Editorials

On Automation and SQL Server

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On Automation and SQL Server
Last week I wrote about wondering what you thought about automation of certain things in SQL Server. The point was missed, I think, and I wanted to explain.

A BUNCH of you wrote in to say that automation was great, that you’ve already automated things in many cases, so of course it’s OK.

But that wasn’t really what I meant. 🙂 As a specific example – why do is there not an option that lets SQL Server just create the indexes it needs? Why do we have to perform maintenance on indexes? Could that be automatic? SQL Server has the ability to indicate where it has indexes missing, or indexes that are never used. Couldn’t it just take that next step and actually do something about it? If it’s able to re-org indexes and defragment them, why do I have to tell it to do so? Why is that not a normal background process for SQL Server?

Sure, I’m not a developer on the SQL Server team, I get that. I’m sure these are not simple things to do, especially given application constraints and issues that may arise from having these things making changes. But I’d sure love to have an option! It seems like there are a lot of systems out there that could benefit from automatic best practices, Perhaps this is Policies 2.0…

I could see a permissions-like grid of options – things to turn on and off for automation. Then also let me apply those settings with policies that I can roll out across my servers (and have defaults). Probably a pipe dream, but it’s MY dream and I think it could provide some great advantages to a whole host of DBAs.

Am I Crazy? What would YOU like to see, if anything? Email me, let me know

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