You guys are wearin’ me out! Yesterday I blogged about Grant Fritchey and Scott Herbert, and now we’ve got another 3 new bloggers syndicating their blogs at SQLServerPedia, bringing our total to 17 syndicated blogs:
Bryan Oliver aka SQLBloke
I had the excellent privilege of working with Bryan, aka SQLBloke on Twitter, at Quest Software, and now he’s with Solid Quality Mentors. I can personally attest that he’s one of the most qualified engine DBAs I’ve ever met: he knows the engine forwards and backwards, and he’s seen some of the toughest and largest SQL Server environments around. Now that he’s got a cushy consulting job, we’d better start seeing some more blog entries out of him like these:
- Backing Up To Tape? Going, Going, Gone – if you’re using the native SQL Server backup commands to go straight to tape, read Bryan’s post about why you won’t be able to rely on this in future versions of SQL Server. One of the first things I do when a new SQL Server version comes out is look at the list of deprecated features. They’re time bombs waiting to surprise you later.
- Fill Factor Guidelines – this setting is rarely understood and often abused. Bryan gives some good default starting values.
Rob Boek of RobBoek.com
Rob’s a man after my own heart: he blogs under his own name, and he’s RobBoek on Twitter too. I’m all about the personal branding.
Rob’s also challenged me to make sure SQLServerPedia is really about helping the community and not just about grabbing blogger content for SQLServerPedia. Bloggers out there, you should high-five Rob, because he’s in your corner. He’s fighting to make sure you don’t get taken advantage of, and that companies like Quest do what’s right for you – not just what’s right for them. I’m proud that Rob decided to syndicate with us, because it means I’m doing the right thing, and I want to continue to work to earn the trust of guys like Rob and bloggers everywhere.
Some of his recent blog entries include:
- Solving FizzBuzz with Set-Based T-SQL – I talked about using the FizzBuzz problem to filter out DBA job candidates and a couple of answers popped up on blogs. Rob noticed that the answers wouldn’t perform well, and he upped the ante by writing a very well-performing and easy-to-read solution.
- SQL Server Blogs Rob Reads – Rob’s a Google Reader addict, and he consumes a lot of good blogs. If you can’t keep up with that many blogs, here’s what you do: subscribe to Rob’s shared items in Google Reader. It’s like having Rob personally filter your blogs for you and find the best stuff. Other Google Reader people you may want to subscribe to are me and Jason Massie.
- Software Rob Uses Every Day – browse through this list and you might discover your next favorite tool. (And by that I don’t mean Rob.)
Sean Decker
Sean is a SQL Server DBA for one of the top ten US accounting and consulting firms, and he’s just recently started blogging. Some of his posts include:
- Using SQL Server Snapshots to Document a Change Process – I’d never thought of this! When you’re walking through the deployment process for a new software version or a code change, snapshots give you the ability to quickly restore over and over while you’re testing. Sean explains how to do it.
- How to Move Your SQL Server Client Config To Another Machine – when you get a new laptop/desktop/Mac Pro, follow Sean’s instructions to copy your SSMS configuration and files.
- Building Dynamic SQL – this is useful for building utility statements. I’ve used this often to build select statements to rebuild indexes, audit column contents, and more. Once you learn how to build dynamic SQL with the INFORMATION_SCHEMA views, you’ll never look back.
If you want to reach more readers and help more DBAs, I’ve added a page in the wiki on how to syndicate your blog at SQLServerPedia. If you’re stumped for new blog ideas and wondering what people are wondering about, check out our Article Requests section, which breaks out hot topics by section.
