Out-Of-Box Policies

SQL Server 2008 includes several predefined policies. These are generally associated with best practices and overtime the rules from the Best Practices Analyzer will be implemented as policies for PBM. A number of these have already been implemented and are available to you in one of two forms:

First, they're installed as part of every Management Studio installation. There is no specific feature option to select in the setup GUI, just install Management Studio (Management Tools - Basic) and the policies will be installed. The policies are placed on your local machine in the form of XML files. These files can be imported into an instance of SQL Server 2008 or can be run directly from the XML files. The location of the files depends on where you chose to install the client tools. On a default install, you'll find them here: C:\Program Files\microsoft sql server\100\Tools\Policies

The second way to get the policies is to download them from the feature pack. Here's the link to the RC0 feature pack. If you scroll down the page you'll find an entry for Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Policies. You can download and run the MSI. You'll have an option to install the policies to any location you like.

It's a good idea to periodically check for updates to the policies. Overtime we'll add new policies, change existing ones as needed and remove out-dated policies. If you decide to modify one of these policies we recommend you move it to a different location to avoid it from being overwritten by an update.

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About the Author:
Dan Jones is a PM on the SQL Server Manageability team at Microsoft.