Of friendships, backups, and false analogies
Of Friendships
Today is a sad day. I had to say goodbye to a friend. It's funny how common sense sometimes eludes even the smartest among all of us. We have friends who treat us like nulls or defaults and we bear it and pretend it is okay. Common sense says we deserve better but we somehow always remain optimistic that one day, these friends will realize that we are not nullable, or that even if we have defaults, it doesn't mean we don't deserve values.
But optimism doesn't change the rules of the game: we can't "just" alter people.
Of Backups
I had to write something related to backups for work the other day. I attempted to discuss it with my husband who doesn't know anything about databases. If you are a member of the SQL Server community, know that someone who's living with me thinks you're an alien. The things we get excited about are reduced to "stuff", the experts we admire are "oh-those-twitter-people", and next to UFC, we're like UFOs.
Anyway, I still like running things past him especially when I am preparing to explain the same concepts to non-technical people. He nods and says uh-huh in the right moments--so good enough. On good days, he even asks questions. To give him a background, I explained the different types of backups to him. He actually asked, "there's more than one??!" I just ignored him, got a paper, and started explaining. I said...
Imagine a long path from point A to point E.
The goals are
-to get from point A to point D and
-to gather maps so you can revisit any point in the path
In each point, there are maps available: a full map, a diff map, or a tran map. (you want to explain file and filegroup backups? Be my guest.)
1) When you walk to point B, you can get a full map. "Nothing else?", he asked. Yup, nothing else. The full map allows you to go back to point B later. You always start with a full map.
2) When you get to point C, you can get a diff map and a tran map. The diff map will bring you back to the same point you picked it at BUT ONLY if you picked a full map previously. A diff map is useless without a full map. And remember, you can't just use any full map. It has to be a full map taken right before you take the diff map.
The tran map will bring you back to the same point and like the diff map, you can only use it to go back to C later if you picked the full map in B. You can also use the tran map to go anywhere between B and C.
"Can I pick all maps?", he asked. I said yes.
3) When you get to point D, you can again get a diff map and a tran map. This is your second diff map and it will bring you to point D later. "Do I need the other diff map I got in C to go back to D?". I said no. But you do need the full map you got in B. Diff maps always work in partnership with a full map. And as I said, it can't be just any full map. It has to be...he said "yeah, yeah, I know. It has to be a full map taken right before this diff map. Right now, it's the one I took in A". The tran map will allow you to go back to D and in between C and D but---you need the previous tran map (in C) and the full map in B. Or you can use it with the full map in B and the diff map in C.
I asked him if he understood so far. He said kinda. I then showed him backup types as described in MSDN and he read the overview. He said "that's actually simpler. Couldn't you just have said it like that?"
Urgh! My teaching and analogy skills need work!
When we were about to sleep, my husband asked me, "So how was I supposed to go back to the starting point so I can use the maps?" Like a sore loser I replied, "Don't ask me; ask MSDN."