Review: Idera SQL Doctor

SQL Server, T-SQL, Tools
Recently, a co-worker practically slammed me up against the wall, exclaiming “You have to check out this new tool, right now!” The piece of software he was so excited about was Idera’s SQL Doctor. Based on this assaultrecommendation, I decided to take a little time & look the software over. SQL Doctor, as the name implies, is a diagnostic tool. It runs a set of best practice rules against your server, your databases and your code. As the rules are executed, your system’s compliance with these best practices is evaluated and an interactive report is generated. With the report you can drill down on various aspects of your system to see where you may have gone wrong. All that sounds very clinical, just laid out like that. But the fact…
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A Lack of Excitement

PASS, PowerShell, SQL Server, T-SQL, Tools
I usually use all the problems, crashes, and issues that I run into at work as grist for my mill, aka, material to blog about. But lately, we haven't been crashing & burning much <knock wood, turn three times, throw salt over my left shoulder, spit>. But it was suggested that may be I should mention why that is. The fact of the matter is that I've been spending a lot more time working on methods for monitoring our systems so that we avoid more of the stupid stuff, full disks, failed backups, long running agent jobs, etc.. I've blogged before about our use of Microsoft's Operations Manager for monitoring our servers and how we've built custom rules and monitors to keep an eye on things. I've also mentioned how…
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