So true. I'm a "solutions provider" / "developer" / "current vogue name" writing SQL-based intranet (dot net) solutions.

Whilst I have a rough idea of what is going on behind the scenes on our SQL boxes there is no one actively managing them. Once in blue moon I check the logs but they could be filling up even as I write this with some esoteric error message that I wouldn't understand nor be able to fix.

Because they have run this way for the best part of two years everyone (me included, I suppose) assume that things are OK. And for internal, intranet based solutions we can probably get away with this. Imagine the same attitude being adopted for an external, client-facing server though!

I rely so much on the articles on SQLServerCentral just to get by, but there are only so many hours in the day (and only so many grey cells in my head) to absorb the information - and SQL Admin is not my core job, just a platform I use to get solutions implemented.

Actively managing a SQL server (and understanding what it is you should be managing and pre-empting) is IMHO a necessity. I used to be a Lotus Domino DB Admin and that took 100% of my time (bigger solutions, many servers admittedly, but things did need managing to avoid a meltdown).

How do you get that message across to management who just see the SQL server running quite happily and a DBA as an additional expense with no perceived benefit - before total meltdown?