Here's your chance to sound off: what are the must-have user tools/resources for your office (at work or at home)?
I had lunch last week with a contractor friend who's expanding into databases. Somehow our conversation shifted to the tools of the trade -- and what we couldn't live without.
Here's my list, feel free to add your favorites:
Software
VMWare images (linux and Windows): Every db pro I've worked with has a VM image or two floating around, for test purposes if nothing else. I'm required to run Windows on my laptop, but strongly prefer to test Oracle ideas on linux. In the case of SQLServer, I just don't trust any software to uninstall cleanly from my primary Windows boot.
DB Software (duh!): whichever engine(s) you use in the job. I keep a copy installed on every vm image I own.
cygwin: Nothing like being able to easily kick up sed or perl on a Windows machine. I don't need cygwin that often, but when I do I'm always glad it's there.
Hardware
Laptop with 4Gb RAM. I could run a database vm on less than 4Gb, but I'd prefer not to. I also eat hard disk space pretty quick -- packrat tendencies -- so I like to keep a 200Gb USB hard disk handy as well.
Books
This depends somewhat on your job's emphasis. Here's the high points of my library:
Theory (not engine-specific)
Enterprise Integration Patterns. Nope, not a database book, but still utterly relevant. Doesn't nearly every database professional work in data integration at some point? Hohpe and Woolfe's book is the classic.
Data Quality: The Accuracy Dimension. It's not sufficient to say that the data successfully stores in the database -- it needs to be accurate! If you work in integration, migration, or new software development this book is worth reading.
Effective Oracle by Design. Good reading for database developers, even if they don't work in Oracle. The testing and development concepts described by Tom can be generalized to any engine. This book represents a true turning point in my technical understanding of the development process.
The Data Warehouse Toolkit: Practical Techniques for Building Dimensional Data Warehouses. I can't bring myself to mothball this oldie-but-goodie from Ralph Kimball. I own several newer books by both Kimball and Inmon, but still pull this out for the occasional read.
SQL Server
Inside Microsoft SQL Server 2005: All three volumes. I liked the (single book) SQL 2000 version better, but these are must-have's for my job -- particularly since I need to push the engine's performance limits.
Oracle
Oracle 9i RMAN Backup and Recovery by Freeman and Hart. This book is invaluable for getting beyond the quick and easy examples for using RMAN. I need to break down and buy the 10g edition.
Effective Oracle by Design. See my comments in the Theory section above.
Oracle Wait Interface: A Practical Guide to Performance Diagnostics & Tuning. Best discussion of using wait events I've ever read. The concepts apply to SQL Server as well -- though the implementation details obviously differ.
What's in your office?
Okay, your turn. What user-level tools/resources can't you live without as a database professional?
6 comments:
My must have is "THE" USB flash drive. Except now it is 2 USB drives.
The 1GB has a bunch of Windows software (including Unixutils, PSPad editor, Agent Ransack file finder, Firefox 3 portable...) and database software (XE, SQL Developer, SQuirrel SQL Client, 11g Instant Client). I need to upgrade that to a 4GB drive to include Cygwin.
The 4GB one has documentation. The 9iR2, 10gR2 and 11g documentation sets, plus e-books for database, scripting languages, unix,... and PDFs/powerpoints of presentations and article downloads etc.
I've got 11g on my laptop (only a 1GB memory machine). I'm a developer, so I drop/create schemas rather than databases or installs, so don't worry too much about VMs.
How could I forget? Yes, a 2Gb flash drive is always in my toolkit. I only use mine for transferring files. The 200Gb USB drive holds extra software and docs. It's only slightly larger than a deck of cards and is easy to slip into my laptop bag.
Another software I can't live without: Textpad. I keep the distro and my favorite syntax dictionaries handy wherever I go.
I second the Tom Kyte and Kimball books. I also keep a copy of Michael Hernandez Database Design for Mere Mortals close by, doesn't hurt to review some fundamentals now and then.
If your friend is already an IT pro then s/he surely has a favorite text editor, for me I can't imagine life without UltraEdit.
Also, I find SQLinForm handy when I have to work with a SQL statement written by someone else and I need to beat the code into shape (I'm fairly obsessive about formatting/indenting code.)
SQL*Plus - Usually on any machine, either windows version or the command shell.
JDeveloper - for my development efforts. It has a nice editor (although a little overkill I admit) with folder views. Also ties in well with TFS and Subversion.
SQL Developer - For pulling data out of the database quickly or those pesky "fat" tables.
Visio - Just to do a quick mock up of the model, however small the project is.
silentd: Someday I'm going to have to look hard at UltraEdit -- I know so many who use it. I've always been a Textpad gal. Never heard of SQLinForm, but it looks interesting.
oraclenerd: Ah, yes, how could I have forgotten SQL Developer? I've never liked modeling in Visio, but it does the job and is a good recommendation.
Hi Beth. I'm not a DBA, but here are my accessories:
Software
I run Ubuntu Linux both at home and at work. I use Vim to edit text, and I frequently use good ol' Unix tools like sed, grep, and cut.
I run Wordpress and Apache at home, with MySQL.
Python is my language of choice, but these days I more frequently use PHP and shell script.
Netbeans (for PHP), a new thing, but I like it so far.
For graphics, I frequently use The GIMP and Inkscape.
I listen to music with Amarok and Last.fm.
I keep up with blogs and feeds with Netvibes.
Hardware
Two beige boxes, one at work, one at home. Nothing special.
A Godin SD electric guitar, and a cheap but lovable acoustic.
Books
The Elements of Style, one of my faves. A must-have.
The Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing and Editing
Programming PHP
Designing With Web Standards
By the way, I covered this in Log Buffer #109.
Cheers,
Dave.
Post a Comment