What would you like to ask Rod Colledge

[SQLDenis]

I asked Rod Colledge the author of the excellent book SQL Server 2008 Administration in Action if he wants to do an interview and he said yes, you can see my review of the book here Review of SQL Server 2008 Administration in Action

Think of some admin questions, to get an idea of what to ask take a look at these 2 blog posts

Interview With Louis Davidson Author of Pro SQL Server 2008 Relational Database Design and Implementation

An Interview With Kevin Kline About SQL In A Nutshell Third Edition

[Remou]

Given this section:
# Index selection and maintenance

* Identify and drop unused indexes
* Identify and create missing indexes
* Select the appropriate clustered index

Perhaps something on indexes?

[SQLDenis]

not that detailed it should be something like


What chapters from your book would be most beneficial for the accidental DBA

or

What new features in sql server 2008 are you most excited about as a DBA

[onpnt]

Do you think the resource governor in sql server 2008 answers the DBAs prayers to finally keeping ad-hoc queries from killing overall database server performance?

Given the date/time sections and the changes outlined to the data types in 2008, what do you see as the #1 bad thing you can see coming from them even after all the hype of the new introductions of them?

Will DBAs finally realize high availability with mirroring is not a disaster\recovery solution after reading SQL Server 2008 Administration in Action?

What's the next step for a DBA after reading this book?

[chrissie1]

What's the next step for a DBA after reading this book?

Learn how to be more social.

[onpnt]

As a seasoned DBA that has seen most of the bad things that go along with the job, would SQL Server 2008 Administration in Action still benifit them and are there particular sections you recommend to key in on for those level DBAs?

[onpnt]

>>Learn how to be more social.

hey now, I'm social. I talked to you alst month. that counts right?

[chrissie1]

>>Learn how to be more social.

hey now, I'm social. I talked to you alst month. that counts right?

You call that talking? Then it counts

[Thirster42]

What are some good resources for a SQL Server Developer interested in both tsql development and db administration?

[SQLDenis]

Some of mine


Does a DBA need to know T-SQL to do his job effectively

With all the new things like Powershell and C# in SSIS being added into SQL Server how can the DBA keep up with all these changes...is it time to start specializing?

[SQLDenis]

Here is what I am leaning towards...any objections?


What level of competence should a reader have before reading this book? Is this book good for accidental DBA's?

What are some of the pitfalls that catch DBAs over and over again?

What are the most important things a person can do to become an exceptional DBA?

Can you list any third party tools that you find useful to have as a SQL Server developer/admin?


Do you think the resource governor in sql server 2008 answers the DBAs prayers to finally keeping ad-hoc queries from killing overall database server performance?

Will DBAs finally realize high availability with mirroring is not a disaster\recovery solution after reading SQL Server 2008 Administration in Action?

For seasoned DBAs that have seen most of the bad things that go along with the job, would SQL Server 2008 Administration in Action still benefit them and are there particular sections you recommend to key in on for those level DBAs?

What's the next step for a DBA after reading this book?

Does a DBA need to know T-SQL to do his job effectively

What new features in sql server 2008 are you most excited about as a DBA?

Which chapter was the hardest to write and can you explain why?

What SQL books are on your bookshelf?

Where can we expect to see you in 2009/2010? Any conferences, seminars, trade shows or classrooms perhaps?

[Remou]

What are some of the pitfalls that DBAs fall into over and over again?

Perhaps a little difficult to read? Maybe
What are some of the pitfalls that catch DBAs over and over again?

What chapters from your book would be most beneficial for the accidental DBA?

Nice question, but does it depend on the answer to #1?

[SQLDenis]

What are some of the pitfalls that DBAs fall into over and over again?

Perhaps a little difficult to read? Maybe
What are some of the pitfalls that catch DBAs over and over again?

What chapters from your book would be most beneficial for the accidental DBA?

Nice question, but does it depend on the answer to #1?

fixed the first one

Yeah I should probably combine What chapters from your book would be most beneficial for the accidental DBA? and Is the book geared towards a beginner/intermediate level user or do you have to be an advanced user to really utilize the information in this book?

or get rid of Is the book geared towards a beginner/intermediate level user or do you have to be an advanced user to really utilize the information in this book?

what do you think?

[Thirster42]

What are some of the pitfalls that DBAs fall into over and over again?

Perhaps a little difficult to read? Maybe
What are some of the pitfalls that catch DBAs over and over again?

What chapters from your book would be most beneficial for the accidental DBA?

Nice question, but does it depend on the answer to #1?

fixed the first one

Yeah I should probably combine What chapters from your book would be most beneficial for the accidental DBA? and Is the book geared towards a beginner/intermediate level user or do you have to be an advanced user to really utilize the information in this book?

or get rid of Is the book geared towards a beginner/intermediate level user or do you have to be an advanced user to really utilize the information in this book?

what do you think?

What level of competence should a reader have before reading this book? Is this book good for accidental DBA's?

[onpnt]

Looking forward to the answers

[SQLDenis]

What level of competence should a reader have before reading this book? Is this book good for accidental DBA's?

Thanks I merged them

[Emtucifor]

What kind of person shouldn't waste his time reading your book, but should in fact immediately quit his job and become a telemarketer or work in fast food?

[SQLDenis]

What kind of person shouldn't waste his time reading your book, but should in fact immediately quit his job and become a telemarketer or work in fast food?

the disillusioned and discontented DBA?

[Emtucifor]

What kind of person shouldn't waste his time reading your book, but should in fact immediately quit his job and become a telemarketer or work in fast food?

the disillusioned and discontented DBA?

I was thinking more like the person who doesn't know how to reverse the sign of a variable by doing x = -x.

[SQLDenis]

Imagine a person like that trying to figure out a High Availability or Disaster Recovery plan?

[Emtucifor]

Hey, at one tiny company I worked at, the person originally hired to do data entry ended up being the DBA, just through the "no one else has any time, why don't you see if you can do it" factor.

That job was where I cut my teeth on SQL, so it took a year before I had learned enough to recognize that our database was on full recovery model but there were no t-log backups and that this was a problem. When I finally informed this so-called DBA that she needed to back up every <short period here>, she didn't believe me. Only after some research did she, reluctantly, start doing hourly t-log backups. I think 10 minutes would have been better.

So yeah, it happens. She was (is still?) not a person who should be a DBA.

I can tell you that if I'd been the DBA I'd have learned about t-logs and such very quickly in order to do my job. It was only as I began to master querying that my knowledge grew outside the bounds of my job and I recognized what idiotic thing she was doing. So in one year as a non-DBA I figured out what the DBA in 4 years had never figured out for herself...

[Thirster42]

Hey, at one tiny company I worked at, the person originally hired to do data entry ended up being the DBA, just through the "no one else has any time, why don't you see if you can do it" factor.

That job was where I cut my teeth on SQL, so it took a year before I had learned enough to recognize that our database was on full recovery model but there were no t-log backups and that this was a problem. When I finally informed this so-called DBA that she needed to back up every <short period here>, she didn't believe me. Only after some research did she, reluctantly, start doing hourly t-log backups. I think 10 minutes would have been better.

So yeah, it happens. She was (is still?) not a person who should be a DBA.

I can tell you that if I'd been the DBA I'd have learned about t-logs and such very quickly in order to do my job. It was only as I began to master querying that my knowledge grew outside the bounds of my job and I recognized what idiotic thing she was doing. So in one year as a non-DBA I figured out what the DBA in 4 years had never figured out for herself...

learning curve:
you=exponential
her=0

[SQLDenis]

The interview is up: http://blogs.lessthandot.com/index.php/ ... out-the-bo