Recently Dave Ballantyne posted a list of free resources for SQL Server, entitled "The best things in life are free." Now, I'm not trying to upstage Dave, but I know of several resources that aren't on his list. It would be good to have a true community page for this kind of thing, but for now a blog post will have to do. [I also just re-noticed Mladen Prajdic's post on free SQL Server tools, and his list is quite exhaustive.] Please leave a comment if you spot any errors, omissions, broken links, etc.
Free Upgrade Advisors / Best Practices Analyzers
These tools from Microsoft can be
instrumental in cleaning up your systems and finding issues *before* the
day of the upgrade. I'm including the SQL Server 2005 versions, but if
you're just planning your upgrade to 2005 now, I'd suggest re-thinking
toward 2008 or 2008 R2. The last service pack for 2005 is due out later
this year, and the next major version of SQL Server is probably about a
year after that. Note that there is no SQL Server 2008 Best Practices Analyzer, at least that I could find.
SQL Server 2005 Upgrade Advisor
SQL Server 2005 Best Practices Analyzer
SQL Server 2008 Upgrade Advisor - download x64 - download x86
SQL Server 2008 R2 Upgrade Advisor - download x64 - download x86
SQL Server 2008 R2 Best Practices Analyzer - download x64 - download x86
(For some advice about the R2 BPA install, see this post from August)
SQL Server 2012 CTP3 Upgrade Advisor - download x64 - download x86
(Note that if you're installing RC0 or later, there is a newer Upgrade Advisor with the media, they just haven't made the feature pack public yet, as of 2012-01-13.)
Free Documentation
Books Online is the official go-to documentation for SQL Server, but you don't have to have a SQL Server license to use it. You can choose to download the application (or install it as part of setup) and keep it up to date, or use the web-based version.
SQL Server 2008 Books Online - or download
Free Training Kits
SQL Server 2012 RC0 Developer Training Kit
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=27721
Free Feature Packs
Jason Howell has summed up the current set of feature packs (these are utilities provided by Microsoft to complement SQL Server tools and services):
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jason_howell/archive/2010/10/25/list-of-sql-server-feature-packs.aspx
Free Management Studio Add-Ins
Several authors have developed tools that plug into Management Studio, though I wouldn't expect all of them to work flawlessly with SQL Server 2008 R2 - yet.
Mladen Prajdic's SSMS Tools Pack:
http://ssmstoolspack.com/
Sean Price's Snapshot add-in:
http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/seanprice/archive/2007/07/15/sql-management-studio-snapshot-add-in.aspx
Jonathan Kehayias' Extended Events Manager:
http://extendedeventmanager.codeplex.com/
RedGate SQL Search
http://www.red-gate.com/products/SQL_Search/
Daniel Gould's Internals Viewer:
http://internalsviewer.codeplex.com/
DevArt SQL Complete Express:
http://www.devart.com/dbforge/sql/sqlcomplete/download.html
SQL Sentry Plan Explorer:
http://www.sqlsentry.net/plan-explorer/sql-server-query-view.asp
Free Community Resources
Looking for other SQL Server people to help you - for free? The SQL Server community is, as a whole, one of the best free resource you're likely to find in any industry. I don't think I'm going to try and list out all of the SQL Server blogs here... there are just too many. But I can point out places where you can get free help online or - believe it or not - in person:
Twitter hashtag : #sqlhelp
http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23sqlhelp
Also see this great twitter primer from @BrentO:
http://www.brentozar.com/archive/2008/08/twitter-101/
