April 15, 2010 at 10:26 am
I'm in a position now where I am managing an outsorced DBA service. I'd like to be able to look at everything at the server and database configuration level but not be able to change anything. I've never run in to this situation before and I don't know of any role that fits these reqirements neatly.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
April 15, 2010 at 10:30 am
You'll have to create a custom role for that.
Add the ability to view system data, deny the ability to create/modify/delete objects.
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April 15, 2010 at 10:41 am
Yep, I was afraid of that...
Thanks for the quick response.
April 15, 2010 at 2:01 pm
David Webb-200187 (4/15/2010)
I'm in a position now where I am managing an outsorced DBA service. I'd like to be able to look at everything at the server and database configuration level but not be able to change anything. I've never run in to this situation before and I don't know of any role that fits these reqirements neatly.Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Why on earth I'm having the picture of the bluejacket in Titanic's crows nest in my head all of a sudden (see the iceberg but can't change direction...)? :w00t:
April 15, 2010 at 2:34 pm
Yes, it's a strange position to be in. I just found out that the outsourcer, who shall remain nameless, was paid to migrate some databases from SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2005. Looks like all they did was copy the databases to the new server and leave them in 2000 compatibility mode. When I asked why no one noticed, I was told that the person responsible for managing the outsourcer had no visibility into the server or the databases because giving them admin rights violated the separation of duties rules. They couldn't be allowed to have an id that had the power to change anything.
I feel like I'm managing Schrödinger's cat.
Other than that, it's way too much fun.
April 15, 2010 at 3:22 pm
David Webb-200187 (4/15/2010)
Yes, it's a strange position to be in. I just found out that the outsourcer, who shall remain nameless, was paid to migrate some databases from SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2005. Looks like all they did was copy the databases to the new server and leave them in 2000 compatibility mode. ....
Well, it would depend on the definition what "migrate" was supposed to imply in this case.
Assuming I would have put it in 2K5 comp level (assuming there are no decprecated functions used) instead of comp 80, would that have been ok then?
Who said, that TRY...CATCH blocks, ROW_NUMBER(), CTE's and so forth needed to be implemented?
April 15, 2010 at 3:41 pm
They spent 4 months testing the applications to make sure they would work in a native 2005 environment. The test databases were also in 2000 compatibility mode, so they actually proved nothing. The problem was only discovered when a new version of an app that made use of 2005 functionality was deployed in production and immediately broke.
'Migrate' had a very clear definition in this case. The vendor is re-doing the work on their dime, so kudos to them for making it right, but jeez, what a waste. All because a knowledgeable DBA wasn't (couldn't) checking the most basic deliverable.
sigh.
This situation is one in which a competent manager can't correct reasonably correctable faults before they impact the user. It makes me weep and wail and gnash my teeth. I should have asked for more money 'cause I think this will require more beer.
April 15, 2010 at 4:10 pm
Based on what you just wrote I would insits on getting a special role to be set up by the vendor to meet your requirements.
It should benefit "both sides". I would hope the vendor would see that. If not I'd explain to him that the time he currently spend, the hassle he created and the bad reputation resulting from both could have been avoided...
I can imagine how you feel... Fortunately, all database development vendors I have to deal with, had to agree to give "full access" to their databases. We (as the customer) did agree to provide backups and transaction logs in case of failures to verify the root cause and to make sure we still can hold the vendors liable for the stuff they did but nor for the failures we caused. Works great with most of them. And the one who's still trying to figure out what we meant by "adequate indexing needs to be implemented" as part of the contract might figure it out. Maybe... (currently he claims for being compliant to the contract by simply having a clustered index on the ID column of every table and that's it...).
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