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What Do SQL Server Consultants Use (Aside from SSMS)?

We’ve been really busy in the office recently doing many installations and upgrades for a whole host of cool customers. Not so much to post on SQL recently (learning Data Warehousing) so instead here’s the software championships…

LastPass – Like all peeps in the consultancy game I’ve got a zillion passwords to remember. Keeping them all in a secure vault I can get anywhere saves a massive amount of time and frustration. Give it a try on me.
Notepad++ –. Venerable text editor fluent in a million languages and talented in many life skills. Can confirm the Compare plugin is a must.
SumatraPDF – You wouldn’t read documentation with Adobe Reader now would you? This one is lightweight so it launches fast.
Microsoft OneNote – Searching emails for crucial information is so 00s. It’s also the leading cause of bleeding eyes and crushed souls. Be a hero: put your notes in a modern notebook (and search later!)
7-zip – Zip it. Ship it. Some bugs were fixed.

Other brands are available of course.

Failing 70-411: Administering Windows Server 2012/R2

On Friday 3rd November I failed Microsoft Exam 70-411: Administering Windows Server 2012 R2. First attempt: 580. 2nd attempt: 540. Absolutely gutted to have failed it a second time as I was a lot more confident this time around having revisited everything I struggled with on the first exam. Seems like there’s some wide gaps in my knowledge that I haven’t plugged.

Make no mistake: 70-411 is a difficult exam. It is a very broad test covering a variety of scenarios and tools.

It’s also come to my attention that Microsoft no longer allow you to substitute 70-463 (Implementing a Data Warehouse) with other exams such as 70-411 to contribute towards the SQL MCSA which means a pass would have been a hollow victory.

What’s Worked?

Course 20411D – Delivered by QA Ltd in Leeds. The instructor was very knowledgeable having real-world knowledge and exam experience. Notes taken around this proved useful.

Previous Job – lots of experience in managing Windows Server 2008. IT strategy would have seen the business go to Windows Server 2012 R2 and implement some of the new technologies introduced in the newer OS. The interest alone was inspiration to boot up some test VMs and make an effort to learn it.

Exam Ref 70-411 Administering Windows Server 2012 R2 Book – Compared to the SQL training kit books it’s a bit thin but it’s still covers enough of the key topics to be useful.

But What’s Not Worked?

MeasureUp practice exam – although this has been useful for 70-461 (Querying SQL Server 202/2014) and even more so for 70-462 (Administering SQL Server 2012/2014) this has not helped much for 70-411. I was getting 80% and above in the practice exam. In 70-461 and 70-462 once I started hitting 80% (which in MeasureUp terms is a pass) I felt confident I’d hit “the barrier”. The exam difficulty result wasn’t hugely off the experience in the practice exam.

With 70-411 I think that the MeasureUp exam is very far off. Some questions came through on the actual exam that covered topics I’d just not hit in the MeasureUp exam. I also noticed some terminology differences and obvious typos which given how much these exams cost is a bit disappointing.

Job Change – whilst I love my new job it did have an unfortunate side effect: I use Windows Server much less regularly. I therefore don’t have to continuing real-world experience building up. Whilst I do interact with Windows Server every day as a SQL technical consultant it doesn’t cover things like managing Active Directory or setting up Windows Server Update Services. I felt I was getting caught out by the more in-depth questions particularly where PowerShell administration is involved.

To summarise I think my approach had gaps due to real-world experience, dependency on practice exams and the choice of subbing exams out. My next steps towards netting that most coveted MCSA will be to examine Data Warehouse exam 70-463 and (most likely) make an attempt on that.

Please Consider the Environment Before Printing This Blog Post

Email thread gone out of control because someone spun it off? Long email trail forwarded from a colleague with the words “see below” and nothing else right at the top? A colleague asking for help because they have 100 folders, can’t find an email and can’t use search? I’ve even suffered reading through a LinkedIn article discussing best ways of signing off an email (apparently just use “Best”). Been there, done that, clicked the unsubscribe link at the bottom. The question really is not when can we replace email? more “how long is it actually going to take for us to make it happen?”.

Email really adds to people’s day. Email inboxes end up becoming a vastly over/under organized trove of information. Most of it pointless but some of it potentially treasure.

