As 2025 draws to a close, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the incredible progress made with Database Health Monitor, the comprehensive SQL Server monitoring and tuning tool developed by Steve Stedman and his team. In a recent episode of The Stedman SQL Podcast (Season 2, Episode 29), host Steve Stedman and lead developer Mitchell Glasscock walked through the major features added throughout the year. From enhanced auditing capabilities to smarter forecasting and performance insights, 2025 marked a pivotal evolution—culminating in the landmark Version 3 release. Here’s a chronological roundup of the key enhancements that made Database Health Monitor even more indispensable for DBAs in 2025.December 2025: Fresh Off the Press The final release of the year (Version 3.1244) delivered several practical, user-requested tools:
- Structure Change Log
A highly requested auditing feature that tracks schema changes (tables, indexes, procedures, logins, etc.) via database triggers. It logs who made the change, when, on which database, and even the exact SQL statement. Perfect for compliance audits, production change tracking, or identifying dev changes ready for promotion. (Note: Index rebuilds/reorgs are excluded as normal maintenance.) - Disk Space Forecast Report
Projects when drives will run out of space based on historical trends and retention periods. Especially valuable for backup planning—this report helps avoid surprises by forecasting months (or years) ahead. - Terminate Sessions from Open Transactions Report
Now you can kill long-running or forgotten open transactions directly from the report—critical for preventing issues like TempDB bloat under RCSI. - Sortable Timeline Charts
Added sorting to the Job History and Backup History timeline views, making it easy to see what runs at specific times (e.g., all jobs firing at 3 AM).
October 2025: TempDB Focus With Read Committed Snapshot Isolation (RCSI) becoming more common, TempDB issues rose in prominence:
- TempDB Allocation History Report
Visualizes how TempDB space is used over time (version store vs. user objects). Quickly identifies if RCSI + open transactions are causing massive growth—think multi-terabyte TempDBs on otherwise modest servers.
Continued emphasis on drill-down everywhere—e.g., clicking into blocking by hour now shows the actual blocking queries.August 2025: The Big Version 3 Release This was the game-changer:
- Shift to Paid Licensing (with 30-Day Free Trial)
To sustain ongoing development (including full-time developers Mitchell and George), the free perpetual version ended. Now it’s a low-cost annual license ($399 for up to 20 servers—one of the most affordable professional tools available). Existing managed/mentoring clients get it free. - DB Assistant
An intelligent health checker that runs on-demand, highlights configuration issues, performance risks (e.g., open transactions), and suggests fixes—many with one-click remediation. It even recommends relevant tutorial videos. - Revamped Performance Monitor
A centralized “what’s hurting performance right now” dashboard with blocking, missing indexes, CPU, sessions, and more. Includes timed capture mode for automated reporting. - Problem Indexes Report
Flags disabled, poorly designed, or suboptimal indexes. - CPU by Query Report
Drill down from CPU by Database to see exactly which queries are the biggest CPU consumers. - Rewards Program
Paying customers earn free classes, consulting time, and other perks the longer they subscribe.
Enhanced Job History Timeline Chart (later improved with sorting).April 2025
- SQL Server Email Alerting
Built-in agent jobs that monitor for blocking, job failures, excessive failed logins, and more—sending customizable email alerts. - TDE Status Report
Comprehensive overview of Transparent Data Encryption status across databases. - Table Use Report
Identifies tables that haven’t been queried recently—great for cleanup or archival decisions.
February 2025: Deadlock Deep Dive A full suite for deadlock analysis:
- Deadlock tracking with reports by hour, database, object, and full history.
- Deadlocks Advisor – Graphical view showing victim/winner queries to guide fixes.
(Complements the long-standing blocking reports—remember: blocking slows things down; deadlocks kill one transaction outright.)
January 2025: Foundations for the Year
- Schema Drift Integration
Bundled the powerful database comparison tool directly into Database Health Monitor. - SQL Server Health Summary Report
One-click generation of a comprehensive health document (Word/PDF) aggregating 20+ reports. - Command-Line Parameters
Automate report generation for auditing or scheduling. - Related Links
Contextual navigation and recommended YouTube videos at the top of reports—saves tons of time switching between views.
Why 2025 Mattered These features weren’t developed in a vacuum. They stemmed directly from real-world client needs, DBA feedback, and the team’s own consulting experience. The result? A tool that’s not just reactive but proactively helps prevent fires—whether it’s catching schema drift, forecasting disk shortages, or guiding deadlock resolution. If you haven’t tried the latest Database Health Monitor, head to databasehealth.com and download the 30-day free trial. You’ll get full access to every feature showcased here (except rewards, which unlock with a paid license).Here’s to healthier, better-performing SQL Servers in 2026—thanks to tools like Database Health Monitor and the community that shapes them.
Don’t forget to listen on Spotify!
The main Podcast Episode Page is located on our other website: https://stedmansolutions.com/2025/12/17/stedman-sql-podcast-season-2-ep-29-database-health-monitor-recap-2025/
And you can find all the other episodes at: https://stedmansolutions.com/home/sql-server-podcast/
Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/kBG-lNiRR4E
Check out Season 3 episodes: https://stedmansolutions.com/home/sql-server-podcast/season-3/
Other episodes from Season 2
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