Please tell me about yourself, Tell me about your environment, Tell us why we should hire you, Tell me about your experience as a DBA and Developer, Are you system DBA or Application DBA? Written by Zakir Hossain, CS Graduate (OSU) CEO, Data Group Chief of IT Operations, USAID Fed Certifications: PFA (Programming Foreign Assistance), COR (Contracting Officer), AOR (Assistance Officer) Oracle Certifications: OCP (Oracle Certified Professional), OCA (Oracle Certified Associate), Oracle RAC-Admin, Oracle Backup/Recovery-Admin, Oracle Performance/Monitoring-Admin, Oracle App Server-Admin Microsoft Certifications: MCDBA (Microsoft Certified Database Admin), MCITP: SQL Database Admin, MCITP: SharePoint Admin System Admin Certifications: MCITP: Windows Server 2012 Admin, RHCSA (Red Hat Certified System Admin) Programming Certifications: SCJP (Sun Certified Java Programmer) Other Certifications: Security+, ITIL V3 …………………………………….. Please Read License Agreement …………………………………….. You are allowed to use this document only for your personal and job related uses. Under no circumstances, you are not allowed to share this document nor are you allowed to use for commercial or training purposes. You are allowed to neither sharing nor altering this document with any institute/organization and individual, business entity, and students either current or discontinued ie with anybody without written permission is 100% prohibited and violation of Federal Law of Intelligence Product. If you need our books, notes, documents, please contact directly with Zakir Hossain ([email protected], 703-203-2325) It is a Federal Copy Right Violation of Intelligence Product. Violators will be prosecuted with the fullest Extent of Federal Law.

Answer: I am Certified SQL Server DBA and/or Developer. I consider myself as System DBA as well as Application DBA. Currently, working with Tech Guru (http://www.TechGuruUSA.com/) or IDS (Innovative Data Solutions) OR Data Group as a SQL Server DBA for about 1 year and 6 months Databases and Database Servers: At my current workplace, I am supporting Development, Test and Production Servers Databases Here, we are using:  SQL Server 2000, 2008 R2, and 2012 Enterprise Edition

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Please tell me about yourself, Tell me about your environment, Tell us why we should hire you, Tell me about your experience as a DBA and Developer, Are you system DBA or Application DBA?  Our database servers are running on Windows Server 2003 R2, 2008 R2 and 2012 Enterprise Edition (Special Note: SQL Server 2000 running on Windows Server 2003 R2, SQL Server 2008 R2 is running on Windows Server 2008 R2, and SQL Server 2012 is running on 2012 Enterprise Edition)  Size: 10 GB to 2.2 TB - The size of our databases varies from10 GB to 2.2 TB. We take disk backup over the internet in our backup server. The biggest database backup takes about 6.5 hours. However, time it takes is not always same. As you know it depends on many factors like Network speed, Number of users, and Activities running on the server during that time.  We still have some SQL Server 2000 instances to support some legacy applications. It is because some applications are still not certified to run higher version of SQL Server like SQL Server 2008 R2 or 2012. However, we are in the process of migrating the remaining SQL Server 2000 instances soon and we are working with COTS application vendors to get green signal to move on higher version of SQL Server  Currently, we only have 7 more instances of SQL Server 2000 left for migration. We are in the process of completing the migration process of SQL Server 2000 instances to SQL Server 2008 R2 

However, we have already completed migrating all of our SQL Server 2005 instances to SQL Server 2008 R2

 Here I am managing 27 Database Servers (17 to 82 Servers) and 52 Databases (27 to 92 Databases). Most of our servers are VM (Virtual Machine) Servers and we still have some physical servers. We are also currently moving to Cloud Environment using Verizon Terremark cloud services. We still using some physical servers due to some limitations we have in VM machines and Cloud Environment. These limitations are number of CPUs we can have on VM and amount of memory can allocate for each machines. Currently, we have limitation of 8 CPU and 16 GB memory. For some applications, we need more CPU and memory. Just to let you know that we have one financial application, for which we have 48 CPU and 96 GB of memory. Besides that we have,  4 Reporting Servers 

1 Dev, 1 Test and 2 Production Server) and these are SQL Server Reporting Services Servers.

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I installed, configured, and managed these reporting servers. This includes report development, working with report development team, report deployment, and managing security of reports

 4 Application Servers 

1 Dev, 1 Test and 2 Production Servers 2 of 8

Please tell me about yourself, Tell me about your environment, Tell us why we should hire you, Tell me about your experience as a DBA and Developer, Are you system DBA or Application DBA? 

