Parallelism and Performance: Are You Getting Full Return on Your CPU Investment?

A webinar from the PASS Performance VC on Aug 3, 2010

A closer look at CXPACKET wait type in SQL Server

If you have a server that has more than one CPU core, you may experience high values of CXPACKET wait types. This is typically due to queries that run in parallel and the real issue is to understand how different versions of a query can impact CXPACKET waits. In this tip we examine how changing a query can impact CXPACKET waits.

Built-In SQL Server Agent Performance Reports in SQL Server 2005

SQL Server 2005 includes a number of built-in reports to assist you in troubleshooting and measuring performance. In this tip I will cover the Built in SQL Server Performance Reports related to SQL Server Agent within SQL Server 2005.

Analyzing I/O Characteristics and Sizing Storage Systems for SQL Server Database Applications

Understanding how to analyze the characteristics of I/O patterns in the Microsoft® SQL Server® data management software and how they relate to a physical storage configuration is useful in determining deployment requirements for any given workload. A well-performing I/O subsystem is a critical component of any SQL Server application. I/O subsystems should be sized in the same manner as other hardware components such as memory and CPU. As workloads increase it is common to increase the number of CPUs and increase the amount of memory. Increasing disk resources is often necessary to achieve the right performance, even if there is already enough capacity to hold the data.

A Perspective on Database Performance Tuning

Fundamentally, database performance tuning is done for two basic reasons, to reduce response time and to reduce resource usage, both of which can apply for any given situation. Julian Stuhler looks at database performance tuning, and why it remains one of the most important topics for any DBA, developer or systems administrator.

SARGable

Time Bomb Coding

Do your system contain a time bomb in the code? David Poole looks at some potential situations where you might be experiencing performance issues and delves into why.

See the compile time

Useful if you think a SQL statement, Function, or SPROC is taking too long to compile.

Top 10 steps to optimize data access in SQL Server. Part IV (Diagnose database performance problems)

It’s time for us to learn how to diagnose different performance and related problems in SQL Server database. Take a look at the following articles to learn the step by step process that we’ve already carried out so far.

Top 10 steps to optimize data access in SQL Server. Part III (Apply advanced indexing and denormalization)

Even after you have applied proper indexing along with re-factoring your TSQLs with best practices, some data access routines might still be there, which would be expensive, in terms of their execution time. There must have been some smart ways to deal with these. Yes there are. SQL server offers you some rich indexing techniques that you might have not used earlier. These could surprise you with the performance benefits they possibly offer. Let us start implementing those advanced indexing techniques: