The Joy of Semicolons

Posted on May 1, 2019 by gzk2

Speakers: Jason Broccardo

Level: Fundamental, Lecture

Excerpt: SQL is everywhere, and Mac admins are going to need some fluency with it. I want to help get you started even if I still can’t write a proper JOIN statement.

Description: Beginning with the idea that there was more useful information in my management system than what was being shown to me in the GUI, I started stumbling around in the system’s backend database. It was at first a daunting place of facts and details stuffed into hundreds of lists that interconnected somehow. After many more trips into the database and accompanying research, the dots began to connect and SQL became less of a black box. More importantly, I started noticing where else SQL appeared, not only in the tools I used but in macOS itself.
Consider this the non-expert’s guide to just enough SQL for Mac Admins:

  • What is SQL? Why is there a lite version?
  • Select, order by and insert into what?
  • Do you really need the semicolons?
  • What are these .db-shm and .db-wal files stashed away through out my Mac?
  • The vendor says I need to edit my.cnf file to change the engine. If I misconfigure it, just how will the world end?
  • Database backends: A common ground for Jamf and Munki admins
  • Even my neighbor is telling me to use osquery. What is it?

    About the speaker

    Jason Broccardo (Twitter: @zoocoup) – Senior Systems Engineer, Endpoint Technology – Glassdoor

    Doing my best to not successfully automate my mistakes across the entire fleet.

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