Kirkian Computing

Tag: SQL Server

  • Microsoft exams

    Last August, I did a beta exam for Microsoft. I didn’t pay for it, but I didn’t get a score either; the idea was just to test out their new software for doing simulations in the exam (rather than multiple choice questions). As a “thank you”, Microsoft then sent me three vouchers, each one corresponding to a free exam. These expire at the end of June, so I’ve finally had to stop procrastinating and start studying.

    Today I did two exams: 70-236 (MCTS: Configuring Exchange Server 2007) and 70-431 (MCTS: SQL Server 2005 – Implementation and Maintenance). According to the booking website, the Exchange exam lasts 4½ hours, and the SQL exam lasts 4 hours, so this looked like quite a long day! Fortunately, I didn’t need all the time that was allocated, so I ended both exams early, and I was at the test centre for about 3 hours altogether.

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  • SQL Server

    Today I’ve been copying a database from one SQL Server machine to another: specifically from SQL 2000 to SQL 2005, for testing purposes. Unfortunately this didn’t go as smoothly as I would have liked, so here are a few notes for anyone else who does this (e.g. my future self).

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  • Computer security

    I see that there’s now a UK version of the “PC vs Mac” adverts. These are pretty similar to the original American versions, although there are fewer UK ones so far. Still, I think that they’re quite funny, and I actually prefer the UK ones, mainly due to the actors involved (Mitchell and Webb); the “I’m a PC” guy is very enthusiastic about his stupid ideas. Sample quote: “Eye of the tiger! Claw of the eagle! Tentacle of the octopus!”

    As a counterpoint to the “Viruses” advert, there’s a Ctrl+Alt+Del strip which offers an alternate theory, and I think that’s also quite funny. (I read that before I’d seen any of the adverts, which may have coloured my opinions a bit.)

    More generally, while I found all these things amusing, and I’m sure that there are plenty of valid reasons for choosing a Mac, I wasn’t particularly convinced by any of the technical arguments involved, particularly when it comes to security. Basically, I think that a lot of this comes down to the way you configure your system, rather than the choice of system.

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  • Anatomy of a hack: SBS 2000

    A few years ago (August 2002), my home server got hacked. I dealt with it fairly quickly, but it took me a while to really understand what had happened, because I was more naïve about security in those days.

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