  • Office Communication – My office uses Skype a lot because we can work anywhere, share desktops, make it a video call. Otherwise we go and talk to each other (but not before asking if the other person is busy). There’s also the phone system your office has had around since the 80s but you need to work out how to dial it first.
  • Client Communication – Skype. Just do it. Video call people and watch their facial expressions as you let them down (gently). Phone them if you must but NEVER use email to arrange a call. It’s sad. So very sad.
  • Knowledge – Nobody should be using email as an authoritative store of information. Full stop. It was never built for such a purpose. Deploy a Wiki, use Evernote or OneNote, find yourself a document management solution or make a network share to store stuff if you have to. Watch mishaps & misinformation fall and knowledge be recorded forever (or at least until ransomware nabs it).
  • File Sharing – I get it. You need to send that critical file to colleagues before you send to the client. Or upload it to OneDrive and work on it together. Accept no print outs.
  • Credential Sharing – IF YOU DO THIS PREPARE TO BE BOARDED BY PIRATES. Phone exchange works best but some SIP systems send traffic unsecured (!!!).

To summarise: you can make your life and others a lot easier just by ditching your 100 a day email habit. Let’s all get cracking before Inbox Zero makes a return.

Ransomware

Last week I was at a customer site when NotPetya hit. I was working in the company’s IT Ops room when news broke. All of a sudden people went from worrying about an AD user surname change to contemplating moving their patch schedule forward.

Toward the weekend I tried and failed to help another customer who had been hit by the ransomware. Somehow the application server had become infected. In the end there was no other option except to reinstall the application. Thankfully the databases were safe and the customer is back to running.

NotPetya targets vulnerabilities in the ancient SMB1 protocol. I recently disabled SMB1 on my desktop PC at home. Save for not seeing my NAS and Router appear as objects in Windows File Explorer there were no adverse affects. Microsoft have recently announced that future Windows 10 builds will not have SMB1 installed by default. The IT community should really be working on consigning SMB1 to the bin alongside SSL 3.0.

Speaking of which years ago when the Heartbleed vulnerability broke out I ran a test in production: I disabled SSL 3.0 without telling anyone that I’d done it. The only known site that broke was – very shockingly – a major UK bank partly owned by UK.gov. Why is there such inertia behind retiring old and broken protocols?

70-462: Administering SQL Server 2012/14

This week I passed Microsoft Exam 70-462: Administering SQL Server 2012/14. This was my second attempt after a near pass of 674/1000 (pass mark is 700) on the first attempt.

My preparation was similar to that I did with 70-462 so check out my earlier blog post for more details. The main difference was that I built a lab environment and messed around with everything in SQL Server with the aid of a Microsoft study guide. Lots of stuff has been learnt from this and confidence with the product comes with that progression.

Honestly the first attempt at 70-462 felt easier than 70-461. Naturally I’m more of an SQL administrator (alright: configurator) than a query writer. I was disappointed to have failed it first time but I decided to come back for seconds.

My 3rd and final exam I have planned for this year will be 70-411: Administering Windows Server 2012. Upon hopeful completion of said exam I will become an MCSA in SQL Server 2012/2014 with a view to upgrading to SQL Server 2016/7 next year.

Passing Exam 70-461: Querying Microsoft SQL 2012/2014

Recently I passed my first Microsoft Exam. After lots of time studying, tinkering and practising I can now say I’ve passed exam 70-461: Querying Microsoft SQL Server 2012/2014.

For those looking to take exams you might find my “study mix” helpful. I’m not going to divulge what was on the exam but what I would say is that you need to be prepared and you really, really need to know your T-SQL right from the knowledge about how and why queries work to how you write them.

  • Courses – I attended a course in Leeds, West Yorkshire provided by a company called QA Ltd. They provided a service they call “certification in a box” which is: the course, a voucher for the corresponding Microsoft labs for 14 days, a voucher for a MeasureUp practice exam for 180 days and a voucher to take the final exam. The instructors were very knowledgeable and I thoroughly enjoyed the courses as well as learning a lot.
  • Training Books – My humble beginnings in SQL were from Sam’s Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes a Day but for this exam you need something far heavier. Microsoft Press have a book written specifically for those taking exam 70-461. Just a word a of caution: don’t take the included practice exam as a good measure of what the real exam is like. Microsoft Press even event spelt ‘training’ wrong on the CD label.
  • Practice Exams – The course from QA provided a practice exam from MeasureUp. Again, I’m not going to let you in on the exam content but this practice exam isn’t exactly what you should expect for the real thing. It was great for learning as it does provide explanations of why an answer was wrong.
  • Experience – As I mentioned above you really need to know the practicalities of how SQL works. If you can do it under pressure in your job you can do it in an exam (which is less pressure!).
  • Lab – As a keen target archer I found inspiration to build a database on a PC at home. This gave me a great example of how to build an eventually query data from it without regurgitating examples.

