During the 2008 PASS Summit I took part in a breakfast seminar on “Automating DBA Processes”. It was my first, and last, breakfast seminar that I have been asked to participate in so I can only imagine I offended somebody with my requests for more bacon to be brought to our table. I don’t recall a lot about the seminar other than Andy Leonard (blog |twitter) sat down in front with a plate full of assorted fruits and i tweeted as such so that his wife would know that he was eating healthy while away from Farmville.
Anyway, the seminar was on automation. When I was asked by moderator Allen White “Tom, why do you automate things?” I did not hesitate in my answer, “…because I like to sleep at night.” And guess what? I still enjoy sleeping at night. And I still enjoy bacon. It’s as if nothing has changed in the past seventeen months. In fact, if we did that very same seminar tomorrow I am willing to bet that everyone else would feel the same. Unless someone has changed their mind and (1) thinks that automation is bad or (2) no longer enjoys bacon. Both would be lies. Damned lies.
The final result of the seminar that day? A published white paper that you can download from Quest Software here:
http://www.quest.com/DBAAutomation-bltw
I checked the document and found no mention of Andy, myself, or how I like to sleep at night. By my name is on the title, so I know I took part. And there is video of the seminar floating around somewhere as well, just in case we need proof that I was actually there.
I remember that breakfast too. They had really good bacon, I mean fruit.
It was a great discussion – yall had a lot of fun. And there was a bunch of good information shared as well!
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