Allan Hirt, Author at SQLHA

June 3, 2013

Announcement Day: Windows Server 2012 R2, SQL Server 2014, and My Mission Critical Book

Unless you were hiding in a witness protection plan today, you may have heard two of the biggest splashes so far from Microsoft’s TechEd North America conference – the official announcements of both Windows Server 2012 R2 and SQL Server 2014. I’m pretty excited about both releases, and will be saying more in the upcoming weeks as more information becomes official. This is the problem

Having said that, you also may have noticed Microsoft’s release cadence is changing. This will not only affect how we think about deploying, upgrading, and patching, but for people like myself who write books, it may get near impossible to keep up, especially since I need to cover two products – Windows and SQL Server. It’s not like a book on mission critical SQL Server can only touch one. SQL Server and Windows are on different cycles, making it even more challenging.

This is one reason I’ve been a bit slower with the book – I’ve been sorting a lot of these issues out. I know the content is needed and people want it; that’s not my problem. The problem is finding a way to make it work where traditional publishing won’t work so you guys get updated stuff when you need it. By the time you write about one thing and get it out in the world, it may be too late. I need to be more agile than that. A little while ago I think I solved the problem. With the announcement of the platforms, now is a good a time as any to let you know what’s going to happen.

The content will cover SQL Server 2012, SQL Server 2014, most likely SQL Server 2008 R2 (to a degree … still TBD) as well as Windows Server 20008 R2, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2012 R2. That’s a lot of ground to cover. Now you see why I’ve been hedging a bit. I need a content delivery model that can be updated.

What will this delivery mechanism be? There will be different things. For those who just want a more traditional “book” so-to-speak, I will be making that available and will ultimtately have it for sale in multiple places (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc.). That is what I would deem more “static’ and won’t be updated nearly as frequently. What I’m really excited about is how I will be updating the content and making it available.

It’s no secret that a topic such as mission critical didn’t want to be picked up by most of the publishers I talked to because they didn’t want a big book – and I understand that. But I also know the topic needs the space to breathe. Just a clustering book wouldn’t cut it now or in the future since everything is so intertwined; clustering by itself is not a solution. Having control over content and the publishing model, I can try new approaches. And what that new thing is will be a content subscription model. For that to work, I need a solid base to work from – hence me taking my time on the v1 content so I can build and update it when necessary.

What you also have to realize in all this is that self publication, while very liberating, is also very challenging. I’m figuring this all out as I go and trying to write and sort out the financials is not easy. Editing will not be cheap. Getting the content converted potentially to ePub and .mobi formats with as many graphics as I have may cost me an arm and a leg, and I’m not looking to charge you a ton, so I’m reconciling all of that. This is why I haven’t said too much but things are finally coming together.

How will it work? Well, some people may just want the “book” and no updates. I can accomodate them just fine. They can purchase the big thing when they feel there’s an update they need. However, for those who want access to the latest and greatest, there will be a yearly subscription only available exclusively via SQLHA.com that will provide any updates to chapters (or new chapters, for that matter) and such as part of that. No more waiting years in between book releases; once Windows Server 2012 R2 is out, I can finalize content and make it part of the book and you get that content as it relates to SQL Server right then and there. SQL Server 2014? Same thing.

I’ll also make beta content available prior to the v1 publication for a slight charge for those who buy direct on SQLHA.com.

I’m finalizing the pricing model but I promise it will all be reasonable and worth it. There will also be some early bird discounts, so the earlier you sign up, the cheaper it will be. I know some have been waiting for the updated SQL Server 2012 book, but what will be released is going to be much more than that. I plan on having pricing information and preorders up within a few weeks, and for those who sign up for it, beta content available soon thereafter.

I’m excited, and I hope you are too. This has been a long haul figuring all of this out, but I want the content out there just as much as you want to consume it. I mean, who else is going to be nuts enough to spend too much time talking about fun topics like quorum in depth? 🙂

May 8, 2013

Allan’s Adventures with Windows Phone 8

Some of you may have read how I feel about smartphones. For the past few months, I went back and have been using my old Sony K850i which on one level has been great. I went through my stash of phones and that 2007 model got the best reception – you know, like they remembered it was a phone. I then remembered why sometimes a feature phone – or at least an older one – can be annoying. You start carrying around additional chargers for proprietary ports (imagine yay in 1pt font) and the battery life on 3G was/is terrible. Standby is great, but if you talk, you’re lucky to get 4ish hours. For the past few months I’ve been honestly looking for a good, normal phone with great reception. Sadly, nothing – and I literally mean that – has fit the bill.

