Multiple benefits can be gained through the use of SQL server health checks. They might not be at the top of your DBA’s to-do list, but a regular regimen of health checks can help you identify issues that impact the performance of your servers and databases. We are going to look at some of the reasons you should begin performing SQL server health checks if they are not already part of your administrative regimen.
What is an SQL Server Health Check?
Many moving parts contribute to the performance of your SQL servers. Getting a handle on how your server is operating under the best circumstances can be difficult for even the most experienced DBAs. When issues arise and users or management have complaints about the speed and functionality of your systems, the impetus to find the underlying problems can become overwhelming. There are a lot of possible causes for your database’s lack of performance. Where can a stressed-out DBA turn for help? Conducting a health check on your SQL servers is a great place to start.
An SQL server health check is a process by which you compile information that can be used to pinpoint issues related to the performance of your systems. A server check can also be instrumental in enabling you to understand the SQL Servers for which you are responsible as well as shedding light on problems that they may be experiencing.
A productive SQL server health check should address specific aspects of your server and environment. Some of the functions that a viable health check will perform include:
What Can You Achieve with Health Checks?
SQL Server health checks can be used to collect knowledge about your environment or to address particular problems that are affecting its performance. Let’s look at some benefits that can result from the information gained through server health checks.
How to Run Comprehensive SQL Server Health Checks
Hopefully, you are convinced of the advantages of running periodic SQL server health checks. The issues that can be found through these checks are invaluable for a DBA who is concerned with the performance and security of their servers and databases. The question then becomes how to best perform an SQL Server health check.
As with many facets of the IT industry, you have choices. You can create manual scripts and queries to extract the information that you need. This can be very time-consuming and lends itself to organizational complexity and coding errors.
A better solution is to use a dedicated tool which is designed to identify security, performance, and data protection issues that are impacting your SQL server. IDERA’s SQL Doctor provides all of the features that you need to keep your SQL servers running at peak efficiency.
SQL Doctor can be used to generate reports that will help you tune your physical, virtual, and cloud servers. You can use it to summarize the health of your complete installation or drill down to investigate specific servers. The tool provides prioritized lists of possible performance optimizations and can automatically create executable SQL scripts to streamline your systems.
You can run SQL Doctor on an as-needed basis or as part of a regularly scheduled health check initiative. Don’t wait until the patient exhibits symptoms of an illness. Get the Doctor on it now and keep your SQL Servers and their users healthy and happy.