With the continued popularity of SQL Server, more and more people are becoming SQL Server DBAs, whether they planned to or not. Many of these DBAs don’t have formal training, but are doing the best they can under the circumstances. Most of these DBAs want to do a good job, but just don’t know where to start. While Books Online is a great reference tools, it doesn’t tell someone what they need to know about commonly established best practices that experienced DBAs know by heart. The focus on this session is on describing best practices every SQL Server DBA needs to know. These are foundational best practices that, if not followed, could have a significant negative effect on the performance and availability of their SQL Servers. This session focuses on key fundamentals, such as:  Installing & Upgrading SQL Server; SQL Server Configuration; User Data and Log File Management; Database Configuration Settings; Configuring Critical Maintenance Jobs; Setting Up Alerts for Critical Errors; Security Basics; Implementing a Backup Strategy; Creating a Disaster Recovery Plan; Testing; Monitoring; and Documentation. Because of time considerations, and the amount of content to be covered, the focus will be on explain what needs to be done, not how to perform each task. By using the best practices suggested in this session, DBAs will be able to go back to their organizations and begin to immediately implement them.