SQL Server Tips by Robin Schumacher

Tuning that Makes a Difference

It is more important than ever before that the database administrator’s time is not wasted. The explosions in database growth and sheer numbers of managed databases coupled with increased responsibilities signify that every minute of every day is nearly always spoken for. Polls taken of DBAs consistently show the number one task, both in terms of importance and time spent, is monitoring and tuning databases for better performance. Even in an age of supposedly self-managing database engines, it appears DBAs will always have their hands full in this area.

This being the case, it is critical for the DBA to know how to approach tuning in a way such that efforts are rewarded with substantial performance improvements. Many DBAs spend hours tweaking areas of the system that end up not having any serious impact in the overall efficiency of SQL Server. With an increasing workload, this is the last thing they want to focus energy on.

The use of a tuning roadmap that works efficiently and can be systematically followed and applied to all SQL Servers is highly desirable. Finding the needles in the SQL Server haystack is the first step in improving overall efficiency. By smartly following the performance diagnostic methods of bottleneck, workload, and ratio analysis, pinpointing the various areas of SQL Server that need optimization should not be a problem.

What happens once the issues have been identified? Successful DBAs must always be able to correlate their diagnostics with proven resolutions so performance stays razor sharp. While performance tuning will always be an individualized process and somewhat of an art, there is a broad, three step roadmap available to the DBA to be used to work through to keep SQL Server running well.

The above book excerpt is from:

High-Performance SQL Server DBA
Tuning & Optimization Secrets

ISBN: 0-9761573-6-5
Robin Schumacher

 http://www.rampant-books.com/book_2005_2_sql_server_dba.htm