Lastly a word about “braindumps”. Don’t. That’s all you need to know bout them.

My next exam will be 70-462: Administering SQL Server 2012/2014 and then followed by Exam 70-411 to hopefully earn an MCSA in SQL Server.

RAM is cheap, time isn’t.

There aren’t many small challenges in life that I haven’t solved by: a) WD-40, b) bicarbonate of soda or c) add more RAM.

This week a colleague asked a question regarding specifying a server: “is it ok for Client X to reduce RAM on the new server they are specifying?”
We will eventually build a finance system onto this server. It will run Microsoft SQL Server, the finance application and also reporting services through SQL.

An 8GB stick of RAM would cost about £100 based on a quick look at my favourite hardware site. Compare the cost of RAM to the productivity time users could be spending  waiting for results or reports to complete over the 3-6 year lifespan of the server.

“RAM is cheap, time isn’t.”

Don’t forget!

Let’s Review WiFi Security

I recently decided to update my wireless keys and I wanted to share some notes to help others understand what needs to be done to not only have a secure network but also one that performs well.

Tip 1: Choose WPA2.

WEP and WPA are both done for. In addition the 802.11n spec states that you must use WPA2 or else your WiFi won’t set a rate of any higher than 54Mbps. You also need WMM APSD enabled so don’t forget that either. Is there any counter argument left here?

If you are in an enterprise environment you should deploy WPA2-Enterprise which relies on an accounting method such as RADIUIS instead of shared paraphrases to authenticate. This makes it much easier to manage who or what gains access to the network.

Tip 2: choose a sensible length key with a mix of letters, cases, numbers and symbols.

Whilst you’re unlikely to have an issue with someone sat outside in a white van cracking your WiFi keys it’s no harm to choose a password that is something other than a word you might find in a dictionary.

Balance your passphrase complexity and length with user friendliness. A 32 digit key that looks like your cat had a rampage on your keyboard only infuriates your family and tires poor little fingers.

A passphrase 12 digits long with uppercase, lowercase, some numbers and a few symbols thrown in should suffice. Don’t write it down on a scrap of paper either!

Tip 3: Don’t rely on MAC filtering or hiding your SSID. They aren’t security settings. They’re actually management functions.

MAC filtering can be very cumbersome to maintain not to mention someone in that infamous white van mentioned above can sniff out what MAC adresses are transmitting on WiFi which can then be spoofed very easily.

Hiding your SSID in effect sets a flag to the device OS “do not display me”. Imagine of someone wrote software that just ignored such a flag? I’m sure someone hasn’t done that. Surely…

Tip 4: Segregate guest traffic and don’t hand out connection details to your core network.

If you want to offer guess access do it right. Even in a SOHO environment you should avoid the risk of someone introducing a malware bitten device into your network.

For best results your guest access needs to separate the guest traffic by using a VLAN. Consult your router’s documentation for specific details here.

The Summer 2016 Build

This summer I had the opportunity to build my next gaming PC. I had previously had a Shuttle SX58J3, Intel Core i7-930, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 1GB build for an impressive 6 years (!!!) before deciding the time was right to go for a new build.

I had moved out of the parent’s place about a year back and left behind the small box room where anything bigger than an ITX build would have cramped the desk. Now I have my own ‘office’ I have much more room to use.

The end build comprises of…

  • Corsair Obsidian 450D case.
  • Corsair  RM650i
  • Intel Core i7-6800k cooled by a Corsair H100i v2.
  • ASUS STRIX X99
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Founders’ Edition.
  • Crucial Ballistix 32GB DDR4-2400 RAM
  • Crucial MX300 750GB SSD.
  • ASUS PG279Q 27″ Monitor
  • Corsair K70 LUX RGB Cherry Red Keyboard
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Pile ‘o parts.
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Smaller pile ‘o parts.
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First POST…
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The completed item.

The only real challenge the build posed was the radiator. I had initially chosen the Corsair H110i to fit to the top of the case. Whilst building it became apparent that it was just too wide to fit in the Corsair 450D. I solved this by exchanging for the narrower but just as capable corsair H100i v2.(Thank you to CCL Computers, Bradford for allowing the return).

The build is an absolute dream. Transitioning to an SSD is the biggest key benefit as I was previously on a SSHD build which was nowhere near as responsive.

At the moment I am playing Total War: Warhammer as well as Doom. Of course, I am also working hard with SQL Developer edition to hone my SQL skills.