December 16, 2010 at 4:57 am
Interesting Indeed. iPad is like carrying a novel PC with all accessories wherever I go and be in touch with all my favourite friends, interact with various tools and exchange extraordinary messages be it personal, official, trade and commerce. Fantastic fact but it is real. What to add, further.
December 16, 2010 at 7:57 am
Steve, like you, being able to balance work and personal time is key to one’s success in life. I work to Live, not live to work. Using a portable device like an iPad lets me accomplish my goals.
A nice synergy I like with Red Gate and iPad is their simplicity of use. The simplicity of these products helps me to efficiently monitor my database servers. The user interfaces in each of these products are thoughtful, concise and easy to use.
One example of the iPad’s ease of use. Imagine you’re in the server room. Like many of the server rooms I have been in, there is no desktop space. The iPad’s touch interface allows you to easily monitor your server farm using Red Gate’s SQL Monitor application. With the next version of the iPad, I will be able to video conference with colleagues if a problem requires ‘face to face’ time.
Another effective use of an iPad is the ‘eye candy effect’. Management loves to see graphs, charts, dashboards, etc. The iPad helps to deliver this message. I can dazzle them with statistics showing how we are proactively maintaining the uptime of our server environment.
As backend guys, no one notices the databases until some goes wrong. The best compliment we as DBA’s can hear is ‘The database just works!!!’.
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,
Steve
December 16, 2010 at 8:08 am
Webex on iPAD allows VOIP for the audio, so you have a plan B if your phone is not working. As a DBA, we all know that Plan B is important. Citrix receiver on the iPAD allows you to get into your system securely. So you do not need to publish SQL Monitor data on the internet or open port on your firewall. 10+ hours of battery life is another plus. Another thing, we all know that how long it takes laptop PC to reboot and how frustrating it is to wait under some situations. With iPad, it is immediate-on.
December 16, 2010 at 8:51 am
I work for a small company and have become the accidental DBA. I also manage the network, develop our application, help out with sales, marketing, and support; basically I do a little bit everywhere. So my uses for an iPad would extend beyond SQL Server. For SQL Server I could see setting it up on my desk as another monitor that would, well, monitor SQL Server. As I divide my time between duties this would give me more instance access to the performance of our application. I could have it at home to monitor and check in as well. Along with the Redgate monitor, I could maintain lists of items like bad indexes and poor performing queries to see what to focus on next to improve the system; all at my fingertips, literally. I can also see using it for development meetings to take notes, since I'm often the note taker. Among the other uses would be using it to develop mobile support for our application, manage development projects while away from the office, and have a bigger screen than a phone to respond to email. Another use I see is watching training videos, like those from PASS, 24 Hours of PASS, independent webinars, etc. without having to sit at a desk. At work I'm always focused on the tasks of the day. With an iPad I could be on the couch, in a cafe, waiting for my car to be fixed, or on a plane and learn new things. I see passing the iPad around to all of the developers to have them brush up on the great ideas in these presentations, too. The list of uses goes on and on.
December 16, 2010 at 9:49 am
I started as an accidental DBA a number of years ago, but my responsibilities have expand greatly including SQL clusters, TFS environment, development team support and even support for a rapidly expanding Business Intelligence (BI) environment. In addition to my DBA duties, I also handle IDM for the same educational institution (approx. 23,000 users) as well as DHCP/DNS and web servers. Our environment does not allow for on-call status. I currently use VPN at home with my laptop, but I can’t always have my laptop with me. I am able to check e-mail and do minor work via my personal smartphone, but I can’t do much more than the basics. I’ve never owned an Apple device, but I am intrigued and excited by the potential possibility to have an intermediate device that I can easily carry with me to get a better view of my environment both at work and in my personal life. When troubles arise or something needs watching, the ability to not be limited to home and still be able to respond to would be incredible. With tools the RedGate tool and an RDP or Citrix client I could free myself to go just about anywhere WiFi or 3G would provide. Aside from these issues, the ability to carry a device like the iPad when I meet with developers or the BI team would give me the ability to make easy adjustments on-the-fly and check status of systems without needing a full laptop available. I could pull up the same dashboards or web apps they are working on. The ability to carry with me eBooks/PDFs and documentation in a portable way would be valuable as well. Being able to rapidly respond, resolve (proactively even) and share and collaborate with others would make me a more valuable and dynamic employee. Thank you for your consideration!
December 16, 2010 at 10:20 am
I do a lot of cycling and would like to ride more. Maybe I can start competing in the spring if I ride enough over the winter. Often I cannot get away from work long enough to get the long rides in. Even on the weekends. An iPad would make me more mobile and, therefore, my schedule more flexible for riding and monitoring my SQL Servers.
December 16, 2010 at 10:44 am
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December 16, 2010 at 11:58 am
Hey Steve,
At home every morning, I check my work email via my smart phone while having my breakfast and coffee to see if scheduled jobs failed or if developers/end users were having any problems the night before. This gives me a heads up and allows me to think about possible solutions on my drive in to work. We recently implemented SQL Monitor 2.0, and I can just imagine viewing alerts, viewing SSRS reports, and checking email on the iPad's huge, vibrant screen. Being able to perform these activities on an iPad every morning would allow me to be even more proactive, become more efficient for my employer, and ultimately, become a better DBA.
Thank you for your consideration and Merry Christmas!
