SQL Server Installation Best practices

When installing SQL Server, it's important to follow best practices to ensure a secure, efficient, and stable installation. Here are
some SQL Server installation best practices:

1. Plan and Prepare:

• Review and understand the hardware and software requirements for the SQL Server version you're installing.
• Perform capacity planning to determine appropriate disk space, memory, and CPU requirements.
• Ensure that your operating system is up to date with the latest patches and updates.
• Consider the future growth and scalability needs of your databases when selecting hardware and storage.
2. Security Considerations:
• Choose strong and complex passwords for SQL Server service accounts and database users.
• Use separate domain or local accounts for different SQL Server services and minimize the permissions granted
to these accounts.
• Enable the appropriate authentication mode based on your security requirements (Windows Authentication or
Mixed Mode).
• Regularly apply SQL Server security updates and patches to protect against potential vulnerabilities.
3. Instance Configuration:
• Carefully choose the instance name to avoid conflicts with existing instances on the server.
• Consider dedicating the server or virtual machine to SQL Server to ensure optimal performance.
• Allocate sufficient memory to SQL Server to avoid excessive disk I/O and improve query performance.
• Configure appropriate maximum memory settings to prevent SQL Server from consuming all available system
memory.
4. Database Configuration:
• Plan and configure appropriate filegroups and file placement for data, log, and tempdb files.
• Enable instant file initialization to improve database file creation and growth performance.
• Implement appropriate database-level collation settings to ensure consistent sorting and comparison of data.
• Regularly update database statistics to ensure accurate query optimization and execution plans.
5. Storage Considerations:
• Place database and log files on separate physical drives or RAID arrays to avoid I/O contention.
• Use fast storage media, such as SSDs, for transaction log files to ensure optimal write performance.
• Enable Instant File Initialization to reduce the time required for data file growth and creation.
• Regularly monitor disk space usage and plan for appropriate capacity growth.
6. Backup and Recovery:
• Implement a backup strategy that includes full, differential, and transaction log backups based on your
recovery requirements.
• Store backups on separate storage devices or network locations to protect against disk failures.
• Regularly test your backup and restore procedures to ensure their reliability and effectiveness.
• Consider implementing SQL Server Always On Availability Groups or database mirroring for high availability
and disaster recovery.
7. Performance Monitoring and Optimization:
 • Regularly monitor SQL Server performance using tools like SQL Server Profiler, Performance Monitor, or
Extended Events.
• Identify and address performance bottlenecks, such as long-running queries, inefficient indexes, or memory
and CPU contention.
• Implement a regular maintenance plan that includes index maintenance, statistics updates, and database
integrity checks.
8. Documentation and Configuration Management:
• Document your SQL Server installation and configuration details, including instance names, versions, and
settings.
• Maintain a record of any changes or modifications made to the SQL Server configuration.
• Regularly review and update your documentation to ensure it reflects the current state of your SQL Server
environment.

Following these best practices during the SQL Server installation process can help you set up a secure, optimized, and reliable
database environment. It's important to also regularly review and update your SQL Server configuration based on changing
requirements and industry best practices.