After posting a database tools list yesterday, I found that there were things that I had forgotten and a couple of things that i hadn’t even considered. In thinking about this, I found myself trying to find a script that I knew I had seen and that I wanted to put on the list.
Trying to find the script got me a bit out of sorts. I knew I could probably find it on my share at work with my scripts (which reminds me that I really need to get a dropbox or put them all on a thumbdrive to keep with me). But, I wasn’t at work and wanted to locate this cool script that I knew was recommended by another prominent person (more about that later). So I pulled out my googlefu.
I tried searching the web for this blog that had the script and tried several combinations of the key words I knew would help me find it. In doing this search, I came across a few blogs that had created a list of tools that database professionals should check out. Here is a short list of the blogs I found.
- Aaron Bertrand (Oct 2010) – Aaron references the post by Dave and Mladen
- Dave Ballantyne (Oct 2010)
- Mladen Prajdic (Nov 2007)
- Ami Levin (Feb 2011) – Ami adds a few items to Aaron’s list
All of these lists are great compilations. I also found one more list, but found that it was just a copy of Aaron’s list. This was extremely disappointing. Just reference the list or come up with a list of your own. A SQL Server MVP should never have to copy content from another MVP. It’s not even that the list is the same – it was a copy of the entire post by Aaron. I personally hold MVPs to a higher standard and find it disappointing and aggravating when one is copying content and is esteemed as a person who has contributed much to the community.
None of these lists had what I the item for which I was looking. The item that I wanted was a script that Brent Ozar (blog) had given high compliments to a few months back. It was a script that, he said “a script that’s like my Blitz server takeover script, but even more advanced. Love it!” Too bad I couldn’t remember the person, script or wording he used when I was trying to find the script. Better yet, the page with the reference popped up several times in my searches. Well, needless to say, I pinged the community and Brent on twitter and Brent came through. Here are a few more items to add to the list of tools you should have or try.
- 60 Minute Blitz Script (Brent Ozar) – check it out. It will be worth your time. If you looked at the other lists you will also see that this script is there and highly recommended.
- Diagnostic Information Queries (Glenn Berry) – this was the script I was trying to find. This is the script that Brent has given high praise – give it a look.
- sp_whoisactive (Adam Mechanic) – Newest version as of this post is 10.76 and is listed as a beta version.
- SSMS ToolsPack (Mladen Prajdic)
So there you have it. Between my two lists and these other great lists – you should have a great toolbox.
