When you're monitoring SQL Server, it's better to capture a baseline for those aspects that you're checking, such as workload, Physical I/O or performance. Once you know what is normal, then performance tuning and resource provisioning can be done in a timely manner before any problems becomes apparent. We can prevent problems by being able to predict them. Louis shows how to get started.  Read more...

It is very difficult to pinpoint what ails a server, just by looking at a single snapshot of the data, or to spot retrospectively what caused the problem by examining aggregated data for the server, collected over many months. The answer? Baselines.  Read more...

By capturing baseline data, a well-prepared DBA should get a good idea of what potential issues they will face. In this article Erin Stellato looks at Wait Statistics and what they can tell you about your databases.  Read more...

It can be hard to analyze performance without a baseline. This week, Steve Jones asks how you might use your baseline to better determine what problems you are having with your SQL Server.  Read more...

In this article, we'll tackle the topic of monitoring disk space usage. By tracking how much is in use and how much is still available, over time we'll have the data we need for better capacity planning, and can ensure that a database won't ever run out of disk space.  Read more...

If you have not been capturing baselines on your production servers, then today is the day you can start. This article provides scripts, valid for SQL Server 2005 and higher, which anyone can use to capture basic information about a SQL Server instance.  Read more...

It is widely acknowledged within the SQL Server community that baselines represent valuable information that DBAs should capture. Unfortunately, very few companies manage to log and report on this information, and DBAs are then forced to troubleshoot from the hip and scramble to find evidence to prove that the database is not the problem. This article will make a compelling argument for why DBAs must start capturing baseline information, and will create a roadmap for subsequent posts.  Read more...