An Introduction and a Why. . .

I’ve been blogging about SQL Server since 2009. Over the years I’ve blogged about many topics and levels. For some reason, I’ve most loved writing the posts to beginner and intermediate levels though. Things that trip folks up day to day, etc.

While I’ve been an independent consultant since 2011 working with databases on premise and in the cloud, the second half of 2016 marked a transition for me and for Straight Path Solutions. Prior to last year, I was trying to help build a relational engine practice in an existing SQL Server consultancy. I’d say I was successful in that the practice grew and a lot of clients were helped. For a lot of reasons that aren’t so important here, though, it made sense to break out and focus entirely on Straight Path with the actual reigns. I’d still be swimming upstream. I’d still have my work cut out in front of me. But it would be all my risk. And all my reward as I grow a SQL Server consultancy that truly embraces my values and my commitment to what you could call the Golden Rule way of doing business. It wouldn’t be talk, it would be action in all we do here. It’s proven to be a good start.

There is much germinating to to still, but when 2017 turned a few weeks ago, I decided that it was time to make a scary, risky, and exciting decision. Straight Path hired our first W2 employee. We have a stable of talented SQL Server gurus available to work with on a 1099 basis. Basically – you name your problem, I can get the right person to work with you.

But the growth for Straight Path includes a lot of focus on some “back to basics” services. Our SQL Server Health Assessments. Our retainer based DBA on Demand service providing Remote DBA services.  I wanted the first hire for Straight Path to be meaningful. To keep the golden rule in mind. To be risky but sensible. So our first full-time hire was a person with tremendous “soft skills” – a troubleshooter extraordinaire, a logical thinker who has a commitment to quality, ethics and integrity. But it was someone who is still at the start of learning about SQL Server as they embark on a second career. Bruce brings a level of maturity and responsibility that is great for the company. And he brings a thirst for knowledge. And that’s exciting. He knows many things and is able to do many aspects of projects, but there is constant mentoring and teaching and knowledge transfer.  Things I LOVE doing. It’s why I started blogging. It’s why I started speaking at events. And it’s inspired me to think about “back to basics” again. It’s brought me back to my roots for this blog and the genesis of why Microsoft ended up giving me the MVP award for 6 years in a row since 2011 – because I enjoy sharing knowledge.

Bring on the SQL Server Tips!!

That’s a long introduction to this series. That’s what this series is all about though – providing quick tips that can help someone searching for the basics. Sure, I may end up losing a SQL Server health assessment client or some basic hours because someone can help themselves with these posts. That’s fine. I’m a firm believer in giving more than I get. Everyone wins, and when someone needs help on a more complex topic or wants that third party verification that all is well? It comes back.

So that’s this series. I’m going to blog about basic things. Mostly I’ll keep to blogging about findings of the health assessment since that serves as a good start. Or things I end up teaching our first hire. Or things I mentor clients on. I’ll try and come back here and make this an index post of sorts, but I’ll also tag all posts with this same “Straight Up SQL Server Tips” category.

Happy Learning! Happy 2017! And please, if you think of something “back to basics” that you wish I threw a quick tip up for, let me know in the comments in twitter in e-mail or on our facebook page. Feel free to sign up to the blog posts in your favorite reading app also. The first straight up tip will come out later this week when I talk about SQL Server versions and keeping up with them.

Straight Up SQL Server Tips

As I post tips that fit here, I’ll use the category and try and get back here and link and organize them here. The first new post in the series goes live on Wednesday – about SQL Server versions. For now here are a few older posts that fall into this category – quick tips single focused to get you setup with best practices.

• Are CPU Power Savings Hurting You? Find out in this post, and more importantly see how easy it is to fix.
• How Do you Create a SQL Server Baseline? And why, here is a free tool to help there.
• What are SQL Server Alerts and How Do you Set Them Up?
• SQL Server Versions – How do I check it and does it matter?
• How do I use SP Configure?
• DBA Questions to ask a software vendor.  Ahh software vendors. Can’t live with them can’t live without them. Here are some questions to make your life as a DBA a bit more sane when a new vendor application comes in.