Unattended Mode, please... And a slew of other enhancements

PDinCAPDinCA Posts: 642 Silver 1
edited February 1, 2013 6:02AM in SQL Index Manager
The more servers and instances an accidental DBA is tasked with overseeing, and the scant amount of time available to keep manually checking and running/scripting defrags, the more the tool needs an automated facility that will take the load off a person and put it on the machine!

The actions to take based on the nature of the fragmentation and the size of the index need to be very configurable, with multiple "policies" being available for, say, hourly, weekdays, weekend, et al, with the usual REORG, Rebuild, Rebuild Online options (watching out for doubling the data size for the PK - please warn us 'cos we forget sometimes). Frag measures for each policy, naturally, with guidance built in for the accidental folks... The list is LONG!

I've used Idera's Defrag Manager for over 5 years and typically look at it about once a month. It has some minor peeves but does the job well enough for a 250GB Cluster, but it is expensive @ 2 licenses per active-passive cluster!

When I looked at SQL Sentry's offering it looked a better option until they gouge your wallet with required, per instance, Performance Adviser licenses, which takes the price for a second site I'm responsible for that has three instances into the stratosphere comparatively.

Ola Hellengren's Solution is OK for starters but requires multiple job maintenance and manual scheduling using SSMS dialogs (slug, sub-par!) for any kind of regular maintenance practices like Defrag Manager delivers via a UI.

Then I saw Red Gate has a tool. BIG DISAPPOINTMENT that it is not much more than Idera's SQL Admin Toolset "Instant Defrag" tool - manual analysis, manual "do it now", albeit no scripting (run Profiler and snag the script!). At $295 for 25 tools it beats Red Gate in a price comparison, too.

I understand this is a fledgling product. It needs serious enhancement in the automation and configuration departments to be considered an option.

Would Red Gate expand the Uservoice site and the Product pages to show some kind of roadmap for potentially interested Red Gate customers?

If you can deliver a better product at a lower price that doesn't require me to purchase 6 licenses to cover 3 A/P clusters plus a QA/Performance box, you may well increase revenues substantially from SMBs.

Thanks for listening.
Jesus Christ: Lunatic, liar or Lord?
Decide wisely...

Comments

  • Hi PDinCA,

    First of all, thanks for giving SQL Index Manager a try and taking the time to send us your thoughts.

    I agree that management tools break down in to two rough categories. Policy driven monitoring and scheduled style tools for pre-emptively finding issues and preventing problems, and point solution tools for interactively detecting and fixing a problem now.

    The current version of SQL Index Manager is pitched firmly at the latter, both in scope and in price. It's been a great way to find out what people need from a maintenance tool. Some users really appreciate a simple "run it when I need it" tool while other are definitely more attracted to automation and monitoring based approaches to maintenance.

    Once again, thanks for the feedback,

    Daniel
Sign In or Register to comment.