Regardless of form factor, I just want a good phone. The old Xperia X1 was a good phone even though it ran Windows Mobile. In the past, I had two bad Nokia devices and swore off them but I heard so many good things about the Lumia 620 and it’s in the size I kinda like as a phone, so I figured I’d give it a whirl. Its selling point to me: loud speakerphone. It’s true. The 620 arrived this afternoon and a few hours in, I want to smash it against the wall. Why?

Annoying Factor One: No Battery Indicator Unless You Are On the Lock Screen

So you’re probably saying, “But Allan, if you had done your homework on WP8, you would have known that.” Fair point. But it’s asinine. Every mobile OS at a minimum shows the battery icon at the top all the time by default. I know iOS does it, and all of my Android devices have. This piece of junk? Nope. There’s an app for that which you can download to put on your Start screen to show you. I”ll get to the app process in a bit.

How can Microsoft ship a mobile OS with such a core fundamental piece “missing”? Well, technically It’s there … just not when you want it. Jorge Segarra (blog | Twitter) pointed out to me that you can swipe down to make the battery indicator appear but it disappears. How hard would it be to make an option to display it 24×7? Not very I would think. Fail.

I think my old Motorola StarTac just called and laughed at the Lumia 620.

Annoying Factor Two: Changing Your Regional Info

The unlocked Lumia 620 I got was from Hong Kong apparently. This is not a big deal. On Android if I want to change language settings, you just do it and it takes. The punchline on WP8? You need to reboot for it to take effect if you want to go from Hong Kong to US English for how you display date, time, etc. Unbelievable. What year is this?

Annoying Factor Three: Apps, Accounts, Contacts, and Synchronization Choice

To solve said battery indicator issue, I figured I would download an app which needed a Live/Microsoft account. I’ve got one of those I’ve had for years and years. Since my data is off, I used WiFi to connect to the store. So far, so good. Here’s where we go off the rails. Now, I’m not an app guy. I could largely care less. These are phones for making calls. The only app I used for like 5 minutes when I was on WiFi was Draw Something. I had the American Airlines one, but meh – I’ll stick to regular boarding passes. I’ll kill a tree or 10 in my lifetime.

Anyway, so I was trying to find something to show my battery life and needed to use my Live account. I enter my info, find an app, and download it. Little did I know behind the scenes it took anyone in that IM list and added it to my contacts. WTF? Apparently, all new mobile OSes do this silly sync thing without asking you if you want to. On the Android phones I never had that issue because I don’t use gmail.

The story gets better. I had imported contacts from my SIM card already. That’s all I wanted. There was a filter button, but you click that and all of the contacts went away. In WP8 there is NO WAY TO JUST HAVE SIM/PHONE CONTACTS. Another WTF here. Even Android can do that. But we’re not even at the best part.

The only way to fix this? Remove the Live/MS account. Only way to do it? Reset the phone and lose everything. Yup. Epic fail here. On the Android devices I’ve owned and used, I could remove that account used for apps and go all native and totally disconnected without basically wiping the phone. Terrible, terrible experience. One of the worst I’ve had with any piece of tech in recent memory.

I don’t want to sync jack with the cloud or accounts. I want to use my SIM contacts and have this be a phone. I should be able to have that experience but apparently not.

Annoying Factor Four: MMS Messages

I hate texting but people sometimes feel the need to send me a text with a picture (another 1pt font yay). I don’t have a text plan so I’m already annoyed as is. Android and WP8 devices function the same – to get these infernal things, I have to turn data on. With a feature phone, they just show up with nothing special. I was wondering if WP8 would be the same as Android, and sure enough, it is.

Annoying Factor Five: The Start Screen

I’ve been running Windows 8 (the OS, not the mobile WP8) forever. I even have a touchscreen device (the Sony Vaio Duo). I like it. So the Metro/Modern thing isn’t a nemesis to me. But the Start screen on WP8 leaves a bit to be desired. I can’t put my finger on exactly why the OS works but the mobile OS doesn’t here. And no, I’m not looking for a desktop or file explorer on my phone.

So Where Does This Leave Me?

I don’t know. I’m only a few hours into the WP8 experience and I want to bash my head against a wall. Sadly, as dysfunctional and fragmented as Android is, it just kinda works and makes more sense to me. I’m far from a power user of phones, but WP8 is supremely dumbed down. You’d think WP8 – which is, let’s face it – targeted at people more like me who hate smartphones but can’t really get a feature phone would work for me but I’ve had such a negative reaction to it. The whole sync/contacts/reset thing really bothers me.

