A Simple SQL Server Health Checklist
June 30, 2022
Being part of a consulting team has given me experience with many environments, and part of the work I do every week is to check for the various best practices and monitor server health across over 20 environments. This post condenses the tools that can help and the configurations that are most likely to cause
6 Things to Do Before Calling Microsoft Support
March 5, 2022
“Can you please open a ticket with Microsoft for our SQL Server?” – Perhaps one of the scariest requests ever when I was a full-time DBA or SQL Server consultant (though, as a CEO I may be tempted to say, “Hey it’s billable, bring it on!” ) If you’ve ever gone through the process –
SQL Server Patching Best Practices
March 1, 2022
It’s day four of the two weeks to a healthier SQL Server series. If I were making this ten-day plan even just three years ago, I would have had this lower on the list. With the security and compliance needs of the world today and the way Microsoft services SQL Server – it’s important to
Restoring SQL Server – Are you Ready?
April 9, 2021
It’s 5 AM on Wednesday. Your CIO has called your cell phone at home. “We need you to log in right now! Someone or something deleted all of the inventory. I tried to help out the team right before the inventory disappeared, and I was running some SQL commands I found and a couple of
How to Assess Your SQL Server Environment
April 1, 2021
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincon Welcome back to the Two Weeks to A Healthy SQL Server series of posts! This is the official “Day One” post. This first step may not be the most glamorous or the biggest payoff,
Two Weeks to a Healthy SQL Server
March 25, 2021
Many companies have the wrong people managing their databases. It sounds mean, out of context. But note we didn’t say “bad people” or “mean people,” just the wrong people to ensure a healthy SQL Server. Sometimes it’s even worse than that. It’s not the wrong person, it’s “no person.” Nobody owns its uptime, recoverability, or
A Good SQL Server DBA Makes Lousy Bets
March 6, 2021
The “Prod-Server Casino“ A production environment isn’t anything like a casino, at least not from the perspective of the guests. It needs to practically be guaranteed to succeed (So I guess, the house always winning is sort of similar.) You want everything to be sure in it. It isn’t grand. There aren’t fountains, there aren’t
SQL Server Patching – A Primer
December 10, 2020
With some of the CU and SP misses that happen, what’s a good schedule for patching a SQL Server? What are some things to do before applying a CU to a SQL Server? How can we verify our SP or CU didn’t break anything? And what CU should I apply? The latest? The even number
“Are you Overpaying for SQL Server Licensing” Webinar Recap
December 4, 2020
Earlier this week, SIOS invited me to join them in a webinar over at MSSQL tips. You can watch the webinar recording if you register for it in “OnDemand” mode on their site here. Dave Bermingham joined me on the webinar – he’s a great technologist and a long time Microsoft MVP in cloud and
VMware and SQL Server Best Practices.
December 3, 2020
Update Note (October 2025): This post was originally written in December 2020 and remains technically sound. I’ve updated it with current context about the VMware landscape, refreshed the monitoring tool references, and expanded the snapshot guidance based on what we continue to see in the field. If you’re evaluating alternatives to VMware, check out our