SQL Server Tips by Robin Schumacher

Centralizing Operations

If there are several servers being tracked for capacity planning purposes, there will be some challenges ahead. First, if using a central repository to hold statistics for enterprise SQL Server installation, a linked server will need to be set up on each of the monitored SQL Servers that allow connectivity to the central SQL Server repository. This way, collection procedures can all insert directly into the capacity planning repository.

An optional method is to use replication and periodically feed the central repository from collection tables that exist on each SQL Server. While this works fine, it is not as clean as using the linked server setup.

The second issue is how to monitor the progress of all collection jobs. Actually, this does not differ in the challenge of monitoring any enterprise job backup system such as all backup routines. Centralized job scheduling software can help, but there are workarounds in using each individualized SQL Agent installation.

The above book excerpt is from:

High-Performance SQL Server DBA
Tuning & Optimization Secrets

ISBN: 0-9761573-6-5
Robin Schumacher

 http://www.rampant-books.com/book_2005_2_sql_server_dba.htm