Adam
December 16, 2010 at 3:05 pm
I would LOVE to have an iPad for Christmas. I already use my iPhone to the max for remote access to business resources - I use the Logmein Ignition and Citrix Receiver apps to remote control to my PC at the office and get work done (in a pinch). The iPhone screen is so small that my productivity plummets, but better than nothing when a critical system needs to be rebooted or diagnosed. My wife is going into the hospital for surgery, then at home for 2 weeks, and an iPad would allow me the flexibility of access at the hospital and running around town as I nurse her back to health. My work team is already stretched thin, so cross-training and documentation only go so far - I know I'll receive calls for systems assistance despite my attempts at knowledge transfer and documenting things.
December 16, 2010 at 5:35 pm
My commute kills me! It's one hour both ways, time spent in the car wrestling with the masses who are equally frustrated with their situation, both of us trying to get home to see our lovers and children. I'm able to ride the bus, but with the state of the economy and my wisdom in car purchase, it's slightly more expensive and makes the commute longer. If only I could make that time more worthwhile. What's this you say? An iPad? SQLMonitor? I could monitor my servers? I could read books? I could listen to my favorite internet radio? And I could do all of this at the same time and not have to drive? My wife would love a non-grumpy husband walking thru the door at night. My boss would love a chipper employee arriving to work in the morning. I'd have enough energy to finally sculpt that marble statue of Mother Theresa. And all of this from a small piece of technology. Amazing!
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December 16, 2010 at 9:15 pm
I like to be able to manage and do my work better by using sql monitor. The web-based monitoring is cool when it allows me to monitor the health of my servers over any internet web browser or mobile devices including the latest iPad. My job entails working with developing apps as well as supporting the crystal reports running on sql servers. Sometimes, when users run reports that takes up much time, I like to see how many deadlocks or how is the sql server doing during month-end closure. SQL monitor gives me just that functionality with lots of flexibility. I can easily get alerts through email and switch to a web browser to monitor the live stats of my server. I can also set thresholds to make certain alerts appear on the email to prevent false alerts. Another feature is the enabling of sql profiler trace which is handy for troubleshooting problems on sql monitor. SQL monitor is a handy tool for sql professionals who work hand in hand with sql servers. I hope to win a copy of this tool as I have tried the trial version. An iPad is a bonus to me when it allows me to remote desktop to the server or check sql monitor from safari browser. On a creative side, I can probably stick the ipad on my cubicle's wall so I can monitor my sql server stats while I work on my laptop. It will give me more advantage on the productivity side as I have two screens to see now and able to respond more quickly to problems when the need arises.
December 16, 2010 at 9:36 pm
In short an iPad would make managing and monitoring my SQL database a lot easier and more fun!! I can image it now as my family and I are camping we are sitting around a warm camp fire sipping on hot cocoa and roasting marshmallows. When all of the sudden my phone starts to vibrate! Being the only dba to support the company databases puts me on call 24/7. As I look at the phone I see my instance has lost network connection. Why here? Why now in the middle of roasting marshmallows is this happening I ask myself? Have no fear iPad is here. No need to lug around a bulky 19 inch laptop and wait 10 minutes for Windows to load. When sleek little iPad can quickly do the trick. As I pull out the iPad the kids are in ahhh as they watch me connect to the company network. Where you say can one find Wi-Fi in the middle of nowhere? Easy, from the motor home with satellite internet parked in the camp site to my right. My iPad in one hand and roasted marshmallows in the other fixing my sql instance is not much trouble.
December 17, 2010 at 1:13 am
Hi Steve,
With using a iPad, we can monitor several SQL server instances\databases healthiness in just 1 screen, when we are waiting for bus in the street, queuing for meals.
What is more, it helps us create up-to-the-minutes performance reports (for example, using keynote), share these information easily to our colleagues with a few touches, that you may not even have to type a word.
December 17, 2010 at 3:50 am
Hi,
Since I am working in SQL server platform from past 5 years, I found this difficulty during the weekend/Vacation.
Problem:
1. As a admin, I normally do an MSTSC to the sql server box.
2. Using Sql server 2005 Performance dashboard/ Activity Monitor, I narrow down the issue and find the related Application/team/session.
3. Finally I have to send a notification mail to the related employees to kill/close the sessions established by them.
Expected solution by using iPad/SQL Monitor:
1. Based on sessions/queries, I should be able to find the related team and their members email id's, by using LDAP.
2. One click solution to send a mail which includes,
I) Respective employees with an CC mail to their manager( Black berry/ iPad). Manager can get in touch with employee.
II) Server issues in report format (.pdf or .xlsx)
III) Severity of the mail.
So, All we need to do is, provide an integration layer between LDAP, SQL Server and Outlook Mail configuration(DBA account).
Also, we can think about the location(SQL) to maintain the hierarchies between the employees.
Cheers,
Jey
December 17, 2010 at 7:58 am
Hello Steve,
Here's my response to the I-Pad discussion...
I am often on call at the weekend, but I also have parental responsibilities as well. When I get a call it means I get dragged away from my parental responsibilities having to retire to my office, thus leaving extra strain on my wife. Similarly when I am working on something at home I find myself having to regularly pop back to my computer to monitor progress on the jobs that are running, again distracting my family focus. All this means that my family dread my work more than I do.
So what I need is a device that allows me to keep an eye on my work whilst I-pad around the house after my enthusiastic daughter, a device that allows me to work and cook as I-pad about the kitchen chopping and washing at meal-times, a device that can go with me when I-pad through the garden trimming bushes and mowing the lawn. What I need is a device that I can slip out of my bag to check on my work as I-pad in and out of the shops in the name of Christmas shopping, a device that I can happily take with me when I-pad to the pub after family have gone to bed in the evening. In other words an I-pad would allow me to work, rest and play all at the same time.
I-pads for Christmas!
Happy Christmas to all at SQL ServerCentral!
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