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When was the last time you underwent a
SQL Server Health Check?

Regularly reviewing the condition of your SQL Server estate with a SQL Server Health Check is absolutely vital in order to prevent any potential issues.

Prevention is better than cure...

SQL Server Health Check

What sets our SQL Server Health Checks apart from the rest?

At DSP, we firmly believe in proactively protecting your SQL Server infrastructure. We understand that prevention is always better than cure. That's why our SQL Server Health Checks are designed to anticipate and prevent any potential issues before they even arise. If you're already suffering from poor performance, our Health Checks are also a great way of pinpointing the root course of the problem. We have a fully certified team of SQL Server DBAs who will conduct a thorough review of your SQL Server database, meticulously assessing its health and setup, and providing recommendations for improvements. Our SQL Server Health Checks can include OS and SQL Server Configuration, health status, monitoring and deep-dive analysis of workloads, resource consumption and performance.

We offer three tiers of SQL Server Health Checks:

  • Essential
  • Advanced
  • Comprehensive

Upon completing the health check, we will generate a comprehensive report that provides a thorough understanding of your SQL Server's health. In addition to providing a comprehensive technical analysis that delves deep into every aspect of the health check and offers recommendations for improvement, this report also employs a user-friendly traffic light system to rank each section. Using the colours green (good), amber (requires action), and red (urgent action needed), allows for easy identification of areas that need attention. Furthermore, the report includes an executive summary and a concise summary of findings and solutions that cater to both technical and non-technical audiences, ensuring everyone can understand and act upon the information provided.

 

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SQL Server Health Check Overview

See below a brief overview of what is included in our SQL Server Health Checks.
Or click to review a full breakdown of our SQL Server Health Checks.

Essential Health Check

  • Execute diagnostic queries to retrieve information on SQL Server configuration, health status, and basic performance metrics.
  • Analyse the data collected which will include reviewing data on the servers, SQL Server instances, and performance indicators.
  • Write a report detailing issues and suggested remediation steps.
  • Present the report and discuss recommended remedial actions.

Advanced Health Check

  • Execute diagnostic queries to retrieve information on SQL Server configuration, health status, deeper performance metrics, indexing, query plan advisories and resource utilisation.
  • Analyse the data collected which will include reviewing data on the servers, SQL Server instances, and performance indicators.
  • Write a report detailing issues and suggested remediation steps.
  • Present the report and discuss recommended remedial actions.

Comprehensive Health Check

  • Install and configure SQL Server Management Data Warehouse on all relevant instances.
  • Create Windows Performance Monitor Data Collection sets on all relevant database servers.
  • Execute diagnostic queries to retrieve information on SQL Server configuration, health status, deeper performance metrics, indexing, query plan advisories and resource utilisation.
  • Analyse the data collected which will include reviewing data on the servers, SQL Server instances, and performance indicators.
  • Write a report detailing issues and suggested remediation steps.
  • Present the report and discuss recommended remedial actions.

SQL Server Health Check Process

Step 1 - Enquire

When you request a SQL Server Health Check, our team of dedicated Account Directors will promptly handle your enquiry. They will arrange an introductory call with one of our skilled SQL Server DBAs to discuss a suitable level of health check, or to ensure the tier you have selected is the right fit for you. The same DBA will then be responsible for conducting the health check, writing the report and then presenting the report back to you.

Step 2 - Statement of Work and Access

The DBA you met on the initial introduction call will then produce a Statement of Work (SoW) which will outline exactly what your Health Check will cover. The SoW will include prerequisite actions such as access to the relevant servers and databases.

Step 3 - The Health Check

Once the access has been granted, the DBA you've worked with so far throughout the process will then conduct your SQL Server Database Health Check.

Step 4 - Report and Presentation

After conducting the health check, the DBA will write a detailed report highlighting any identified issues along with recommended actions. Once finalised, they will then personally present the findings to you, guiding you through the report and providing you with your own copy.

Step 5 - Remedial Actions

To bring the process to completion, it is crucial to execute the remedial actions. You have two options at your disposal: either take the recommendations and implement them internally, or continue collaborating with DSP to carry out the implementation.

Step 6 - Book your next Health Check

It's important to regularly check the health of your SQL Server - you'd make sure your car has an MOT and Service every year, and your database should be no different. We recommend an Essential Health Check quarterly, an Advanced Health Check yearly or bi-annually depending on your business, and a Comprehensive Health Check every 2 years.

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Download a Sample Health Check Report

Curious to delve deeper into the information presented in the report? Download our sample report for a more detailed understanding.

