Reprinted from my editorial in the Simple-Talk Newsletter.

It’s hard to believe, but it was five years ago that Red Gate Software started sponsoring the Exceptional DBA of the Year Awards. The award, which was inspired by my book: How to Become an Exceptional DBA, has uncovered a number of DBAs who might otherwise not have ever been publically recognized for their skills as master DBAs.

When the award first started, some people thought that only well-known DBAs would be nominated and win, but just the opposite has happened. While there are many well-known DBAs who deserve the award, most of the nominees and winners of the award have been DBAs most people aren’t familiar with, and I think this is a good thing.

While there are many DBAs who are in the eye of the public, there are many, many more hardworking DBAs who never make the limelight. While they may not be well-known within the SQL Server community, they are all consummate professionals, hard workers, and knowledgeable experts, all of whom should have the opportunity to be publically recognized.

And when it comes right down to it, this is the real purpose of the Exceptional DBA of the Year award. It is designed to help identify and celebrate those exceptional DBAs that all too often fall through the cracks without public recognition for all their hard work and contributions to our profession.

Unfortunately, there can only be a handful of nominees each year, and one winner, although I am sure that there are hundreds of DBAs throughout the world that deserve the award. Because of this, I encourage you to either nominate yourself, or another DBA, for the 2012 Exceptional DBA of the Year award. If you don’t, then how will you, or another DBA you know, have an opportunity to be publically recognized for all your hard work?

So please take a few minutes out of your day, read through the www.exceptionaldba.com website, and nominate yourself or another deserving DBA.

If you haven’t heard yet, Red Gate Software is sponsoring a six city tour of the United States of its SQL in the City conference. This one day free conference will be held at the following cities.

• New York, NY: Friday, September 28, 2012
• Austin, TX: Monday, October 1, 2012
• San Francisco, CA: Wednesday, October 3, 2012
• Chicago, IL: Friday, October 5, 2012
• Boston, MA: Monday, October 8, 2012
• Seattle, WA: Monday 5, November 2012 (the day before PASS starts)

Each event includes five different sessions in each of three different tracks: Database Administration Track, Developer Track, and the Red Gate Track. Sessions will not only cover general SQL Server topics, but attendees will also have the opportunity to attend Red Gate tool specific sessions in order to learn more about how to become more productive DBAs.

Not only will Grant Fritchey, Steve Jones, and myself will be speaking, but other well-known DBAs will also be speaking. The final speaker and session list will be posted on the website soon.

You may want to register soon, as each venue is limited to only 300 attendees. Visit www.sqlinthecity.com to register.

Reprinted from my Database Weekly editorial.

Forget what you thought you knew about SQL Server certification, as Microsoft has completely redesigned the SQL Server 2012 certification program, making is more difficult, costly, and time-consuming to attain. In addition, whether you like it or not, not only will you need to know how to administer SQL Server (which is of course fully expected), you will also have to become familiar with how SQL Server interacts with the Cloud (Microsoft’s Cloud) and Data Warehousing. If you are not up on the Cloud or Data Warehousing, you will have a lot of preparation work ahead of you. The new exams will become available starting in June 2012.

The most basic SQL Server certification is now called the MCSA: SQL Server, where MCSA stands for Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate, and it requires three tests:

• Exam 461: Querying Microsoft SQL Server 2012
• Exam 462: Administering a Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Database
• Exam 463: Implementing Data Warehouses in Microsoft SQL Server 2012

Once you have attained the MCSA: SQL Server certification, then you can earn either the MCSE: Data Platform, or MCSE: Business Intelligence, where MCSE stands for Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert. Don’t confuse the MCSE designation with the older MCSE designations, which are completely different.

The MCSE: Data Platform requires all of the MCSA exams, plus these two additional exams:

• Exam 464: Developing Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Databases
• Exam 465: Designing Database Solutions for SQL Server 2012

The MCSE: MCSE: Business Intelligence requires all of the MCSA exams, plus these two additional exams:

• Exam 466: Implementing Data Models and Reports with Microsoft SQL Server 2012
• Exam 467: Designing Business Intelligence Solutions with Microsoft SQL Server 2012

While none of the above tests include the word “cloud” in them, be sure to review each test’s objectives, as the Cloud is covered in some of them. If you are really into the Cloud, Microsoft offers two different Cloud certifications distinct from the SQL Server certifications.

Microsoft will continue to offer the Microsoft Certified Master (MCM) for SQL Server, but as of this writing it has yet to be updated for SQL Server 2012.

With all the changes in the Microsoft SQL Server certifications, I would like to hear your opinion. Do you think the changes are a good thing or a bad thing? Also, how many of you are planning to get certified for SQL Server 2012? And do you think the time and money required to get certified is worth it? Please share what you think with us.

