The Microsoft® Data Warehouse Toolkit: With SQL Server 2008 R2 and the Microsoft® Business Intelligence Toolset, Second Edition

Chapter 17. Operations and Maintenance

"To administer is to govern: to govern is to reign."

—— Honor Gabriel Riquet

We've seen too many DW/BI teams postpone thinking about how to operate their new system until it's nearly in production. When deadlines are looming and users are clamoring for data and reports, it's too late to start designing your operating procedures. You'll be making stuff up as you go along, and you'll make mistakes.

There are two major sets of issues to think about with respect to the ongoing operations of your system. The first set of issues revolves around communicating with, training, and supporting the users. Of course you'll be publishing reports to them about the business, but you also need to communicate with them about the DW/BI system itself.

The second set of issues focuses on technical systems management. You need to think, long before you go into production, about a host of issues. Your decisions about these operational issues will affect your system configuration and design. These issues include monitoring performance and usage, automating operations, and managing resources for ad hoc use.

At launch your system's performance might be great, but with increased data volumes and user load, performance might degrade. A solid monitoring plan, implemented from the start, is your best weapon for identifying and solving bottlenecks. With the right information you can continuously tune the system so bottlenecks are solved before users even notice them.

Finally — ...