If there was ever a release you should skip for reliability reasons, it's this one. There's a lot of AI-edited code in here. I'm really only putting it out there because I want to let early adopters start playing around with a few new things:
- sp_BlitzIndex adds an @ai parameter to get index consolidation advice for a single table.
- A breaking change in the AI config tables for sp_BlitzCache (and now, sp_BlitzIndex as well.) We used to have both the AI providers and prompts in the same table, but I needed to normalize that out into two tables now that we're adding AI capabilities to more procs. If you've started playing around with sp_BlitzCache's AI config table, run this script to migrate your configs to the new table structure before running the new version of sp_BlitzCache.
- Added a new SQL Server Setup Checklist markdown file in the Documentation folder. This replaces the old PDF doc that we used to distribute, but it hadn't been updated in years. I did a quick pass with some basic updates, and folks are welcome to add their own guidance. Just create a Github issue first describing the kinds of changes you'd like to make so that you can have a community discussion about the guidance - I wanna make sure the right stuff ends up in there.
- There's a new sp_kill stored procedure, driven by your design ideas. I'll be blogging more about this in the coming weeks, but wanted to get the first draft out there for a client who needed it ASAP. You're welcome to use it now, and log any issues you find with it.
- Starting with this release, we only support SQL Server 2016 SP2 & newer. Remember, even SQL Server 2016 drops out of support in 3 months, and 2014's been out of support for 2 years. If you need to tune your Antiques Roadshow servers, use the scripts in the Deprecated folder. Why SP2 and not RTM or SP1? Because SP2 added a ton of DMVs and columns in existing DMVs.
To get the new version:
- Download the updated FirstResponderKit.zip
- Get The Consultant Toolkit to quickly export the First Responder Kit results into an easy-to-share spreadsheet
- PowerShell users: run Install-DbaFirstResponderKit from dbatools
sp_Blitz Changes
- Fix: wrap sp_Blitz, sp_BlitzIndex, sp_BlitzAnalysis, and sp_DatabaseRestore stored proc contents in a BEGIN and END to make it easier to automate updates to the Consultant Toolkit. (#3851)
- Fix: code modernization for SQL Server 2016 & newer. (#3872)
sp_BlitzCache Changes
- Enhancement: return oversized >128 node plans inline instead of asking the user to run a separate query. (#3868, thanks Erik Darling.)
- Enhancement: add per-database warnings for duplicate and single-use plans to help narrow down which apps are causing the problems. (#3878, thanks Erik Darling.)
- Fix: wrong parameter name in readme.md fixed. (#3861, thanks Ioan Podaru.)
- Fix: skip @ai = 1 calls when query plan is null, and allow @ai = 2 to build a prompt even when there's no query plan, just a query text. (#3855 and #3854)
- Fix: invalid column reference in AI-generated code. (#3880, thanks shekarkola.)
- Fix: code modernization for SQL Server 2016 & newer. (#3870)
sp_BlitzIndex Changes
- Enhancement: AI advice available at the table detail level. When calling sp_BlitzIndex @TableName = 'mytable', you can use the @ai = 2 parameter to get an AI prompt for your favorite LLM, or @ai = 1 to call the LLM directly as we do with sp_BlitzCache. (#3827)
- Fix: code modernization for SQL Server 2016 & newer. (#3876)
sp_BlitzLock Changes
- Fix: corrected deadlock numbering errors. (#3859, thanks Vlad Drumea.)
- Fix: avoid duplicate rows in result sets. (#3765, thanks Tisit.)
- Fix: nicer error messages in Azure SQL DB that include instructions on creating an event session. (#3892)
sp_BlitzWho Changes
- Fix: code modernization for SQL Server 2016 & newer. (#3874)
sp_kill Changes
- First version! See the documentation for more details. (#3864)
Consultant Toolkit Changes
If you're a consultant that does long term work, maintaining a client's SQL Servers, then you probably want to track the health and performance of those servers over time. You want data - in a database.We've got a new Loader app that watches a folder for incoming zip files, and when one shows up, it processes the data to load it into a SQL Server (or Azure SQL DB) repository for you.
This means you can set up the Consultant Toolkit at your clients on a scheduled daily task, upload the data to S3 (built in) or use your own file sync methods to get it to the location of your choosing, and then have the data automatically loaded into your database server for you.
To learn more about that, read the PDF documentation included with the Consultant Toolkit.
For Support
When you have questions about how the tools work, talk with the community in the #FirstResponderKit Slack channel. Be patient: it's staffed by volunteers with day jobs. If it's your first time in the community Slack, get started here.When you find a bug or want something changed, read the contributing.md file.
When you have a question about what the scripts found, first make sure you read the "More Details" URL for any warning you find. We put a lot of work into documentation, and we wouldn't want someone to yell at you to go read the fine manual. After that, when you've still got questions about how something works in SQL Server, post a question at DBA.StackExchange.com and the community (that includes me!) will help. Include exact errors and any applicable screenshots, your SQL Server version number (including the build #), and the version of the tool you're working with.