Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting

As a parent of a 4 yo and a 7month toddler, I have just come to realise that this shooting was in a school filled with innocent young people.

I am truly lost for words on just how a human can inflict such pain and torture on another. How can we as a species talk about love and unity, when we are filled with such dark tortures and capabilities.

My thoughts go to all those effected, either directly or indirectly. May the souls of those who have been lost shine brightly.

14 of these children in the photo have been killed.

Image from: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4703371/dylan-hockley-death-adam-lanza-massacre.html

I am a gamer, and I find it amazing how quickly the link to Call of Duty is being supplied. I don't blame the game, I blame the gamer. Just looking at photo's of the suspect you can tell that something is not right upstairs.

I cannot point fingers, I don't know the truth. All I know is that several innocent humans are dead, and everyone is asking why.

I think everybody needs to be aware of mental health issues, they can effect us all. Regardless of culture, ethnicity, education or religion. Understanding that seeking help is not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength maybe the way forward.

So I will ensure my children are hugged more this day as I fear the future has more heartache to bring as we sink deeper into denial of who we are, and just what we are doing.

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Security Cookbook

This post is a review Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Security Cookbook from Packt Publishing.

Please note the publisher has not paid me for this review, I purchased the book myself.

Name: Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Security Cookbook
Authors: Rudi Bruchez
Released: September 2012
ISBN: 1849685886
Pages: 322

As somebody who has experience in both Unix systems and enterprise firewalls, I was impressed that the first chapter talks about how to secure the service, the server, the protocol and the network. However, it only does so in the context of the machine with which the server is operating on. For most DBA's this is sufficient information to possibly communicate the information to the perimeter administrators, if communication beyond site boundaries is required (which a corporate VPN would probably better suite).

The number one question I have seen on sites with beginning DBA's is the dynamic ports. This book addresses this question on page 40.  The information on how to hide it's presence was particularly useful those in even more high secure environments that don't want to expose that feature specifically (ie: Defence, Police).

You can tell the author is authoritative and passionate and also understands security from both internal and external influences. I was also impressed that the discussion of login SID's and how to replicate these between instances or remap from a restore process. Very handy recipes for DBA's in the field.

The section on SQL Injection Attacks should empower DBA's as to how these things occur so they can work with Developers to ensure that applications do not exhibit these flaws.  The information about SQL firewalls was particularly eye opening for myself as I did not know specialist products were now available for this particular method of attack.

The section on the other parts of the entire suite of tools that makes up Microsoft Business Intelligence Stack are not neglected either. While the provided information is small compared to the Database Services security, at least the author has not neglected these other crucial aspects of the suite.

The only part of the suite that gets no mention is securing SSIS but this is minimal in the grand scheme of things.

Overall, I think this book deserves it place on your bookshelf if you are an SQL Server DBA of any sort.

Windows 8 RTM - Automatic start from hibernate

Well, I use hibernate on my Windows 8 machine and have noticed at 12:54 every day the machine is turning itself on without my consent :(

1.  Open a command prompt with adminstrative priveledges
2. Run: powercfg /waketimers
3. Verified there is a scheduled task called mcupdate_scheduled
4. Open task scheduler 
5. Navigate to Task Scheduler Library\Microsoft\Windows\Media Center
6. Right click and select Properties on mcupdate_scheduled 
7. Click Conditions tab
8. Microsoft has set the flag for Wake the computer to run this task
9. Unticked the Wake the computer to run this task
10. Click Ok
11. Re-run powercfg /waketimers
12. Verified no other tasks set to wake this machine up without my control.....

Hopefully this little gremlin is resolved......

Now, it maybe due to my machine being an upgraded Windows 7 x64 Ultimate to Windows 8 x64 Pro RTM. Will have to check this on a fresh install as well.

Hope this helps anyone else uses hibernation during the day.

SQL Server 2012 Integration Services - An Expert Cookbook

I have been asked to review SQL Server 2012 Integration Services - An Expert Cookbook from Packt Publishing.

Please note this review has been over one weekend and is not an exhaustive look at every word and chapter for correctness and completeness.

Name: SQL Server 2012 Integration Services - An Expert Cookbook
Authors: Reza Rad, Pedro Perfeito
Released: May 2012
ISBN: 978-1-84968-524-5
Pages: 564 (eBook pdf)

I first came into contact with Microsoft's ETL tools in Windows Server 2000. This tool was called DTS and well, it did the job. With the release of 2005 Microsoft completely overhauled SQL Server and brought out SSIS. This release is what helped propel SQL server into the Enterprise market. I am currently a Data Warehouse Consultant so will be reviewing this book with a perspective of an Agile Data Warehouse Developer.

The book starts of giving a brief history of the SSIS tool and its heritage. This book's target audience would be those who have used SSIS and are looking for deeper knowledge or more experienced SSIS developers looking for goto manual. As this is a cookbook the chapters then move on relevant subject areas and have recipes based on those areas.

It covers a fair bit of the components available in the toolbox. It tells you what this component is used for and then gives a recipe for using that component. I can see this book being the reference manual when building packages and it answers that, how do I do that again, thought.

The sections on scripting & logging are a little lite. The scripting section could have gone further into depth about what you can do from the .NET environment by offering a little more than just a mail example. However, keeping in mind this is a recipe book, there is enough for you to understand how to setup a basic script and then use the power of .NET to extend this to enable you to do tasks beyond the standard components.

