Identifying SQL Server Performance Problems Part 1

Every server, database, storage appliance and network encounter some sort of performance issues. It is a major part of our job as database administrators to properly monitor and fix those performance issues whether it is in your traditional on premises environment or in the cloud. This article will cover ways monitoring performance and how to establish a baseline. We will go over several important performance metrics every database administrator should know and how to gather and interpret those metrics through several different options within SQL Server and your Windows operating system. Now which tool you use to accumulate these metrics… Continue Reading

Storage Tiers What SQL Server DBAs Need to Know

“One Gerbil, Two Gerbils or Three Gerbils?” is a common DBA joke about server and storage performance. No matter how many gerbils power your storage, you need to know what type they are and the power that they provide. Storage is not about gerbils it is about IOPs, bandwidth, latency, and tiers. As a DBA it is important for you to understand and know what kind of storage is attached to your servers and how it is handling your data. It is not important to master everything about it, but it is very advantageous to be able to talk to… Continue Reading