Tomorrow I’ll be presenting to the DBA Fundamentals VC on Building Perfect SQL Servers, Every Time. This is a session I’ve been wanting to build for a while—as many of you know SQL Server does not install with best practices configured out of the box; in my role as a consultant I see a lot of installations where the installer simply clicked next. What I really wanted to call this presentation was “Don’t Just #$%^ing Click Next When You Install SQL Server”
Additionally, you can grab the script files here.
In tomorrow’s session I will cover the following:
- General best practices for configuring SQL Server
- What you should change after install
- How to manage a larger environment
- How you can automate this process, so you get the same server every time.
We will talk about how to automate physical builds, and a little bit about building your own private SQL Server cloud—what it takes, and what your next steps are.
If you haven’t already, check out SPADE (Scripted Powershell Automated Deployment Engine) it can autmate installs and customizations for all your SQL Installs. We have a 64 point post install check list, to include Security setttings, resizing & moving TempDB, installing 3rd party apps (RedGate, Attunity Drivers, etc).
Using this framework I can install any version, any edition of 2005->2012 (2014 in testing). I can deploy a full standardized SQL server in about 20 minutes using this frame work.