SQLSaturday #241, Cleveland

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Date: February 8, 2013

Title: SQL Audit – Auditing doesn’t have to be boring

Abstract:

Let’s face it, auditing isn’t fun. But if you’re a DBA, you need to know what’s going on in your SQL Server instance. Fortunately, SQL Audit makes it easy. In this session, we’ll cover what you can and can’t audit using SQL Audit, enhancements in 2012, configuring database and server audits, ways to process output, and ideas for how to implement SQL Audit on a larger scale. Auditing doesn’t have to be hard. And with the help of a little custom coding, it can even be fun.

Level: Intermediate

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4 thoughts on “SQLSaturday #241, Cleveland”

  • Reply ↓
    Mbourgon

    Howdy, Colleen… I won’t be able to make Cleveland, but I’m curious on your experience with Audit, especially since you’ve posted on Event Notifications in the past (and on which I’ll be speaking on at SqlSat271 in Albuquerque). From your experiences, what are Audit’s strengths and weaknesses, and where should I be using it? Thanks! Michael.

    • Reply ↓
      Colleen M. Morrow Post author

      Hi Michael – Sorry I didn’t reply sooner, I somehow missed this comment. Anyway, I think SQL Audit is a good, lightweight tool for most auditing efforts. It’s easy to configure and maintain, which can appeal to shops that don’t want to build their own auditing solution. The addition of filtering in 2012 makes it so much more flexible than in 2008. Obviously it has some limitations, the lack of filtering in 2008 was a big one for me at my last job, the output options are all external to SQL Server (i.e. no writing output directly to a table), and the biggest limitation of all is the “Enterprise Edition only” restriction. This was relaxed a teeny bit in 2012, which allows for server-level auditing but not database-level auditing. Hope this helps!