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Microsoft SQL Server

Everything with Microsoft SQL Server, from first install to 24x7 operations

Microsoft SQL Server is where DatabaseOnline started and where most of our hours still go. We work on every version still in production, on-premises and in Azure, and on every layer: storage, engine, T-SQL, availability, security and the people who run it.

Platforms we support

  • SQL Server 2008 R2 through SQL Server 2022, all editions
  • Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance
  • SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines and on Windows or Linux
  • SSIS, SSRS, SQL Agent, Azure Data Factory

Performance tuning

Slow is a symptom. We start with wait statistics, query store and execution plans, then fix the actual cause: missing or wrong indexes, stale statistics, parameter sniffing, tempdb contention, memory pressure or storage latency. Every change is measured before and after so you can see what it bought you.

  • Instance and database health check with a prioritised findings report
  • Index and statistics strategy, including partition-aligned indexes
  • Query rewrites and plan-guide or Query Store fixes for vendor applications you cannot change
  • Storage, memory, MAXDOP and cost-threshold configuration reviewed against your workload

High availability & disaster recovery

We design and build Always On availability groups, failover cluster instances, log shipping and replication topologies, and we test them. A DR plan that has never been failed over is a hope, not a plan. You receive documented RPO and RTO figures that were actually measured.

  • Always On availability groups, including multi-subnet and distributed AGs
  • Read-scale and offloaded reporting with readable secondaries or transactional replication
  • Backup strategy, restore drills and RESTORE VERIFYONLY as a scheduled job, not a wish
  • Failover runbooks your own team can follow at 03:00

Migrations & upgrades

Version upgrades, hardware refreshes, consolidations and moves to Azure SQL Database, Managed Instance or SQL Server on Azure VMs. We assess compatibility first, choose the cheapest target that fits the workload, migrate with a tested cut-over plan and keep a rollback path open until you sign off.

  • Compatibility and feature assessment with Data Migration Assistant and our own scripts
  • Right-sizing of Azure targets, so you do not pay for cores you never use
  • Near-zero-downtime cut-overs using log shipping, AGs or the Managed Instance link
  • Compatibility-level and cardinality-estimator testing before, not after, go-live

Security & compliance

Hardening that survives an audit. We implement the SQL Server features that regulators ask about and make sure they are configured so that they do what the policy says they do.

  • Dynamic Data Masking at the query level and row-level security for shared databases
  • Transparent Data Encryption, Always Encrypted and backup encryption with managed key rotation
  • TLS with X.509 certificates for connections, mirroring and AG endpoints
  • Auditing and evidence for GDPR, HIPAA, CCPA, PCI DSS and SOX

Architecture, scaling & data integration

Table and index design, partitioning for very large tables, replication and mirroring between sites, and the plumbing that gets data in and out: SSIS, Azure Data Factory, APIs in .NET and integrations with OpenSearch, Elasticsearch, Microsoft Fabric and BigQuery.

  • Horizontal and vertical partitioning with sliding-window maintenance
  • Transactional, merge and snapshot replication; near real-time SQL data mirroring
  • Vendor API extraction into SQL Server, Genesys Cloud first among them
  • Secured REST APIs that expose curated data to internal teams or partners

Remote DBA & managed operations

A senior DBA for a fixed number of hours a month, or full managed operations with 24x7x365 monitoring. Backups, patching, Agent jobs, index maintenance, capacity and the small daily questions that otherwise wait for a consultant to be booked.

  • Cumulative-update and security-patch planning per environment
  • Capacity and growth reporting so storage requests happen before the disk is full
  • Hand-over from a previous DBA or vendor, including documentation of what we find
  • Escalation into our Silver, Gold and Platinum monitoring packages

How an engagement runs

Measure, fix, prove, hand over

The order matters. We do not change production before we have a baseline to compare against.

  1. Intake and access

    A one-hour call on what hurts, followed by read-only access to the instances involved. We sign your NDA and work inside your compliance rules.

  2. Baseline and findings

    Wait statistics, Query Store, configuration, backups, security and capacity are captured and written up as a prioritised report with effort estimates.

  3. Fix plan agreed

    You decide what we do, in which order and in which maintenance window. Changes are scripted, reviewed and reversible.

  4. Execute and measure

    Every change is compared against the baseline. The report shows the before and after in numbers, not adjectives.

  5. Hand over or keep watching

    Documentation goes to your team. If you would rather we keep an eye on it, the estate moves into a monitoring package the same week.

Common questions

Before you call

Do you work on-site or remotely?

Both. On-site across the Netherlands and Belgium, remote for everything else. Most tuning and migration work is done remotely over your VPN or a hardened jump host; workshops and cut-overs are often on-site.

Can you take over an estate from a previous DBA or vendor?

Yes, and it happens often. We start with a discovery pass that documents what is actually there, including the jobs, linked servers and logins nobody remembers, and we deliver that documentation to you regardless of what happens next.

Which SQL Server versions do you still support?

Everything from SQL Server 2008 R2 upward, because that is what is still running in the field. We will tell you honestly when an upgrade is the fix, and when it is not.

Do you also do the application side?

We build in .NET and C# when the fix belongs in the data-access layer, in an API or in an integration. We do not take over your application development team; we make their database problems disappear.

Talk to a SQL Server specialist

Bring the wait stats. We will bring the explanation.

A first technical call is free. If we cannot help, we will say so and point you to someone who can.

Contact DatabaseOnline