Microsoft SQL Server Consultant
Blog posts relating to SQL Performance Tuning.
SQL Server tuning is the process of optimizing the database’s configuration, queries, and infrastructure to ensure the system runs as efficiently as possible. The goal is to reduce resource usage, increase query speed, and improve overall system responsiveness. Performance tuning involves analyzing server performance metrics, identifying bottlenecks, and implementing solutions that range from hardware upgrades to query rewriting. These optimizations are crucial for maintaining a smooth user experience and supporting business-critical applications.
A key aspect of performance tuning is query optimization. Poorly written SQL queries, missing indexes, or incorrect indexing strategies often lead to slow query execution. By using tools such as execution plans and SQL Profiler, DBAs can identify and correct inefficiencies in SQL code. Techniques like index tuning, query rewriting, and partitioning can drastically reduce query execution times. Regularly updating statistics and reorganizing or rebuilding indexes further enhances query performance and ensures accurate query plans.
Beyond queries, performance tuning also focuses on the SQL Server environment itself. Configuring server settings, adjusting memory allocation, and fine-tuning I/O operations play a significant role in optimizing database performance. Monitoring tools like Database Health Monitor (available at DatabaseHealth.com) provide insights into server health and potential issues. Stedman Solutions offers comprehensive SQL Server performance tuning services, combining years of experience with specialized tools to ensure your SQL Server environment performs at its peak. Learn more about our managed services at Stedman Solutions.
This week I will be attending and speaking at Vancouver DevTeach. This event taking place on December 2nd to 4th 2013 at the Vancouver Sheraton Wall Center Hotel. Monday and Tuesday I have morning presentations which leaves the rest of the day to attend a few other sessions. Here are the sessions that I will be presenting. Monday: Using FILESTREAM and …
It has been a busy week at SteveStedman.com. Here is a quick summary of this weeks postings: June 14th – CTE Data Paging June 13th – Query To Simulate CPU Load June 12th – Nested CTE’s Gone Wild – The Video June 11th – Nested CTEs June 10th – Database Health Reports – Seven Hundred Downloads So Far June 10th – Multiple CTEs in a …
This is intended as a brief overview of indexing on SQL Server. Understanding and using indexes can lead to some major performance improvements. Non-Clustered Indexes Non-Clustered indexes are often times considered traditional indexing – contains pointers to the data. This is similar to the index at the back of a book. If you open a book to the index, then …
For more information on Common Table Expessions and performance, take a look at my book at Amazon.com: Common Table Expressions Joes 2 Pros®: A CTE Tutorial on Performance, Stored Procedures, Recursion, Nesting and the use of Multiple CTEs There are many reasons that a Temp Table, Table Variable or Common Table Expression can be a good solution, but there is …
Temp Table vs Table Variable vs CTE and the use of TEMPDB. Read more »
Now that Beta 2 of the Database Health Project is out, and people are using it, I am going to focus my attention on 2 areas. Fixing any bugs that are reported in Beta 2 of the Database Health Project. Adding new features, specifically related to offline monitoring or history data. Currently all of the reports in the database health project …
Now that Database Health Beta 2 is out, whats next… Read more »
I often get asked “how do I find the contents of the SQL Server Plan Cache?” My first response is just use the Database Health Reports and you can get this through a nice user interface. But if you still want to get at the Plan Cache contents, I use the following query. Again, the Database Health Reportsgives you a …
Beta 2 of the Database Health Reports has just been released. The new Beta contains several bug fixes, and several new features. Here is a breakdown of what is new or changed since the last beta. New Features Added the Memory by Database panel to the Database Overview page. Added the Memory by Database report. Added Unclustered Tables Report. Added the Connections Advisor which is linked to …
Although clustered indexes are not required, and there are many cases where you should not use a clustered index, quite often clustered indexes can be overlooked when creating a table. This is actually more likely if you are inheriting a database from someone else who didn’t know enough about indexes. In these cases adding the right clustered index can dramatically …
Finding tables that don’t have a clustered index. Read more »
In October last year I started work on the Database Health reports project. It started out as a series of SSRS reports that I released and updated in December 2011 to March 2012. After that it became clear that the SSRS reports weren’t going to do what I was looking for so I started on the Database Health reports version …
It is finally here. Beta 1 of the Database Health Reports for SQL Server. Read more »
As I get the Database Health project ready to release as a beta, more of the components are coming together. For instance shown here is the Table Size Advisor which can be accessed from the Disk Space Report. In this example you can quickly see that the Demographics column in the Person table is taking up 13MB or roughtly 88% …