Identifying Databases Not Meeting Backup Service Level Agreements (SLAs)

A quick way to find out if your backups are working as you expect

One of the questions I always ask database administrator interviewees is “What is the number one job of a DBA?”.  I feel the answer says a lot about how this possible candidate thinks, and on another level if they read the job description or not.  What I hope to hear is “Ensure recoverability in the event of a disaster” or something along those lines.  If it wasn’t obvious, I feel strongly that recoverability of your database(s) is priority number one.

Because there is an ever-present need to ensure your backups are current and meeting your establish Service Level Agreement (SLA) with the business, it’s probably a good idea to have a handy query that will get this for you.  I also like to operate on the notion that “No News is Good News”, so the output of this report shows only databases failing the SLA.