MS SQL Server is not uncommon in a network of organizations because it often goes “in strain” to a business application. Standard included tools that most developers and administrators do not meet their individual requirements completely. There are a large number of utilities, applications and add-ons are available including free ones which simplify the use of MS SQL.
Idera SQL check
This is a free monitoring tool that provides basic information regarding server performance. Collects the information using about twenty indicators such as read / write operations, cache, transactions, compilation and recompilation of requests including CPU loading as well as other related to the performance. The result is displayed via different performance graphs. Free versions are limited to one server and includes advertisements of commercial products of the same company. Supports all versions from SQL Server 2000 SP4.
There are a few settings for the program and the only thing you should pay attention too is setting the Option tab of other update intervals for the report graphs. Idera also provides many useful free tools for diagnosing MS SQL that you should make yourself familiar with. Such as profiler, fragmentation analysis, SQL viewer, statistics aggregator, backup, PowerShell module, scripts and others.
SqlBak
SqlBak is an interesting solution in the modern spirit from developers of the popular solution for MS SQL backup more specifically, SQLBackupAndFTP. Implemented as an online service, all settings and actions are performed in a web browser which allows you to manage them from any location and device. The server installs the client program SqlBak Client which directly performs all operations.
Two important administration tasks are also performed. The main thing is to create backup copies of MS SQL databases manually and according to the schedule you can restore the working capacity by just one click in the browser. Supports full and differential backup, save transaction log. The archives are compressed by zip or 7z. Files are copied to a local or network folder even external HDD and FTP. Importantly the cloud storage is also supported by Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive and Amazon S3. In addition, the server’s health and performance are also monitored.
SQLFuse
For large and medium-sized projects a significant part of business logic is implemented via stored DBMS procedures. The convenience of code management comes to the forefront. Available tools as well as commercial ones do not always allow you to fully manage versions, track changes, conveniently synchronize the testing the working infrastructure, navigate and search by code. This task is very interesting solved by the SQLFuse project which maps SQL server objects to the file system: schemas, tables, views, stored procedures, functions, columns, triggers and more. Although currently creating, editing and deleting is partially supported. The assembly is standard after which you must configure the profile that’s connect to the SQL server in the sqlfuse.conf file and authorization (login / password) in sqlfuse.auth.conf. Profiles in the file can be many which allows you to work with several databases.
tSQLt
The unit-tests framework via open-source. It’s convenient that during development it’s not necessary to switch between different tools for creation of code and testing. The test itself is a stored procedure, the name of which begins with the word test. Additional convenience is that tests can be combined into SQL Server schema classes. Each class can have its own SetUp procedures. A typical test consists of three parts: preparing the environment, executing the code and viewing the results. Tests can be isolated from each other as this function is implemented using the transaction mechanism.
Before you start working with tSQLt you need to perform a number of operations: configure an instance of SQL Server to work with the CLR and execute a SQL script that is archived. The tSQLt parameters allow you to run all testing of all test classes, all class tests, specific class tests or the last tests that were performed at startup.
Conclusion
Any of the described solutions can easily find a replacement. This is not the entire list of applications that will be useful for administrators and developers using MS SQL Server. A lot of related projects offer codeplex.com also a search on the Internet for keywords SSMS add-in will provide a list of dozens of useful paid and free solutions.
