December 15, 2010 at 12:16 am
There are quite a few ways in which having an iPad would make me more productive and make me do my job quicker and better:
1. Easy-on-the-go access to my ever growing library of e-books when I need to do some quick research for information on technical aspects that I need provide guidance/advice on in meetings our when visiting clients.
2. Easy-on-the-go access to our continous integration server to check the status information of all the different kinds of builds that we are firing off during the day.
3. I'm in the process of finalizing a continuous performance testing environment for our company. This includes running automated load tests against our system to do stress testing, longevity testing etc. Especially for the longevity testing it would be great to have an iPad to view the SQL Monitor alerts generated when the system starts to suffer (i.e. dead-locks, high CPU, long running queries etc). Coupled with the SQL Monitor ability to step back in time it would give me quick access to view information of the servers at the time the alerts where issued and give me the ability to be aware of what's happening at all times and help me to notice trends over time for the system as it is being put under stress/load.
4. We've recently heard that one of our big internal customers have a strong focus on using iPad's going forward. Having one available will obviously help me prototype and see how we can position our existing software on this technology platform.
December 15, 2010 at 1:44 am
Several reasons why I dont want a IPAD:
* when you have ipad with the redgate monitoring you re colleagues want 1 to especially you re boss
* Nothing worse then you re boss checking the redgate monitoring 24/7 and getting called in the middle of the night that there is a long running job (index optimalization).
* IPad lost again finding out that you re kid is playing the new version of the Game Angry Birds on it
* the urge to browse SQLservercentral\facebook from everywhere anytime
an advantages of the IPAD:
* You can put them under a copier to print the screen
December 15, 2010 at 7:07 am
Hello Steve:
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to win an iPad through your website...nowadays, there are many contests on the WEB giving out these devices but none of them are real.....
I would like to try out an iPad mainly for two reasons.
Firstly, I would download all relevant Apps that would help me manage my 200+ SQLserver databases and 300+ Oracle databases. Obviously I wouldn't want to logon to these database on a daily basis using the iPad as this would be too cumbersome. So instead, I would setup an 'Exceptions Alerting' through the Apps to send me alerts on my iPad whenever an unusual activity has taken place on one of these monitored servers (e.g. daily backup failed, transaction logfile storage is reaching 90%, etc.....you get the picture...). This would alleviate the desire to logon to all these monitored servers whilst giving me a chance to check the other really interesting features of this new 'gadget of the day'
Secondly, I would use the iPad to train about fifty or so seniors living in my neighbourhood. These seniors are craving to keep in touch with their children and grand-children however, they are a bit nervous about using the internet and/or a PC.
I think the iPad is the perfect device for the senior market, combining the Web,
e-mail, photos, video, and book reading into an intuitive, portable device. I would show them how to use the many features and capabilities of the iPad to make life easier and interesting (since time is of no concern to them...they are retired after all). I will probably teach them how to zoom in and out of the web pages and choose a font size that makes reading comfortable.
In addition, things like getting directions, planning vacations, enjoying photos, keeping in touch with family, obtain financial and legal information, doing research on medicine and other senior issues, protecting personal information, setting passwords, maintaining and troubleshooting the iPad and more would be part of my ambitious agenda...
so what do you think Steve??? is this doable?
December 15, 2010 at 7:35 am
I’ve thought about springing for an iPad, or an Android based device, because it would free me. My employer will not provide these tools, being content with reactive response, after the fact, sometimes even the next day. The amount of time I spend working off hours, doing reactive, break-fix type of work is staggering. The worst part about it is my three year old son is the one paying the price. The ability to monitor, and proactively avoid disasters would literally be life changing. That’s it, no grandiose plans, I just want to be in my sons life more.
December 15, 2010 at 8:28 am
It’s 7:30 PM and I’ve just made it in the door to my home in a Minnesota suburb. Traffic was bad tonight because of the 6 inches of snow that fell on the metro this afternoon. I left work about when I normally do and my 45 minute commute turned into something a little over 90 minutes. Trying to see the positive in the situation, I spent much of the drive listening to classical music and thinking about a new data warehouse I’m designing for our manufacturing data.
I greet my wife and kids and before I have my coat off my cell phone rings. I check the number and see it is someone calling from work – sigh. I answer the phone and it’s Meghan from the marketing department. “We aren’t getting any responses from the email campaign we sent out today, “ she blurts out as soon as I answer. “Gary thought that maybe they aren’t getting saved in the database, so he thought I should call you.” The thought of trudging downstairs to my office, waiting for my Windows XP system to fire up, logging into our corporate VPN, establishing an RDP session to my desktop and then querying the database doesn’t sound appealing.