SQL Server Health Check FAQ

How long does a SQL Server Health Check take?

It depends on the number of instances and the level of health check you have chosen.

For an Essential Health Check, we estimate 3 instances per day.

For an Advanced Health Check, we estimate 1 instance per day.

For a Comprehensive Health Check, we estimate 3 days per instance over 2 sessions. As our comprehensive health checks involve monitoring over a period of time, the service is usually delivered in 2 parts, initial monitoring set-up, followed by analysis after a suitable period (typically 7 days).

How much does a SQL Server Health Check cost?

How often should we undergo a SQL Server Health Check?

SQL Server Health Check Customer Success

"Working with DSP has helped greatly in our ability to move forwards with improvements to our data environments. Working with DSP was an empowering experience which we appreciate”.

SQL Server Health Check Customer Success

IT and Database Manager | The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust

Top 10 Signs Your SQL Server Needs a Health Check

Explore our blog and uncover the signs that indicate the necessity of a SQL Server Health Check.

Full Breakdown of our SQL Server Health Checks

Backup Essentials Advanced Comprehensive
Backup configuration and status
Backup history management
Integrity Essentials Advanced Comprehensive
Last good data consistency check
Sub-optimal page verification
Check for any detected corruption
Security Essentials Advanced Comprehensive
Elevated permissions
Database owners
Invalid accounts
Reliability Essentials Advanced Comprehensive
Error Log review
Available disk space
Unsupported or vulnerable builds
Check for recent server restarts
Check for memory dumps
Check for database files on system volume
Check for disabled remote admin connections
Check for Alerts for Sev 19-25 or corruption
Instance Configuration Essentials Advanced Comprehensive
Backup compression
Parallelism settings
Max server memory setting
Optimisation settings
Sanity check non-default server settings
Trace Flags check
SQL Server service accounts & configuration checks
TempDB configuration
Error Log file configuration
Database Essentials Advanced Comprehensive
Database status checks
Database configuration
Database file configuration
Transaction log sizes
HA/DR Status Essentials Advanced Comprehensive
Failover node availability
Recent cluster errors
Mirroring status check
Log shipping status check
Availability Group status check
Maintenance Checks Essentials Advanced Comprehensive
Check for missing maintenance plans
Check for regular error log recycling
Performance Essentials Advanced Comprehensive
Low memory check
Index & statistics status checks
Heap tables (tables without clustered indexes)
Untrusted foreign keys and check constraints
Check for offline schedulers
Poison waits
Slow file growths
Check for memory pressure affecting queries
Stored procedures WITH RECOMPILE
DR compatibility level check
Collation different than TempDB
Check for I/O Warnings
Slow storage checks
Drive level latency checks
Contentious disk locations for user and system databases
Wait stats review
Implicit Transactions
Deadlocks
TempDB version store usage by database
Indexes Essentials Advanced Comprehensive
Index fragmentation
Missing indexes
Expensive indexes
Duplicate indexes
Stats update status
RID or Key Lookups
Query Essentials Advanced Comprehensive
Query plan advisories
Plan Cache / Query Store analysis
Expensive queries
Resource Utilisation Essentials Advanced Comprehensive
CPU utilisation by database
I/O utilisation by database
Buffer cache utilisation by database
Memory pressure indicators
Memory clerk usage
Monitoring over a period of time to give insights into: Peak, Average & 95th Percentile analysis of:
CPU utilisation
CPU queue lenghts
Available memory
Memory grants pending
Disk I/O latencies
Disk I/O throughput
User connections
Batch requests/sec
Compilations and recompilations/sec
Workload Analysis Essentials Advanced Comprehensive
Monitoring over a period of time to give insights into:
Top queries by execution count, worker time, elapsed time & I/O
Worst-performing execution plan analysis
Blocked process report
Deadlock capture & review

DSP SQL Server Customers

EDM logo-1

"Selecting a company like DSP is the best option as you receive a tailored database service. Generalists are not focused on the aspects required.”


Chief Executive Officer | EDM

zopa

"We live and breathe this every day but it was really impressive how quickly DSP got on board with our systems and processes in order to start delivering results from the outset."


Head of Infrastructure | Zopa

BRITA-logo-jpeg-620x350-1

"Our relationship now is so much more than just client-and-supplier; it is a genuine partnership. It’s more valuable to us as it means we grow and develop as an organisation while working with DSP."


IT Manager | BRITA UK

 

 

SQL Server Health Check

 

Contact us Today to Book Your SQL Server Health Check