I often get hung up in the whirlwind of life,

and one of the things that seems to slip my schedule, is remembering when the

TSQL Tuesday comes about.  This time I

was fortunate enough to be chatting a New Year’s chat with my buddy Jason

Brimhall (blog|twitter), when I told him that I really

need to get back in the blog beat as I feel I’ve been behind in the blogosphere

over the last few months.

Well, with the New Year underway, he suggested that I get

my game going again by participating in this month’s T-SQL Tuesday #38.  I knew when he asked me to guess who this

month’s host is, I was on the hook to stay resolute and accept the

challenge.  Then I found out it was

Jason, and I lost interest (JUST KIDDING 😉

Jason, aka SQL RNNR, and one of the

organizers of the SQL Server Society of

Las Vegas, has a great book out available called SQL Server 2012 T-SQL Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach.  So, it would be apropos for him to be hosting

this month’s TSQL Tuesday.

So, with this first T-SQL Tuesday of 2013, Jason gets the

distinguished honor of being the host to kick off the New Year with a great,

but perplexing topic.  Heck, coming up

with a t-sql puzzle is sometimes challenging, but the tsql Tuesday topic du’jour

requires real introspection and maybe even some courage to pull it off.

Jason’s theme is laid out as follows: “Now for the theme.

 A common thing for many people to do this time of year is to do a little self-reflection.

 Some set meaningful goals for themselves.  Fewer actually accomplish

those goals or even follow-up after initially setting the goal.”  Woah, that’s deep!  So the theme this month is “Standing

Firm.”  The words of the day are resolute, resolve and resolution.

Now I don’t want to make any promises, cause that always

gets you in trouble. 🙂  But, one of the things I’ve been working on

is a comprehensive process and collection of scripts for performance

analysis.  I am embarking on a campaign

for HealthySQL™.  Yes, this year I want

to raise awareness for the need for regular health checks to keep your servers

humming and healthy.  There are so many

neglected and ailing servers out there, that even a simple diagnosis will

highlight major areas for improvement. 

Even so, the point is, why wait to the point your SQL Server slumps over

to be rushed to the emergency repair stage? 

The reactive break-fix model is passé, and must go the way of the

dinosaur.  (I know some high-paid

consultants might scoff at this). 

However, we can prevent most major issues before they occur, and before

they escalate.  Doesn’t look good when

the customer has to complain they can’t get into their system. 

Proactive monitoring and on-going health checks is the

key to a healthy SQL Server.  One of the

important things to do is baseline your server, and watch for trends overtime,

carefully looking for deviations from that baseline.  Statistics, metrics and metadata all come

into play, and I have just the right bit of holistic healing.  I start out with my 15-point health check

which is a snapshot of your current SQL Server environment and serves as the

initial baseline.  The data gives an overview

of the server and database configurations, the key KPI performance counters and

measures, and inspection of SQL Server metadata.

So who’s with me? 

Let’s make this a Healthy year for SQL Server!  I hereby declare to resolve and remain

resolute to raise awareness in the greater SQL Server Community and beyond the

importance of regular health checks, as well maintaining your sql fitness.  I will be bringing you throughout the year

more blogs, articles, presentations, and tips on maintaining a healthy SQL

Server.  I welcome all SQL Server

professionals to join my campaign and getting the word out on HealthySQL™ The

fate of millions of SQL Servers and the businesses that depend on them are at

stake.  Stay tuned – it should be

fun. 

Happy New Year 2013! 

Jason, thanks for hosting this rendition of TSQL Tuesday.  If you want to participate you too can write

a blog post, include the tsql logo, and link to Jason’s

invite.

If you’d

like to host, contact the founder, Adam Machanic (b | t).  You can also follow me on twitter @Pearlknows