I was reading a new post at SQL Server Magazine titled The More Things Change (full version available to registered users of sqlmag.com) by SQL Server MVP Brian Moran. It revealed an experience he recently had at Tech·Ed, where some folks who work with SQL Server weren't aware of the latest service pack version. As of this post, here are the most recent service packs and versions of Books Online:

SQL Server 2000:

• SQL Server 2000 SP4
• SQL Server 2000 Books Online - January 2004
  

SQL Server 2005:

• SQL Server 2005 SP2
• SQL Server 2005 Books Online - May 2007
  

Technorati Tags: SQL Server | Microsoft SQL Server | SQL Server 2000 | SQL Server 2005 |

SQL Server MVP Wayne Snyder Speaks on SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS)

Midlands PASS Chapter - July 12, 2007 Meeting
Sponsored by AgFirst Farm Credit Bank

The Midlands PASS Chapter is pleased to announce SQL Server MVP Wayne Snyder as our speaker for our July meeting. Mr. Snyder will speak on SQL Server Integration Services for SQL Server 2005:

SSIS is a great tool, especially if you are into Business Intelligence. You will learn how to create and enhance a package using File System and database connections. You will learn about the ways to execute an deploy packages as well. You will also see a list of gotchas, and best practices to keep you rollin' on! It will be big fun, so come and visit - I'd love to meet you!

If you are interested in learning about SQL Server Integration Services, we invite you to this talk from one of the experts on the technology. Wayne Snyder is one of the foremost authorities in Microsoft SQL Server, having maintained the coveted Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award since 1999 for his community contributions to Microsoft SQL Server as well as being recognized as an award-winning author, consultant, editor, speaker, and trainer on SQL Server.  Mr. Snyder also serves on the Board of Directors for the Professional Organization of SQL Server (PASS) and has contributed greatly to PASS over the years.

The Midlands PASS Chapter meeting will again be held at Training Concepts, located at 250 Berryhill Road, Suite 502, here in Columbia, SC. As always, if you are planning on attending, please RSVP so we can ensure that we have enough refreshments and seats. There is a code to get into the building if you arrive after 5 PM which I'll provide a day or two before the meeting.

Technorati Tags: SQL Server | Microsoft SQL Server | SQL Server 2005 | SSIS | Wayne Snyder | Professional Association of SQL Server | SQLPASS

We are canceling the June Midlands PASS meeting because the speaker (me) is still under the weather. I'll post in a later message about the July meeting.


Technorati Tags: SQL Server | Microsoft SQL Server | SQL Server 2000 | SQL Server 2005 | Professional Association of SQL Server | SQLPASS

On the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Team Blog, Jay Grewal has posted information about the CRM Security Model Internals.

CRM is an interesting application for DBAs because it does use row-level security. It's a bit more complex than most row-level security models in that there are access checks and privilege checks. Access checks can be overridden but privilege checks cannot. There's information about how all this works and how they've done some optimizations for retrieving sets of data.


Technorati Tags: CRM | Microsoft Dynamics | Microsoft CRM | T-SQL | SQL Server | Microsoft SQL Server | SQL Server 2000 | SQL Server 2005 | Security | Database Security | SQL Server Security

First saw this at Blade Watch. VMWare has released a white paper on using SANs with VMWare ESX Server 3.0. You can get the whitepaper here:

  http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_san_design_deploy.pdf

It's a hefty document at well over 200 pages. This will be something I'll be delving into over the next week, so I don't have highlights as of yet, but hopefully by Friday I'll post something more about the contents.



Technorati Tags: Architecture | VMWare | ESX Server | Virtual Machines | Virtualization | SAN | Storage Area Network | Storage

Saw this first here: SQL Server 2005 Security Best Practices. It's on the blog for Microsoft UK's SQL Server Premier Field Engineers. There's also some security-related webcast information on that blog post, so check it out!

Microsoft has released a whitepaper on best practices for SQL Server 2005 security. You can find the whitepaper here:

  SQL Server 2005 Security Best Practices - Operational and Administrative Tasks

It was written by Bob Beauchemin of SQLSkills.com. A lot of it is common sense type of stuff for old hat SQL Server DBAs, but there's coverage of Vista and the new pieces which are specific to SQL Server 2005 such as Surface Area Configuration (and transferring settings from one server to another), what to audit (including those with CONTROL SERVER rights), and securing schemas. It's only a 30 page document and should be considered a must-read by anyone responsible for administering a SQL Server 2005 system.


