Very cool. Interesting how valid this article is still today. I also find it interesting all this talk about 50 hundred SQL Servers and DBA teams. In every contract that I have worked for the last 10 years, I have usually been the only one qualified as a DBA, but was expected to be spending most of my time programming. NO ONE spent any time monitoring the server(s) (usually one, very occasionally two). In fact, the only thing I would check would be to verify that the previous night's DB backup had run and that the instance had successfully restarted after the the server backup had run. Other than that the only time anyone touched the server was to create stored procedures, restore backups copies of the production databases, and to generate DB diagrams for the monthly report or after changes in the DB structure. So it is truly fascinating to hear about all these people who don't have the time to do these morning checks. It is also fascinating to hear about these people who are saying we get paid too much to be spending time doing this manually. (Really! Where do you work? I want to work there.) Around here, if all you do is DBA work without being a web developer, a GIS developer, and a desktop developer as well, your skills are not valued.

I will implement this morning checklist and maybe that will proactively handle the rare issues that come up so that I can get back to development quicker.