Geek Sync Webcast : CSI for SQL: Learn to be a SQL Sleuth

This session shows you how to use the "bottom up/top down" methodology to quickly determine whether the source of a performance problem is your hardware, your database or both.

Developed over a period of 30 years (initially for the mainframe), this methodology applies well to most database systems. Starting with the bottom-up analysis, we will look at the four typical areas where hardware performance issues happen: disk, memory, network, or processor. Using the PAL tool from Codeplex, we will review which Perfmon counters to look at (for SQL Server), how to collect and store the data, and ways to review and report on it. Next, we will match the Perfmon findings up with a top-down approach, looking for long-running, repetitive or excessive queries using XEvents. Approaching the problem from both sides leaves hardly a stone unturned. The server CAN tell us what the problem is, we just need to ask the right questions.

Speaker: Mindy Curnutt is a SQL Server MVP and has been actively involved in the SQL Server Community since 2000. She has presented at her local North Texas SQL Server User Group (2002, 2003, 2015), SQLPASS Summits (2005, 2006, 2012, 2013), and numerous SQLSaturday events (2013-2015). She was a SME for both the SQL 2012 and 2014 Certification Exams and is an MSPress Books co-author. Mindy works for Trimble Navigation/TMW Systems as a distinguished engineer and the director of database architecture.

Topics: Database Performance, Database Diagnostics
Products: SQL Server Tools for Better Performance