This week I am highlighting the top items that I see on almost every SQL Server I run across that need to be changed in almost every instance.
Number 2:
CheckDB
I’ll give you a little leeway on this one, despite how rampant it is. I get that many of you have never heard of database corruption.
Its a thing.
Its a bad thing
Its a potential data-loss thing! (that got your attention, yeah?)
If your database(s) get corrupted, Microsoft’s standard answer is to restore from your last non-corrupt backup (see yesterday’s post).
Things you should be doing:
- Set your Page Verification level to Checksum
- Set up a recurring job to run DBCC CheckDB against ALL of your databases (SQL has built in tools for this, or use Ola Hallengren’s FREE scripts)
- Turn on alerts for Errors 823, 824, and 825
- Make sure an email goes to someone that knows how to respond to these errors
Corruption can come from a number of places.
- Storage subsystem – common
- Bad versions of SQL Server – less common – patch your servers.
- Funky Code situations – much less common
- Other – no, I’m not going to list every possible option, lol
If you do all this and then get that dreaded email or alert from your monitoring tools – read this article before you do anything else.
Now go Check your CheckDBs. Now. Go.
Thanks for reading!