I was just at SQLRally in Dallas, and I was speaking to a DBA friend of mine over lunch. He made the comment that his manager thought he spent too much time at work taking care of the organization’s data. He told me that he spent so much time at his job because he wanted to ensure that the data was properly cared for. Now that is what I call an exceptional DBA. Here is a DBA that thinks protecting the organization’s data is more important than does his manager. And on top of this, this particular DBA donates a lot of his free time to the SQL Serve community. When I asked why he spent so much time helping out with the community, he said it was to help pay back for all of the help he had received from the SQL Server community over the years. What a DBA!

It is exceptional DBAs like this who need to be recognized by their peers, and they can by entering the 2012 Exceptional DBA of the Year Awards. These awards are hosted by SQLServerCentral.com, and sponsored by Red Gate Software.

If you think you are an exceptional DBA, you can nominate yourself for the award. Or if you know of an exceptional DBA, you can nominate them. Either way, to be recognized as an exceptional DBA, you must enter.

Once you are nominated (by yourself or another), your application will be reviewed by four judges: Steve Jones, Grant Fritchey, Rodney Landrum, and Brad McGehee. The judges will then select five finalists. Then these five finalists will be voted on by the SQL Server community, and the judges, to select the 2012 Exceptional DBA of the Year Award.

The award includes:

• An award plaque
• Being featured on the Simple-Talk website
• Full conference registration for the 2012 PASS Summit
• Four nights hotel accommodations
• $300 towards travel expenses
• A license for the SQL DBA Bundle with 36 months of support and upgrades.

For more information on the award, and to nominate yourself or another, check out www.exceptionaldba.com.

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Internals by Kalen Delaney, Paul Randal, Kimberly Tripp, Conor Cunningham, and Adam Machanic.

SQL Server MVP Deep Dives, edited by Paul Nielsen, Kalen Delaney, Adam Machanic, and Kimberly Tripp.

SQL Server MVP Deep Dives: Volume 2, edited by Kalen Delaney, Louis Davidson, Greg Low, Paul Randal, Kimberly Tripp, and Brad McGehee.

Professional SQL Server 2008 Internals and Troubleshooting, by Christian Bolton, Justin Langford, Brent Ozar, James Rowland-Jones, Jonathan Kehayias, Cindy Gross, and Steven Wort.

Troubleshooting SQL Server—A Guide for the Accidental DBA, by Jonathan Kehayias and Ted Krueger. Available as a free PDF file here.

Inside Microsoft SQL Server 2008: T-SQL Querying, by Itzik Ben-Gan, Lubor Kollar, Dejan Sarka, and Steve Kass.

DBA Survivor: Become a Rock Star DBA, by Thomas LaRock.

Inside the SQL Server Query Optimizer, by Benjamin Nevarez. Available as a free PDF file here.

SQL Server 2005 Practical Troubleshooting, by Ken Henderson.

SQL Server 2008 Administration in Action, by Rod Colledge.

SQL Server Hardware, by Glenn Berry. Available as a free PDF file here.

The above books were the top picks, but don’t include all of the recommendations made during the April Question of the Month. To read about all of the recommended books, click here.

Reprinted from my editorial in Database Weekly.

I know a lot of DBAs who make SQL Server the focus of their life. In many ways, if you want to be an exceptional DBA, and stand out from the crowd, you don’t have a lot of choice about devoting a lot of time to your career. There are many reasons for this. For example, the nature of the DBA’s job often requires working long hours, working weekends, and being on call 24/7. Then there is the need to continually increase your knowledge, especially as SQL Server continues to become more bloated with features with every new release. And if you are involved in volunteering for the SQL Server community, time commitments can be huge.

Of course, there are many careers other than being a DBA that consume a lot of time, so the question I want to pose to you applies to many different careers. And the question is: "Are you focusing too much time on your career to the exclusion of doing other important things in your life?" For example, is it more important to attend a SQL Saturday, or go to the park with your family? Is it more important to keep up reading the latest blog posts, or to relax and watch a good movie? Is it more important to download SQL Server 2012 on your home computer and learn it than working on a hobby that you enjoy? These are all difficult questions that DBAs make on a daily basis.

In the SQL Server community, I know of a handful of DBAs who seem to be able to do it all. They are exceptional DBAs who excel at whatever they do, and at the same time, they also seem to have a non-SQL Server-related life that they enjoy. They have the best of both worlds. In other cases, I have seen DBAs who work very hard, devoting virtually all their time to their career, shining brightly, but only briefly, before burning out, and you never hear from them again.

