SQL Central Management System – Buck Woody’s TELA09 Precon session (well the code, article, etc) without the crowds, traffic and parties… :p

Carpe Datum - The SQL Server Central Management System

“Yesterday I delivered a pre-conference session at TechEd US in Los Angeles. I covered lots of SQL Server 2008 features, but the key was that we ended up putting them all together for a single purpose.

Most of us have a way of aggregating the data about our systems. We do it through lists, spreadsheets, Access databases and applications like System Center or HP OpenView. But we don't always make the data about our systems "formal", and store it in one place, in one way, with one view.

So I explained an interesting concept for using all of the cool new features in SQL Server 2008 to put a single Instance in the corner to manage and monitor your 2008, 2005 and even 2000 Instances. …”

InformIT - SQL Server Reference Guide - The SQL Server Central Management System: Definition

“Almost every Database Administrator I know, and in fact almost any kind of system administrator, has some basic needs to manage and monitor the systems assigned to them. And most of us have either bought or designed a system to help us do that.

These systems that we design often have the same basic characteristics in common. There are several basic things we need to know, be able to track, and act on.

The basic components of a management and monitoring solution are as follows:

• A list of the systems the administrator is responsible for
• Configuration information about those systems
• Status information on the systems
• Historical metrics on the system
• The ability to collect the above information
• Central reporting of the above information
• The ability to have alert information sent on critical issues from the affected systems to a single location
• The ability to design desired configurations for the systems and evaluate those configurations across the systems
• The ability to run commands on all systems from a central location

… This series of tutorials are based on creating your own solution from scratch, but you should read through this overview to make sure you’ve considered all of the options.

…”

CodePlex - SQL Server Central Management System

“Overview

The SQL Server Central Management System (SQLCMS) uses multiple features from SQL Server 2008 and other products for three purposes:

1. Store SQL Server system information
2. Manage SQL Server from one location
3. Report system state, configuration and performance

…

…”

Buck Woody gave a great TELA09 pre-conference session and while focusing on SQL 2008 features, how it can help you in your “real world” of today (i.e. in your SQL 2000, 2005, 2008 world). The idea he presented was using SQL Server 2008 to create a Central Management System without spending big bucks on a third party system. That using some free utilities, some scripts and the features already available in SQL 2008, you can create a fairly powerful solution, helping you focus on and manage the “exceptions” in your DBA life.

Now SQL Server 2008 R2 will be adding a few features that Buck has in CMS (i.e. Discovery and enrollment of SQL Servers into “centralized multi-server management”), the SQL CMS idea is still very valid and useful (and something you can use today).