The document provides recommendations for building and configuring SQL Server, including planning capacity and infrastructure needs, pre-deployment tasks like testing and validation, deployment practices like standardization and automation, configuring SQL Server options and security, database maintenance like backups and monitoring with alerts. The presenter is John Q Martin from SQL Sentry who has 10 years of SQL Server experience as a consultant, DBA, and developer.

1. BUILDING & CONFIGURING
SQL SERVER
Recommended Practices

2. Tuning blog: http://www.sqlperformance.com/
E-mail ebooks@sqlsentry.com for free copies of our $10 e-books:

3. Book a Demo with me by going to
http://www.meetme.so/JohnQMartin

4. YOUR PRESENTER
• John Q Martin
o Sales Engineer for SQL Sentry
o Worked with SQL Server for ~10 years
o Consultant, SQL DBA, Dev & BI Developer
o Former Microsoft Premier Field Engineer
• Contact Information
o Email: Jmartin@SQLSentry.com
o Blog: http://blogs.sqlsentry.com/author/JohnMartin/
o Twitter: @SQLDiplomat
o LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/johnqmartin

5. PLANNING
Before deploying SQL Server it is important to have a plan
Capacity Planning
What is the use case
Versions and
Editions
Virtual or
Physical
Cloud or
On-Premises
HADR

6. CAPACITY PLANNING
Storage
Memory
CPU
Analyse History
Project Use
Scalability

7. PRE-DEPLOYMENT
Infrastructure Configuration
• Drivers & Firmware
• Correct multi-pathing configuration
• Storage setup
Testing & Validation
• Soak Testing
• Stress Testing

8. DEPLOYMENT
Standardise
• Small number of versions
• Operating System
Automate
• Sysprep & Configuration Files
• SPADE framework

9. SERVICE ACCOUNTS
Compartmentalise
• Use different accounts for each service
Domain accounts where possible
• Manage Service Accounts (MSA)
• Group Managed Service Accounts (gMSA)

10. SQL SERVER CONFIGURATION
Trace Flags
• 1117 – Data File Growth
• 1118 – Dedicated Extents
• 3226 – Backup Messages

11. SQL SERVER CONFIGURATION
sp_configure
Backup checksum default
Backup compression default
Max degree of parallelism

12. NUMA Node 1NUMA Node 0
NUMA FROM 30,000 FT
CPU 0 CPU 2
CPU 1 CPU 3
RAM 01
RAM 02
RAM 03
RAM 04
Thread 0
Thread 1
Thread 0
Thread 1
Thread 0
Thread 1
Thread 0
Thread 1
Processor Socket 0
CPU 0 CPU 2
CPU 1 CPU 3
RAM 01
RAM 02
RAM 03
RAM 04
Thread 0
Thread 1
Thread 0
Thread 1
Thread 0
Thread 1
Thread 0
Thread 1
Processor Socket 1
Typical MAXDOP setting for this configuration would be 4

13. SQL SERVER CONFIGURATION
sp_configure
Backup checksum default
Backup compression default
Max degree of parallelism
Min/Max Server Memory
Optimize for ad hoc workloads
Remote admin connections

14. XP_CMDSHELL
It Depends!

15. SQL SERVER CONFIGURATION
Security
• Avoid using SQL Authentication
• Disable and Rename SA
• Proxies for Agent Jobs
• Perform Volume Maintenance Tasks

16. LOCK PAGES IN MEMORY
Tier 1 Systems
• On
• Cannot afford downtime/impact
Tier 2 systems
• Off
• Identify issue & RCA

17. TEMPDB
Multiple Files
Dedicated storage
Separate data and log files

18. DATABASE CONFIGURATION
Instant File Initialization
Multiple files
Separate Data and Log
Checksum page verification
Appropriate Database Owner

19. MAINTENANCE OPERATIONS
DBCC CHECKDB
Backups
Re-indexing & Statistics Maintenance
Log Rotation
Monitor dbo.suspect_pages in MSDB

20. MONITORING & ALERTING
Monitor key performance counters
Generate baselines
Configure SQL Agent Alerts
Policy Based Management

21. QUESTIONS

22. THANK YOU!
• Slides will be available at http://blogs.sqlsentry.com/author/johnmartin
• E-mail ebooks@sqlsentry.com for free copies of our e-books:
o Just tell them where you met me
• My contact info for other questions:
o Email: Jmartin@SQLSentry.com
o Twitter: @SQLDiplomat