DBA Service

Question

DBA Service

gaktheknife

Mr or Mrs. 500

Points: 557
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March 28, 2016 at 8:12 am

#325251

Hello All,
We currently do not have an on premise DBA we have a DBA Service that monitors our Databases now. I did not set the service up but have been tasked with making sure they are doing what a DBA should be doing or finding a service that will. The question I have is what questions should I be asking this service and what services should we make sure are covered?
Any help is appreciated.

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Eric M Russell SSC Guru Points: 125565 More actions · Answer 1

Browsing around on Brent Ozar, RedGate, and SQLSentry, you'll find check lists for DBA monitoring and regular maintenance operations, but really the provider should already have a service level agreement that specifically lists their end of the contract.

Here is one.

https://www.simple-talk.com/sql/database-administration/brads-sure-dba-checklist/

"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho

Michael L John One Orange Chip Points: 27065 More actions · Answer 2

http://www.rdx.com/

Take a look at these folks

Michael L John
If you assassinate a DBA, would you pull a trigger?
To properly post on a forum:
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/61537/

Lynn Pettis SSC Guru Points: 442467 More actions · Answer 3

Michael L John (3/28/2016)
http://www.rdx.com/
Take a look at these folks

Making it easier for others:

http://www.rdx.com/

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004437 More actions · Answer 4

gaktheknife (3/28/2016)
Hello All,
We currently do not have an on premise DBA we have a DBA Service that monitors our Databases now. I did not set the service up but have been tasked with making sure they are doing what a DBA should be doing or finding a service that will. The question I have is what questions should I be asking this service and what services should we make sure are covered?
Any help is appreciated.

I would first find out what the hell they mean by "monitors our Databases now" consists of. That statement alone leaves serious doubts in my mind.

Ask to see the statement of work/contract. If a backup/restore plan, a security plan, and an equipment outage plan aren't part of the deal and you have no intention of hiring a real DBA (emphasis on "real", there's a lot of liars, fakers, and posers out there), then find a better company that actually understands terms like RPO, RTO, and security along with SLAs and tangible objectives where you have legal recourse if they don't render or perform the required services in a timely fashion.

--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)

Grant Fritchey SSC Guru Points: 398916 More actions · Answer 5

You've gotten some good feedback. I especially like Brad's Checklist. It's very complete.

The one thing you'd really want to focus on, is what is it the company thinks it needs. The technical aspects of monitoring are pretty well defined. The question is, what does the business expect out of it? That's where you're really going to need to spend some time.

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt

Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning

Michael L John One Orange Chip Points: 27065 More actions · Answer 6

Monitoring is kind of standard for most companies that provide this type of service. What would be good to focus on is the specifics of what they are monitoring, and what occurs when there is an alert triggered by the monitoring.

There will likely be significant work involved to get the monitoring configured, and thresholds adjusted, in order to fully take advantage of the services.

What actions they may take, or will not take, when an event occurs is also something you will need to dig into. If, for example, a backup fails. Do they simply send an email, or call, or do they attempt to diagnose the issue and take action?

Michael L John
If you assassinate a DBA, would you pull a trigger?
To properly post on a forum:
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/61537/

Eric M Russell SSC Guru Points: 125565 More actions · Answer 7

Ask them what monitoring tools they use: SQLSentry, RedGate SQL Monitor, etc. They should also provide you with regular status reports and visibility into the monitoring logs.

"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho

gaktheknife Mr or Mrs. 500 Points: 557 More actions · Answer 8

Thank you for all of the input! This has given me a great start.