DELL POWER SOLUTIONS Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, November 2006. Copyright © 2006 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. November 200696

DATABASES: SQL SERVER

Many organizations today struggle with complex

administration, widely distributed data, system avail-

ability problems, and high overhead costs. The Microsoft

SQL Server 2005 database platform can help mitigate

or eliminate these problems, providing organizations of

all sizes with an enterprise-grade database platform for

critical online transaction processing and business appli-

cations that can help enhance availability, performance,

scalability, and security.

Planning a migration or upgrade to SQL Server 2005,

however, can be a challenging process. As organiza-

tions plan a SQL Server 2005 implementation, their

first step should be to assess their current environment.

EMC Corporation, a leader in information management

and storage, offers assessments for SQL Server to help

organizations understand their existing environment and

plan for their migration or upgrade.

Carrying out EMC assessments

for Microsoft SQL Server

An EMC assessment for Microsoft SQL Server evaluates

an organization’s existing SQL Server environment and

provides recommendations for a migration or upgrade.

EMC gathers information about the environment nonin-

trusively and then uses this information to provide guid-

ance based on actual environmental metrics, including

architectural insights and advice as well as evaluations of

performance, capacity needs, forecasting, and design.

The first stage of an EMC assessment involves data

collection and analysis. The process begins with the

BY CHAD SAKAC AND KEVIN KLINE

Optimizing Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Environments with EMC Assessments and Quest Software

Migrating to or upgrading a Microsoft® SQL Server™ environment can be a challenging

process. EMC provides assessments for SQL Server by using Spotlight® on SQL Server

Enterprise from Quest Software to evaluate database performance. These assess-

ments can help organizations understand their existing environment and plan their

new deployment to meet their performance and availability goals.

Related Categories:

EMC

Microsoft SQL Server 2005

Quest Software

Visit www.dell.com/powersolutions

for the complete category index.

DATABASES: SQL SERVER

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organization completing an in-depth questionnaire about its SQL

Server environment. EMC then uses a variety of data collection

and analysis tools to provide comprehensive information about the

environment. Data is collected for up to 72 hours, during periods of

both high and low activity, to help provide an accurate analysis.

Within days following an assessment, the organization receives

a final report that provides detailed information about the existing

SQL Server environment, recommendations, and an action list and

implementation plan for executing the recommendations. The recom-

mendations cover system and storage infrastruc-

ture, including particular areas where migrations to

SQL Server 2005 and a Microsoft Windows Server®

2003 x64 OS as well as SQL Server optimization

can provide benefits. The summary report also

includes recommendations to help maximize local

backup and recovery capabilities, create test and

development replicas, and protect the SQL Server

environment from a site disaster.

Enhancing the assessment process

with data collection and analysis tools

EMC uses multiple tools to help provide accurate

assessment information. The most basic of these

tools is Microsoft Windows® Performance Monitor ®

(perfmon). Perfmon collects and records performance

counters from the Windows OS and SQL Server data-

base, measuring the amount of activity within a dis-

crete area of the OS or database. However, perfmon

does not correlate these discrete areas of performance

with each other, so after this tool has collected up to

72 hours of activity on the database server, an EMC expert ana-

lyzes this data using internally developed tools and processes.

Figure 1 shows a screenshot of such an analysis.

The perfmon part of the analysis can provide excellent

insight into elements such as utilization, storage I/O profiling,

and SQL Server OS (SQLOS) memory management—all criti-

cal from a server, OS, and storage design standpoint. However,

EMC cannot rely on perfmon alone to provide a thorough

assessment, particularly in the areas of system impact cor-

relation to specific transactions, SQL Server query analysis,

and optimization. Fortunately, powerful tools from Quest

Software have allowed EMC to enhance the speed, accuracy,

and comprehensiveness of its assessment process.

Using Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise from Quest SoftwareWhen searching for tools to enhance its assessment process,

EMC wanted to provide its field experts with immediate and

simple analysis of OS and database performance; real-time,

granular, root-cause analysis; correlation of performance

metrics with SQL Server user activity; and a detailed knowledge

base for understanding and diagnosing performance bottlenecks.

Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise from Quest Software met

these requirements. By providing a visual representation of the

OS and database components through an intuitive graphical user

interface, Spotlight enables quick and easy identification of per-

formance bottlenecks and problem areas. The reports generated

by Spotlight further augment the ability of EMC field experts to

carry out a comprehensive assessment.

Figure 1. EMC analysis of data collected with Microsoft Windows Performance Monitor

Figure 2. Top-level dashboard window in Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise from Quest Software

DATABASES: SQL SERVER

DELL POWER SOLUTIONS Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, November 2006. Copyright © 2006 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. November 200698

Spotlight uses a dashboard approach to depict OS and database

performance. Figure 2 shows the top-level window in Spotlight. A

green gauge indicates that a given component of the database is

functioning properly, a yellow gauge indicates a potential prob-

lem, and a red gauge indicates an outright problem, an error, or

a serious bottleneck. When a dashboard gauge turns yellow or

red, an EMC expert can immediately view the low-level details to

perform a root-cause analysis.

The thresholds for each level (green, yellow, and red) are

dynamically determined by Spotlight using an internal calibra-

tion process. Spotlight first assesses the normal activity for a

particular server, then configures the thresholds that escalate a

gauge from green to yellow and from yellow to red. (Users can

also configure these settings manually.) For example, Figure 2

shows the CPU Usage gauge at 100 percent, so Spotlight has

turned this gauge red and raised an alert. The EMC expert can

then view the details of the CPU Usage gauge to see CPU activ-

ity, the processes using the CPUs, the processes waiting for the

CPUs, and so forth.

Figure 3 shows an example of a typical Spotlight details

window, in this case for SQL Server sessions. From the major

panels on this screen, users can also view additional session details

and other related information.

In addition to performing real-time monitoring and root-

cause analysis, EMC experts can also research issues within the

extensive Spotlight knowledge base. This knowledge base can

be helpful when an expert does not have personal experience

with a given problem.

Optimizing SQL Server with expert

analysis and tools

Organizations can face many challenges when

migrating to or upgrading Microsoft SQL Server

environments. EMC, which has more than a decade

of experience with SQL Server environments,

offers organizations its expertise and knowledge of

database and storage requirements through EMC

assessments for Microsoft SQL Server. In carry-

ing out these assessments, EMC employs industry

standards, best practices, and useful tools such

as Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise from Quest

Software, which provides real-time database per-

formance information and helps EMC discover

the root causes of potential and existing database

problems and bottlenecks.

EMC assessments for Microsoft SQL Server

can help organizations understand their existing

environment before moving forward with a

migration or upgrade, by providing real perfor-

mance data, an analysis of the current environ-

ment, and recommendations for the future—with the ultimate

goal of helping organizations enhance SQL Server performance

and maintain their database investment.

Chad Sakac is a director for midsize enterprise solutions at EMC, where

he is responsible for solution validation—creating, testing, benchmarking,

and refining best practices for the primary applications deployed on EMC

platforms. He also manages a global field team of application experts

who work with customers to implement best practices for their critical

application environments.

Kevin Kline is the director of technology for SQL Server at Quest Software,

designing products for database administrators and developers. Kevin is the

author or coauthor of four books, including SQL in a Nutshell and Transact-SQL

Programming, and numerous magazine and online articles. Kevin also serves

as president of the Professional Association for SQL Server and has been a

Microsoft MVP for SQL Server since 2004.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

EMC services for midsize enterprises:

www.emc.com/stdforms/urlTrackServlet.jsp?evntCode=AMA00002357

Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise from Quest Software:

www.quest.com/spotlight_on_sql_server_enterprise

Quest “Worth Upgrading to SQL Server 2005?” Webcast:

www.quest.com/upgrade

Figure 3. Details window in Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise from Quest Software showing SQL Server sessions