How do you like to learn? *or* SQL Server Agent Proxy Accounts

  • Article

One of my favorite parts of my job as a Program Manager is evangelizing our products.  I love teaching people how to be more effective by introducing them to new features or tying many existing features together in an end-to-end scenario.

I like to learn about technology and I'd imagine that the majority of my readers are also technology enthusiasts by profession.  The problem I have now is that I do not have enough time in the day to learn about everything that could be cool and figure out how it could be useful.  I recently watched a video by Brian Knight from JumpStart TV on SQL Server Agent Proxy Accounts.  I thought it was a great way to quickly learn about one piece of SQL Server Agent without reading lots of documentation.

To reach the broadest audience most effectively, I'm considering putting together short videos like the folks at JumpStart TV to give you an overview of how to use our features.  My questions to you are...

1) How do you like to learn about SQL Server technologies? (Books Online, Dynamic Help, Blogs, Video, Whitepapers, Hands on Labs, Conferences, Webcasts, etc)

2) If I were to [magically] find time to create 5-10 minute videos, what areas/scenarios would you like to learn about?

3) Do you see much value in having 5-10 minute videos vs. 45-90 minute OnDemand webcasts?

Please share your comments by posting on this blog.

SQL Server Agent Proxy Accounts - Video by Brian Knight (JumpStart TV):
https://www.jumpstarttv.com/Media.aspx?vid=147

SQL Server Agent Proxy Accounts - MSDN Documentation:
https://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms190926.aspx
https://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189064.aspx
https://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms175834.aspx

Paul A. Mestemaker II
Program Manager
Microsoft SQL Server Manageability

Comments

  • Anonymous
    April 10, 2007
    I love the idea of having shorter videos available.  I read a lot, but can't find time to sit down and watch (or even listen to) a whole webcast very often.  Go for it! Cheers, Chris

  • Anonymous
    April 11, 2007
    I learn mostly by reading books. I enjoy webcasts but frequently time is an issue. I would love to see shorter videos. Monica

  • Anonymous
    April 11, 2007
    I am teaching myself SQL Server 2005 primarily by books, but I think short videos via a webcast is a great idea.  Thanks!

  • Anonymous
    April 11, 2007
    It's always seemed a good idea but many corporate PC's  often do not have features enabled which allow viewing or listening to videos - also means you have to have headphones - then the view may be that you're watching a video/movie not actually working !!!

  • Anonymous
    April 18, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    April 19, 2007
    Short on-demand webcasts would be great. I never find the time to listen to an hour long webcast. It would be good to have an "introduction" webcast that quickly covers a whole technology, followed up with a number of short webcasts that deal with very specific parts. That way I could get to know the bits I need to know more about, without having to sit through things I already know.

  • Anonymous
    May 03, 2007
    I love learn about technology too (bol, books, articles, webcasts, etc...), but I think that we have the same problem...time!!

  1. If I were to [magically] find time to create 5-10 minute videos, what areas/scenarios would you like to learn about? New features, best practices for cluster configuration, troubleshooting, etc
  2. Do you see much value in having 5-10 minute videos vs. 45-90 minute OnDemand webcasts? The short videos is a great idea. I agree that it was a great way to quickly learn about one piece of SQL Server Agent without reading lots of documentation.

  • Anonymous
    May 03, 2007
    Seing other people running into problem ,I created some webcasts on my site which are (as of the feebback) very appreciated by the posters, as they show how to quickly solve problems or see how things get done.

  • Anonymous
    May 15, 2007
    My first preference for learning is Books online and I'm not sure how often you update the content with the newest feature, I'm aware that during the service pack releases this is attached. Wrapping up the information within a managable time Video is an excellent option and people will learn quickly by looking at the references within that content.

  • Anonymous
    June 29, 2007
    Has anybody reported problems with using proxy accounts on SS2K5 64-bit SP1 (Ent Ed.)? When I try to run a job step using a proxy account I receive the following error: The process could not be created for step 1 of job 0x586BF68A9737C045B50EAE747DB018C1 (reason: A required privilege is not held by the client).  The step failed. Bear in mind, the proxy account that I used to reproduce this problem is the same service account that the SQL Server services are running under so this definitely looks like a bug to me! This only appears to be problem on SS2K5 64-Bit, proxy accounts seem to work fine on SS2K5 32-Bit SP1.

  • Anonymous
    March 07, 2008
    I think you would do better to invest in existing resources. The shortness of snippets is the same as linking instead of reproducing the same thing in a different format. Part of the reason that people switch off in long sesisons is the probability that the usefullness of the full set of contents will not have been designed in a cohesive manner. I have used http://www.learnvisualstudio.net/ for years and their new site http://www.trainingspot.com/ covers sql server, and they have online presentations of features which are short snippets instead of long sessions. Long sessions one can sometimes get exhausted by, especially if one is short on time. If your given the time to be passive and you are short of time normally, the body just wants to relax and switch off, even if the eyes stay open. Which is better for the individual I am not sure, it depends on their perspective on life.   Perhaps it is just great to give people a relaxing time. Sometimes I wonder if this is the purpose of Ballet, but I don't think so because people stare if you snore, not that you know until later, when you get a dig in the ribs lol However, the best for learning is short and snappy for the tired! If you want them to retain anything of value. If you got this far then you are obvioulsy not working hard enough to be as tired as the tired ones ;-)

  • Anonymous
    June 07, 2008
    One of my favorite parts of my job as a Program Manager is evangelizing our products. I love teaching people how to be more effective by introducing them to new features or tying many existing features together in an end-to-end scenario. I like to lear

  • Anonymous
    January 31, 2010
    At the beginning of my carrier with SQL Server I used to read a lot every day. Now a days it's very hard to me to find time to read articles. It's a good Idea to have 5-10 min video and should be more focused on Content or Issues.