As a DBA, you need to ensure that the SQL server is up and running all the time optimally. Certain fundamental steps should be executed regularly to help you get the peace of mind you deserve. If you have been in database management for a long time, you are aware of these key checklist points. However, if you are a new DBA, you need to ensure that everything is in order.
Make sure you take refresher training from seniors to face no hassles with your SQL database’s performance and speed. Get professionals on board to help you manage the process efficiently.
Get the best management solutions for the SQL database server
The following are some solutions for effective SQL server management. Some of them are quite easy and simple for you to remember. Others are a little on the complicated site; however, with some time and effort, you can master them too. Let us take a look at them now-
Backups
Backups are essential for every SQL server. Keep a solid backup plan. The biggest mistake you can do is to have no backup plan in place. To begin, there are some fundamental questions you must ask yourself-
- What do you want to recover in the event of a system failure?
- Keep a note of how much data you can lose if the database fails. For instance, data for one day, one hour, one week, or even none.
- What is the kind of processing taking place? Is it based on transactions, batch loading, or is it a combination of the two?
- Is this the only source of the data, or can you recreate it in the event of a failure?
These are just some of the questions that you should determine. Based on their answers, you need to determine the processing for backups and the recovery model for you to choose for the SQL database.
Once you have determined what your ideal backup plan should be, the next step is to decide whether you should opt for-
- Full backups only daily
- Full backups daily and backup of the transaction logs for every hour
- Full backups daily with backups for the transaction logs per hour, along with differential backups after every 4 hours.
If you are still unsure what to decide, you can always start with full backups daily. If the data is susceptible and vital and cannot be recreated easily, you should change your SQL database model. You should set it to FULL so that backups of the full SQL database and transaction logs are taken daily. For practical fine-tuning database management solutions, get in touch with experienced professionals fromRemoteDBA.
Running Data Integrity Checks
Another area you should check is the integrity of the SQL database. There are some options for you to address this like DBCC CHECKALLOC, DBCC CHECKTABLE, etc. They are commands that check the structure, allocation, and the logical integrity of all the objects in the database. After you have run these commands, you need to do data analysis to detect any issue that needs to be addressed. This can be done with maintenance jobs, query window, or maintenance plans.
This is an area where maintenance jobs generally run the commands; however, there is no one for reviewing the report to identify any problem that needs to be solved. Most of the time, issues with integrity occur less than in the past with the previous versions of SQL servers; however, this is an area that should be an integral part of the DBA procedure.
Maintain the SQL Indexes
SQL indexes are very helpful when it comes to getting quick access to the system’s data pages. When they have been created newly, the data structure is clean and nice. This ensures that everything is in order. You can view the data with the index. There is no need for you to scan the whole table.
With time, these indexes that helped you, in the beginning, tend to become fragmented. They start to occupy extra space, and it becomes tough for you to access the data pages. This is because they are not as great or efficient as they were when you first created them. It is here that the DBA needs to take up index maintenance. This is a critical process that you should never ignore if you want a good performing SQL database.
In the SQL Server 2000, you need to run all the index rebuilds across boards for all of the tables when you use maintenance plans. This will include the general approach to accomplish everything or, in some cases, nothing at all. In the case of the SQL Server 2005, you could run the index rebuilds, and index defrags. You have the option to choose tables you must manage. This might not be the ideal process for you to maintain indexes; however, it is better than doing absolutely nothing.
Keeping in mind the above and to take a step ahead, you should manage the index maintenance table by index or table. Some indexes will become fragmented, and others may not have any issues. This generally relies on how they were made in the first place and how you have applied the information or data to its index or table. When you do the across board management for indexes keeping the above in mind, you generally waste a lot of time resolving an issue that may not exist for some tables. It is ideal for you to deploy tools present in the SQL server to detect where the core problems exist. In this way, you can take all the appropriate steps you need to resolve the issue in indexes and tables, saving time. You do not have to focus on an individual table or index after this.
Therefore, if you are a new DBA taking care of the SQL database, ensure you keep the above in mind during maintenance to get the expected functionality, speed, and performance.