With WP8, many settings seem to be obscured. Android tries to obscure some stuff (for example, if you had to manually set up AT&T info), but you can ultimately get there. I’m not sure you can do that in WP8, nor am I sure I want to find out. I’m not getting an iPhone, the Android devices are better in terms of OS for my tastes but the smaller devices are not great phones and I don’t want a device above 4″ in screen (sadly, the Galaxy Note had great signal strength and could be a good phone; I don’t want a phablet attached to my head). Nokia’s non-WP Asha devices? I’ll pass.

Maybe I’ll just move to a cave and not have to worry about any of this. Or not. Time will tell. In the meantime, Ben will happily use his WP8 phone (he doesn’t like Android, BTW). Short of buying a Vertu Ascent, I’m proabably screwed. I shouldn’t have to spend stupid money to get a basic phone that is newer than 2008, works, and has a good signal. Oh, and isn’t a flip phone. Hate them, too.

April 29, 2013

AlwaysOn Is the New Active/Passive and Active/Active

Congratulations, folks! It’s official – as I predicted with in my Availability Groups FAQ just over a year ago, the term AlwaysOn has now become the new active/passive and active/active and annoys me just as much if not more. Every time I see it misused I want to proverbially stab myself in the eyes. I really tried to avoid writing this post. I truly did. But people have forced my hand because it’s become like using ur for your, witch for which, etc. – in other words, it’s just wrong and people need to start using the right words.

I swear people should be given a test: if you can’t use the right terminology, you can’t use the feature or speak on it. It’s ignorant otherwise and you’re perpetuating problems. This even goes for people I truly admire and respect – like Bob Ward (one of the best and most knowledgable people about SQL Server around PERIOD) who recently wrote what is an otherwise great blog on availablity groups, but is marred by literally using the wrong term (and see next paragraph for spelling of it; there is no space) the ENTIRE post. MS doing it (be it CSS or a PM) is especially egregious since it helps perpetuate the bad. ARG!

So what is AlwaysOn (one word, no space between Always and On – another common mistake)? It is a marketing term that covers two features in SQL Server: availablity groups (AGs) and failover clustering instances (FCIs). So their official names are technically AlwaysOn availability groups and AlwaysOn failover cluster instances (or failover clustering instances). Don’t believe me? Click here. A few of us had a spirited debate on Twitter awhile back, which I think prompted Jonathan Kehayias’ (blog | Twitter) blog post which predates this one. Part of the reason we had a friendly debate is that depending on who you ask over in SQL Server, AlwaysOn is either just AGs and FCIs, or to some, it covers all features that remotely have to do with availablity. Either way, it still does not equate to AlwaysOn = the availability groups feature.

As with the A/P and A/A, let me give you a bit of history. The availability groups feature in SQL Server 2012 went through a few name changes over the development of the product. It had a total of four (not necessarily in this order):

HADR
HADRON
AlwaysOn (yes, your eyes do not fail you)
Availability groups

Let’s start with the first two. If memory serves me correctly, HADR was the first name for the feature which then morphed into HADRON. HADR was around for a long time. HADR was around so long that there are still remnants of it in SQL Server (such as the AG DMVs) that are not being renamed. Truth be told, I liked HADRON. It is easy to remember (a key hallmark for anything marketing) and it rolls of the tongue easily. However, switch two letters and you have a disaster waiting to happen. For those with delicate sensibilities, I apologize but let’s face facts. I can see why they probably didn’t go down that road. To add to the comment about Bob Ward, take a look at the titles of some of the CSS blog posts. (As an aside, you should bookmark that CSS blog site. They always post interesting stuff.) Many still use HADRON. They’re not helping any here.

That brings me to the dreaded term: AlwaysOn. Yes, it was the feature name for AGs for what seemed like five minutes, but it’s the one for some reason that most of the SQL dev PMs stuck on and started using in things like presentations, so I think that’s why it stuck. I don’t remember when marketing co-opted the term and made it cover the features of availability groups and FCIs, but it happened. I think that was much later in the dev cycle, which is also I think why the damage was done and somewhat irreversible.

The the term AlwaysOn (with or without space) has a long history with SQL Server going back nearly 10 years which adds to the confusion. The term Always On (with space) was introduced in SQL Server 2005 to brand a program to certify storage vendors with SQL Server (example: Dell’s whitepaper; EMC and Hitachi also have similar ones). In SQL Server 2008, Always On (with space) was used to cover availability in general – much like how it’s SUPPOSED to be used in SQL Server 2012. Don’t believe me? Here’s proof.

I leave you with this: STOP USING ALWAYSON IF YOU ARE REFERRING TO AVAILABILITY GROUPS. Please use the right terminology. Just as active/passive and active/active are incorrect for FCIs, AlwaysOn is wrong for AGs.

