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Buck Woody
Mission Critical: SQL Server 2008 General Maintenance
15 February 2010

CTL10.02.001

Revision 09/21/2009 A

SQL Server 2OO8

General Maintenance

CRITICAL TASK LIST PROGRAM

This document contains steps that will assist you in the day-to-day SQL Server 2008 RTM Enterprise Edition (non-clustered) operations. It defines the basics of standard maintenance and checks for a single Instance of SQL Server 2008, and should be used as a starting point.

Review each item, placing a check in the “Confirmed” column when the task line is complete. Any line not marked “Confirmed” should stop the process until you have completed that line item.

This CTL is not meant to be a replacement for the official documentation from the product manufacturer.  

CTL NUMBER

This Critical Task List is identified by a CTL number in the upper right-hand side of this document. You should use the latest CTL (identified by the date and an alpha-numeric code.

HOW TO BE ASSURED OF HAVING LATEST DATA

You can add additional information to this checklist based on your organization’s need.

CONTENT

Critical Task List 10.02.001All content is the sole responsibility of the server owner; Microsoft Corporate provides no warranties implied or implicit in this document. This document is not a product of the Microsoft Corporation. 

SUPPLEMENTS

Official Site Link: http://www.simple-talk.com/author/buck-woody/

Whenever you receive a supplement affecting your checklist, write in the appropriate information. Printed replacement checklist pages will be made available to you as quickly as possible. A notation on the bottom inside corner of these pages will indicate that they reflect certain supplements.

COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS

Comments and questions should be directed through buck.woody@microsoft.com Critical Task Lists Managers

Buck Woody “Real World DBA”(MSFT U.S.).

Frequency

Task

References

Confirmed

Post-Installation

Server and Database Settings Configured for Environment.

http://bit.ly/H6z28

http://bit.ly/1zwba

 

 

Latest Service Packs Installed.

http://bit.ly/196VzN

 

 

Database Mail Configured and Tested.

http://bit.ly/8uEUn

http://bit.ly/RR9xt

 

 

Maintenance Wizard or other Automated Maintenance Implemented.

http://bit.ly/16nhdL

http://bit.ly/Uqoyh

 

 

Baseline Performance Metrics Created and Archived.

 http://bit.ly/gVyI0

 

Daily

Backups Checked.

http://bit.ly/2Ihz0f

 

 

Windows Event Logs Reviewed.

http://bit.ly/1uGRe

 

 

SQL Server Error Logs Reviewed.

http://bit.ly/2Gk967

 

 

Drive Space Checked.

http://bit.ly/3mdRPj

 

 

Jobs History Reviewed.

http://bit.ly/1gm4qM

 

 

Backups Taken.

http://bit.ly/sKgwj

 

 

Indexes Updated.

http://bit.ly/7wpHx

 

 

Statistics Updated.

http://bit.ly/3XGBKA

 

Weekly

Indexes Reviewed.

http://bit.ly/2DpOMR

 

 

Long-Running Queries Reviewed

http://bit.ly/45RCm

 

 

Data Archival Performed.

http://bit.ly/sKgwj

 

 

Security Reviewed.

http://bit.ly/1asALb

 

 

Service Packs and OS Security Bulletins Evaluated and Applied.

http://bit.ly/q46L0

http://bit.ly/pAGp2

 

Monthly

Security Tests Performed.

http://bit.ly/119slV

 

 

New Performance Baseline Recorded.

http://bit.ly/gVyI0

 

 

Restore Tests Performed on Production Server to Backup Server.

http://bit.ly/4vG8s

 

Yearly

Performance Reviews Completed from Baseline Comparisons.

http://bit.ly/gVyI0

 

 

Growth Predictions Created from Baseline Metrics.

http://bit.ly/vWSqS

 

 

Instance Audit Performed.

http://bit.ly/12WPkh

 

 

Version Upgrade Plan Evaluated.

http://bit.ly/e5MIy

 



This article has been viewed 12072 times.
Buck Woody

Author profile: Buck Woody

Buck Woody has been working with Information Technology since 1981. He has worked for the U.S. Air Force, at an IBM reseller as technical support, and for NASA as well as U.S. Space Command as an IT contractor. He has worked in most all IT positions from computer repair technician to system and database administrator, and from network technician to IT Manager and with multiple platforms as a Data Professional. He has been a DBA and Database Developer on Oracle systems running on a VAX to SQL Server and DB2 installations. He has been a Simple-Talk DBA of the Day

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Subject: Other Checklist
Posted by: nitinsalgar (view profile)
Posted on: Thursday, February 18, 2010 at 4:42 PM
Message: In my opinion Brad's Checklist is more comprehensive tough

Subject: Re: Other Checklist
Posted by: Phil Factor (view profile)
Posted on: Friday, February 19, 2010 at 1:10 PM
Message: I like Brad's sure DBA checklist too, but this one complements it. You'd use both, in other words. Buck Woody's list is a more task-specific checklist for busy experienced DBAs to ensure that they haven't forgotten anything. The intention is that you print it out and tick off the tasks as you do them, referencing the links only when something isn't clear or you hit complications. I find it dead handy just to jog my memory. It prints very neatly on a filofax page.

Subject: Re: Other Checklist
Posted by: Hemantgiri S. Goswami (not signed in)
Posted on: Monday, February 22, 2010 at 1:00 AM
Message: True, Phil Factor has mentioned it correctly. I like both the lists.

Excellent work!!

Subject: Full Links Please
Posted by: Anonymous (not signed in)
Posted on: Monday, March 01, 2010 at 7:29 AM
Message: What's with the bit.ly links though? I would prefer that full visible links be used.

Subject: Great link
Posted by: Raymond (view profile)
Posted on: Monday, March 01, 2010 at 8:32 PM
Message: Thank for the checklist,

It is useful to establish a checklist for day to day activity , as i know every DBA have their way of working and i will like to see this list to help them to consolidate and come out with even comprehensive if possible...:)

 










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