This is the presentation for my semester project in CIT499 Emerging Technologies course.

1. Yahoo Pipes Mashup
Dustin Walker

2. A mashup, by definition, is a web application

that combines data and or functionality from
more than one source.
Basically, a mashup consists of a central

repository where various RSS feeds or other
information is aggregated into one rolling
stream of data.

3. After testing several different mashup tools, I

decided to use the Yahoo Pipes tool as my
“weapon of choice” for creating my mashup.
Yahoo Pipes has been around longer than

most other tools and was therefore more
stable and user friendly.
Did research on a product by Intel called

mashmaker, however this tool left little to be
desired. It was clunky and not very user
friendly at all.

4. Decided to create a mashup tailored for my

profession as a SQL Server database
administrator.
Recognized how beneficial of a resource this

could be not only for me but also for my
fellow colleagues at work or anyone in the
field.
This mashup could also teach the other SQL

DBA’s about Web 2.0 technologies that they
may not have otherwise been aware of.

5. Now that my focus was narrowed I needed to

decide of even more specific data and feeds
to add to the mashup
http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=

5LZ7UOL_3RGfY_NtdfQQIA
Started by making a list of all of the different

resources that I use frequently at work in
order to assist me as a SQL Server database
administrator.

6. Error messages are very important to us as

DBA’s because they inform us when
something is not right with the databases or
servers.
Wanted to figure out a way to incorporate SQL

Server error messages into my mashup.
We currently receive emails with the error

alerts.
Needed to figure out how to convert these to

feeds for my mashup.

7. After researching several different Web 2.0

mail tools I decided to use MailBucket.
http://mailbucket.org/dumwalke.xml

Setup a personal mailbox using this service

and then capture the RSS feed of the mailbox.
Incorporated the feed into my mashup.


8. Wanted to incorporate a calendar into my

mashup that would display which DBA is on-
call for the week.
Discovered that I could use Google Calendar

to accomplish this task.
Setup a “DBA On-Call Calendar” within Google

Calendar and populated it with the dates and
the name of the DBA on-call.
Was able to take the feed from the calendar

and fetch it into my mashup.

9. Wanted to create a means to communicate

among members of the SQL DBA team.
Created a Twitter account called

“AdesaSQLDBAs”.
Added this account to a group using Group

Tweet.
Added the feed to the mashup.


10. DBA’s use documentation for database

design, installation, disaster recovery and for
particular tasks that are not done on a regular
basis.
Wanted to somehow incorporate

documentation into mashup.
After researching several products I decided

to use ZoHo Writer which is a Web 2.0 online
documentation tool.
http://www.zoho.com/


11. Was able to take feed from ZoHo Writer and

incorporate it into my mashup.
This ensures that any time a document is

uploaded or modified with ZoHo the feed for
the document will be pushed to my mashup.

12. This is Yahoo’s version of the SQL language

which is very similar in nature.
Allows you to filter a feed’s output using the

YQL language.
Filtered feed from SQLTeam.com using YQL.

Filtered on string “2008” which will return

information related to SQL Server 2008
version.
Filtered feed from SQLBlog.com on “SP1” for

Service Pack One information.

13. Added a coupled other useful feeds that we

often search for tips and information.
MSSQLTIPS.com

MSDN


14. Web 2.0 technologies helped me to

accomplish all of the tasks that I needed to
create a useful mashup for SQL Server DBA’s.
This mashup and presentation will also be

used to introduce SQL Server DBA’s or other
IT professionals to several different new
possibilities with Web 2.0.