CodePlex Project centraldba

A couple days ago I launched a project on Codeplex to host my collaborative work for database management. Instead of some sporadic blogs I thought I would now create a set of projects that implement the work for others to use and also share new ideas into. (Actually, I recently switched jobs and the new company allows code sharing - and I needed to rebuild everything at my new job too.)

This project currently has the core project available for download. This core project is a set of tables, views, functions, and stored procedures - including a CLR object - that support a set of scheduled jobs. Coming in the near future will be some documentation on the use of the core project, including some scripts for setting up the scheduled jobs in a standalone instance or in a MSX/TSX environment.

Also there will be a project for simplifying database restores on the original database and server or to a different database and/or server. And another project or set of instructions for setting up the data collection utility for SQL Server 2008 - and if I determine how to make it backport - 2005 as well. There will also be rdl files to publish to a SSRS server to run off the MDW instead of using SSMS (have to share all that information with our users).

And it wouldn't be an automation utility if it didn't perform some level of analysis and alerting based on the data collected by the MDW. Nor would it be automation if some corrective actions weren't made for you to save you getting middle of the night alerts.

Of course there will be the reuse of ideas as much as possible - with credit being given where due (and I might need to add some more credits in the core project yet).

Any DBAs who want to get involved are invited to come join the project on Codeplex. I know that what is already in my head is useful to others. But I also know that there is plenty that I haven't even thought about yet. My goal with this project is to bring many of these ideas into a single place that is a functioning project model to implement. I have found many ideas in internet readings, but very little in the way of a fully functional system available at no charge.

So I hope that the centraldba project is found useful by others in the world - and not just by me. But it will at minimum be useful to me and my new employer - and has been already.