Instead of working, I blog.

Here’s just a little advice when sending your DBAs a work request. 

Keep the request as succinct as possible.  If you can get away without giving tons of extra info in paragraph form it’s easier to get exactly what you want.

For instance… if you need a DB restored to a different box the perfect request that will be understood by your DBAs will be this:

I’d like you to restore the latest full backup of Server1.CustomerDB to Server7.CustomerDBtest.  I don’t need the logs restored.

Here’s another good one that will get you something specific that you need as well. 

I need you to take an immediate backup of Server1.CustomerDB and restore it to Server7.CustomerDBtest.  I’m trying to solve a data issue.

That’s it.  You really don’t need any more than that.

Here’s an example of a bad request I received:

Can you please copy some data for me?  I had one of our field agents call and tell me that he accidentally deleted some data and he needs me to investigate it and get it back.  And can you let me know when it’s done because he’s waiting for it.  The problem is that he was trying to delete an order he just entered but he deleted more data than he needed and now someone else’s orders aren’t showing up.  So if you could take care of this for me as soon as possible it would be appreciated.  If you could also give him permissions to the development server so he could inspect it before I make the change that would be fabulous.  I need the data copied from the OrdersPending view on Server17 to Server 58.

Thanks.

 

So, ok… here are the problems with this request.

1.  Way too much extra crap.  I don’t need the story, just the request.

2.  The request doesn’t come until after the big story so you’re wasting my time by making me read all that stuff before I even find out what you want me to do.

3.  As a DBA I’m having a hard time figuring out how copying the current production data to a dev box will recover the lost data.  This request doesn’t even make sense.

4.  As it turns out, it’s not that data that was needed.  He needed the view itself to be placed on the dev box so he could investigate which orders were missing.  Then he was going to request that the data be recovered.

Here’s how this request should have gone…

A field agent has deleted needed orders.  Can you create the Server17.OrdersPending view to Server58.ThisDB so I can investigate which ones are missing?  Also, do you know of a way we could just roll the entire operation back or otherwise get those missing orders?  Thanks and any help you can provide will be appreciated.

It’s not the most succinct, but it allows the DBA to understand the situation and respond accordingly as the view may not even be necessary.  We may be able to get a log reader and just rollback the entire thing.  So this is where the DBA can make a decision.  This request gives just enough info to get the problem across, but not so much that it’s unwieldy. 

The elements that a DBA request should have are:

1.  Brevity

2.  Concision.

3.  Explanation of specialized circumstances (but remember #1 above).

Anyway, this is just to help those of you who may have trouble getting what you want from your DBAs.  Speak a little of their language and you’ll get things faster and more easily.

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