Many Microsoft SQL Server database professionals don't know about some of the most elementary and fundamental means of investigating SQL Server performance, writes Quest Software's Kevin Kline in the current issue of Database Trends and Applications.
Kline recently created a popular poster that shows all of the most meaningful and useful Windows Performance Monitor (PerfMon) counters. "Now friends," laments Kline, "PerfMon has been with us since Windows NT Server, and yet, PerfMon counters are a mystery to at least half of the DBAs I meet. Half!"
And, he says, another feature of SQL Server that is also poorly understood is the black box recorder. "In effect, SQL Server 2005 and later keeps two types of background traces running all the time. The first trace is called the default trace. It tracks just a few events inside SQL Server, as they happen, in case you ever have to call Microsoft Support for help." Read the article.