The first thing to avoid with a snowflake server is change, because change makes these kinds of custom systems fragile. ScriptRock’s GuardRail is a great visual tool for getting an at-a-glance view of any changes to the configuration or your pet server – or just seeing exactly how different it is from any other servers you’re looking at. If it’s a server you can reach on the network, you don’t even need to install an agent to scan it.
GuardRail shows the differences in settings (compared to another system or an earlier scan of the same server) visually as a chart or a wheel, split into the different features and services on the system, from Windows Server features and roles, to environment variables and hotfixes, to SQL schemas, to ports and installed hardware. That makes spotting what’s changed very fast; with additions, deletions and changes clearly color-coded. You can search by keyword or click to drill down into a specific area.
This is ideal for servers that you have to support, but where someone else might be making changes to the workload. You can also use it to make sure the DevTest environment has the same setup as the live server.