We are using IIS (Internet Information Services) as our application/web server

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We are using IIS 7.5 running on Windows Server 2008 R2 and IIS 8.5 on Windows Server 2012 R2 I work closely with app team supporting databases for applications on day to day basis. This includes database deployment, scripts deployment, database restore to create different environments for app team, app connection strings and connection strings are ODBC connections and some cases regular logins and pass as different apps uses different protocol for connections. For example, some COTS apps uses either ODBC and regular SQL Authentication using Login and Pass

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The applications (apps) I am supporting are written in ASP, ASP.NET and PHP or J2EE and PHP programming language

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Some applications are developed in-house and some are COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) applications

 We have single instance cluster environment (2 node cluster: Active/Passive)  2 SharePoint Server o 1 Dev, 1 Prod) o We use SharePoint for different purposes. All of our documents are stored in SharePoint and all of our documents are shared among the team members o We also use SharePoint for version controlling purpose. It keeps multiple copies of same document with different version o All departments have their own directory structure for their documents  Besides that I am providing administrative, technical/customer support, assigning tasks to other DBA when my Team Lead is not in office  I also update clients and upper management and attend and brief in different meetings regarding our progress on different projects and tickets supporting ongoing maintenance support other activities  Installed, Configured, and Managed o SQL Server2012, 2008, & 2005 Enterprise Edition as standalone instance o Log Shipping, Mirroring, Replications, and Fail-Over Clustering in SQL Server 2012, 2008 R2 o SQL Server Reporting Services in SSRS 2008 R2, 2012. Besides that I have Developed, Deployed and Managed Reports/Ad-hoc Reports 3 of 8

Please tell me about yourself, Tell me about your environment, Tell us why we should hire you, Tell me about your experience as a DBA and Developer, Are you system DBA or Application DBA?  Upgraded and Migrated SQL Server 2000 to 2005/2008 and SQL Server 2005 to SQL Server 2008 R2 and 2012  Migrated MS Access (2003/2007/2010) databases into MS SQL Server 2008 R2, Oracle 10gR2 and 11gR2 databases to SQL Server 2008R and 2012, MySQL 5.1.23 and 5.5.6 databases to SQL Server 2008 R2  Applied SP (Service Pack) and HOT Fixes on SQL Server Instances like 2000, 2005, 2008 R2 and 212 and Windows Server 2003 R2 and 2008 R2 as well  Monitor Server Activity, and solving problem as needed, Monitored and Performed Performance tuning, Scheduled jobs to automate different Performance related jobs for monitoring database health, disk space, backup verification, Monitor SQL Server Error Log, space usage  Wrote T-SQL, Trigger, and Stored-Procedures and Assisted Database Developers to optimize SQL queries and Stored Procedures  Export & Import data from/To Flat file, CSV file, Excel file, Oracle, My-SQL, and Access to SQL Server using DTS, SSIS, and BCP, Created and Deployed SSIS packages, Migrated DTS packages to SSIS package  Designed Database Backup and Disaster Recovery Backup strategy, Setup jobs, Alerts, Maintenance plan, Point-in-Time Recovery, and Restored Database from backup  Used DBCC to check database conditions, Rebuilding indexes and other database Maintenance purposes as well  Strong working experience in creating, modifying tables, Index (Cluster/Non-Cluster), Constraints (Unique/Check), Views, Developed Different Maintenance Plans for database monitoring  Data Modeling: Worked on data modeling for new projects and redesigned existing system used using ERWin, and Toad Data Modeler, Backward & Forward Engineering

I am very confident on tools, storage, and techniques like  SAN, RAID – Used EMC SAN for databases and Backup Server  VMware installed, configured, and maintained

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Please tell me about yourself, Tell me about your environment, Tell us why we should hire you, Tell me about your experience as a DBA and Developer, Are you system DBA or Application DBA?  SSRS Configured, Managed Security, backup, Create and Deploy Reports. I also migrated Reports to another server  Windows Server 2012, 2008 R2, 2003 R2  T-SQL, Store Procedures, Trigger, Functions  SQL Server Native Tools: o SQL Server Management Studio, Enterprise Manager o Upgrade Advisor, Query Analyzer o SQL Profiler, SQLCMD, DBCC o Database Tuning Advisor and Index Tuning Wizard o Business Intelligence Development Studio o Reporting Services Report Manager, Reporting Services Configuration and Report Builder o SQL Configuration manager  We also have different Third Party tools like o For database administration, we have Idera DBA Suite and Spotlite o For data modeling, we have Toad Data Modeler and at my previous company, I have used Erwin. For your information, I have worked on many data modeling projects using ERWin and Quest Toad Data Modeler. My involvement in data modeling includes Conceptual, Logical, and Physical Design of databases  Database Health Check like o Error checking o Jobs verification, monitoring, and troubleshooting o Hard Disk monitoring, verify enough disk space, and work with SAN admin requesting additional disk space if needed either for Database or for backups o CPU monitoring, checking pressure, checking CPU counter o Memory monitoring, checking memory pressure, checking memory PLE (Page Life Expectancy), Buffer Cache Hit Ratio, Memory Grant etc o Data Integrity/Consistency for logical corruption using DBCC commands In short, I have strong experience in Database Administration; Monitoring, diagnosing problems, Performance 5 of 8