Technorati Tags: DATABASE | SQL Server | Microsoft SQL Server | SQL Server 2005 | Security | Database Security | SQL Server Security

I'm working on a new article for SQL Server Central talking about physical security and SQL Server and I was going to include coverage outside of the data center, especially with products like Microsoft CRM 3.0 putting potentially sensitive data on a laptop. There are significant legitimate business drivers to do this for business so therefore we IT professionals are charged with trying to secure that data as much as possible while still enabling our business folks.

Coincidentally, this blog post on Windows Mobile security came out this week, Windows Mobile Security Resources, which has good links to on-line resources in this regard. It's written by Security MVP, Jim Wilson, and includes a link to an article on the Windows Mobile Security Model, which he wrote earlier. If your organization uses Windows Mobile devices, especially if you have databases or mail on them, you may want to check out the link.



Technorati Tags: Security | Windows Security | Windows Mobile

If you're in the United States, chances are you've already heard about Daylight Saving Time (DST) occurring 3 weeks early this year. This is due to the Energy Policy Act of 2005, so it's not new news, but a lot of systems and applications are only now getting the updates. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 changes DST to start on the 2nd Sunday in March instead of the first Sunday in April. In addition, it now lasts one week longer, ending the first Sunday of November instead of the last Sunday in October. For this year that means DST starts on March 11.

For the most part SQL Server isn't affected. The only SQL Server component which is happens to be Notification Services. You can find information on how to update Notification Services here:

2007 time zone update for SQL Server 2005 Notification Services and for SQL Server 2000 Notification Services (931815)

Though most SQL Server components aren't affected, the operating system on which SQL Server is installed does need to be updated (with the exception of Vista). For Windows XP and 2003 there is a patch available. You can grab the update for these operating systems here:

February 2007 cumulative time zone update for Microsoft Windows operating systems (931836)

Windows 2000, since it has passed into Extended support, does not have a publically available update. As a result, these systems must be updated by making modification to the registry. More information can be found here:

How to configure daylight saving time for the United States in 2007 (914387)

Do note that if you have Outlook on the system (such as on a workstation), there are updates to Outlook which must follow almost immediately. Outlook isn't the only Microsoft based application to be affected. To find out more information on what Microsoft applications are impacted, see here:

Microsoft Daylight Saving Time Help and Support Center


Technorati Tags: Daylight Saving Time | SQL Server | Microsoft SQL Server | SQL Server 2000 | SQL Server 2005 | Windows 2000 | Windows 2003 | Windows XP

I've been looking at getting an MP3 player for a while now because I want to make better use of my time, especially as I go to and from work. When the Zune was announced I looked at the specifications and was interested, but I had decided I wasn't going to buy an MP3 player until I could get a good look at it and "test it out."

One of the things I was interested in was the ability to watch video, so that ruled out the majority of the MP3 players. Now, I wouldn't watch a video as I'm driving, but there are a lot of down times where I have 30 minutes to an hour, such as when I was waiting to get my eyes checked. Therefore, any device I was going to purchase needed to have a decent enough screen... enter the Zune.

Shortly after Christmas I went down to a local department store and saw the Zune display. Playing around with it, I realized the display was watchable. Certainly it wasn't as great as watching on my laptop screen or anything larger, but I figured it was big enough for my purposes. After all, the videos I intended to watch where technology podcasts such as the Going Deep series on Channel 9. Another set is the ASP.NET Podcast, of which I'm woefully behind on, but there's hope for me yet. Speaking of being woefully behind, that's something else I was looking for: capacity. With 30 GB, I've only used about 10 GB for my podcasts and the limited music I listen to and have CDs of. While I love music, I admit that I don't own a lot of CDs and I'm not interested in downloading any music from iTunes or the Zune Marketplace. I looked very, very seriously at the iPod version that supports video, but the Zune screen is larger and it flips to landscape mode when playing video... meanng it's a better display. It's lighter and there are iPod versions with greater capacity than the Zune. However, given that I want to watch video as well and I believe 30 GB will be enough for me (given my current usage, that seems to have been borne out), that's what eventually caused the Zune to win me over.