“Let me take a look and call you back in a few minutes,” I tell her. As soon as we hang up I head upstairs to our bedroom and throw on a warm sweatshirt and some sweat pants. I grab “My Precious” as my wife calls my iPad (in reference to Gollum’s fascination with his ring) and head down to the couch.
“How was your day,” my wife asks as I settle in on the couch and start poking at my screen.
“Pretty good,” I respond and then proceed to make small talk about the day’s events as I activate the VPN on my iPad. With the VPN connected I make a couple of quick taps at my screen and am presented with a series of icons that represent systems at my office. I tap on the icon for my desktop and after a short pause I’m presented with my logon screen. After typing my password, the familiar look of my work desktop appears and I tap the Enterprise Manager on my task bar. Next I tap the marketing database and then select new query. Using the “SCRIPT TABLE AS> SELECT TO” menu on the CampaignResponse table, I make a quick change to the auto-generated statement and sort the newest records to the top. A quick look shows that we there are dozens of new records in the table from today.
“Well, that’s not the problem, “I mumble to myself as I tap the SQL Monitor icon on my desktop. A quick review of the dashboard shows nothing out of the ordinary, so I tap on my browser icon and pull up the SQL Reporting Services homepage. A few more taps and the green wheel notifies me that the Campaign Response report is running. The report finishes and displays no rows of data. I tap the Properties tab for the report and then tap the Data Sources link. A quick review of the custom data source reveals the problem – the report is pointed at our development database and not production. I smile to myself as I recall that our new entry level reports developer was working on this report earlier in the day to make some changes that Meghan had requested. He had simply put it into production without modifying the connection string.
A few more taps at the screen and I’ve saved the connection string with the production information and am re-running the report. It generates with the new responses now showing. I tap my desktop again to close the RDP session and then open Safari and navigate to my Google Voice account. A few more keystrokes and I’ve notified Meghan with a text that the issue has been fixed. I check my watch and it is 7:42 PM – only 12 minutes have elapsed and I’ve fixed a problem that I know was causing lots of anxiety at work – now that’s customer service! Sixty seconds later I get at “THANK YOU!!!!!!!” text back from Meghan.
After a great dinner with the family, my wife and I settle in to watch a movie after putting the kids in bed. It’s a chick flick, so I’m reading a few articles from SQLServerCentral.com on “My Precious” with my wife’s head on my shoulder. About 10:30 PM the movie is over and we start preparing for a well-deserved night’s rest. I’m brushing my teeth when my pager goes off again – this time it’s an alert from the SQL Monitor service – one of the nightly backups failed on one of our SQL 2005 servers. It’s time to grab “My Precious” again and take a look.
I prop my pillows up to support my head as I climb into bed, and it isn’t long before I’m back on the network and have opened an RDP session for the server with the issue. It’s another quick fix as a recent effort to archive some of our older (and less frequently used) databases is quickly identified as the culprit. Somebody (me) forgot to modify the backup jobs to remove those old databases. I make a mental note not to be too hard on the newbie developer for the marketing report since everybody makes mistakes! I fix the issue with a few more taps and then kick off the backup job again. Since I’m already online I decide to check out our overnight process, which started about 30 minutes ago. SQL Monitor shows me that things are looking great, so I close down my remote session again and head to bed for a sound night of sleep.
As I’m drifting off to sleep I think how truly useful my new iPad has become – these sorts of minor irritations used to really get under my skin as they required a major effort to just get connected to our corporate vpn. Instead of trudging down to my office, firing up my computer and spending at least 15 minutes before I can even start troubleshooting the problem, I’m now fixing issues in no time at all! I’m getting more sleep, feel better about my work-life balance and enjoy solving technical problems for our users in record time.
December 15, 2010 at 9:24 am
The obvious advantage of device like iPad is that I'm not tied to my office desk anymore. The advantage that my employer or my business gets is that I'm not away from work and life doesn't get in my way. My employer doesn't have to worry about replacing me if I have to take my kids for doctor's appointment or something else that's important to me. As an employer, to justify the cost of iPad I would find out how much it costs me in terms of productivity and unhappy customer when my employee is away versus the cost of iPad. I would also account for the gain in terms of employee happiness and loyalty. It's almost no-brainer.
