Back to Basics
SQL Server Health Checks are Critical
If you run MS SQL Server on-prem, Azure/AWS SQL VMs, or Azure Managed Instance, how often do you do Health Checks?
I left out Azure SQLDB as there is far less you can do there, but yes…keep track of performance there as well. AWS RDS is special snowflake in certain ways.
My point – things change. Workload increases, new functionality in your application, people pushing buttons they shouldn’t.
If you are not stepping back and looking at your SQL Server instance(s) as a whole…why not?
I did a Health Check yesterday for a mature firm that runs a well-known ERP and is having issues with performance. There were some rather mundane things to talk about. Mundane to me, but potentially game changing for them.
These are smart people, solid developers, with a mature process.? Also, no DBA on staff for 3 servers.
I’m no mechanic, but I know I need to get the oil changed in my truck every 5000 miles. And sometimes they show me a nasty looking air filter that I thought was new, despite it being 2 years old.
Basics! Check your SQL Server regularly. Things drift.
??Attend my FIRST EVER online presentation! Your SQL Servers are Misconfigured April 25, 1pm Central US time.??
My recent LinkedIn post(s):
领英推荐
My favorite SQL Server performance tuners – who would you add?
Don’t Burn Bridges – a classic I wrote in 2015
Interesting stuff I read this week:
Rich Americans get second passports, citing risk of instability (cnbc.com) – What the rich do, the rest should examine.
Included Columns Cause Log Bloat – Forrest Shares Stuff (forrestmcdaniel.com) – A tech post from a friend of mine, talking about indexes
Coming soon…an offer for new clients of Dallas DBAs ??
SQL tidBITs:
Even unsupported versions of SQL Server get Security Patches from time to time – check your version here.
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Customer Success Engineer
7 个月To be a good DBA you don't have to be a super ninja. Build a stable platform for the DB to live in and it takes care of a lot of issues (not all issues) on its own.
SQL Server Database Administrator
7 个月"...no DBA on staff for 3 servers..." I've worked with many developers, some really bright people, who were great at application code and architecting application tiers, but databases simply weren't their area of interest/expertise. I would submit smaller organizations that feel like they cannot justify a DBA head count could benefit from a short-term DBA engagement of a "Take a look, tell us what you see, and what your recommendations are".
Information Technology Manager – Merchandise Planning and Allocation
7 个月Nice write up Kevin. You know what’s funny is, you could timestamp this article back 15 years and it would be the same story. Sometimes calling things out is almost childish, until you find out that one simple thing we assume is good, isn’t. DBA’s that assume everything is fine because no one is complaining (yet). They do get complacent and lazy sitting back on the heals not doing what is needed every single day need to remember the last incident was probably avoidable with maintenance review or a good health check. Nice job again Kevin.