Of course, most of us fall between these two extremes, and we are constantly trying to figure out how to best balance our career with our life. But this is not an easy task, Because of this, I thought it would be interesting to ask for advice on how you balance your career and your life. Share with us the problems you have faced with this balancing act, and how you have successfully resolved them. Or, perhaps if you are still figuring out how to balance everything, and you haven’t figured it out, feel free to share your problems so that perhaps others may offer advice. I know that I still have a lot to learn about this topic, and I am eager to learn from you.

2012 is already upon us and I have been busy working on my travel schedule for this year. It is still incomplete, but I have many events scheduled, and I am leaving room for some additional events as they are announced.

So how about you, have your scheduled the training events you want to attend this year? In a recent poll of readers of my blog, it looks like the most popular SQL Server training events are SQL Saturdays (18 events already scheduled for this year), SQL PASS Summit (Seattle, November 6-9, 2012), SQL Rally (Dallas, May 10-11, 2012), SQL Bits (UK, March 29-31, 2012), and SQL in the City (Dates and locations not yet announced).

While many of you may not have a training budget, fortunately, many of the events are free, and assuming they are within easy driving distance, attending them should be a no-brainer decision for you to make.

So if you have not done so yet, begin planning out your training this year. With the launch of SQL Server 2012, it should be a very busy year.

Auditing

An emerging task of the DBA is to identify which users are accessing, inserting, updating, or deleting data, and when. Auditing might only be necessary for limited time periods, for specific users, for very specific data, or it might be required 24/7 for all data. While performing this task, DBAs often have to work with both internal and external auditors.

Application Integration

While most organizations use third-party applications, very few of these applications work in isolation. In other words, disparate applications have to be made to talk to one another, often using the database as the means to share data. DBAs often get involved in figuring out the best way to integrate applications. This may include creating custom applications, Transact-SQL scripts, or SSIS packages.

Backup and Recovery

One of the most fundamental aspects of the DBA’s job is to protect the organization’s data. This includes making periodic backups of data and keeping it safe from accidental or intentional destruction. In addition, a well-developed recovery plan needs to be implemented and tested so that when problems do arise, data can be restored quickly.

Business Intelligence/Data Warehousing

One of the fastest growing areas for the DBA is Business Intelligence (BI) and data warehousing. This is because more and more organizations are seeking to mine all the information they can, in order to make better business decisions.

Capacity Planning

In most organizations, the number and size of databases grows rapidly. It is the responsibility of the DBA to watch data growth, and plan how best to deal with it. This may include archiving it, increasing the size of current hardware, or adding new hardware.

Change Management

SQL Server configurations, database schema, Transact-SQL code, and many other facets of the application ecosystem, change over time. It is often the responsibility to the DBA to perform impact analysis before changes are made, implement changes, test changes, and document them.

Database Application Development

Many DBAs are really application developers who specialize in writing code to directly access SQL Server. While this is most commonly done using Transact-SQL and stored procedures, it can involve writing other code that is used to access SQL Server data.

Data Modeling and Database Design

The foundation of all efficient and scalable databases is good database design. DBAs often create database designs by performing needs / requirement analysis, creating a logical mode, and them implementing the physical model.

Developing and Maintaining Best Practices

DBAs should be proactive in their work, and one of the best ways to be proactive is to develop sound database best practices and to implement them. The better organized and managed the database operations, the more efficient they will be. Ideally, an organization’s best practices will be documented for all to read and follow.

High Availability

A DBA needs to ensure that their databases are available to users when they need access to data. There are many different ways to help ensure high availability, including use of log shipping, clustering, database mirroring, and other technologies.

Installing, Configuring, Patching and Upgrading SQL Server Software

One of the most time-consuming of all database tasks is installing, configuring, patching and upgrading SQL Server instances. While installing and configuring new instances is relatively straight-forward, it can be time consuming.

Installing and Configuring Hardware

In some organizations, hardware (the server and I/O subsystem) is handled by dedicated hardware technicians. In others, the DBA is responsible for building, installing, and configuring their own hardware. In addition, DBAs may also perform regular hardware troubleshooting and maintenance.

Load Balancing

Over time, the load put on individual databases changes. DBAs are responsible for monitoring workloads and figuring out how to maximize hardware resources to get the best SQL Server performance. This may involve moving a database from a busy server to a less busy server. It can also involve server consolidation or virtualization.

Maintaining Documentation

Writing and maintaining documentation is probably the most boring and loathed task that a DBA will encounter. However boring it is, it is still a critical part of the DBA’s job. If there is no documentation, then there is no easy way to rebuild the current infrastructure should major problems arise.

Managing Managers

A manager needs to be a DBA’s ally, not an enemy. It is important for a DBA to develop and maintain good relationships with their manager, and with any other managers in the organization that they work with. Getting along with managers makes it easier for DBAs to get the resources they need to succeed at their job. The same is true for getting along with other managers, as many of them may control resources that DBA’s need in order to perform their tasks successfully.