December 15, 2010 at 9:58 am
hi Steve...
An iPad would probably not help my situation.
My boss likes to see a warm body in the office, so even telecommuting is not an option (even though I regularly deploy application and database modifications remotely via our VPN after hours).
The main thing an iPad would offer is possibilities: being able to demonstrate what can be done both for myself and for our field representatives. It might just start the revolution.
Thanks...
December 15, 2010 at 10:31 am
Hi Steve-
I think the iPad and devices like it are taking something that has intrigued myself and some friends of mine. Basically my little smart phone seems "smarter" that my much more "powerful" laptop/desktop. With the introduction of "push notifications", apps that are always on and very little if any boot time for these devices it has become much simpler to use and respond to items in a timely fashion. Think about it when you turn on your phone or the iPad it just goes and gets your email, syncs calendars, gets push notifications from various apps that alert you to items you need to attend to.
I think what is setting the iPad apart from other tablets (at this point at least) is the form factor in terms of actually using it. My daughter uses one at school for special education classes and it if a kindergartner with special needs is able to pickup an Ipad and just intuitively know how to use it just think what us "educated" folks should be able to do.
As far as my employer, I think the big benefits are the following:
1. Cheap in comparison to that of a corporate laptop and software in terms of functionally per dollar.
2. The ability to be mobile with out being weighed down is something that is big in terms of our transportation industry. When you have to go into a vehicle and boot up your laptop, connect to the network to show a demo to a driver that can be brutal 5-10 minutes.
3. The ability to replace these "dashboard" computers that we have lying around that simply sit there and show updates to various administrators and tier systems are just a waste of space. If they are replaced with ipads they are mobile and take up less space.
Just a few thoughts.
-rich
December 15, 2010 at 10:39 am
The combination of an iPad and Red Gate SQL Server Monitor offers mobility, ease of use, and increased visibility. Mobility is a given: the iPad is a lightweight and ultra-mobile option for computing on the go. You would be hard-pressed to find a device that offers the same functionality and features as the iPad. The ease of use is explained by SQL Server Monitor’s various dashboards and reports. It provides you with the tools you need to perform proper monitoring and analysis at your fingertips. The true value of the marriage of these two tools is in the improved visibility of often overlooked job functions. During the course of your work day, you might be asked what the typical CPU or memory load is on any given server. At the touch of a button, you can bring up analytical reports to show these usage statistics for the last few hours, the last few days, or the last few weeks. Given the portability of the iPad and the richness of SQL Server Monitor, you could realistically have this information available to you at all times. Using the union of these two tools, it becomes much easier to show your co-workers and supervisor the methods and processes you employ to monitor their most valuable of resources.
December 15, 2010 at 11:44 am
For me the key is "information at my fingertips".
I can't tell you how many times I've been in a meeting (maybe even an informal hallway meeting), and had unanswerable questions come up:
* How much space is available on the data drive of this server
* What time did the backups finish last night on that server
* Anyone know if this instance is still using over 50% CPU?
to which the only possible answer is, "I don't know. Let me go to my office and check."
A laptop just doesn't do the same thing, in terms of ease and quickness of startup and use, and how quickly you can get to the data. Its also cumbersome to haul around with you from place to place.
An iPad, though, would be an awesome tool, especially in combination with the RedGate SQL Monitor tool, to whip out at a moments notice (even in a quick hallway conversation), and find the answers to these questions!
December 15, 2010 at 3:56 pm
I think it's very interesting to read all of the feedback. I thought about your question and it was funny how easy it was to relate the issue to maybe a proposed idea. I thought the same feedback could just about go to any of the 3 categories.
I'm sure that just like everyone else there's always the frustration of feeling like you can't go anywhere or do anything because of the possible critical issue.
Then there's the frustration of the helpdesk calling you while your away from any computer and a long way from either home or the office. The helpdesk says they don't have much in the way of information on the issue but there have been several calls regarding to problem. You can't tell them what to check because they can't tell you much about what's wrong. You arrive home after canceling all of your plans to find out that someone was running a query that created a blocking issue which has already resolved it's self.
Information in today's world means more productivity, better response time, meeting SLA's and better overall happy customers. Having the means to resources at hand can be a life saver in today's world. Being able to check the SQL Monitoring and getting an idea of what the issue is could mean staying at the ball game and giving directions to a helpdesk person right away as opposed to the best case scenario of waiting for the laptop to boot, hoping the slow wireless card provided works and then getting to the actual issue.
