Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff, Except with SQL Server
Don’t sweat the small stuff, they say. That’s good advice. Much of the time. But with SQL Server, the small stuff is worth sweating. In fact, the small stuff can be big.
Letting the small stuff go
In life, the small stuff can weigh you down. Worrying about things that don’t really matter can strip you of the joy that is otherwise present.
Here’s an example from my life.
Many years ago, my then three-year-old donned her rainboots and headed out the door just as the last drop fell from the sky. She was in search of puddles. What three-year-old doesn’t like to stomp around in puddles, splashing water as high as they can, and giggling all the while?
I walked outside to see her excitement. And to probably take a picture for Instragram or FaceBook.
When I got to her, I looked down and noticed that she had put her rainboots on the wrong feet. The left boot was on her right foot and vice versa.
That’s wrong.
Being a good dad, I wanted to help her learn something important. Right boot, right foot. Left boot, left foot.
So, I called to her. “Lydia, your boots are on the wrong feet. Come here and we’ll fix that for you.”
She looked at me, glanced down to her feet, and then back to me and said “Daddy, daddy, daddy. It’s ok.”
And she was right.
It was ok.
It was small stuff that didn’t really matter in the moment.
In some things, like when a three-year-old is having fun splashing in puddles, the small details don’t matter. They get in the way.
The “small stuff” in SQL Server
We want our SQL Servers to work. And we want them to be fast enough to not be a drag for our users. And that’s usually good enough. After all, there are other things to tend to. Right?
We know that we should verify the backups. We know that we should do test restores of key databases. And those patches? They really should be applied. We know that.
We also know that we should regularly check our SQL Servers’ health. (Daily is ideal, but who has time for that!) And Disaster Recovery? Well, so far so good. Maybe next year?
And so it goes.
We can tell ourselves that those are the “small things,” that it’s not important in the moment because, well, the SQL Server is fine. At least in the moment.
But the small stuff isn’t small, it’s important
When SQL Servers aren’t an issue, they often get ignored.
Patching. Performance tuning. Index maintenance. Monitoring. Upgrades. Planning and testing Disaster Recovery scenarios. Root cause analysis when something odd happens.
These are not “small things.”
These are the things that keep SQL Server, and your business, going.
If SQL Server is unhappy, lots of people are unhappy. Users are unhappy. Execs are unhappy. Patients, nurses, project managers, supervisors, customers, investors, and all the other stakeholders are unhappy.
With SQL Server, the “small things” are not really small things. They are the things that keep your SQL Servers up and running. They are the things that keep your users happy.
Sweat the small stuff.
Where to start with the SQL Server “small stuff”
Not sure where to start? Here are a few links that will help you get started.
- Working Without A SQL Server DBA? Do These 10 Things Now
- Is My SQL Server Configured Properly?
- Where to Start with Disaster Recovery in SQL Server
- What SQL Server Version Am I Running?
- Is There an Update for My SQL Server?
- Should I Upgrade SQL Servers that Are Out of Support?
Check out our Script Library, too.
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