Managing People

Many DBAs find themselves in management positions, such as a senior DBA who is in charge of junior DBAs. Some DBAs at large organizations do this full time, while others combine people management with other DBA duties.

Managing SQL Server-based Applications

DBAs are often responsible not only for managing SQL Server and its databases, but also any applications that access the database. These varies by organization, but in some places the DBA ends up spending more time managing applications than SQL Server itself.

Maintaining Servers and Databases

SQL Server, and the databases running on them, need periodic maintenance in order to run efficiently. DBAs are responsible for ensuring all maintenance gets done on a timely basis.

Managing Test Environments

In most, larger organizations, DBAs manage test environments that include test SQL Servers and databases, as well as test database applications. The purpose of this is to allow databases and applications (both in-house and third-party) to be tested before new versions of SQL Server (including patches and service packs), operating systems, or applications are rolled out into production.

Monitoring

This is a wide-ranging task that includes many subtasks, such as monitoring performance, monitoring server disk space, monitoring logs, ensuring jobs have run successfully, checking for errors, and so on.

Needs/Requirements Analysis

Whether a DBA is involved in development, or just supports third-party applications, they often perform needs/requirements analysis. This can include talking to users, finding out their needs and requirements, and determining the best way to meet them.

Negotiating Service Level Agreements

In many organizations, DBAs become involved in negotiating Service Level Agreements (SLAs). A SLA is an agreement between the customer (the owner of the business application accessing SQL Server databases) and the service provider (the DBA team managing the databases). This agreement sets out the criteria that define “acceptable service”.

Performance Tuning

It is the job of the DBA to monitor performance and to determine ways to optimize database performance.

Project Management

Oftentimes, DBAs will find themselves in charge of a large project involving many other people. This could entail writing a new in-house application, or managing the migration of a data center from one location to another.

Protector of the Data

While this is not a specific job task, I am including it here because it underlies so many of the DBA’s other tasks. DBAs are responsible for protecting the integrity of an organization’s data. This not only involves such obvious areas as backup, restores, and high availability, it also includes ensuring that applications don’t corrupt data, that hardware doesn’t corrupt data, or that user’s don’t corrupt data.

Replicating Data

It is very common for data to be moved from one server to another on a regular basis. A DBA will often research various ways in which data can be replicated from server to server, decide upon the most appropriate method, implement the replication, and then manage it once it is up and running.

Report Writing

With SQL Server Reporting Services, many DBAs find themselves writing reports against databases. This might just mean writing the Transact-SQL code to extract the data, or it could include the creation and formatting of physical reports.

Running Jobs

Virtually every SQL Server has jobs that run on it periodically. These jobs might include backups, data imports or exports, or rebuilding indexes. DBAs are responsible for determining what jobs are needed, creating the jobs, and managing them.

Security

DBAs control who can access data and what they can do with it. This involves creating SQL Server login IDs, database IDs, assigning permissions, moving security between servers, and maybe even implementing data encryption.

Scripting

DBAs often write their own Transact-SQL scripts to perform a wide range of tasks, including monitoring and maintenance tasks. In addition, with the advent of PowerShell, many DBAs are writing PowerShell scripts to enhance their productivity.

SSIS/ETL

A very common task is to move data in and out of databases and at the same time perform some transformations on the data as it is moved. This is often done for BI applications, data warehouses, and application integration. SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) is a popular tool DBAs use to implement Export/Transform/Load (ETL) operations in SQL Server.

Testing

DBAS perform all sorts of testing, all the time. This can include testing servers, testing databases, testing applications, testing management tools, and so on. DBAs test because they want to ensure that what they do will work, and that data integrity and high availability, is maintained at all times.

Training Users

Oftentimes, DBAs need to share their knowledge with other DBAs, developers, or end-users.

Troubleshooting

Virtually every day, DBAs are troubleshooting one problem or another. In many cases, when a problem occurs the DBA is expected to “drop everything” and focus on resolving the problem at hand.

Vendor Relations

Many SQL Server-based applications are provided by third-parties, so the DBA often becomes involved with maintaining relationships with these third-party vendors. The DBA will generally perform the initial installation of the third-party software, troubleshoot problems, and update the application and its database when new versions are rolled out.

Working with Teammates

Rarely will a DBA work alone. In most cases, DBAs will be interacting with a very large group of people, including other DBAs, developers, end users, product-knowledge specialists, vendors, accountants, hardware experts, and networking experts.

While this may seem like a long list, it is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to describing the many tasks of the Database Administrator. If you are a DBA and would like to add to this list, please do so in the comments section below.