September 9, 2009 at 7:00 am
Has anybody seen or practices the concept of NOT installing Books Online on production servers ? I have always installed books online on production servers and have found it very handy.
Just do a shift F1 and you are the definition of the thing you might be having doubts about. for eg. syntax details of say dbcc inputbuffer - It accepts a spid with single quotes or not quotes ? just do a shift f1 and there you go.
I am trying to find if there are any merits of NOT installing BOL on production boxes.
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-Amit
Give a man a fish and he'll ask for a lemon. Teach a man to fish and he wont get paged on weekends !! :w00t: - desparately trying to fish [/size]
September 9, 2009 at 7:22 am
Amit Singh (9/9/2009)
Has anybody seen or practices the concept of NOT installing Books Online on production servers ? I have always installed books online on production servers and have found it very handy.Just do a shift F1 and you are the definition of the thing you might be having doubts about. for eg. syntax details of say dbcc inputbuffer - It accepts a spid with single quotes or not quotes ? just do a shift f1 and there you go.
I am trying to find if there are any merits of NOT installing BOL on production boxes.
Cannot think of any. unless you want to stop non-dba's using the help, but they could just use google so...
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September 9, 2009 at 7:58 am
I don't install BOL on production servers. People should not be using production server resources to lookup help.
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September 9, 2009 at 8:39 am
I install BOL on production servers. If things are bad enough that I have to be physically on the server to resolve system problems I want BOL there and available.
September 9, 2009 at 9:43 am
george sibbald (9/9/2009)
I don't install BOL on production servers. People should not be using production server resources to lookup help.
dont get me wrong ... but i am trying to figure out why its bad/not advisable to use production servers to look up help?
I missed mentioning it in my first post but I do disable the online lookup in books online on a production server. It has no business of going to internet to find something, but a stand alone resource should be handy when in need.
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-Amit
Give a man a fish and he'll ask for a lemon. Teach a man to fish and he wont get paged on weekends !! :w00t: - desparately trying to fish [/size]
September 9, 2009 at 10:33 am
I am remote from the servers so I am never physically logged onto the server, its always RDP. So I have always got other ways to access BOL or other sources of info (desktop, internet)
No one other than me should be on a production server hitting syntax problems (dev code is tested in UAT right?) or troubleshooting so I don't install BOL to minimise the footprint and take the temptation away from anyone else. Personally I have never found not having BOL on the server an inconvenience, and I am no whizz at remembering syntax.
It comes under the heading of not installing sample databases on a production server for me.
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September 9, 2009 at 3:08 pm
george sibbald (9/9/2009)
It comes under the heading of not installing sample databases on a production server for me.
Now this I fully agree with, no sample databases on the production servers.
September 9, 2009 at 5:57 pm
some people dont install any kind of mgmt software on production servers... (SSMS/BOL ...)
is it right? it depends.
September 10, 2009 at 9:09 am
Marcin Gol [SQL Server MVP] (9/9/2009)
some people dont install any kind of mgmt software on production servers... (SSMS/BOL ...)is it right? it depends.
Oof. Personally, I demand that SSMS be installed on every production server. I've been in situations where I wasn't able to get my laptop online (or didn't have it with me), but had to do work on a production server. If SSMS is installed on the server, all I need is a computer with an internet connection, and I can take care of it.
BOL can go either way - if it's not installed locally, I can always hit up the internet.
______
Twitter: @Control_Group
September 14, 2009 at 4:41 am
It is generally considered to be bad practice to log on to a production SQL Server box in order to do management tasks.
The use of Windows desktop takes unpredictable amounts of memory and processing time away from SQL Server, which directly affects query performance. Using the desktop also adds instabilities to Windows itself. Many experienced Windows admins can show you ways to hang your server by doing 'silly' things on the desktop. All these problems can be avoided by never logging on to the SQL Server box except in an absolute emergency.
This means you should have dedicated servers where only the cilent tools are installed, and you should do all your administration tasks from these Administration Machines.
The best practice is to have at least one administration machine per site, so that you can work as normal following a failover. The administration machines should support enough remote sessions so that all the staff that need to can be logged on simultaneously. Some organisations use 2 or 3 Windows Server boxes and rely on the standard 3 RDP session provision. Others install Terminal Services on the administration box and service a large number of admin staff from a single box.
The use of administration machines gives you a choice. You can then decide if you want to install client components on the servers, or deliberately choose to not install them.
The main advantages of not installing the client tools is that a) you reduce the potential attack surface area of the server, b) you prevent people who cannot be bothered to follow the rules from doing things on the box that could cause instabilities.
The main advantage of installing the client tools everywhere is that you always have a way of manageing SQL Server even if all your admin machines go down. IMHO this is a poor justification, as it implies there are not enough admin machines to meet your normal workload and DR demands.
If you use FineBuild to install and configure SQL Server, there is a single configuration flag (InstSQLTools) that can be set to NO to prevent the client tools being installed on a production server.
Original author: https://github.com/SQL-FineBuild/Common/wiki/ 1-click install and best practice configuration of SQL Server 2019, 2017 2016, 2014, 2012, 2008 R2, 2008 and 2005.
When I give food to the poor they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor they call me a communist - Archbishop Hélder Câmara
September 14, 2009 at 6:14 am
We always install client tools and Books Online. I may go in tomorrow and install pubs, Northwind, AdventureWorks, and AdventureWorksDW just to annoy you all.
:laugh:
Paul
Paul White
SQLPerformance.com
SQLkiwi blog
@SQL_Kiwi
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