SQL 2005 Perfmon Objects/Counters

  • I monitor performance on thousands of infrastructure servers and my scope is increasing to even more application servers. My question is what are the top key perfmon objects and counters I should be capturing?

    I am using this performance data for both under-utilized and over-utilized servers for consolidation/virtualization and on the other end of the scope pro-active fixes in our environments so I will also need to get the proper thresholds that would fall in the under-utilized vs. over-utilized spaces. oh yeah, in between I also have a slot I call optimum performance 🙂 any help would be greatly appreciated.

    Kelley

  • I would suggest monitoring the following counters.

    Processor:% Processor Time

    PhysicalDisk:Avg.Disk Queue Length

    PhysicalDisk:Disk Read Bytes/sec and PhysicalDisk :Disk Write Bytes/sec

    Pradeep Adiga
    Blog: sqldbadiaries.com
    Twitter: @pradeepadiga

  • I do monitor those reqular key counters but need to add the objects/counters specific to sql server 2005, what counters would I use to monitor utilization? what would tell me if a sql 2005 server is under/over utilized?

    thanks much,

    Kelley

  • You may pick the counters as per your requirement from the below URL

    http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms190382.aspx

    Pradeep Adiga
    Blog: sqldbadiaries.com
    Twitter: @pradeepadiga

  • I've got a core, basic, set of counters that I suggest using here. They barely scratch the surface, but they ought to get you started.

    "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
    - Theodore Roosevelt

    Author of:
    SQL Server Execution Plans
    SQL Server Query Performance Tuning

  • Kelly, some key counters and their significance...

    processor queue length ( < 2 / processor )

    disk queue length (<1000/spindle)

    %disk time (obviously <100, the lower the better)

    contect switches/sec (the lower the better)

    Hope this helps,

    Doug

  • This is a great help and a perfect start, thanks so much for your help 🙂

    Kelley

  • Hi,

    We have started monitoring our server's performance using PERFMON counter data.We have a doubt is by running this tool on the server(DB/APP server) of a site ,would result in any performance issues for the site/server?

    Can anyone confirm us on the issues if any in just enabling the counters?

  • IT depends on the number and type of counters used but in my eperience I've never seen more thant a 1% or 2% increase in CPU.

  • Just be sure that you're capturing them to a file and not using the GUI. If this causes your server to go down, you were already in severe trouble and you need this information.

    "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
    - Theodore Roosevelt

    Author of:
    SQL Server Execution Plans
    SQL Server Query Performance Tuning

  • The other thing to bear in mind is how often you are capturing the data. I've read guides where its recommended to change the default value of how big the interval is (in seconds) from 1 second to 1 minute, up to around 10 minutes per 'scan'.

    Also for a list of all specific counters for SQL2005 use the Dynamic Management View: sys.dm_os_performance_counters

    This will however use counters for each DB on the server in question (so you could end up with quite a few!)

  • Hi All,

    I was looking for the same Answer and I Found something really Helpful

    Kindly go through the Following once and I m Sure woudl be a Good Learning for Starters :-):-)

    http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Administration/performancemonitoringbasiccounters/1348/#waittime

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