How to be an amazing DBA

When you ask what makes a great DBA, what answers do you get?

-Get lots of certs!

-Oh you have to have a blog!

-Become a speaker at SQL Saturday! (or any of the other respected trade conferences)

-Mentor juniors!

....etc


While all of these are good answers, and will definitely help your intellectual credibility, none of this is worth a job if you're not customer-focused, result driven, and generally easy to work with.

A story. I tried for many years to break into the DBA world. I had quite a few jobs where I got to touch the database server occasionally: troubleshooting connectivity, doing backups, giving users permissions...simple, very junior administration. But I didn't have the experience to get a job as an actual database administrator, and where I worked doing application support there was absolutely no room (nor need) for a DBA. So I decided that getting my certifications was a good way to break into the business.

I went ahead and studied (and received) my MCDBA. I went to a small technical training firm to do this as I was able to pay for the materials and test in one lump sum, and had access to live help if I had additional questions. After receiving my certifications, the training company asked me if I wanted to work for them! They were so impressed with the fact that, when I was at the center in the evenings, I would help other students and was generally friendly and outgoing.

I worked there for three months as a trainer while trying to find that elusive DBA job. I saw an ad online for a Jr DBA position and applied. I was asked some fairly simple questions (like the difference between a user and an login) and then was invited to come in for a team interview. They asked me many more questions, most of which I knew from my training, and a few where I had no idea if they were even speaking English! Overall I thought the interview went well, I liked the team and we all seemed to mesh.

I got the job. My first REAL Database Administration job. I was so happy! I did very well, moving from Jr DBA to Sr and Team Lead within a few years of putting in a LOT of hours, studying my butt off, and working like a dog.

After I left that company, I had a conversation with my old boss. Got the news that after my interview the team didn't actually recommend that I be hired, they didn't think that I had the technical skills to be a good addition to the team. I was crushed! But luckily, my boss overrode their advice and hired me. Why? Because of one thing I said in the interview when asked about how I approach my job. I said "We're all on the same team, trying to get the same problems solved. While it may be frustrating at times, you have to put yourself in other people's shoes and see things from their point of view. In the end my job is to make their job easier."

Think about that. How much more smoothly would your company run if everyone had this attitude? You'd never hear "It's not my problem" "It can't be done" or just flat out "No". Instead you'd hear things like "Hmm, well I can't help you, but I think I know someone who might be able to...let me send them an email and I'll CC you" or "Well, it can't be done that way, what result are you trying to achieve and why? Maybe we can go about it a different way." or "Why do you need this? What's the end result you want to see?" (which brings me to something I will blog about in the future, always ask one more question, because the user may SAY they need a mauve database, when actually they might just need a report emailed to them or to be taught how to do something. Get to the root need before throwing solutions at something that may not even be an issue).

Overall what I'm saying is: to be not just a good but an amazing DBA you need both the technical chops AND the empathy to put yourself into the end-users situation. Having both of these skills will make you a very valuable employee, well-liked and respected, and never wanting for work (or friends)!

"Attempted to read or write protected memory" error

At my current workplace we have actual desktop computers, but are issued laptops in case we have to work remotely. If we want to access any of our installed programs etc we RDP into our desktop. This works out fairly well as my connection is quick enough for me to be able to do most everyday tasks when working remotely.

Then I got to thinking...

What happens if my workplace becomes a smoking hole? What if I'm unable to RDP to my desktop? I have SQL set up with my registered servers, RDCMan set up with all of the SQL instances I may need to connect to, all of my miscellaneous text files and screenshots that I haven't gotten around to archiving on the network...basically I'd be hurting.

So I decided to knuckle down and install all of my tools onto my laptop and then use a dock to connect to my monitors when I'm in the office, a fairly straight-forward process.

Until I installed SQL 2014 and tried to import my registered servers.

BAM


"Attempted to read or write protected memory" error. SQL crashes and restarts. Repeatedly. Whenever I try to log into an instance. When I try to add a registered server. Basically when I try to do anything.

What fresh hell is this??

So I did what any other good DBA would do and Googled the error. I found all sorts of links telling me to do everything from reboot my computer to replace my disk drives to give up and go home (I liked that one best!). I tried a few fixes and got a whole lot of nowhere.

Then I decided to look at what was different between my two computers. I looked at what was recently updated and saw that on my laptop that .NET had been updated to 4.5.1, Hmm I thought...I remember seeing something about this. I started digging through my emails and found one mentioning that this update 'breaks things' (yeah, real specific) and to run this to see if it helps:

netsh winsock reset

Well I ran it and BINGO, everything is running smoothly again, I'm able to log into instances using SSMS, can add my registered servers, and everything is as peachy as it can be when you're stuck in an office on a beautiful summer day.

