Hunting and Gathering

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Hunting and Gathering

Rodney Landrum

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March 25, 2010 at 9:11 pm

#139046

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Hunting and Gathering

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Raju Lalvani Say Hey Kid Points: 695 More actions · Answer 1

It is rather strange that our faith in answers posted on the internet are taken as "Gospel Truth" :-). We generally pick up the first few answers returned by a search engine, implement it and then figure out that was not the best possible :w00t:;. We need to spend more time in figuring out, by going through the other search results and figuring out which would be a possible solution.

paul s-306273 SSChampion Points: 10727 More actions · Answer 2

"have you tried switching if off and on again" (the last one is a joke, of course).

That does work sometimes!

jcrawf02 SSC-Insane Points: 24198 More actions · Answer 3

paul s-306273 (3/26/2010)
"have you tried switching if off and on again" (the last one is a joke, of course).
That does work sometimes!

treating the symptom, not the disease...

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How best to post your question[/url]
How to post performance problems[/url]
Tally Table:What it is and how it replaces a loop[/url]

"stewsterl 80804 (10/16/2009)I guess when you stop and try to understand the solution provided you not only learn, but save yourself some headaches when you need to make any slight changes."

jcrawf02 SSC-Insane Points: 24198 More actions · Answer 4

Raju Lalvani (3/26/2010)
It is rather strange that our faith in answers posted on the internet are taken as "Gospel Truth" :-). We generally pick up the first few answers returned by a search engine, implement it and then figure out that was not the best possible :w00t:;. We need to spend more time in figuring out, by going through the other search results and figuring out which would be a possible solution.

Did anybody ever tell you that if you Drop the Master dbs, you'll no longer have *any problems* with your servers?

mainly because you won't be working there anymore...

If we don't find out WHY something works, the pros and cons of it, etc, before implementing in production, then yeah, we definitely need to change our patterns.

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How best to post your question[/url]
How to post performance problems[/url]
Tally Table:What it is and how it replaces a loop[/url]

"stewsterl 80804 (10/16/2009)I guess when you stop and try to understand the solution provided you not only learn, but save yourself some headaches when you need to make any slight changes."

jcrawf02 SSC-Insane Points: 24198 More actions · Answer 5

Twitter, #sqlhelp hashtag. Some of the folks who wrote BOL might respond and clarify the issue for you.

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How best to post your question[/url]
How to post performance problems[/url]
Tally Table:What it is and how it replaces a loop[/url]

"stewsterl 80804 (10/16/2009)I guess when you stop and try to understand the solution provided you not only learn, but save yourself some headaches when you need to make any slight changes."

Larry Aue Ten Centuries Points: 1027 More actions · Answer 6

I search to get a direction moreso than an answer. Thinking about it, you do the exact same thing within your own team of coworkers. Someone gives you advice and you act on it. The net is no different, it's just a little bigger. 😀

Jedak SSCertifiable Points: 5519 More actions · Answer 7

Interesting article. I know I'm always searching google for technical information.

For those concerned with the AWE settings the following are some information concerning the memory settings on SQL Server.

http://www.sqlservercentral.com/blogs/glennberry/archive/2009/11/01/two-very-important-configuration-settings-for-sql-server-2005_2F00_2008.aspx

http://www.sqlservercentral.com/blogs/glennberry/archive/2009/10/29/suggested-max-memory-settings-for-sql-server-2005_2F00_2008.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/slavao/archive/2006/11/13/q-a-does-sql-server-always-respond-to-memory-pressure.aspx

http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Lock+Pages+in+Memory/67975/[/url]

SQLRNNR SSC Guru Points: 281334 More actions · Answer 8

Interesting article. I didn't quite expect something of this nature in an editorial. This was a good read.

Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
_______________________________________________
I have given a name to my pain...MCM SQL Server, MVP
SQL RNNR
Posting Performance Based Questions - Gail Shaw[/url]
Learn Extended Events

NULLgarity SSCommitted Points: 1572 More actions · Answer 9

This type of thing is where I really see value in the MVP program. I usually give the benefit of the doubt to advice/tips/explanations as when I see MVP by the name of the person offering it. That's not to say I disregard others, I just approach it a bit more skeptically until I am convinced of its accuracy.

Twitter | LinkedIn

Trey Staker SSCarpal Tunnel Points: 4796 More actions · Answer 10

Great editorial.

As a DBA I'm constantly studying. A lot of the material comes from books, bol, search engines, blogs, sites like ssc. What I've found trying to sift through mountains of information is that you begin to trust certain authors, sites and bloggers over time. The more I learn the more I learn to tell when the information doesn't apply, is misleading or completely wrong. Sometimes I find that my way of thinking is completely wrong. I think some of the authors over time realize that some of their ways of thinking were wrong as well.

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KB Article from Microsoft on how to ask a question on a Forum

Phillip - Texas SSC-Addicted Points: 415 More actions · Answer 11

What did people do back in the day? (how ever long ago that is for you.) Where did you get your information from, technical manuals and trial and error? I'm talking like back in the days of punch cards and computers only universities and governments could own. You couldn't just go ask someone because no one would know what the heck a dip switch was.

Point: It's paradoxical, how can you determine if a piece of information is correct if you are the one searching for the correct answer?

Point: I think, ultimately, it shakes out those types of people who are prone to tinker with technology. Let me try it then log my results, learn, evaluate, then make a slight change and try it again, then document, then share what I learned.

Anecdote: When I first learned from the Internet about low level formatting of hard disks I promptly ruined my 10GB IDE drive. (although it did work the first couple of times.)

Can someone offer up a story from more than 15 years ago?

Larry Aue Ten Centuries Points: 1027 More actions · Answer 12

That's what the education system is supposed to do... it doesn't give you all the answers, it equips you with the tools to find the answers to the questions you haven't been asked yet.

Matt Miller (4) SSC Guru Points: 124210 More actions · Answer 13

Phillip - Texas (3/26/2010)
What did people do back in the day? (how ever long ago that is for you.) Where did you get your information from, technical manuals and trial and error? I'm talking like back in the days of punch cards and computers only universities and governments could own. You couldn't just go ask someone because no one would know what the heck a dip switch was.
Point: It's paradoxical, how can you determine if a piece of information is correct if you are the one searching for the correct answer?
Point: I think, ultimately, it shakes out those types of people who are prone to tinker with technology. Let me try it then log my results, learn, evaluate, then make a slight change and try it again, then document, then share what I learned.
Anecdote: When I first learned from the Internet about low level formatting of hard disks I promptly ruined my 10GB IDE drive. (although it did work the first couple of times.)
Can someone offer up a story from more than 15 years ago?

Manuals mostly; failing that - just keep testing/tinkering until you find the solution. I don't go back so far as the punch card era, but even in the late 80's and early 90's, you didn't have centralized places to find such info.

I do find that my older books were substantially better with complete detail than the newer stuff (where you're lcky to get any schematic, let alone a functional schematic you could use for repairs).

I remember having to resodder a motherboard backplane for some critical server based on scavenging parts from another machine and relying on a black and white "picture" of the motherboard layout.

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Your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part...unless you're my manager...or a director and above...or a really loud-spoken end-user..All right - what was my emergency again?

Phillip - Texas SSC-Addicted Points: 415 More actions · Answer 14

Yeah, that sounds familiar, that documentation was better in those days. Probably too many reasons to list here why over the years we have seen cutbacks in documentaion and manuals. Many are maybe related to cost/benefit/what you can cut out.

I do recall older manuals containing diagrams, schematics, etc. I am betrayed by my reaction of "who the heck would use that?"