Best practices analyzer

• US 20070016544A1
• Filed: 07/14/2005
• Published: 01/18/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Graefe, Goetz, Kleinerman, Christian, Kumar, Amrish
• Granted Patent: US 8,005,803 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/28 Databases characterised by their database models, e.g. relational or object models

Abstract

The Best Practices Analyzer scans one or more instances of the database server for conformance to a set of guidelines and recommendations (“best practices” or “best practice rules”). Best practice rules may be defined by the user and/or may be provided. The Best Practices Analyzer performs analysis of usage of database programming (query) language and conformance to guidelines. Best Practices Analyzer may check for correct execution of common administrative tasks. Rules may be implemented as procedural code in any language.

Claims

1. A system for scanning a database server for conformance with a set of guidelines comprising:

a best practices analyzer that receives a set of best practice rules, wherein at least one of the best practice rules is user-defined, and scans at least one database server instance to determine if the at least one database server instance complies with the set of best practice rules and generates data from which at least one report detailing conformance or nonconformance of the at least one database server instance with the set of best practice rules may be generated.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a data repository for storing the set of best practice rules.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a data repository for storing a set of parameters, wherein at least one parameter of the set of parameters is associated with a particular best practice rule of the set of best practice rules.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of best practice rules comprises at least one best practice rule, the at least one best practice rule associated with at least one parameter and the at least one database server instance.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the best practice analyzer also comprises a database query language parser, wherein the database query language parser includes identical logic to that of a database server product associated with the at least one database server instance.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of best practice rules is updated automatically whenever a scan is initiated if at least one new or updated best practice rule is detected.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a user interface for receiving user input and initiating a scan.

8. A method for scanning a database server for conformance with best practice guidelines comprising:

receiving a plurality of best practice rules including at least one user-defined best practice rule;

receiving a scan configuration comprising at least one database server instance to scan, a set of best practice rules of the plurality of best practice rules for determining whether the at least one database server instance is in conformance with the set of best practice rules, and at least one parameter associated with at least one rule of the set of best practice rules; and

scanning the at least one database server instance to determine whether the at least one database server instance conforms to the set of best practice rules based on the at least one parameter.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

storing a result of scanning the at least one database server instance in a data repository.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the database server instance is an instance of a SQL Server.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the plurality of best practice rules are executables coded in a procedural programming language.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

sending a result of scanning the at least one database server instance to a vendor of a database server product associated with the at least one database server instance.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein scanning the at least one database server instance to determine whether the at least one database server instance conforms to the set of best practice rules based on the at least one parameter is initiated via a command line tool.

14. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

associating at least one trace file and at least one query language batch file with the scan configuration.

15. A computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions for:

receiving a plurality of best practice rules including at least one user-defined best practice rule;

receiving a list of database server instances to be scanned for conformance with the plurality of best practice rules;

receiving a user-specified parameter for a rule of the plurality of best practice rules; and

scanning the list of database server instances for conformance with the plurality of best practice rules.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, comprising further computer-executable instructions for:

recording a result of scanning the list of database server instances for conformance with the plurality of best practice rules in a data repository.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, comprising further computer-executable instructions for:

automatically updating the plurality of best practice rules when a new or updated best practice rule is detected.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, comprising further computer-executable instructions for:

determining if a new or updated best practice rule is available whenever a scan is initiated

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, comprising further computer-executable instructions for:

reporting a result of scanning the list of database server instances for conformance with the plurality of best practice rules back to a supplier of a database server product associated with the list of database sever instances.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, comprising further computer-executable instructions for:

parsing query language associated with the a database server instance of the list of database server instances for compliance with correct syntax.