What is an SQL Server Health Check?

A Health Check is an in-depth, comprehensive audit of your SQL Server database: its configuration, hardware, performance, stability, backup plans, and needs. It lets your DBA know what’s causing problems, what’s working great, and how to develop a plan for improvement.

At SQL Professionals, we pride ourselves on the extremely detailed and action-oriented reports that our Health Checks yield. While too many DBAs produce reports that gloss over facts or make fuzzy claims that could apply to 95% of databases, our reports are precise, easy to understand, and empowering (yes, empowering). Ideally, a Health Check doesn’t just identify problems: it lays out a roadmap for how to solve them.

How Your Business Benefits

Sounds good, you say, but what’s in it for my business?

Peace of Mind. Your SQL Server is a complicated piece of work that your business relies on every day. Just thinking about the number of things that could go wrong is enough to keep you up at night. A thorough Health Check means no SQL Server surprises will throw your business for a loop.

Plan of Action. Your Health Check will identify immediate concerns, long-term projects, and small tweaks to speed up sluggish performance issues—and prioritize them into a clear plan. SQL Professionals will let you know exactly how we’ll work on your servers, how long it’ll take, and what improvements you can expect to reap in return.

Long-Term Performance. A crucial part of every Health Check is an audit of current and future performance scalability. You’ll understand how much of a load your existing environment can take while still performing at an acceptable rate. Even better, you’ll know what it’ll take to scale up, so you can prepare for your long-term needs now.

New Perspective. Even if you already have an in-house DBA, the remote DBAs at SQL Professionals provide a collection of fresh eyes to evaluate your database issues and develop novel solutions. SQL Server database administration is a science—but it’s also an art. There’s more than one way to approach any given problem, and sometimes it takes an outsider’s perspective to spot the best way around a difficulty.

The post Why a SQL Server Health Check is the Best First Step appeared first on SQL Professionals.

Great databases are like great referees: they’re at their best when they go unnoticed. It’s only when something goes wrong—a blown call, unexpected downtime—that you take notice. Not good.

The solution, of course, is obvious: hire a dedicated SQL database administrator to keep your business humming. Unfortunately, hiring a (good) full-time DBA is expensive. Not only are SQL Server specialists a hot commodity, but you’ve also got to factor in benefits, taxes, office space, equipment, etc. “Ouch,” says your budget.

Unlike their full-time counterparts, a remote SQL DBA can keep your databases and your bottom line at their best. How? Let me count the ways.

1. Lower Costs

You’re not paying less for sub-standard talent, you’re just paying selectively for talent when you actually need it. Thanks to the flexible pricing most remote DBAs offer, you don’t need to pay a DBA for 40 hours a week when your databases only require 15 hours of work.

2. Expertise

Remote SQL Server DBAs aren’t jacks of all trades: they’re masters of one, and they continually hone their specialized skills. That means faster solutions, less trial and error, and experience you can trust.

With SQL Professionals, you don’t just get one SQL DBA—you benefit from our combined knowledge, experience, and expertise. We can even bring in Microsoft engineers and other outside specialists, thanks to our robust network.

3. Reliability

By contracting a team of remote SQL Server DBAs, you can be confident someone’s always on call, waiting to tamp down any problems at a moment’s notice. SQL Professionals prides itself on rapid responses and quick turn-around times; when you need support, we’ll have a DBA available who intimately understands your particular SQL environment.

4. Stability

With quality DBAs being so sought after, companies face a brutally high attrition rate. That means investing more time and money into training a new DBA every year or so. With the remote DBAs at SQL Professionals, you’ve got an entire team working for you. Even if you’re just using us part-time, we offer stability between the departures of your on-site DBAs and can help transfer knowledge and protocol seamlessly.

5. Supplementing Your Team

Even if you’ve already got a few DBAs, you may want to consider supplementing them with remote DBA support. Whether you need us to handle daily maintenance while they tackle high-visibility projects, or you give us the unexpected to keep your employees undistracted, we work harmoniously with existing admins.

The post 5 Ways a Remote SQL DBA Will Benefit Your Business appeared first on SQL Professionals.