Incoming: your SQL Server care package

Articles, Minion Enterprise, Tech / By

We know you’re sick of getting COVID-19 updats from companies, so this won’t be that. Instead, we wanted to gift you a few good things: MinionWare Office Hours, free enterprise software, and free things out in the wild.

And we’ll also show you pictures of puppies.

Golden retriever lying on her back, looking goofy

Good thing 1: MinionWare Office Hours

Starting this Thursday, March 26, MinionWare is hosting “Office Hours” every Thursday at 9:00 am CST and 2:00 pm CST!

Come to talk about SQL thoughts, SSMS tips, remote work issues, how surprisingly hard homeschooling is, or whatever comes up! Alternately, drop in and bask in the glow of being in contact with other techies.

Good thing 2: We’ve got you covered.

You – yes YOU, and all your SQL Server DBA friends – are welcome to six months of free Minion Enterprise.

We’ll help you get ME installed and configured, and answer any questions you have. Let’s automate your daily checklist, so you can focus on stability, uptime, or education.

(Who wants to learn every shortcut in SQL Server Management Studio? Obscure PowerShell commands? Anyone?)

For the next six months, Minion Enterprise will watch your disks, security, backups, maintenance, services, sp_configure settings, and quite a lot more for you, so you can handle issues before they become problems.

For more information, see the “Six Months of ME” section below.

Black, tan and white puppy looking up

Good thing 3: Freebies!

There are lots and lots of things that are being offered up to help folks, and we wanted to point a few out to you:

  • Microsoft Teams communication platform – 6 months free
  • Audible is offering dozens of free audiobooks up at http://Stories.Audible.com. A lot of these are directed at kids, but there are also classics and books multiple languages.
  • A massive list of free virtual museum tours, zoo livestreams, concerts, and books are available. This page has many links to these goodies!
  • And, not least of all, Sir Patrick Stewart (com/sirpatstew) is reading to us! One Shakespeare sonnet a day, on Twitter. Lovely.
A tan and a gold puppy asleep.
Don’t fall asleep! There’s more below.

 

Six months of ME

How to get your six months of Minion Enterprise? Easy.

  1. Set up a dedicated server or VM. Basic requirements: SQL Server 2012 or above, non case-sensitive installation, PowerShell 2.0 or above. See this article for requirements and recommendations.
  2. Email us the name of your dedicated instance (Sales@MinionWare.net): Your key is based on the instance name, so this step is rather important.
  3. Download and install ME and your license. We’ll get you the download link and six month license key after steps 1 and 2 are done!
  4. Configure. Configuration is very simple: you add your email to the Minion.dbo.EmailNotifications table and add your server names to the dbo.Servers label. From here on, it’s just a matter of fine-tuning alerts and such for your particular environment.

 

Wait, why should I install this?

Minion Enterprise is the only “single pane of glass” management system for Microsoft SQL Server.  The insights and automation are incredibly difficult to outline in a single conversation or email. Peruse http://MinionWare.net/Enterprise to get an idea, or email us for a demo.

What do you get out of this?

We believe very, very strongly in our own products. We give away 100% of our backup and maintenance software, and we use Minion Enterprise in every shop we work in. (Yes, the MinionWare founders like to keep in the game, so we still consult!)

We believe very, very strongly that you, and your company, will benefit from our products. Obviously, we’d like you to try Minion Enterprise for six months, fall in love with it, and then throw bags of money at our feet. But if you don’t, we will be happy that we were able to help for a few months.

 

Photos in this blog provided by…

  • Austin Kirk 
  • Andrew Schultz 
  • Stephen Andrews 
  • Ramesh Casper 
  • Luke Jones 

…on Unsplash