SQL Server BPA 2008R2

Question

I have been using SQL server BPA for getting good information from Microsoft. I was using its 2005 version in which i used to export the results in csv format but recently I got two new servers which has got SQL Server 2008 R2 installed on it and I know I can't run BPA 2005 on these, so chose the R2 version of it, but it doesn't have an option to save the report on csv format, only xml, I have tried the excel to convert it into csv but no use, even-though it display the details but can't narrow down the results any idea of converting the results to csv format?

Answer 1

You could use powershell:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh831400.aspx

(all the way at the end of that page)

Answer 2

You can try using Policy-Based Management and import all of the Best Practice Policies which should be the same polices used by BPA. You can even go to codeplex and grab the Enterprise Policy Management Framework that will help you run this against all your servers and store the results into a database. EPMF will also get you some nice management friendly reports. I did a presentation at PASS Summit two years ago on this topic. You and grab my reference notes at

http://johnsterrett.com/presentations/intro-to-policy-based-management-and-central-management-server/

Answer 3

Since you want to use BPA, this PowerShell script will do the work for you.

Another thing to be aware is that you can use below freely available excellent tools for checking health/best practices for SQL Server.

1. sp_BLITZ or
2. SQL Power Doc