SQL Server Performance Tuning

Achieving maximum SQL server performance thru performance tuning is critical to the success of your business. Every failure point means money being lost. SQL Solutions offers SQL server performance tuning tools and services that can help eliminate your SQL server problems.

SQL Solutions comprises a team of experienced Microsoft Certified Database Administrators (MCDBA), Microsoft Certified Technology Specialists (MCTS) and Microsoft Certified Information Technology Professionals (MCITP) who have successfully helped hundreds of small, medium and large sized businesses optimize their database systems’ performance and leverage their SQL Server database system investments.

With SQL Solutions, SQL server performance tuning has never been simpler. Our team of top-notch DBAs and SQL server performance tuning tools can help solve your SQL server performance problems in 6 quick and easy steps.

Let SQL Solutions’ SQL server performance tuning tools and services assist you in making the most out of your technology investment. Contact us today for a no-obligation quote on our SQL server performance tuning services or try our SQL server performance tuning tools today.

Talk to us about your SQL server performance tuning needs. We’d be glad to help you out.

SQL server is slow? Do you have performance issues? Check what do we suggest in such cases.

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Equipped with our very own commercially available SQL Solutions and proprietary software, our SQL Server database performance experts can help you diagnose and resolve existing and potential database performance problems, optimize your database code, and maintain best performance of your SQL Server database system.

While our SQL Server Health Check and Comprehensive SQL Server Diagnostic Report answer the Why’s and What’s of your database performance problems, our SQL Server and Database Performance Optimization service performs the How’s of your database system’s performance optimization.

 SQL Solutions follows a proven diagnostic and performance optimization process that guarantees to solve problems and improve performance of your SQL Server database system:

 

1. Profile and sample the database system’s activity     

 The first step in the diagnostic process is to profile live database activity using a proprietary database tool SQL Xray Recorder, our commercially available database tool SQL Deadlock Detector, and the SQL Server Profiler application. This is normally performed during peak hours of heavy database load or when database performance problems are frequently experienced.

 Depending on the regularity or pattern of the performance problem, database activity may be profiled and sampled more than once, from as short as 15 minutes to as long as I hour in each activity recording.

2. Diagnose performance bottlenecks and offending execution calls

The resulting DTF (Deep Trace File) produced by SQL Xray Recorder is then examined using SQL Xray Viewer, while the trace (.trc) file produced by SQL Server Profiler undergoes analysis with SQL Trace Analyzer.

 At this point, bottlenecks in critical performance areas such as CPU usage, I/O reads, I/O writes, logical reads, logical writes and execution durations are examined and identified. On the other hand, database execution calls responsible for and contributing to the degradation of each performance counter are diagnosed and determined.

 

3. Review database code, execution plans and table indexes

 Based on the diagnostic results gathered in the previous step, database code for all poorly performing execution calls, their execution plans, and indexes defined on (or lacking from) relevant  tables or views are carefully inspected.

 Specific lines or overall code are rewritten and optimized; indexes are created or removed wherever necessary; poorly defined covering indexes are modified, while index and table hints may even be added to queries when needed.

 Using SQL Xray Viewer and SQL Deadlock Detector, problematic locks or deadlocks are also inspected for. When present, offending code and contended objects are reviewed and the same optimization steps as above are performed.

  

4. Test and benchmark optimized code (Before vs. After)

After the initial round of diagnostics and optimization is performed, all altered and optimized code is fully tested.

 Using SQL Server Profiler, traces containing profiled database activity during the first step of the process are replayed (at different times) on two different test databases – one containing the original form and code of the production database, while the other containing all modifications and optimization.

 For each replay, database activity is profiled using SQL Xray Recorder, SQL Deadlock Detector and SQL Server Profiler; DTF file is examined using SQL Xray Viewer, and the resulting trace undergoes analysis with SQL Trace Analyzer.

 Performance results are then compared; SQL Deadlock Detector logs are again examined to check whether problematic locks or deadlocks persist. Steps 2 - 4 of the diagnostic and optimization process are repeated until optimum performance gain is achieved.

 

5. Inspection of the database server's hardware specifications

Finally, in addition to the preceding steps performed, the production database server's hardware specifications are assessed.

 After completely performing and implementing database and code optimization, Step 1 is again performed against the production database server, followed by the diagnostics performed in Step 2. When high CPU utilization remains to be experienced, an upgrade to more powerful processors may be recommended or even required. Persisting high I/O reads and writes may require an upgrade to a larger amount of RAM to improve caching, or an upgrade to a more powerful I/O subsystem. Implementing file groups or the proper RAID level may also be recommended or required.

   To learn more about SQL Trace Analyzer and how it can help you solve your database performance problems, click here. To find out how SQL Deadlock Detector can help you fix lock and deadlock problems, click here. SQL Solutions also offer remote DBA services.

 If you have any inquiries regarding our SQL Server and Database Performance Optimization service, please email us at services@sqlsolutions.com.