And more specifically, this summary of the #sqlhelp tag:
http://www.brentozar.com/archive/2009/12/i-need-sqlhelp/
SQL Server forums on MSDN:
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/category/sqlserver/
Stack overflow:
http://stackoverflow.com/
DBA StackExchange:
http://dba.stackexchange.com/
Ask SQLServerCentral:
http://ask.sqlservercentral.com/
ServerFault:
http://serverfault.com/
SQLServerPedia is like Wikipedia but for SQL Server:
http://sqlserverpedia.com/
Also look for a SQL Saturday coming to a city near you:
http://sqlsaturday.com/
Or a local user group. See this editorial by Brad McGehee:
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Editorial/67191/
Finally, PASS is free to join. Watch for free online training events and presentations via virtual chapters:
http://sqlpass.org/
Free Blog Assistance
This one is kind of sitting in its own category, but I didn't know where else it would fit. This web form allows you to take T-SQL code and format it nicely - color coding and all - for various blog formats. I have found it invaluable over the past few years in adding code samples to my posts:
http://extras.sqlservercentral.com/prettifier/prettifier.aspx
Free Sample Databases
You can download a wide variety of sample databases (mostly in the AdventureWorks flavor):
http://msftdbprodsamples.codeplex.com/
If you want to load Pubs and/or Northwind on a 2005+ server, you can, I guess:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=06616212-0356-46a0-8da2-eebc53a68034
Free Maintenance / Performance Scripts
Adam Machanic's Who Is Active? v.10.0:
http://sqlblog.com/files/folders/release/entry29675.aspx
Michelle Ufford's Index Defrag Script, v4.0
http://sqlfool.com/2010/04/index-defrag-script-v4-0/
Ola's SQL Server 2005 and 2008 - Backup, Integrity Check and Index Optimization
http://ola.hallengren.com/
Brent Ozar's BLITZ! 60 minute SQL Server takeover script
http://www.brentozar.com/sql/blitz-minute-sql-server-takeovers/
Kimberly Tripp's sp_helpindex2:
http://www.sqlskills.com/blogs/kimberly/post/Updates-%28fixes%29-to-sp_helpindex2.aspx
Tibor Karazsi's utility procedures:
sp_indexinfo: http://www.karaszi.com/SQLServer/util_sp_indexinfo.asp
sp_tableinfo: http://www.karaszi.com/SQLServer/util_sp_tableinfo.asp
Free Maintenance / Performance Tools
SQL Sentry Plan Explorer:
http://www.sqlsentry.net/plan-explorer/sql-server-query-view.asp
SQLCop:
http://sqlcop.lessthandot.com/
Microsoft's SQL Server Backup Simulator:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlserverfaq/archive/2010/10/27/sql-server-backup-simulator.aspx
Confio IgniteFree:
http://www.ignitefree.com/
PSSDIAG (for SQL Server 7.0 / 2000):
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyid=5564386A-28C2-4483-8293-76FFF67B9EB3
SQLNexus (for SQLDiag / PSSDiag):
http://sqlnexus.codeplex.com/
SQLQueryStress:
http://www.datamanipulation.net/sqlquerystress/
SQL Load Generator:
http://sqlloadgenerator.codeplex.com/
SQLIOSim:
http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlserverstorageengine/archive/2006/10/06/SQLIOSim-available-for-download.aspx
Performance Analysis of Logs (PAL) Tool:
http://pal.codeplex.com/
scaleSQL ClearTrace:
http://www.scalesql.com/cleartrace/
Qure Workload Analyzer:
http://www.dbsophic.com/qure-workload-analyzer/
Joe Chang's SQL Exec Stats (docs):
http://www.qdpma.com/ExecStatsZip.html
AutoAudit:
http://autoaudit.codeplex.com/
SQL Server Cache Manager:
http://sqlservercache.codeplex.com/
SQL Server 2005 Performance Statistics Script:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/psssql/archive/2007/02/21/sql-server-2005-performance-statistics-script.aspx
SQL Server 2005 Performance Dashboard Reports:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlrem/archive/2007/03/07/performance-dashboard-reports-now-available.aspx
