DBAs, Here’s Your Task for the Holidays

The holidays can be a slow time in IT. Users aren't asking for as many things and projects are going a little slower.  Now is your time to strike.  Open your email client right now, start an email to your SAN admin, and copy/paste the below in. Hey – it's not often that I actually tell you to plagiarize my work and sign your name on the bottom. Do it while you can.

Dear SAN Administrator,

Wow, the SAN's running good today! No performance issues at all. Has the SAN been losing weight? Great work.

While I've got your attention, can you do me a favor? The next time you get some spare drives, can you put them in a RAID 5, attach them to my development server, and shoot me an email? No advance notice required whatsoever. LUN size or configuration doesn't matter, and I'll take whatever you give me. No, I don't want to keep them – you can pull them back off 24 hours later without even asking me. Promise.

I want to test restoring my production database over there as if I had to do a disaster recovery. I've already got everything scripted out, but practicing it keeps me on my feet. If I can't do it in 24 hours, I fail anyway, and more time isn't going to help, so you can pull the drives after a day without even telling me. If I finish in under 24 hours, good for me – I'll run some stuff like DBCC to make sure my data's okay, but that's just a bonus.

I really appreciate it. You're a lifesaver. And you look great, by the way – is that a new haircut or something?

Sincerely,
The DBA

5 thoughts on “DBAs, Here’s Your Task for the Holidays

  1. Nice, always good to keep relations up with those you need and give a pat on the back. However I disagree with it being a slow time of year. It’s crazy busy here at the end of the year. Everyones trying to get stuff in before 12/31.

    Thanks for reminding me to say thanks!

  2. Message sent with minor modifications because my SAN admin is bald, and the comment about his hair might be a "sensitive" subject. So I offered chocolate instead. 🙂 Let’s see if I get my "pressie"

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