Regular Columnist: Steve Jones

My background is I have been working with computers since I was about 12. My first "career" job in this industry was with network administration where I became the local DBA by default. I have also spent lots of time administering Netware and NT networks, developing software, managing smaller IT groups, making lots of coffee, ordering pizza for late nights, etc., etc. For those of you interested (or really bored), you can check out my resume.

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Just SQL Auth

Would you like to have only SQL Server Authentication on your instances? That's the subject of this Friday's poll.  Read more...

By Steve Jones 2009/11/20 | Source: SQLServerCentral.com | Category: Editorial

Rating: (not yet rated) |  Discuss |  Briefcase | 36 reads

Easy Licenses

Software licensing can be complex and confusing. Even in Windows and SQL Server, where hard limits are not enforced, people have problems determining how they should license software. Steve Jones talks about what vendors could do to help us.  Read more...

By Steve Jones 2009/11/19 | Source: SQLServerCentral.com | Category: Editorial

Rating: (not yet rated) |  Discuss |  Briefcase | 42 reads

The Conference Benefit

Why attend a conference? After the PASS Summit and SQL Connections, Steve Jones shares a few thoughts about the benefits of attending a conference for employees.  Read more...

By Steve Jones 2009/11/17 | Source: SQLServerCentral.com | Category: Editorial

Rating: (not yet rated) |  Discuss |  Briefcase | 27 reads

Testing at Scale

It seems that many companies don't have the luxury of working with a variety of hardware configurations to test their architecture before deploying their applications. Some of the issues involve time and some involve tools. Steve Jones has an idea that could help with the latter today.  Read more...

By Steve Jones 2009/11/16 | Source: SQLServerCentral.com | Category: Editorial

Rating: (not yet rated) |  Discuss |  Briefcase | 45 reads

Is C# Better?

This Friday Steve Jones has a poll for the programmers and hybrid DBAs out there. If you work with code, why do you use C#? Or why not?  Read more...

By Steve Jones 2009/11/13 | Source: SQLServerCentral.com | Category: Editorial

Rating: |  Discuss |  Briefcase | 130 reads

The Best of SQLServerCentral, Vol.7

The seventh volume in this collection brings you a compilation of the best articles we've seen over the past year, from over 50 authors.   Read more...

By Steve Jones | Source: SQLServerCentral.com | Category: books

Rating: (not yet rated) |  Discuss |  Briefcase | 83 reads

Consolidating Again and Again and Again

Virtualization is touted as a great way to save money, but it's a one time event. Once you've consolidated a server, you can't do it again. However consolidation isn't necessarily the same and Steve Jones tells us why.  Read more...

By Steve Jones 2009/11/12 | Source: SQLServerCentral.com | Category: Editorial

Rating: (not yet rated) |  Discuss |  Briefcase | 46 reads

#SQLPASS on Twitter

With the PASS Summit taking place last week in Seattle, Steve Jones found that there was a tremendous amount of SQL Server news and information on Twitter. It's a medium that is becoming useful for SQL DBAs.  Read more...

By Steve Jones 2009/11/09 | Source: SQLServerCentral.com | Category: Editorial

Rating: (not yet rated) |  Discuss |  Briefcase | 31 reads

Inspiring Change

Day 2 at the PASS Summit provides some inspiration for Steve Jones at the Women in Technology luncheon.  Read more...

By Steve Jones 2009/11/05 | Source: SQLServerCentral.com | Category: Editorial

Rating: |  Discuss |  Briefcase | 55 reads

The Summit 2009 - Day 1

Steve Jones talks a little about day one of the PASS Summit in 2009. A day of news, announcements, and briefings.  Read more...

By Steve Jones 2009/11/04 | Source: SQLServerCentral.com | Category: Editorial

Rating: (not yet rated) |  Discuss |  Briefcase | 32 reads

A Bad Litmus Test

A litmus test is a way of determining your answer to a question based on a single issue or response. Steve Jones sees this as a bad idea, especially when looking to hire technical people.  Read more...

By Steve Jones 2009/11/09 | Source: SQLServerCentral.com | Category: Editorial

Rating: |  Discuss |  Briefcase | 113 reads

Sharepoint Growth is Good

Sharepoint is a product that many IT people despise, but it's a popular seller for Microsoft. Steve Jones thinks that Sharepoint's growth is a good thing for DBAs as well.  Read more...

By Steve Jones 2009/10/28 | Source: SQLServerCentral.com | Category: Editorial

Rating: |  Discuss |  Briefcase | 77 reads

Happy Halloween 2009

It's another holiday and time for another blooper reel from the past month. Happy Halloween from SQLServerCentral.  Read more...

By Steve Jones 2009/10/29 | Source: SQLServerCentral.com | Category: Editorial

Rating: (not yet rated) |  Discuss |  Briefcase | 44 reads

Is The PASS Summit Worth It?

Steve Jones has attended the PASS Summit annually, and found value. But for this Friday's poll, did you find value this week? Or have you in the past? Let others know.  Read more...

By Steve Jones 2009/11/06 | Source: SQLServerCentral.com | Category: Editorial

Rating: (not yet rated) |  Discuss |  Briefcase | 35 reads

A Better Way To Install Updates

The decisions to install service packs and cumulative updates is often confusing to new DBAs. Many of them install every update, often without a good reason. Steve Jones asks why we might not have a better way to install updates, maybe even helping us decide if we need them.  Read more...

By Steve Jones 2009/11/11 | Source: SQLServerCentral.com | Category: Editorial

Rating: (not yet rated) |  Discuss |  Briefcase | 59 reads

Why Is It Complicated?

One of the very common things that is needed in SQL Server is performing a restore of a database. It's also one of the most important things that needs to take place. So why isn't this a simpler process? Steve Jones wonders why we can't make this a simpler process.  Read more...

By Steve Jones 2009/11/02 | Source: SQLServerCentral.com | Category: Editorial

Rating: (not yet rated) |  Discuss |  Briefcase | 78 reads

Is Unit Testing Important?

Testing our applications is important, but at what level do we need to test? Steve Jones talks about unit testing today, and wonders if this is prevalent for SQL Server developers.  Read more...

By Steve Jones 2009/11/10 | Source: SQLServerCentral.com | Category: Editorial

Rating: (not yet rated) |  Discuss |  Briefcase | 58 reads

Virtualization and Preparation

The DBA news of the week contains some interesting thoughts on DR and virtualization plans. Steve Jones comments on why you should care about these topics.  Read more...

By Steve Jones 2009/10/26 | Source: SQLServerCentral.com | Category: Editorial

Rating: (not yet rated) |  Discuss |  Briefcase | 44 reads

The Value of Experience

What type of previous experience makes a good DBA? Is it necessary to have other experience? Steve Jones asks the question in today's Friday poll.  Read more...

By Steve Jones 2009/10/23 | Source: SQLServerCentral.com | Category: Editorial

Rating: |  Discuss |  Briefcase | 76 reads

Low Hanging Fruit

An open letter asks Google to change their default protocol to be more secure. Are there things that we might want to do inside SQL Server to make it more secure by default? Any low hanging fruit that would help the platform?  Read more...

By Steve Jones 2009/10/26 | Source: SQLServerCentral.com | Category: Editorial

Rating: |  Discuss |  Briefcase | 31 reads

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