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Accidental DBA - Where to Start? (General Question)

  • September 18, 2013 at 10:23 am

    #278030

    Hello,

    I will be taking over the role of a SQL Server DBA for my company. Our SQL Servers have always been maintained by our Server Admins. I will be going to training in about a week. I would like any suggestions on what I should begin looking at when I come back from training. I am familair with SQL Server Versions 2005, 2008, and 2008 R2 from a developers viewpoint. The DBA role will be new to me. What would be some of the first issues I should address as I take over the responsibility of these databases?

    Thanks!

  • September 18, 2013 at 10:34 am

    #1651188

    Here is a great place to start.

    http://www.red-gate.com/community/books/accidental-dba

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  • September 18, 2013 at 2:26 pm

    #1651294

    defyant_2004 (9/18/2013)

    Hello,

    I will be taking over the role of a SQL Server DBA for my company. Our SQL Servers have always been maintained by our Server Admins. I will be going to training in about a week. I would like any suggestions on what I should begin looking at when I come back from training. I am familair with SQL Server Versions 2005, 2008, and 2008 R2 from a developers viewpoint. The DBA role will be new to me. What would be some of the first issues I should address as I take over the responsibility of these databases?

    Thanks!

    First let me say ... something that I would make sure my training course covered and covered well, and that is "database backups and restores". Including frequency of backups and restores to a point in time.

    For without the data user queries can run fast or slow it matters not.

    If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.

    Ron

    Please help us, help you -before posting a question please read[/url]
    Before posting a performance problem please read[/url]

  • September 18, 2013 at 2:31 pm

    #1651298

    defyant_2004 (9/18/2013)

    What would be some of the first issues I should address as I take over the responsibility of these databases?

    Backups. Integrity Checks. Backups. Restores. Backups. Backups. Backups.

    Gail Shaw
    Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
    SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

    We walk in the dark places no others will enter
    We stand on the bridge and no one may pass

  • September 18, 2013 at 3:14 pm

    #1651306

    And just in case, backups. 🙂

    --Jeff Moden

    RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
    First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
    ________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

    Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

    Helpful Links:
    How to post code problems
    How to Post Performance Problems
    Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

  • September 18, 2013 at 3:42 pm

    #1651314

    And to add to Jeff's and Gail's posts: restores. A lot of people take backups. Not everyone restore their backups, or understand how they should do in a disaster scenarios.

    There are two important reasons why you regularly should restore your backups (in environment different from production):

    1) To make sure that you are familiar with the procedure.

    2) The backups are actually good and valid.

    [font="Times New Roman"]Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, www.sommarskog.se[/font]

  • September 19, 2013 at 10:45 am

    #1651592

    Did someone mention backups and restores?

    Having just finished restoring a blown server which housed our SQL Server instance :crazy:, I'll put the exclamation point on backups/restores.

    To wit -------> !

    ____________
    Just my $0.02 from over here in the cheap seats of the peanut gallery - please adjust for inflation and/or your local currency.

  • September 19, 2013 at 4:05 pm

    #1651709

    If you have available hardware/VM resourses, do one of your practice restores to a non production server just you yourself use and go wild on it. I find my best learning occurs when I've screwed something up and have to fix it, but I suggest doing that on an environment no one else relies on 😛

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