The tech world is just beginning to adapt to the “new normal”. Businesses are working through the hurdles of remote work environments. We’re all passing around remote working tips on desks, work hours, and hot beverages. That’s good stuff, but you’re going to need more than a good ergonomic chair to push through the rest of 2020: you’re going to need some solid SQL tools.
Here are the five absolutely essential tools for SQL Server shops, as agreed on by the MinionWare team. Download and use all five today!
Plan Explorer, SentryOne
SQL Server DBAs use execution plan analysis to tune queries. It’s a time-tested method. Simple execution plans are easy enough to decipher, but complex plans can be very difficult to parse.
Plan Explorer simplifies the process greatly, by giving you a smarter execution plan: it provides highlighted high cost operators, a myriad of valuable information, and the ability to reorder and resize the graphical plan. And, it’s free.
With Plan Explorer, you can also see the execution plan in chart form, view a join diagram, look through index analysis, and a good deal more. This is one of the best free SQL tools available.
Break through database performance barriers with advanced query tuning features not found in any other tool.
This standalone Windows application contains many of the plan analysis features included in the full SentryOne software, but does not require a collector service or database.
Download SentryOne Plan Explorer. Free!
Minion Enterprise, MinionWare
Minion Enterprise is the world’s first environment management tool. In the same way that Plan Explorer makes execution plans smarter, Minion Enterprise makes your SQL environment smarter. We’ve variously called it “an automated DBA checklist”, “installing 100 virtual junior DBAs”, and a lot more, but what it is, is new: environment management.
We at MinionWare still work on SQL Server systems, and we always – always – use ME in these shops. So, it’s no surprise that we think you absolutely need ME in your SQL Server shop. The surprise part kicks in when you find out we’re giving out extended trial licenses of our flagship software. It’s a difficult time right now, and we figure one way we can help is getting your shop well in order.
So let’s make sure your disks aren’t filling up, SQL services are online, backups and CheckDBs are running, Bill from accounting didn’t accidentally get sysadmin on SQLProd2 (why does the Active Directory group keep adding accounting to “SQL Admins”, anyway?), and so on, and on.
Email Sales@MinionWare.net for an extended trial.
Who Is Active, Adam Machanic
Sp_WhoIsActive, or just “Who Is Active”, is a free community SQL tool created and maintained by noted SQL Server author and speaker Adam Machanic. In his own words:
“The Who is Active stored procedure correlates a large amount of data from 15 of the DMVs, to allow DBAs to get a complete picture when doing real-time activity monitoring.”
Who Is Active is what you get if you put sp_who in a room with Adam and an unlimited supply of energy drinks*. While sp_who has limited output and filtering, sp_WhoIsActive has extensive options, filters, and sorting built in, plus an extensive set of documentation online.
Use sp_WhoIsActive for spot checks, or run it in a job periodically for a very lightweight process baseline!
*Artist’s rendering.
Download Adam Machanic’s Who Is Active from github.
SQL Prompt, Red-Gate
Red-Gate makes many incredible SQL tools, but my favorite since its release is SQL Prompt – a SQL plugin that works with SQL Server Management Studio and Visual Studio.
Some folks love it for the advanced Intellisense, and some for the code snippets. But my true love lives in the SQL formatting. (I can, and have, delivered entire sessions on the importance of code formatting.)
SQL Prompt gets better with every release, and makes developing in SQL Server Management Studio a treat.
Download a trial of Redgate’s SQL Prompt.
Minion Maintenance, MinionWare
Of course, we saved one of the best for last: Minion Maintenance.
People often confuse our free maintenance suite for SQL Server with Minion Enterprise, and we understand why. The names are similar, of course. But they’re also both easy to use – and yet deeply, deeply configurable – products for SQL Server. Here’s how to tell them apart:
- Minion Enterprise is a monitoring and management system for your entire SQL shop (your “enterprise”, if you will).
- Minion Maintenance, on the other hand, runs backups and maintenance (CheckDB operations, and index maintenance) on an individual server.
Minion Maintenance is your standard, native T-SQL backup, DBCC CheckDB, and index maintenance…but again, developed with lots and lots of energy drinks*. Features include:
- table-based scheduling
- multithreading
- Availability Group-awareness
- round-robin operations (Minion CheckDB)
- backup tuning (Minion Backup)
- extensive logging
- and about a hundred other innovations and handy features
And, Minion Maintenance is always free.
Download Minion Maintenance now. Free!
*Tea counts as an energy drink, right?
Five SQL tools for today
Things are weird, but we’re all adjusting. Your best toolkit for 2020 will include these five downloads, which you should get and install today:
- SentryOne Plan Explorer – for query tuning – Download
- MinionWare Minion Enterprise – for managing your SQL shop – Email Sales@MinionWare.net for a trial
- Adam Machanic’s Who Is Active – for real-time activity monitoring – Download
- Redgate’s SQL Prompt – for a better T-SQL development experience – Download a trial
- MinionWare Minion Maintenance – for outstanding free native backups and maintenance – Download