out that Microsoft is running a special (at least for us). For every current licensed Enterprise edition with maintenance, we get two free Developer editions. Plus apparently someone in corporate did the Core math wrong and was almost charging us for our passive instance.

    We went from 26 Enterprise licenses down to 6. Saved a BUNDLE, especially since that special got us all our Dev / Test / QC instances for free.

    Happy days. Happy days.

    Thank you again for the suggestion of Developer edition. Boss is really happy now.

    Seems like very good news!

    Normally I just haunt this thread as my daily entertainment, but I have to share my pain on this topic. We actually have Enterprise on every single instance, regardless of what it's used for. They stopped wanting to buy SQL 2012 because licensing cost so much. Suggestions of Developer Edition have been met with wild ideas of support concerns and the "headaches" of sorting it out.

    Let me guess. None of these complainers are actual DBAs.

    Presumably they're not Accountants either 🙂

    I hear you there. My company won't buy EE because of the cost. I've heard it referred to as "Expensive Edition" before. 😛

    Oh no, every DBA has tried to convince them that this is a good idea. The problem is so far up the chain that I don't even think we are talking to the source yet. The really sad part is that there are complaints about needing to cut the budget, but then we have Enterprise Edition on development boxes...

    So find out your licensing setup (Cores or ... the other one). Get a price for the licensing and maintenance. Multiply the number of licenses in Dev, Test, and QC times that price. Then take it to upper management and say "How would you like me to save you X thousands of dollars?"

    In my case, we saved hundreds of thousands of dollars (over a quarter million dollars).

    I would think that should get someone's attention, even if you do end up having to pay the $50 per seat for the Dev edition.

    Brandie Tarvin, MCITP Database AdministratorLiveJournal Blog: http://brandietarvin.livejournal.com/[/url]On LinkedIn!, Google+, and Twitter.Freelance Writer: ShadowrunLatchkeys: Nevermore, Latchkeys: The Bootleg War, and Latchkeys: Roscoes in the Night are now available on Nook and Kindle.

  • Brandie Tarvin (2/13/2015)


    Gail and Jeff, I really want to thank you for your input on the SQL Server licensing issue. Not only were we able to get Developer edition added to the request for our Dev and Test instances, we found out that Microsoft is running a special (at least for us). For every current licensed Enterprise edition with maintenance, we get two free Developer editions. Plus apparently someone in corporate did the Core math wrong and was almost charging us for our passive instance.

    We went from 26 Enterprise licenses down to 6. Saved a BUNDLE, especially since that special got us all our Dev / Test / QC instances for free.

    Happy days. Happy days.

    Thank you again for the suggestion of Developer edition. Boss is really happy now.

    They both get a kick-back right? 5% of the savings sounds fair... 😀

    Wayne
    Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server 2008
    Author - SQL Server T-SQL Recipes


    If you can't explain to another person how the code that you're copying from the internet works, then DON'T USE IT on a production system! After all, you will be the one supporting it!
    Links:
    For better assistance in answering your questions
    Performance Problems
    Common date/time routines
    Understanding and Using APPLY Part 1 & Part 2

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