I'm sure there are other reasons the protected memory error comes up, but this seems to be rather obscure and I wasn't able to find a fix easily so hopefully this post can help someone else!

SP_Help_Revlogin w/o the SP

I've been saving up a few ideas for blog posts for a while now. Nothing worse than having a blog and noting to say...wait, OK there are worse things but I'm being a bit megalomaniacal right now and am just focusing on the blog, not war or famine. 

So. Ran into an issue the other day. We're setting up a new proto-Prod/QUAT environment for our developers to destroy...I mean...use. It's set up nicely with a new VM and new install of SQL, the databases are copied over using SAN replication and then attached to the new server. Wonderful idea and an easy way to get a copy of Prod into a QA/DEV environment, especially when you have a TB of data to move.

Now here comes the fun part. You may have figured this out already, but the new installation doesn't come with the existing production Master (or MSDB) databases. Now we don't need the jobs per-se so we're not as worried about the MSDB, but permissions are a different story. My first thought was 'Oh I can just restore the Master DB from production!'. And then my second though was 'Dumbass, production is SQL 2008 and the new environment is SQL 2012, you can't do that.'

SIDE NOTE:
If you've ever tried to restore or rebuild the Master DB it can be a royal pain (actually, if you've never tried it, you really should. It's gotten easier to do, and much easier to practice this BEFORE you need to know it than try to muddle through it afterwards. Here's a link: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms190679.aspx. Also practice REBUILDING the system databases in case of disaster: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd207003.aspx)


The new environment is to have new logins, and there's a tangled mess of permissions on Production that need to mapped to these new logins. First thing first is to get the logins over. 

'Hey, I can just use SP_Help_Revlogin!'

Easy-peasy right? DOH! It's not on the server. And our approval process for installing anything useful in production is a nightmare worthy of Elm Street (don't get me started!). So I needed a way to use SP_Help_Revlogin without the stored procedure part of it. I needed a stand-alone way to get the logins from one machine to the other. Hence this:


*****************************************************************************
USE [master]
GO


DECLARE @login_name sysname = NULL
DECLARE @name sysname
DECLARE @type varchar (1)
DECLARE @hasaccess int
DECLARE @denylogin int
DECLARE @is_disabled int
DECLARE @PWD_varbinary varbinary (256)
DECLARE @PWD_string varchar (514)
DECLARE @SID_varbinary varbinary (85)
DECLARE @SID_string varchar (514)
DECLARE @tmpstr varchar (1024)
DECLARE @is_policy_checked varchar (3)
DECLARE @is_expiration_checked varchar (3)

DECLARE @defaultdb sysname

IF (@login_name IS NULL)
DECLARE login_curs CURSOR FOR

SELECT p.sid, p.name, p.type, p.is_disabled, p.default_database_name, l.hasaccess, l.denylogin FROM 
sys.server_principals p LEFT JOIN sys.syslogins l
ON ( l.name = p.name ) WHERE p.type IN ( 'S', 'G', 'U' ) AND p.name <> 'sa'
ELSE
DECLARE login_curs CURSOR FOR


SELECT p.sid, p.name, p.type, p.is_disabled, p.default_database_name, l.hasaccess, l.denylogin FROM 
sys.server_principals p LEFT JOIN sys.syslogins l
ON ( l.name = p.name ) WHERE p.type IN ( 'S', 'G', 'U' ) AND p.name = @login_name
OPEN login_curs

FETCH NEXT FROM login_curs INTO @SID_varbinary, @name, @type, @is_disabled, @defaultdb, @hasaccess, @denylogin
IF (@@fetch_status = -1)
BEGIN
PRINT 'No login(s) found.'
CLOSE login_curs
DEALLOCATE login_curs
RETURN
END
SET @tmpstr = '/* sp_help_revlogin script '
PRINT @tmpstr
SET @tmpstr = '** Generated ' + CONVERT (varchar, GETDATE()) + ' on ' + @@SERVERNAME + ' */'
PRINT @tmpstr
PRINT ''
WHILE (@@fetch_status <> -1)
BEGIN
IF (@@fetch_status <> -2)
BEGIN
PRINT ''
SET @tmpstr = '-- Login: ' + @name
PRINT @tmpstr
IF (@type IN ( 'G', 'U'))
BEGIN -- NT authenticated account/group

SET @tmpstr = 'CREATE LOGIN ' + QUOTENAME( @name ) + ' FROM WINDOWS WITH DEFAULT_DATABASE = [' + @defaultdb + ']'
END
ELSE BEGIN -- SQL Server authentication
-- obtain password and sid

--in-line sp_hexadecimal password

SET @PWD_varbinary = CAST( LOGINPROPERTY( @name, 'PasswordHash' ) AS varbinary (256) )


