I recently came across 2 fantastic resources for understanding and implementing the essentials of maintaining SQL Server databases.
The Accidental DBA
As a software developer you often encounter situations where you become the DBA whether you want to or not. It is not uncommon to be working in an environment where there is no dedicated DBA but the applications under development rely on SQL Server as a back-end data store.
So, what do you need to know to keep the SQL Server database up-and-running and to prevent queries from slowing to a standstill? Well, it turns out there is an excellent series of blog posts on www.sqlskills.com called the Accidental DBA, offering 30 days of top tips. You can find the series here:
SQL Server Maintenance Solution
Something referred to by the Accidental DBA series is the SQL Server Maintenance Solution put forwards by Ola Hallengren. This awesome set of scripts allows you to run backups, perform integrity checks, and index and statistics maintenance on all editions of Microsoft SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 R2, and SQL Server 2012.
UPDATE 24/12/2013 – Replacement for sp_helpindex
Also on sqlskills.com, Kimberly Tripp has a replacement for the standard sp_helpindex stored procedure.