See the companion webinar at: http://embt.co/1tqdQxA Being a DBA can be challenging and frustrating. There is always a lot to learn, many priorities and not enough hours in the day to get it all done. Join SQL Server MVPs John Sterrett and Mike Walsh, along with Scott Walz, Director of Embarcadero Software Consultants, as they reflect back on the life of a DBA. By sharing real-life personal use cases and scenarios, they will give you a sense of direction, help you prioritize and get you started down the right path. In this presentation, you will learn: + Make the first things, the first things + The goals and an action plan to start becoming a proactive DBA From other DBAs who have been right where you are

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Congratulations, You’re A DBA…Now What?
Presented by:
SQL Server MVP, Mike Walsh and John Sterrett

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About Mike Walsh
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• SQL Server MVP Since 2011
• Working with SQL Server for 16 years
• Partner and Managing Director of the WellDBA™ Practice at Linchpin People
• Blog at www.linchpinpeople.com and www.straightpathsql.com
• Runs the Seacoast SQL Server User Group alongside Jack Corbett
• Speaks at various SQL events
• I’ve been a new DBA, a few times. 
• @Mike_Walsh on twitter
About Linchpin People
Linchpin People is a company made up of many SQL Server experts. We have a trade guild mentality –
working with the craftsmen in our field on various SQL server challenges. One of our service offerings,
the WellDBA Exam™ highlights a lot of the misses of the areas of focus we’re talking about here. We
often see the same patterns exist in many environments.

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About John Sterrett
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• Working with SQL Server for 10 years
• Group Principal of the WellDBA™ Practice at Linchpin People
• Blogs at www.johnsterrett.com and www.linchpinpeople.com
• Tweets at @JohnSterrett
• Speaks at a lot of SQL Server conferences
• Runs a SQL Server User Group in Austin, TX
• Runs the High Availability PASS Virtual Chapter
• PASS Regional Mentor for South Central US Region
• Co-Author of a book SQL Server 2014 Backup and Recovery
• He’s been a new DBA a few times, too.

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Let’s start with a story…

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“Where Do I Start?”
Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/uxud/3396427350/in/set-72157618745751536/

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Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brykmantra/76765412/
“How’s the Sr. DBA?”

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Goal #1
Leave As
Advocates
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Goal #2
Leave With
Questions
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Goal #3
Beat Up a MYTH
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“Set It And Forget It”
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“Set It And Forget It”“Set It And Forget It”

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Alright… Enough History
Leave As
ADVOCATES
Leave With
QUESTIONS

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database administrator
(abbreviated as DBA)(computing) a person
who is responsible for the logical and
physical design of databases, and normally for all
aspects of their recoverability,
integrity, security, availability and
performance
Source: Wiktionary.Com

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So…
Let’s Prioritize

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Recoverability
Security & Auditability
Availability
Reliability
“Performability”

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“You’re Fired”

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Recoverability

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 70% Small Firms done w/in 1yr
(DT/PriceWaterHouse)
 100% Of Drives Fail
 50% Of Tape backups fail to restore
(Gartner)

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Thinking of Backups
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“How fast will backups be?”
“Can I backup to this tape?”
“Do We offsite the backups?”
“What Kind of Backup?

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Thinking of Restores
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“Restore Test Plan?”
“Will that tape work in 6 yrs?”
“How do we backup?”
“What about x or y scenarios?”

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Who’s In Charge??

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Working To Set
& Meet
Expectations

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Backing Up?
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 Agent Alerts
 Monitoring Tools
 SQL Scripts
 Just Do it!

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Homework
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 Verify you have backups!
 Do a test restore (not in production)
 Make sure you are on same page with
business around recovery goals.

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Security
&
Auditability

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Get Auditable
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 Secure Your Environment
 Least Privilege
 Optimists Need Not Apply
 Write The Policies
 FOLLOW The Policies
 It’s Common Sense

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Security
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 Identify Threats
 Make A Plan
 Implement

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/andryone/120278573

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Wikimedia.org

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Least Privilege
Group Based
Role Based

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Least Privilege

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What is NECESSARY?

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What is NOT NECESSARY?

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Groups & Roles

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Homework
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 Figure out who is in the SA fixed server
role and make sure it makes sense!

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Availability

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“Low” Availability

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Homework
 Setup SQL Agent alerts.
 Look at your error logs!
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High Availability

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Homework
 Watch John’s intro video
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Reliability

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“HELP! We
implemented this
project and….”

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UPDATE Project
SET NeedDBA =1
WHERE
Date < GETDATE()

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Vendor Interview

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Homework
 Communicate!
 Check out the vendor interview
 Questionnaire
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“Performability”

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/1384954600

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53 http://www.flickr.com/photos/hikingartist/3515471358/

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/rsgranne/179319967

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Homework
 Take a baseline of your performance
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Recoverability
Reliability
Security & Auditability
Availability
Performability

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LinchpinPeople.com/where

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Coming This Spring…
• This generation will bring you 24x7 database
monitoring and alerting that enables DBAs to analyze
DBMS instances while staying abreast of
customizable metrics and scripts.
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Thank you for attending!
Connect with us
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Read Mike’s Blog
Community.embarcadero.com
Take our word for
it & try it out!
http://www.embarcadero.co
m/products/rapid-sql
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