Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
Engaging External Help
It is not always necessary or possible to solve a problem with external assistance if there is a lack of
knowledge, experience or time. Knowing who and when to call are important aspects of successful
troubleshooting. Often, the objection to hiring a consultant, specialist, or support provider, or to
open a support request with Microsoft Customer Service and Support (CSS), is i nancial. In reality,
many problem scenarios can be much more expensive to resolve without external help. The time,
resources, and opportunity costs of taking a long time to solve a problem, solving it in an inappro-
priate or inefi cient way, or not solving it at all can be high. Ensure that all factors are taken into
consideration when deciding if and when to engage outside help.
In some situations, it may be cheaper to engage help immediately — e.g., when the day rate
for a consultant is half the cost of revenue loss per day; in this scenario it may make sense to
bring in a consultant immediately. For example, it may be most benei cial to engage a specialist for
problems related to rarely used features, as an organization might not have deep expertise with
such features.
Besides cost, another barrier to enlisting external help is a desire to be perceived by the organization
as the expert in a particular feature or technology. This can be quite short-sighted, particularly if
an incident is causing revenue or reputation damage to the organization. Knowing when to ask for
help is a valuable trait, and engaging an external resource also provides the opportunity to learn
and increase the value you deliver to the business. Using external resources also provides a i rsthand
opportunity to see different approaches to troubleshooting, which can be more valuable than the
technical skills themselves.
Certain types of problems are well suited for outside help. One such example is database corruption.
This can be a serious problem, and many urban legends and “common wisdom” surround the best
approach to resolving corruption problems, and mistakes could easily make a problem worse, with-
out solving the underlying cause of the problem.
If you do engage support, whether it's from CSS, a consultant, or another outside assistance,
you will need to provide them with some basic information. Consider the following as a starting
point:
➤
Environment overview (network diagram, application architecture)
➤
Problem statement and steps to reproduce
➤
success criteria
➤
Key stakeholders
➤
Steps already taken to resolve issue and outcome
➤
Windows System and Application Event Logs and SQL Server Error Logs
➤
Proi ler trace containing the problem (if possible)
➤
SQLDiag output if it will add value
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