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 – … Read more
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 … Read more
Straight Path Team Change
February 22, 2022
When I decided to go off and join the world of SQL Server consultants, I wrote a blog post. Eleven years ago I wrote this post. It was an urge to myself, and a call to others. It’s one of my favorite two blog posts I’ve ever written. That’s germane to the topic here. In … Read more
DBCC CHECKDB: Look for SQL Server Corruption
February 21, 2022
A monster’s worse fear is being found. – Richelle Goodrich This is part of the Two Weeks to a healthier SQL Server series. Today we’ll address SQL Server Corruption – or hopefully how to find and deal with it before it finds and deals with you. Data loss and user deletes are expensive and difficult. … Read more
How Inc. Columnist’s Response to Criticism Displayed Wonderful Emotional Intelligence.
July 17, 2021
I held my breath and opened Twitter today. I scrolled around and somehow landed on a tweet from Casey Toner of a media watchdog group in IL. He saw something that seemed a little odd over there at Inc. It seems there were a bunch of articles with similar headlines. All seemingly having to do … Read more
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 … Read more
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, … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
Should an MSP Build a SQL Server Consulting Practice?
March 2, 2021
As I reflect on where Straight Path Solutions has gone and what we’ve become – one thing has become clear. We’re a Managed Services Practice in large part. It’s a highly specialized and niche MSP, but the service delivery model we have is really modeled after MSP practices. We have a growing Professional Services “division” … Read more