DECLARE @binvalue varbinary(256) = @PWD_varbinary
DECLARE @charvalue varchar (514)
DECLARE @i int
DECLARE @length int
DECLARE @hexstring char(16)
SELECT @charvalue = '0x'
SELECT @i = 1
SELECT @length = DATALENGTH (@binvalue)
SELECT @hexstring = '0123456789ABCDEF'
WHILE (@i <= @length)
BEGIN
DECLARE @tempint int
DECLARE @firstint int
DECLARE @secondint int
SELECT @tempint = CONVERT(int, SUBSTRING(@binvalue,@i,1))
SELECT @firstint = FLOOR(@tempint/16)
SELECT @secondint = @tempint - (@firstint*16)
SELECT @charvalue = @charvalue +
SUBSTRING(@hexstring, @firstint+1, 1) +
SUBSTRING(@hexstring, @secondint+1, 1)
SELECT @i = @i + 1
END



--in-line sp_hexadecimal SID

SELECT @PWD_string = @charvalue


DECLARE @binvalue1 varbinary(256) = @SID_varbinary
DECLARE @charvalue1 varchar (514)
DECLARE @i1 int
DECLARE @length1 int
DECLARE @hexstring1 char(16)
SELECT @charvalue1 = '0x'
SELECT @i1 = 1
SELECT @length1 = DATALENGTH (@binvalue1)
SELECT @hexstring1 = '0123456789ABCDEF'
WHILE (@i1 <= @length)
BEGIN
DECLARE @tempint1 int
DECLARE @firstint1 int
DECLARE @secondint1 int
SELECT @tempint1 = CONVERT(int, SUBSTRING(@binvalue1,@i1,1))
SELECT @firstint1 = FLOOR(@tempint1/16)
SELECT @secondint1 = @tempint1 - (@firstint1*16)
SELECT @charvalue1 = @charvalue1 +
SUBSTRING(@hexstring1, @firstint+11, 1) +
SUBSTRING(@hexstring1, @secondint+11, 1)
SELECT @i1 = @i1 + 1
END

SELECT @SID_string = @charvalue1


--EXEC sp_hexadecimal @PWD_varbinary, @PWD_string OUT
--EXEC sp_hexadecimal @SID_varbinary,@SID_string OUT

-- obtain password policy state
SELECT @is_policy_checked = CASE is_policy_checked WHEN 1 THEN 'ON' WHEN 0 THEN 'OFF' ELSE NULL END FROM sys.sql_logins WHERE name = @name
SELECT @is_expiration_checked = CASE is_expiration_checked WHEN 1 THEN 'ON' WHEN 0 THEN 'OFF' ELSE NULL END FROM sys.sql_logins WHERE name = @name

SET @tmpstr = 'CREATE LOGIN ' + QUOTENAME( @name ) + ' WITH PASSWORD = ' + @PWD_string + ' HASHED, SID = ' + @SID_string + ', DEFAULT_DATABASE = [' + @defaultdb + ']'

IF ( @is_policy_checked IS NOT NULL )
BEGIN
SET @tmpstr = @tmpstr + ', CHECK_POLICY = ' + @is_policy_checked
END
IF ( @is_expiration_checked IS NOT NULL )
BEGIN
SET @tmpstr = @tmpstr + ', CHECK_EXPIRATION = ' + @is_expiration_checked
END
END
IF (@denylogin = 1)
BEGIN -- login is denied access
SET @tmpstr = @tmpstr + '; DENY CONNECT SQL TO ' + QUOTENAME( @name )
END
ELSE IF (@hasaccess = 0)
BEGIN -- login exists but does not have access
SET @tmpstr = @tmpstr + '; REVOKE CONNECT SQL TO ' + QUOTENAME( @name )
END
IF (@is_disabled = 1)
BEGIN -- login is disabled
SET @tmpstr = @tmpstr + '; ALTER LOGIN ' + QUOTENAME( @name ) + ' DISABLE'
END
PRINT @tmpstr
END

FETCH NEXT FROM login_curs INTO @SID_varbinary, @name, @type, @is_disabled, @defaultdb, @hasaccess, @denylogin
END
CLOSE login_curs
DEALLOCATE login_curs
RETURN

GO

*****************************************************************************

The original script that is floating around out there does a call to sp_hexadecimal. Obviously this won't work if I can't install anything on the server, so I had to make it an inline function. You'll see two comments denoting where the password and SID are converted.

This has been tested on SQL 2008 and SQL 2012.

Yes, ANOTHER SQL blog!

Soap box: check

Opinion: check

Facts: some

Followers: If Jim Jones and David Koresh can do it, so can I. Hopefully with a less self-destructive fate.

Experience: A bunch! OH, you meant specific to SQL? Enough, but there's always more to learn, which is why I love it!


So let the postings begin.