sp_Blitz® – Free SQL Server Health Check Script

You’ve got a Microsoft SQL Server that somebody else built, or that other people have made changes to over the years, and you’re not exactly sure what kind of shape it’s in. Are there dangerous configuration settings that are causing slow performance or unreliability?

You want a fast, easy, free health check assessment that flags common issues in seconds, and for each warning, gives you a link to a web page with more in-depth advice.

Download sp_Blitz in my free First Responder Kit.

How to Run sp_Blitz for a Quick Health Assessment

Download & install sp_Blitz in any database – it checks the health of the entire server no matter which database it’s installed in. (I usually use the master database just because if it’s installed in there, then you can call it from any database.)

Then run:

That’s the fastest way to run sp_Blitz because it skips checking objects inside the databases, like heaps and triggers. Once you’re comfortable with sp_Blitz’s speed, then you can remove that parameter and get even more advice on your system.

It returns a prioritized health assessment with the most urgent issues at the top, like database corruption or missing backups:

I like to joke that Priority 1-50 are the reasons why people get fired. If there’s a warning you don’t recognize or understand, copy/paste the URL from the URL column into your browser, and I’ve written a ton of free documentation that explains the issue and how to get it fixed.

How to get support for sp_Blitz

The sp_Blitz documentation covers additional parameters that will return more results, store the results to a table, and even output the results in Markdown for easy copy/pasting.

For free interactive support, you’ve got a few good options:

• Talk with us in the #FirstResponderKit Slack channel (if you need a free invite, hit SQLslack.com)
• Post a question at DBA.StackExchange.com and the community (that includes us!) will help. Include the version of sp_Blitz, your SQL Server version number (including the build #), and tag it with sp_Blitz.
• To make code improvements or report a bug, visit the Github issues list and read the Contributing Guide

Want training on this?

In my How I Use the First Responder Kit class, I teach you the most important parameters and how I use them in my day-to-day work.

Once you’ve conquered that, my Fundamentals classes cover index tuning, query tuning, TempDB, running SQL Server in the cloud, and much more.

Want consulting help?

Don’t have time to learn the hard way? I’m here to help with a quick, easy process that gets to the root cause of your database health and performance pains. Learn more, see sample reports, and book a free call with me.