Free SQL Server Tools

I have heard people say that SQL Server is just too expensive for my project or my business. This typically pushes someone toward MySQL or other free/open source variants of a relational database management system. While I can’t do much to help with the licensing costs of SQL Server, I can help show you tools that you can use to manage your SQL Server without any additional expenditure!

Want to Tryout SQL Server?

Download and setup the a Free 180 day evaluation VM from Microsoft with SQL 2008 R2 for the testing and playing around. SQL 2008 R2 180 day free Evaluation VHD can be found here

Once you have the VM setup, download and restore the AdventureWorks DB, this will be great for playing around and testing out the following tools.

In order to really try these tools, you’ll need to generate some load on your SQL Server.

Try out these tools for generating load on your SQL Server, they can make hundreds or thousands of requests per minute to simulate users pounding on your system. They can even stress the underlying disks that store the data.

IOMeter - http://www.iometer.org/
SQL Load Generator - http://sqlloadgenerator.codeplex.com/
Benchmark Factory for Databases - http://www.quest.com/benchmark-factory/

Let’s start looking under the hood!

When a SQL Server is under load, there is a huge wealth of information that becomes available, now we just need an easy way to see it. Check out these tools to help you get at those SQL Server internals.

Internals Viewer for SQL Server - http://internalsviewer.codeplex.com/
SQL Server Cache Manager - http://sqlservercache.codeplex.com/
SQLIO Disk Subsystem Benchmark Tool - http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=20163

Now that we can see what’s happening underneath the hood, how might we find the problems that are occurring?

The secret is not to try and find the problems yourself!!! There are WAY smarter people than me out there that have already done a ton of leg work to get you closer to the problems on your SQL Server. Some of my favorite SQL Server professionsals are Brent Ozar, Adam Machanic, Grant Fritchey Karen Lopez and Kendra Little. Below is a tool from Codeplex that pulls together TONS of sql scripts from professionsals around the globe into one handy toolbox.

DBA Toolbox - https://dbatoolbox.codeplex.com/

Still Need Help?

Well, I have 2 free options and one paid option. The first free option is to use Twitter and ask your question with the hash tag #SQLHelp. You will get responses from all kinds of SQL professionals across the world. But be wary of the answers, don’t take anyone’s scripts and just run them on your server!! Make sure you know what the scripts are doing before you press F5! The second free option is attending SQLPASS events, these are free training events only about SQL Server!

Lastly, if all else fails or you just want some additional help, call Algonquin Studios