Please tell me about yourself, Tell me about your environment, Tell us why we should hire you, Tell me about your experience as a DBA and Developer, Are you system DBA or Application DBA? Tuning/Optimization; SQL/T-SQL Tuning; Writing T-SQL and working with developers in writing queries and debugging codes; Backup & Recovery; Security; Standby, Replication, cluster database, database mirroring, Installation & Administration; SQL Server Reporting Server/Services Installation, Configuration and Administration; Reports Development using SQL Server Reporting Tool; MS SQL Server Log Shipping Configuration and Admin; Experience in working with Web Developers for Database-based Web applications; Database Migration, upgrade; Migrated Oracle and MySQL Databases to SQL Server. I am a problem solver, who knows how to effectively handle multiple projects, meet deadline, set priority of tasks, how to manage time, excellent time player, and have the ability to get along with people and work under pressure. I'm a quick learner and can work under minimal or no supervision. In a short, I can say that you will not regret if you hire me. If needed: Talk about Data Group or Tech Guru We are a consulting company provides software and database related solution. Our clients are different government agencies and private companies. Some clients we support Onsite and some clients we support remotely from Data Group or Tech Guru. Some of the projects are small and some are big depending on the client’s requirements and nature of the projects as you know each client has different requirements. Just to give you an example, some clients require dedicated team members and some clients do not require dedicated resources. Some clients need dedicated servers for their databases and applications and some clients are okay to share the servers for their databases and applications. Example of some of the projects are data modeling, Database Administration, Maintenance support, ETL Development Projects, Application Support Projects, Providing Technical Support for Desktops, PCs, Printers, Network Management, Web Application Development and Maintenance, Hosting Web Applications, Database Migration projects, Data Performance Tuning Support and there are other projects. We are sub-contractors with companies like CACI, Tech USA, Prime USA, AINS, and CGI. So far I know. I do 6 of 8

Please tell me about yourself, Tell me about your environment, Tell us why we should hire you, Tell me about your experience as a DBA and Developer, Are you system DBA or Application DBA? not know about all projects and contracts. Environment: Development, Test/UAT (User Acceptance Test), Production Environment Everything we do here, we must deploy first in our test server and then deploy it in production server only if the application passed successfully. The test must include System Test and UAT test. Then we schedule to deploy in production server. And our major deployment only takes during the weekend. Deployment: If there are any major changes either in application or in database, to deploy either in Test or in Production Server, it requires approval from the chairman of CCB (Change Control Board). Example, of major changes are any changes to database structure, any changes that requires either to add or remove codes, would consider as a major change and this type of change would require approval from the chairman of CCB. After getting the approval, I deploy/implement the database and application using Release Management document from CM (Configuration Manager). We must deploy first in our test server. Once it is deployed in Test Server, Test Team tests the database and application functionality according to test cases. The Test Results are presented to chairman of the CCB (Change Control Board) for approval to deploy it in production server. Deployment in production server takes place only if the application/database passed all tests successfully. The test includes System Test and UAT test. So, once it has been successfully deployed in test server, we implement that in our production server according to our documentation. Some examples of deployment: Documentation: We also must need to write full document for each installation or deployment. After writing the document, we submit the document to our team lead for review. After review, sometimes, we modify the document if my team lead asks me to add or modify or remove something from the document. Document management or updating document is a continuous process as the environment and process changes occurs. Some examples of documentation: NOTE: DO NOT Say at interview. It is just for informational purpose: Active Node accepts connection of all users and applications Passive Node does not accept any connections either from users or from applications. This node waits for the active node to fail. If the current active node fails, the passive node will automatically become an active node and will accept connection of all users and applications. All connections currently connected will be automatically 7 of 8

Please tell me about yourself, Tell me about your environment, Tell us why we should hire you, Tell me about your experience as a DBA and Developer, Are you system DBA or Application DBA? redirected to the new active node Important Topics: Reporting, SSIS /ETL, Clustering/AlwaysOn, Index/Constraints, Performance, Data Modeling – Data Modeling with Real Life Apps Demo, Programming – Functions, Proc, Triggers, Joins, UNION, New features – Compare 2008 R2 and 2012/2014, DMV, DBCC, Applications and Application Server, Cloud, VMWARE, System Databases

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