#sql administration

You need to consider some essential points before upgrading your SQL server to the 2014 edition. You may not need to upgrade the entire platform, but there’s a big chance that you may need to upgrade your existing database.

I can honeslty say that I am extremely happy with my new job as a Junior BI/DW Consultant. Challenging projects, flexible work hours, great colleagues and a downtown work location - I can't really ask for more! 

Since we have a huge storm rolling into Gothenburg I decided to stay home today and focus on my Microsoft Certifications. I am currently studying for the Administering Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Databases (70-462) Certification. It's going good however I would be lying if I said it wasn't a challenge!

I haven't really worked much with Server Administration and tbh it is a difficult area to jump right into if you lack prior knowledge and work experience. My colleagues agree that it is not an area of expertise and even those who have worked within the DBA field (10 years experience) find the exam questions to be vague and very difficult. So how am I supposed to pass the 70-462 exam?

Well I figured I needed to start somewhere and I started by reading these books:

          The Training Kit lost me at times and was more like a quick overview than an explanation of how things work. I preferred the Apress book as it gave me a great overview, however do take into account that I am a beginner therefor my opinion may not be valid for anyone with prior experience.

I also did all the labs from a 10775A course which I found easier than the labs in the training kit book (considering the 6 VM setup and configurations gah...) The 10775A course labs only required an AD and one VM with 1 default instance and 3 named instances.

So what do you need to know? The 70-462 exam includes the following:

Installation Planning

Installing SQL Server and related services

Implementation of a migration strategy

How to configure additional SQL Server components

Managing the SQL Server Agent

Database management and configuration

How to configure SQL Server instances

Implementing a SQL Server clustered instance

SQL Server instances management

How to properly Identify and resolve concurrency problems

The collection of and how to analyze troubleshooting data

Auditing SQL Server instances

Configure and maintain a back up strategy

Database restoration

Implementing and maintaining indexes

Importing and exporting data

Managing logins and server roles

Managing database permissions

Managing users and database roles

Troubleshooting security

Implementing AlwaysOn, database mirroring and replication

From what I've heard, there are a few fundamentals that will be on the exam:

Installation/Configuration

Security

Backup/Restore

High Availability (including, Replication, Clustering, Always-on Technology, Mirroring)

You have a huge rack of servers and an army of DBAs administering your databases, but did you know that you can save yourself a lot of headache, and more importantly, money, by outsourcing your SQL server administration to another company? There are many companies that perform this service, and the benefits are myriad, so let's explore each of the benefits in turn.

Cost

The most obvious benefit to outsourcing your database management is that it's dirt cheap, provided you select the right company. For one thing, many companies that perform this service are located offshore, which means they have to pay their employees less.

Additionally, these companies make money by serving many clients at once, so they can serve each individual client more cheaply than it would be to keep database administration in-house.

Finally, outsourcing your database administration means that you don't need to pay for huge amounts of equipment. Let the outsourcing company deal with the servers and all the other equipment required to keep your data safe and secure.

Better Technology

Everyone has heard about the company that won't upgrade their five year-old server infrastructure because the bean counters don't want to spend the money. If you outsource your database administration to a dedicated firm, you can totally avoid this problem, as the company needs to have the latest and greatest technology to keep pace with customer needs

A Backup of a Backup of a Backup

Continuing the theme of the previous heading, database outsourcing companies have the resources to back up your data not once, but three or four times. That means that if your company headquarters are suddenly flooded and your onsite backups rendered useless, you can simply call up the outsourcing company and start downloading your backed up data. Even better, you can sell this as part of a complete disaster recovery plan to the higher-ups!

Transfer Liability to Another Party

Is your company holding sensitive data that would cause you to incur liability should the data be lost or otherwise damaged? If so, using an outsourcing firm might allow you to transfer liability to that party, provided you draw up the contract properly. 

For example, suppose a flood wipes out the outsourcing company's headquarters, causing it to lose all of your data. This is rather better than having the data onsite when a flood hits YOUR company, as the outsourcing company will have to pay your company to settle all of your clients' claims.

Flexibility

Having all of your database administration processes in-house locks you into certain business processes. While outsourcing your database administration to another party doesn't entirely free you of these constraints, it may make your company much more agile should your business processes change in the future.

Suppose your business relies on process A, which has a database architecture to support it. Now, suppose business conditions change, and you want to change over to process B. If your process is in-house, you have to get everyone used to the new process.  If your processes are outsourced, the outsourcing company may be able to respond to your needs much faster than you can train new personnel or retrain existing personnel.

Fast Access

If your database is private, you probably haven't considered the speed and reliability of remote access, but many companies have their databases accessed by outside parties. In this case, the speed and reliability of the Internet link connecting your company's database to the outside world is important.

If you outsourcing your database administration, they are likely to be paying for a premium Internet link to its servers. That means that any third parties that access your data will be blown away by how fast, reliable, and secure the connection feels. This also makes collaborating using the data from the database a snap.

Data Security

All companies' worst fear is the dreaded data breach. Many businesses have had their reputations permanently tarnished when sensitive personal information fell into the hands of hackers or other rogue operators. If you outsource your databases to a company that focuses solely on database security, the probability of a data breach goes way down.

Also consider the positive benefit of the database not being on your network. If you move the database elsewhere, hackers that try to penetrate your company's network will find that they are unable to locate juicy targets to steal.

Data Cross-Referencing

Many companies have reason to cross-reference their data with data from other companies or entities. This becomes much easier when you outsource your database administration. If you have your databases in-house, the company would have to send its data to your company for this cross-referencing, which raises security concerns about personal information, trade secrets, etc.

If you send your data to a third party, the data can be cross-referenced automatically without company personnel ever seeing the data. This means you can potentially improve your business processes significantly.

Get Rid of Useless Duplicate Data

Any production database is going to fill up with huge amounts of junk records after a while. It's a real drag to get DBAs to keep writing scripts to keep up with the mass of useless data that creeps into your databases. Outsourcing services often offer services to write these scripts and scrub duplicate or outdated data from your databases. This gives your DBAs and sysadmins more time to focus on the important tasks of updating the database to account for new products and other tasks that actually generate profit.

So Go for It!