Performance is deteriorating
Queries, reports or application transactions are taking longer and the cause remains disputed.
SQL Server engineering
Resolve the SQL Server problem before it becomes a service problem.
Assessment, remediation and support for SQL Server performance, maintenance, backup, recovery and operational control.
The decision
Treat SQL Server as part of the application platform.
A slow or unreliable SQL Server service is rarely explained by one metric. Query behaviour, indexing, maintenance, storage, compute, backup, recovery and change history all affect the result experienced by the business.
Praetorian assesses the database and the platform around it, corrects the immediate problem and establishes the maintenance, recovery and governance needed to keep it supportable.
Common triggers
When this needs attention
Logs or storage are growing
Oversized transaction logs, weak retention or unmanaged database growth are creating operational risk.
Recovery is uncertain
Backups appear successful, but retention, restore testing, replication or disaster recovery have not been proved.
Maintenance is inconsistent
Integrity checks, indexing, statistics, jobs or change control depend on manual knowledge.
What Praetorian does
From assessment to working environment.
SQL Server assessment
Review configuration, workloads, health, performance, maintenance, storage and operational dependencies.
Remediation
Correct log growth, maintenance, integrity, indexing, backup and configuration issues through controlled change.
Migration and resilience
Plan upgrades, migrations, replication, backup and disaster recovery with testing and rollback.
Ongoing SQL support
Provide experienced engineering support, governance and method statements where controlled work is required.
Engagement model
A controlled engineering approach.
Observe
Establish the symptoms, workload, recent changes and the service impact.
Assess
Review SQL Server with the application, storage and compute platform around it.
Remediate
Implement measured changes using agreed method statements and rollback controls.
Govern
Put maintenance, recovery evidence, monitoring and change ownership on a sustainable footing.
Technical scope
The work that may need to be covered.
Health and maintenance
- SQL Server configuration and assessment
- Ola Hallengren maintenance
- Integrity checking
- Index and statistics maintenance
Data protection
- Backup and retention
- Transaction-log growth remediation
- Replication and disaster recovery
- Carbonite where relevant
Change and support
- Performance and platform investigation
- Migration and remediation
- Governance and change control
- Method statements and ongoing support
Why Praetorian
Engineering judgement without a predetermined product answer.
- SQL Server considered with the application and infrastructure carrying it.
- Measured diagnosis before hardware, licensing or platform changes are recommended.
- Hands-on remediation backed by controlled implementation and rollback.
- Operational maintenance and recovery treated as engineering responsibilities.
Relevant thinking
Explore the decision and the evidence.
Start the conversation
Bring one SQL Server problem that needs a defensible answer.
Describe the service impact, current environment and urgency. Praetorian will help establish the cause, the immediate work and the longer-term support requirement.