In the immortal words of Bartles and James, thank you for your support.

April 8, 2013

Building a Lab or Portable Demo VM Box Cheaply – Part 1

Last fall, I got my first new laptop in about 18 months which is an eternity for me. For a bit of my history see my blog post Laptops of Doom. The Panasonic CF-J10 served me well, but still wasn’t perfect. At 10.1″, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, 1 x USB 3.0 (albeit slow), a Core i7-2620M, and decent battery life with weight under 3lbs, you’d think I’d be happy as a clam. Even with the 1TB of SSD I had in there, it wasn’t enough room and the USB 3.0 was slow compared to other machines, which led me to believe it has to do with motherboard design (boo). It was starting to act up on me (trackpad not functioning right), so I knew I needed an interim solution. Enter the Sony Vaio Duo 11 (which I will do a review of at some point). I love the machine but its main weak link is only 8GB of memory, and it can’t be expanded since it’s basically soldered onto the motherboard. Welcome to 2013.

For the deliveries of my mission critical/high availability class last year in Australia, I took both machines with me – I was still well under 6lbs. I got an external mouse for the Panasonic and it was basically my demo box with Hyper-V and Windows Server 2012, and the Duo my main presentation machine. One nice thing about the Duo is the pen input for things like virtual blackboarding. Even with the Core i7 ULV, the Duo really seems snappier than my Panasonic. To date, I still haven’t yet sent the Panasonic back to Japan because I need a backup computer. The Duo only has regular Windows 8 (not Pro), so I’ve been using VMware Workstation a lot like I have in the past. I’ve been able to do my demos with an external USB 3.0 SSD drive, but they’ve been limited. Bottom line is I use both Hyper-V and VMware Workstation, and need a presenter machine. Sometimes one machine isn’t enough, so that got me thinking (and also because I want to be able to send my J10 in for repair) – what can I do?

My idea – crazy as it is/was – was to find a small, yet portable PC, connect it to my Duo via a crossover cable, and use Remote Desktop to get in.

Enter the small form factor (SFF) PC.

My weight requirements for schlepping still have not changed, and I am hanging out to see what happens once the Haswell-based laptops are introduced before even considering something new, but carrying around my Duo plus a small box running Hyper-V seemed somewhat reasonable if I can keep the solution portable. One reason I need this for some speaking engagements is that VMware Workstation allows me to show, say, Hyper-V and some scenarios like Live Migration easily. The problem is that you can’t easily run both Hyper-V and VMware Workstation at the same time under Windows 8 – you basically have to enable one and disable the other which you can’t really do mid-talk. The weight requirement has historically been difficult, since most SFF PCs with any power have been small by tower standards, but still kinda beefy and robust. That has changed recently.

Two boxes fit the bill: Foxconn’s AT-7000 series which you can get in Core i3 (AT-7300), i5 (AT-7500), or i7 (AT-7700) variants, and the Intel Next Unit of Computing (NUC), which currently only has a Core i3 (rumor has it they are going to introduce an i5 version soon). There are two main variants of the NUC – one that has ethernet built in (the DC3217IYE) and two HDMI outs, and one with one HDMI out and one Thunderbolt but no ethernet (the DC3217BY). With both, it’s basically a plug in your own RAM and storage and away you go.

There are some other technical differences between the AT-7000 series and the NUC, namely:

The NUC has 3 x USB 2.0 ports (boo) and you would need an adapter for HDMI to VGA if you wanted to hook it up directly to something if HDMI was not an option (and it often isn’t when presenting; VGA is still the defacto standard). The AT-7000 has 4 x USB 3.0, 2 x USB 2.0, DVI and HDMI out (and they include a DVI –> VGA adapter in the box).
Ethernet only comes with the DC3217IYE; you would have to get a USB one if you wanted ethernet for the DC3217BY. The AT-7000 series has it built-in, just like the DC3217IYE.
The AT-7000 series also has microphone, headphone, and line out if you want such things (unnecessary for portable use), as well as a card reader (SD/MS/MMC).
The NUC only has mSATA internally, whereas the AT-7000 can take a full 2.5″ drive.

You may be thinking that the AT-7000 is a slam dunk considering you can get your choice of processors and it has some better port options. On paper everything is always better.

