Monday, July 20, 2015

SQL Server Brain Basher of the Week #021 - Documentation

Here is the Brain Basher of the week. It is related to Database Administrators but even if you are Database Engineer, it is very important to know.

What is run book?

Run book is a documentation that is compiled and maintained by Database Administrators. Although it is a practice that is a must, many of Database Administrators (in a way, all IT engineers) do not compile much documents related to tasks they are responsible. How ever well maintained detailed rub book is invaluable in many situations. Run book generally includes following;
  • Contact details of everyone responsible and their responsibilities
  • Configuration settings of all databases, instances, files and details of them.
  • Standard maintenance procedures, scheduled operations and details of them.
  • Procedures to be followed with disaster recovery.
Assume that something happens with one of SQL Server instance, and DBA is not on duty, what should you do? What is the immediate action you should take? Who should be contacted? If DBA maintains well organized run book, you have answers for all your questions.

This is not only for us when DBA is not available. It is helpful for DBA too. When something has not been run as expected, run book will help DBA to find reasons, related operations, and actions to be taken as no one can memorized all related to the job.

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