Ten tips for proactive SQL

Server performance
monitoring - Part 1

Greg Robidoux Jeremy Gaige

Edgewood Solutions Idera
gregr@edgewoodsolutions.com www.idera.com
 Today’s Webcast Sponsor
Idera: Solutions for SQL Server
Performance & Availability Compliance & Security

Change Management

Backup & Recovery Administration

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 Agenda
 Performance Monitoring
◦ Real Time Monitoring
◦ Performance Trending
◦ Blocking and Locking
◦ Long Running Queries
◦ Fragmentation
 Automated Tools for Performance
Monitoring
 Questions / Wrap Up

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 Approach
Data collection
◦ Profiler / Trace
◦ SSMS
◦ Performance Monitor
◦ DMVs
◦ Third Party Tools
Dataanalysis
Resolution

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 Real Time Monitoring - Problem
Scenario
◦ Everything has been running great, but all of
sudden the system slows down.
Why is this important
◦ Know what is happening now
◦ Look for things outside the norm

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 Real Time Monitoring - Solution
What to capture
◦ Counters
 OS (CPU, memory, I/O, Network)
 SQL (connections, transactions, memory usage)
◦ Current running processes
◦ Wait stats

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 Real Time Monitoring - Solution
 Counters
◦ Performance Monitor
◦ Task Manager
 Current processes
◦ sys.dm_exec_requests
◦ sp_who2
◦ Activity Monitor
◦ sys.sysprocesses
 Wait stats
◦ sys.dm_os_waiting_tasks
◦ sys.dm_os_wait_stats
◦ DBCC SQLPERF ('sys.dm_os_wait_stats', CLEAR);
 Other tools
◦ Filestats
◦ SSMS Reports
◦ Profiler or server side trace
 Demo

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 Real Time Monitoring - Next Steps
Select the right tools
◦ Performance Counters
◦ Current Processes
◦ Wait Stats
Capture data and analyze
Determine whether system wide or
specific issue
This is just the start…

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 Real Time Monitoring – Tips
http://mssqltips.com/searchbytipid.asp
Tip IDs
◦ 1416
◦ 1265
◦ 1179
◦ 1067

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 Performance Trending - Problem
Scenario
◦ Your company is planning on acquiring new
business and your boss asks if there are
sufficient hardware and database resources.
Why it is important
◦ Get better handle on overall usage
◦ Plan for growth and tuning

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 Performance Trending - Solution
 What to capture
◦ Counters
 OS (CPU, memory, I/O, Network)
 SQL (connections, transactions, memory usage)
◦ Current running processes
◦ Wait stats
◦ Growth stats using sp_spaceused for database, tables
◦ Traces
 Create repository for trending
 SSMS Reports

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 Performance Trending - Solution
How to do this
◦ Pick tools to use
◦ Create tables to store data
◦ Schedule tasks to run and load the data
◦ Create reports from collected data
Demo
◦ sp_spaceused
◦ SSMS Reports

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 Performance Trending - Next Steps
Determine what to capture
How often to capture data
What tools to use
Load into SQL Server for trending
Aggregate data
Analyze data with queries
Download SQL Server 2005 Performance
Dashboard Reports
Setup ongoing trace and PerfMon collection
Setup alerts

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 Performance Trending - Tips
http://mssqltips.com/searchbytipid.asp
Tip IDs
◦ 1475
◦ 1515
◦ 1575
◦ 1212
Other webcasts
◦ http://mssqltips.com/webcast2.asp?id=37

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 Blocking / Locking - Problem
Scenario
◦ You just rolled out some new code and users
are starting to complain that things are taking
forever to complete.
Why it is important
Slows things down
Can lead to a long trail of blocked processes

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 Blocking / Locking - Solution
What to capture
◦ Current running processes
◦ Lock information
◦ Lead blocker
◦ What statements are running

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 Blocking / Locking - Solution
◦ Current running processes
◦ sp_who2
◦ Activity Monitor
◦ sys.sysprocesses
◦ Lock Information
◦ sp_lock
◦ sys.dm_tran_locks
◦ Lead Blocker
◦ Lead blocker script
◦ SSMS Reports – “All Blocking Transactions”
◦ What statements are being run
◦ Use DBCC INPUTBUFFER
◦ sys.dm_exec_sql_text
◦ fn_get_sql
◦ Activity Monitor
 Demo

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 Blocking / Locking - Next Steps
Modify code to keep transactions short
Use hints
Create new indexes or using covering indexes
Avoid doing maintenance tasks during peak times
Automate collection of blocking data
Use SSMS Reports
Use of Isolation Levels
Separate reporting and transactions
Minimize compiles and recompiles
 Automate capture of blocking data
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/271509
 Last resort using the KILL command

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 Blocking / Locking - Tips
http://mssqltips.com/searchbytipid.asp
Tip IDs
◦ 1485
◦ 1257
◦ 1359
◦ 1501

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 Long Running Queries - Problem
Scenario
◦ You’ve fixed all the known issues, you want to
be proactive, now what?
Why it is important
◦ Hog system resources
◦ Identify inefficient code
◦ Improve overall performance

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 Long Running Queries - Solution
What to capture
◦ Identify Long Running Queries
◦ Execution Plans
◦ Query Stats

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 Long Running Queries - Solution
Identify
◦ Profiler
◦ Server side trace
◦ SSMS Reports
Execution Plans
 Review execution plans
 Index usage
Query Stats
◦ Statistics Time
◦ Statistics I/O
◦ WAIT STATS
Demo

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 Long Running Queries - Next Steps
UseDatabase Tuning Advisor
Make changes
◦ Create new indexes
◦ Rewrite queries
◦ Simplify queries
◦ Do not use views upon views
◦ Use EXISTS vs IN
◦ Limit scope of data returned, less columns and
less rows

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 Long Running Queries - Tips
http://mssqltips.com/searchbytipid.asp
Tip IDs
◦ 1035
◦ 1212
◦ 1239
◦ 1545
◦ 1642

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 Fragmentation - Problem
Scenario
◦ This same report has been running for years,
but the users keep complaining it is getting
slower and slower and slower.
Why it is important
◦ Slows down performance
◦ Waste of space
◦ Extra work for SQL Server

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 Fragmentation - Solution
What to capture
◦ Fragmentation information
◦ Auto Grow and Auto Shrink data
◦ OS file fragmentation

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 Fragmentation - Solution
How to do this
◦ DBCC SHOWCONTIG
◦ sys.dm_db_index_physical_stats
◦ sp_spaceused
◦ SQL Server Management Studio
Demo

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 Fragmentation - Next Steps
Gather data
Analyze data
Rebuilds vs Reorganize
Maintenance plans
Selective rebuilds
Use correct fill factors

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 Fragmentation - Tips
http://mssqltips.com/searchbytipid.asp
Tip IDs
◦ 1481
◦ 1165
◦ 1014
◦ 1367
◦ 1339
◦ 1018

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 Monitoring Using Other Tools
Idera SQL diagnostic manager
 Real Time Monitoring
 Performance Trending
 Blocking and Locking
 Long Running Queries
 Fragmentation

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 Questions and Wrap-up
Thanks to our sponsor: Idera
Next webcast in the series: March 4th, 2009,
4pm EST
Special offer for webcast attendees:
◦ Purchase SQL diagnostic manager before March 31st
and get the SQL admin toolset for free (regular price
$495)
◦ SQL admin toolset provides 24 essential tools for
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