SQL Best Practices Tool Available

The SQL Server Best Practices Analyzer (BPA), a free download for SQL Server 2000, will help database administrators test and monitor instances of SQL Server against Microsoft’s best practices recommendations. Regular use of the tool could help administrators maintain consistent operational procedures across their SQL Server infrastructure and improve the performance and efficiency of the underlying databases.

Maintain Performance, SQL 2005 Compliance

The BPA categorizes SQL Server best practices into a set of about 70 rules, which the tool groups into sets of operational categories, such as Backup and Recovery, Configuration, and Database Administration. For example, the Database Administration category includes a rule that checks levels of index fragmentation, which can grow as underlying database tables are updated, causing performance to degrade. Regularly checking the fragmentation level can help administrators identify appropriate times to either defragment or rebuild fragmented indexes.