SQL Server 2008 Performance Dashboard Reports:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/rob/archive/2009/02/18/performance-dashboard-reports-for-sql-server-2008.aspx
SQL Server Health and History Tool (SQLH2):
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=EEDD10D6-75F7-4763-86DE-D2347B8B5F89
Performance Collector: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyid=64983AF0-7902-427E-9B41-7C2E8FDCC140
Performance Reports: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyid=A4B837C7-A1FA-4F25-840B-FEF15E917F18
SqlMonitoring Tool:
http://sqlmonitoring.codeplex.com/
Log Parser 2.2:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=890cd06b-abf8-4c25-91b2-f8d975cf8c07
DMVStats 1.01:
http://sqldmvstats.codeplex.com/
Free Configuration / Policy Tools
Scripted PowerShell Automated Deployment Engine (SPADE):
http://sqlspade.codeplex.com/
Quest Discovery Wizard beta:
http://www.quest.com/discovery-wizard-for-sql-server/
Enterprise Policy Management (EPM) Framework:
http://epmframework.codeplex.com/
Partition Management:
http://sqlpartitionmgmt.codeplex.com/
SQL Server Central Management System:
http://sqlcms.codeplex.com/
SQL Server Express Utility:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=fa87e828-173f-472e-a85c-27ed01cf6b02
Free SQL Server IDEs
Various free tools from Atlantis:
http://www.atlantis-interactive.co.uk/
Toad for SQL Server has a freeware version:
http://toadforsqlserver.com/index.jspa
Free SQL Server eBooks
I was really reluctant to list all of the eBooks I could find, because it is often difficult to asses the legality of many offers out there. Here are a few that I know are legit, and I'll let you search for others on your own.
SQL Server Crib-Sheet Compendium (Amirthalingam Prasanna, Grant Fritchey, Phil Factor, Robert Sheldon, Robyn Page):
http://www.simple-talk.com/sql/learn-sql-server/free-ebook-sql-server-crib-sheet-compendium/
SQL Server DMV Starter Pack (Glenn Berry, Louis Davidson, Tim Ford):
http://downloads.red-gate.com/ebooks/SQLServer_DMV_StarterPack.zip
Defensive Database Programming (Alex Kuznetsov):
http://www.red-gate.com/specials/Ebooks/defensive_database_programming.htm
SQL Server Execution Plans (Grant Fritchey):
http://www.red-gate.com/specials/Grant.htm
Introducing SQL Server 2008 R2 (Microsoft Press):
http://download.microsoft.com/download/C/D/1/CD1648C1-46BC-4C79-B16F-7AF650C186B4/693883ebook.pdf
Brad's Sure Guide to SQL Server 2008 (Brad McGehee):
http://www.red-gate.com/specials/ToolbeltBradsure.htm
Paul Randal's DBA-myth-a-day series
http://www.sqlskills.com/BLOGS/PAUL/post/Myths-and-misconceptions-60-page-PDF-of-blog-posts.aspx
Free SSIS Tools and Resources
SSIS Community Tasks and Components
http://ssisctc.codeplex.com/
Free PowerShell Tools and Resources
PowerGUI:
http://www.powergui.org/downloads.jspa
Free PowerShell IDE:
http://www.hanselman.com/blog/FreePowerShellIDE.aspx
PowerShell Extensions (SQLPSX):
http://sqlpsx.codeplex.com/
TechNet : Scripting with PowerShell:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/scriptcenter/powershell.aspx
PowerShellPack:
http://archive.msdn.microsoft.com/PowerShellPack
Free PowerShell eBooks
An Introduction to Microsoft PowerShell
http://download.microsoft.com/download/a/9/4/a94270c7-ed16-4c72-8280-658c66315719/Windows%20Powershell%20-%20EN.zip
Effective Windows PowerShell
http://keithhill.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!5A8D2641E0963A97!6930.entry?sa=58811724
PowerShell Workbook : server administration
http://blogs.technet.com/b/chitpro-de/archive/2008/02/28/free-windows-powershell-workbook-server-administration.aspx
Master-PowerShell:
http://powershell.com/cs/blogs/ebook/