I ordered both the DC3217IYE and the AT-7700 with the intention of returning one of them (we’ll see if that happens …) with 16GB of Corsair Vengeance RAM (DDR3 1600 MHz [PC3 12800]), a Mushkin 480GB mSATA SSD, and for the AT-7700, a StarTech mSATA –> 2.5″ adapter enclosure. I got the DC3217IYE and RAM from Amazon (they had better prices at the time, and with the NUC, a better return policy), and the 480GB SSD and the adapter enclosure from Newegg. Let’s look at my costs:

DC3217IYE – $292.49
RAM – $99.99
Crossover cable – $2.52
SSD – $439.99
AT-7700 – $489.99
mSATA adapter – $30.99

The NUC solution costs $834.99 and the AT-7700 solution $1063.48. Now, you may not need a 480GB SSD, and standard 2.5″ SSDs are cheaper than mSATA ones; I didn’t want to buy two sets of storage so here it really is the same thing for me. If you went down to the i3 ($339.99 at Newegg) or i5 ($399.99 at Newegg) and used a different SSD or even a standard platter-based drive, the NUC and AT-7000 series are basically parity cost-wise. Let’s say you pick the i3 AT-7300:

AT-7300 – $339.99
RAM – $99.99
Crossover cable – $2.52
500GB 2.5″ SSD (Samsung 840; not the Pro which is about $130 more) – $335.09 on Amazon now

The total is $777.59 – cheaper than the equivlent NUC solution. If you splurged and spent the extra $60 on the AT-7500 to get an i5, it would be only a few dollars more than the NUC solution. Crazy!

The thing about these solutions is that I’m looking at them as portable hypervisors and that’s how I’ll largely talk about them, but they’re so cheap and cost effective that they can work for a lab solution for your own personal use or where you work – and they’re tiny. That can’t be underestimated.

In Part 2, I will cover some differences that may make a difference for some (including myself) such as size and weight, and talk about the process of configuring these little wonderboxes. The third part of this series will concentrate more on usability and how they work in conext of my workflow.

March 29, 2013

Upcoming Appearances and Online Events

Happy Friday, everyone. We’re currently in the process of updating the calendar/schedule functionaliy here on the site, so I figured I’d let you know where Ben and I will be over the next month or two. A few events are pending and not here, but hopefully we’ll see you in person or virutally soon!

Wednesday, April 3
I will be presenting a webinar for Penton along with Melissa Data’s Joseph Vertido entitled Why Data Quality Matters – A DBA and IT Perspective. I’m looking forward to this as this is a topic near and dear to what I do with customers, but you don’t see me talk about a lot.

This is a free online event, so for more information and to sign up, click here.

Saturday, April 6
I will be presenting at SQL Saturday 203 – Boston. I’ll be delivering two different sessions back-to-back. First up at 2:45 PM is “Business Continuity: The Real Reason for HA and DR” and then winding up the day at 4 PM “Demystifying Clustering for the DBA“. It’ll be nice to be speaking to a hometown crowd since I’m often on the road somewhere.

This is a free event outside of the $10 lunch charge. The event is full, but get yourself on the waiting list – you never know! SQL Saturday will be held at the Microsoft office in Cambridge, MA (the regular one with the MTC, not the research facility), which is located at 1 Cambridge Center.

To register and find more information including the entire schedule and lineup of speakers, click on the link above.

Saturday, April 13
I will be presenting at SQL Saturday 211 – Chicago which is held just outside of the city at DeVry University (1221 N. Swift Rd., Addison, IL, 60101). Unlike Boston, I’m kicking off the day bright and early at 9 AM with “Demystifying Clustering for the DBA“. I think this is the third or fourth SQL Saturday in a row I’ve attended in Chicago, and it’s always a great event. The lineup of speakers looks great.

Like the Boston SQL Saturday, this is a free event outside of the $10 lunch charge. As of today, you can still register for the event. What are you waiting for? Go click on the link above.

Monday, April 22
I will be presenting to the the Northern Virginia (NOVA) SQL Server User Group. I always enjoy speaking at user groups, and I’m sure this will be no exception. So if you’re in the greater Washington DC/Northern Virginia/Maryland area, come on out.

Tuesday, April 23
Ben will be doing a free one hour webinar session on performance tuning – more details to come.

Thursday, May 9
Ben will be doing a full day webinar focused on SQL Server performance entitled Truth, Art, and the Zen of SQL Server Performance Tuning. Performance tuning is obviously a bigger topic than the hour Ben has on April 23rd, and this day he’ll get to go into much more depth. The day will be broken up into three sessions:

Where Is My Performance Issue?
Remove Your SQL Server Performance Barriers
Index Tuning Foundations

This is not a free event; the cost is $199 which is a bargain considering you’re getting a full day’s worth of good content and can interact with Ben live. Click here for the complete information (including full abstracts) and to register.

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