ralph.bacon (8/1/2012)
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?
Not sure you can, until there is some issue. When you can't fix something or it takes you a long time, or performance impacts users, you can document these things and use them as a case for getting some help or training, but other than that, not sure.
The flip side is how do you know when things will break? If it's not for 5 years, does it matter? Ten years? Is it worth paying someone for 5 years while everything works?
It's a tricky situation.