Archive for May, 2013

Featured Beer: Review of Lagunitas – Maximus IPA Ale

Pour Yourself a Grog. Today’s featured beer is another West Coast brew, Lagunitas Maximus IPA Ale. When a regular IPA (India Pale Ale) just isn’t enough, Maximus IPA is sure to satisfy. It goes for $13 a six-pack at my local Wegmans Food Market, which is starting to become a common price among the tastiest craft…
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DBA: SQL Audit Checklist For Internal Security Review

To stay on top of security you need to regularly review your server configurations. It’s helpful to build a checklist to be used as part of an internal security audit review. Below is just such a checklist, specifically tailored to audit a SQL 2008 Server running on Windows Server 2008. Most of what’s in this…
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Featured Beer: Review of Rogue – Dead Guy Ale

Pour yourself a grog. Today’s featured beer is Rogue’s “Dead Guy Ale,” which is a German Maibock, or in other words a strong golden lager. Rogue is a West Coast brewery located in Portland Newport, Oregon. You can expect to spend around $13 for a six-pack of Dead Guy, which is definitely pricey, but far from…
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DBA: SQL Server Security Best Practices

As part of an internal security review, I put together the following best practices guideline to secure SQL servers. This is just an example, and is not meant to be a comprehensive list of SQL server security parameters. DATABASE CREATION AND CHANGES New databases must be requested using a SQL database request form with proper…
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Secure Passwords: What You’ve Been Taught Is Wrong

A guide for LAN Administrators who want to secure their systems without a user revolt. GOLDEN RULE OF PASSWORD CREATION: length + the uniqueness of your brain More on that in a moment. But first, if only we could trust our fellow human beings, there would be no need to secure our sensitive data. No need…
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