Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 For Dummies®

Chapter 20. Implementing Policy-Based Management with the Declarative Management Framework

The Declarative Management Framework (DMF) is one of the most exciting new features in SQL Server 2008. DMF allows administrators to create and apply policies that regulate the configuration and operation of SQL Server(s) in an enterprise.

For example, suppose that your business has a security policy that requires the use of SQL Server's password expiration functionality. You may use DMF to create a policy that requires this feature on all SQL Servers in your organization. You may then use that policy to perform the following actions (which I cover in this chapter):

• Verify whether a server complies with the policy (that is, password expiration is turned on).

• Apply the policy to a server manually, changing the server's configuration to make it compliant with the policy.

• Prevent changes to the server that would violate the policy.

• Record log entries when the server fails to comply with the policy.

Coming to Terms with DMF

Before you can manage servers with DMF, you should understand a few DMF-specific terms. These can be somewhat confusing but they're essential to understanding how DMF works. Be sure to take a few moments to review these terms before proceeding:

• Targets: Entities that you may manage by DMF. They may be broad in scope, such as an entire SQL Server instance, or narrow, such as an individual database, table, or login.

• Management facets: Collections of related properties of a management ...