In our environment, we install dozens of SQL Server installations on many different servers and operating systems. Each vendor gives us their requirements, although the majority of them are absolutely clueless about what is required. Few of them have any clue what collation sequence means. I have had vendors argue with me about how to install SQL Server 2008 when they provided instructions for 2005. One of them uninstalled everything I did, wasting hours of configuration time, only to later tell me "oh, you were right." I have even had to explain why putting 32GB of memory in a server running Windows Server 2000 standard and SQL Server 2000 standard isn't going to improve the database performance.

Perfect? I will never have every vendor on the current version. I am lucky if a vendor is one version behind, normally they are at least two versions behind. Most don't approve service packs, telling us we can only install SQL Server 2005 SP1 or something equally ridiculous. Most have no clue that SQL Server 2008 R2 SP2 is available, and tell me that SP2 is only for the non-R2 version.

How about having DBAs at development companies who actually have 10% of a clue about how to install, configure and run a database? Would that be OK?

For those of you reading this, obviously most of you are far, far better than the inept people I deal with. It isn't even fair to talk about SQL Server Central users and my vendor's DBAs in the same paragraph, but I want to make sure nobody reading this thinks I am referring to them. Clearly most of my vendor's DBAs frequently can't spell Google, as if they could, there is no way to be as bad as they are.