Overall I've been satisfied with my Zune but there are a few areas that are irksome. First is the fact it doesn't support Windows Server 2003. One of my primary laptops is that OS because it allows me to test and setup things I can't with Windows XP (like Sharepoint Services) without having to resort to a virtual machine. Another is the time it sometimes takes to convert the video files. For instance, the most recent Going Deep episode - Anders Hejlsberg, Herb Sutter, Erik Meijer, Brian Beckman: Software Composability and the Future of Languages - was taking so long to convert I canceled the sync for it. I'll just view it on my laptop when I have time and that'll be that.


Technorati Tags: Zune | Podcast | Time Management

Sean McCown writes in the latest Database Underground about how DBAs should try and make things better for users of an organization. I think Sean hits upon an important point not just for DBAs but for all IT workers. Too often IT is seen as a cost center, an impediment, as something as necessary for an organization but not necessarily glorified or appreciated. As technicians we may find ourselves amazed at how the business people don't see value in what we do, we may groan and complain about they don't understand how hard we work or we may think they don't care. From the business perspective, though, it's hard to understand why it takes so much to do some of the things we do. But then again, we sometimes marvel at some of the things the business folks do and we shake our heads and say, "I don't get it." However, they do and it is their turn to wonder why we don't understand how hard they work and wonder why we don't care.

Responsible IT workers seek to make a positive difference for the company beyond their "day jobs." It may not be helping automate a user's spreadsheet, after all, some system administrators may not have much expertise on the latest business software, but there is certainly something every IT worker can do to add value to the organization. A similar point was made by Vanessa Williams in her blog, fridgebuzz. In a recent post titled The Long Tail of Web Services she talks about how Amazon.com occasionally gets recognition for some of its initiatives which don't seem to have any relation to its core business. Google is the new "hot company" but just like Amazon.com, Google is investing heavily in its infrastructure. However, while Google has incredible expertise, they aren't utilizing it as a profit center.

For Amazon.com, the model is already built. Amazon.com invested heavily in its infrastructure. Now it's seeking to use those investments to allow third-party vendors to partner and piggy-back on the great work its personnel have accomplished. Ultimately, that means a greater and more stable source of revenue for Amazon.com beyond selling warehouses full of books, CD, and DVDs. But for Amazon.com to be positioned to have such a strong infrastructure, that means someone in IT had to think beyond "web store." Then someone had to consider what to do with all that infrastructure and how to make money for Amazon.com. That's adding value, something we can all do. And when we start doing this enough, the organization will see IT as an asset and a wise investment rather than as "overhead."

Technorati Tags: Life | Work | Information Technology | Adding Value

I read through a lot of blogs each day in a variety of technology categories. I've always fashioned myself as a jack-of-all-trades and that helps me a great deal with my current position. However, it does mean consuming a lot of feeds to try and stay up in all the areas I have a profound interest in. Here are my shared feeds on share.opml.org.

Google Reader has a nice feature where I can share items I find interesting. There are a ton of good blog posts each day, so I've started marking them to be shared. There are two ways to view these shared items: one is the web page and the other is through the RSS feed.


Technorati Tags: Google Reader | Blogging | Sharing Feeds | RSS | OPML | Reading List

• Officer Elections
• Midlands PASS SQL Server-related job board
• New Business
• Prize Awards

Technorati Tags: SQL Server | Microsoft SQL Server | SQL Server 2000 | SQL Server 2005 | Professional Association of SQL Server | SQLPASS

For those considering the Microsoft Certified Architect program, some guidance on what to submit as documentation has been posted to the MCA blog:

  The submitted documentation

It's an interesting read... even if you're not actively pursuing the certification because it gives some insight into what is expected of an MCA candidate. I like the Technology depth section which points out you're to know a technology area, not a product. Also, if you don't know a product well within a technology area, you best not list it. I think too often in resumes some folks put whatever they can in order to get it past the recruiters. For instance, if they touched Exchange because their previous employer was using Exchange for mail, it's on the resume "with experience." I've seen that far too often as I go to do tech interviews. It's refreshing to see the MCA will call you on what you say you know.

The case study part also sets apart the MCA. You must have a case study and you must know it end-to-end. This certainly hammers home the experience requirement and prevents it from being a "paper" certification. I like the guidance that even if you were only involved in one aspect of a case study, you still must be able to talk about the whole thing. After all, your influence as an architect is what is being looked at.


Technorati Tags: Microsoft | Architecture | Microsoft Certified Architect | MCA | Certification