This month’s T-SQL Tuesday is hosted by Aaron Nelson (@SQLvariant | Blog). The topic is about logging. Many will talk about their logging strategies with their SQL Server infrastructure. Many will show us ways they do their day-to-day logging. And many will offer tips and tricks to expert logging.

According to Aaron, we’re not constrained to talking about logging within just SQL Server. I am not the right person to talk about SQL Server logging; so, that rule encouraged me to participate in this month’s T-SQL Tuesday (my first).

I am tempted to write about all of the logging stuff I am doing in my personal life. If we take “logging” to mean making lists, tracking processes, and trailing work flows, my list will be in infinite loop.

Let me share how I track, or log, the blogs I want to read, or have read but want to keep for reference, in my quest to gain and improve my SQL Server DBA skills. I know I am far down the scale and reading is one of the best tools I can afford to catch up.

Chrome Bookmark

I have a main folder called “SQL Server” to hold all blog links related to SQL Server. These links are categorized into different topics with each topic placed in their own sub-folder. My folder structure looks something like this:

SQL Server

> SQL Fundamentals

> SQL Dev

>> SSRS

>> SSIS

> Backup & Recovery

> High Availability

>> Replication

>> Mirroring

>> Log Shipping

>> Failover Clustering

> Security

> Performance Tuning

> Monitoring

> Troubleshooting

> SQL Tutorials

> SQL 2012

>> AlwaysOn Availability Group

> SQL Azure

> SQL Tools

It’s not a perfect system but it works for what I need.

Twitter Favorites

I also track the interesting links I found on Twitter by marking them as Favorite. If the link is something that I can use now or in the future, it goes to my Chrome Bookmark. More often than not, I “favorite” something to just read it later

Old-school Notebook

I am on a mission. I am on a quest for that elusive SQL Server DBA job I have been longing to have. Aside from blog reading, I purchased a handful of SQL Server 2008/2012 paperbacks and I have a list of books I still need to buy! I have some SQL Server books on my Kindle, too. For me taking notes is better than highlighting sentences. Yes, I agree that searching through pages in physical notebooks is difficult but I am comfortable with that. Hey, I’m a Moleskine fan!

Hacker News

I have become a Hacker News (HN) fan only last year. It’s my source of daily geek news. Where do you think I’m finding those interesting (well, some of them are) links I am posting on my Twitter stream? Want to know latest movement in the tech world? Yes, go to HN. My upvoted links are stored in my “saved stories” and all the links I submitted are in my, well, “submission”.

I promise that I will post about real SQL Server logging next time.

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