I really liked the recipe for the checkpoint as I have not realised this feature was available and will ensure if I need to build SSIS packages again in the future, I refer to this recipe.

Overall this is a fantastic book at giving you the right information on how to use/do a particular task that you can then start modifying to suit your environment. I would have this book on my shelf and hope that Packt get positive feedback so they can then create an Advance Recipes book that gives you some real world useful recipes for overcoming some of the shortfalls that SSIS may have in specific situations.

I would rate this book 4/5 stars - A worthwhile investment for any SSIS developer.

New Job!

Well I resigned from my current post and am going to work in the Data Warehousing field full-time.

I am looking forward to the challenges of learning this vast topic from incredibly passionate consultants.

My entry into this field starts on the 2nd of April so my blog may even actually change tacts from current development ramblings to a more Agile DW as I write about my struggles and success!

What I Use - March 2012

Not much has changed over 2 years. More investment in photography plugins than anything else.

This is the current software that I use. I have removed the divide between Personal & Work sections. This is in no particular order:

• Resharper 7.0
• Visual Studio 2010
• Visual Studio 2011 Beta
• Office 2010 x64
• RSS Bandit
• Palemoon 9.2 (x64)
• Codesmith 6
• Windows 7 x64 Ultimate
• Windows 8 Consumer Preview
• Window 2008 R2 with HyperV
• GNU/Linux (Fedora/Centos)
• Notepad++ 
• VMWare Workstation 8
• Avast Internet Security
• Malwarebytes
• SQL Server 2008
• NUnit / MbUnit / Gallio Icarus / Visual Studio Test
• Stardock Fences Pro
• Power ISO
• Slysoft Virtual CD
• Lightroom 4
• Nik Software Complete
• Photoshop CS5 Extended
• OnOne Complete 6
• Topaz BW Effects
• Topaz Stars Effects
• Photomatix Pro
• PTGui
• Nero 11
• Xillisoft DVD Ripper
• Xillisoft Video Converter
• Ashampoo Snap 5
• Cygwin Utilities
• AVR Studio 5
• Perfect Disk 12.5 (client & server)
• Display Fusion
• YNAB
• Guitar Pro 6
• VLC
• AnyDVD
• Skype

Lightroom 4

I have upgraded to Lightroom 4 and wished Adobe had made this available in 2 versions:

• Normal - Single Catalog
• Enterprise - Shared Catalog

I am very happy with LR4 and it does perform better than the BETA. The catalog upgrade was seamless and I am finding that re-visiting post-processed photos and switching the updated develop module does seem to bring more detail out of these photos.

Looking forward to testing my plugins and see if they work under LR4 or there is going to be a flurry of software updates from me over the coming weeks.

Windows 8 Consumer Preview - Day 7

So, I took the plunge and decided to see how the web update method of a laptop went.

This laptop has been running Windows 7 x64 for a while now and is cluttered with junk (its not my everyday machine).

The specs are:

• Toshiba P300
•  Dual Core Centrino 
• 4gb RAM
• Dual 720Gb HDD

The upgrade was smoothless with only requiring me to install Avast AntiVirus and Raxco Perfect Disk. After uninstalling these two products and rebooting, the OS continued to install.

There was one glitch where after going 100% through the update it just hung on a black screen on 100% HDD activity. I did the power-cycle and it rebooted and setup the user profile without any issues.

I have used this laptop exclusivly over the last 2 days doing things like watching movies, playing music and will confess it feels like it runs faster and with less disk activity than what Windows 7 was doing. This hardware was designed for Windows Vista (and only just in my opinion!).

I find myself missing the start menu less and less as the metro start enables me to get to the required application in less time. I can see Microsoft's vision for what it is, and look forward to the first bug fixes (if not a Win8 SP1) to get this into version 2.0.

To quote U2 for those complaining about the lack of a start orb/button - Your stuck in a moment, you can't get out off.....

Windows 8 Consumer Preview - Day 1

Well, I have installed my basic software:

• Office 2010
• SP1 won't install at this stage for some reason.....
• Palemoon browser (think Firefox - Windows optimised)
• Nero 11 burning
• VLC for media
• Desktop Fusion
• Lightroom 3
• Avast Internet Security
• AnyDVD HD
• Virtual CloneDrive
• TortoiseSVN
• Visual Studio 11 Beta
• Resharper 7 Early Preview (for VS11)

Overall, this release is much more coherant than the developer preview. I am slowly getting over the missing orb as the new start screen supports typing for the program you wish to run.

Next up will be Photoshop CS 5 and all my plugins and I should have everything that I use daily to continue my daily run of this release.

 There are some UI issues with some programs having artifacts in the chrome and some of my internal SATA drives being detected as removable and just disappearing!

These are minor issues at this stage and I am happy to progress forward with this release

Windows 8 Consumer Preview - Day 0

I have now installed the consumer preview using a VHD as my drive and booting on the bare metal.

My first problem is I never realised how much I used the start button until now!

I am just setting up .NET 3.5/2.0 and installing Visual Studio 2011 Beta as well.

This is going to be my primary OS over the next couple of weeks to give this OS a fair chance rather than just ranting about how I hate the new metro interface.