I asked my boss one time if I could take a 2 weeks vacation. He said are you going to be where you could help us with any issues that come up. It's nice to be needed but to feel like you can't leave the city gets old. Having around 50 SQL clusters and another 25 standalone SQL servers always provides a need for resources.
Merry Christmas
December 15, 2010 at 4:00 pm
I work for a company that provides warehouse automation systems. Every system is custom design and built and most of the software (including SQL) is tailored to mesh with their existing systems. We use all of the latest software, but we often install our systems at client sites that don't have many technical folks that can handle server administration. We do as much as we can to protect them from themselves, but that is not always enough. Because of this, we sometimes get frantic support calls. These calls could come in at any time as many of our clients run their systems around the clock.
Generally, when they have a major problem, their entire business is essentially shutdown, and we have a fire drill to get them back up and running. Because of the timeframe for these calls and the urgency, an iPad would be a tremendous asset to help assist a remote client get back up and running quickly no matter the time as long as I had my iPad. (I'm not submitting under the work/life section as the iPad would tether me to work more easily.) Additionally, the SQL Monitor software could help us better proactively monitor our clients to eliminate some of these fire drills.
Thanks for the consideration.
December 15, 2010 at 4:46 pm
Having an iPad would be cool, though it wouldn't bring much value to the workplace. Having a sql monitoring tool, such as SQL Monitor, does have great value to the workplace. Using the iPads ability to see that monitoring tool anywhere you have connection and potentially resolving issues creates a synergy of enormous value.
How many times have you been told the app or database is/was SLOW, but by the time you get to your desk it isn't slow anymore. With SQL Monitor and an iPad, I would be able to pull up the web site drill down to the error and see that the disk IO spiked when a certain query was run. Then using something like iTap or a Citrix client, connect to my system to fix the problem. All this could be done while at the users desk, standing in line at a local restaurant, or sitting in the auditorium waiting for your daughter's play to start.
In addition, using the iPad as a presentation tool would allow the ability to show SQL Monitor, SQL Reports, etc.. while using the iPads ability to zoom in so that even the people in the back of the room can read the information you just circled on your tablet screen.
As another shop, that is currently evaluating sql monitoring tools, I see great value in being able to receive an alert, check the alert in SQL Monitor and resolve said alert in a timely manner, wherever you may be.
December 15, 2010 at 11:08 pm
Hi Steve,
I currently support several database instances on SQL 2000, SQL 2005 and as of this month SQL 2008 R2 in a clustered scenario. The geographical locations of my organization range from Camp Fuji, at the base of Mt. Fuji in mainland Japan to the tropical climate of Okinawa, Japan. I currently monitor with my Dell 820 laptop that is rather long in the tooth. At times I may be in remote locations such as the Jungle Warfare Training Center or at Ie Shima (Where the famous WWII correspondent was killed alongside the Marines with which he served). Our databases are essential to our business operations and keeping them running is my responsibility. Having an Ipad with SQL monitoring would allow me to remotely monitor from any of our bases as we provide wireless capability at each them. This would allow me to more proactively monitor without cutting into my family time or my time that is used as I am completing my masters degree. I could be at one of the beaches enjoying myself and still have the ability to monitor our servers.
December 16, 2010 at 1:10 am
My Apple iphone
is all alone
so if I had an Ipad
it would no longer be sad.
For mobile support of SQL
there is no equal.
The screen is so large
and it lasts hours without a charge.
With wireless and 3G
I would be set free
to enjoy my life
with a lot less strife.
SQL Monitor from Red Gate
does highly rate.
This monitoring tool
is oh so cool.
The web interface
means I could leave the rat race
and still perform my role
from some sandy atoll.
So I beg you please
from my bended knees
send my way
an Ipad today.
😀
That is my first ever poem so go easy on me!
As a lone DBA looking after 430 application databases spread over 70 servers I need all the help I can get!
I was a slow adopter of the iphone but am now inseparable from it. The main draw back of it is the screen size which is where the Ipad steps in. Having a portable, usable device would allow me to keep an eye on my server farm when away from my desk. Being able to monitor systems, access documents or emails during meetings would also be invaluable.
I have implemented a mash up of David Bird and Rodney Landrum's monitoring tools to automate our SQL monitoring but SQL Monitor from Red Gate would take me to the next level and allow real time monitoring and obviously with the web interface is a perfect match with the Ipad.
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