DBA Brush-Up

I have a session I like to give called “Forgotton T-SQL”, or sometimes “T-SQL Brush-Up”.  The idea is that there’s a ton to know about T-SQL, and sometimes you miss out on or forget some of the cooler bits.  It’s a review.

I’ve really been feeling lately like I’ve fallen way behind when it comes to database admin.  This was made crystal clear to me when I attended Wes Brown’s (blog, Twitter) storage session at SQLRally last week.  It was awesome and fun, but it really highlighted how much I’ve allowed to get rusty.  Since then I’ve been plotting and planning to get back on the proverbial admin horse, and how I’m going to do it.  Part of that, of course, will be taking you along with me. Another part will be working toward getting certified in SQL admin.

This won’t be a 30-days-of-admin thing, or a twelve-week crash course. Those who know me (or follow my blog) will have learned that I don’t stick with rigid programs well. So as I have time, I’ll tinker and read and study, and point out the good stuff here as I go along.

First order of business: Hardware. We have a server room at home with some nice outdated servers and disk cabinets. I’m going to get my hands on those and start playing with installations (SQL 08, R2, and Denali), configurations, RAID arrangements, etc etc.  And I’m going to read Wes Brown’s blog series on storage system fundamentals. I’ll let you know how it goes!

-Jen