November 19, 2014 at 9:58 am
Hello,
I have been using SQL for a little while mostly querying for retrieving data. I am learning and starting to do more with building and development in SQL. I am looking for any useful tools or add-ins that you find helpful on a daily/weekly/regular basis.
I have some redgate tools for use. If this is too vague, I apologize just looking for any suggestions.
Note I am using SQL Server 2012
November 21, 2014 at 2:48 pm
I use SSMS Tools Back by Mladen Prajdic
Way cheaper than redgate, and I get quite a bit out of it. I find the most useful feature is the snippet generator. I can bind tiny character strings to generate large, commonly used template code. For example, creation of temp tables, I bound "TT" + <TAB> to generate
if object_id('tempdb.dbo.#<TableName, sysname, >') is not null drop table #<TableName, sysname, >
create table #<TableName, sysname, >
(
)
It also has code formatting features (such as converting keywords to/from upper and lower case) and stores off history of query windows; very nice when you've been writing code for an hour and your computer crashes.
November 22, 2014 at 9:09 am
Red Gate tools (and that was for 11 years before I started to work for them). Other than that, paid tools kind of depends on what you're doing. Monitoring, I'd say Red Gate or SQL Sentry (depending on your size and knowledge). For other work like SSIS, check out PragmaticWorks.
For free stuff, Mladen's software, definitely. I also think that you should look at Ola Hollengren's scripts. Also, as an alternative, check out MidnightDBA's Minion utilities. I think they may turn out to be better. There's Brent Ozar's SQL Blitz scripts. There's Kendal Van Dyke's powershell scripts. Adam Machanic's sp_whoisactive.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning
November 26, 2014 at 10:54 am
Thanks for the feedback, I will definitely be checking these out. I have some Red Gate tools and work and they have been very helpful but I am just getting my feet wet with these items.
December 3, 2014 at 5:29 am
If you're new to all this, I think you might be better off familiarising yourself fully with the tools that come with sql server out of the box first.
Once you have then you'll know what you don't have and seek out third party tools accordingly.
As an example, sql sentry plan explorer (free) is a good tool for analysing execution plans but you won't fully appreciate it until you've tried examining an execution plan in management studio first.
Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply