how do you troubleshoot a database performance issue

First Steps for SQL Server Performance Troubleshooting

• First Step: Pull Yourself Together. You are the person to solve the problem, so you need to be calm even when the people...
• Second Step: Check the Application's Database. Now that you are calm you are ready to check the status of the...
• Third Step: Focus on the SQL Server Instance. To quickly get an overview of the...

Full Answer

How to improve database performance?

Top 5 Ways To Improve Your Database Performance

• Optimize Queries. In most cases, performance issues are caused by poor SQL queries performance. ...
• Create optimal indexes. Indexing, when done properly, can help to optimize your query execution duration and increase overall database performance.
• Get a stronger CPU. ...
• Allocate more memory. ...
• Data defragmentation. ...
• Disk Types. ...
• Database version. ...
• Summary. ...

How does database size affect performance?

Uncontrolled database growth will negatively impact performance and may even cause you to reach your database server's built-in size limit, which in turn can lead to errors like the ones below. Databases hosted in the SQL LocalDB, SQL Server Express and (deprecated) SQL Compact database servers are limited in size by Microsoft.

Does DB backup affect DB performance?

Use SQL database backups to reduce the performance impact of heavy reporting. Depending on your particular environment, database reporting can have a heavy impact on the database performance, can execute queries which run for dozens of minutes or both. This is usually the case with reports which require complex queries having multiple calls to SQL Server’s aggregate functions to be executed against very large data sets.

Do database views affect query performance?

When you use index views in the right situations, they can dramatically improve the performance of SQL Server queries. Tim Chapman explains why performance testing is the best way to tell if indexed views will be beneficial to your database. A view is a saved T-SQL query in SQL Server. The view does not take up any space in the database.

What causes database performance issues?

Database performance issues are a common cause of web application bottlenecks. Most of these problems boil down to a lack of indexing, inefficient queries, and the misuse of data types, which can all be easily fixed. The challenge is identifying them before they reach production.

What tools can you use to troubleshoot database issues?

The main tools that are available to diagnose and troubleshoot database issues are: Microsoft™ SQL Server Management Studio: the SQL Server administration tool. Windows Event Log: SQL Server writes error information to the event log under some circumstances.

How do you check database performance?

Five Best Practices for Proactive Database Performance MonitoringMonitor Availability and Resource Consumption. This first step of proactive monitoring is to check whether all databases are online at regular intervals. ... Measure and Compare Throughput. ... Monitor Expensive Queries. ... Track Database Changes. ... Monitor Logs.

How do you resolve slow database response issues?

Keeping the data in memory gives SQL Server quicker access to it instead of making the long, slow trip to disk. This measure can open your eyes and lead you towards issues that can be resolved. you can get by executing: SELECT object_name, counter_name, cntr_value AS [value] FROM sys.

What is troubleshoot in SQL?

To start troubleshooting, you have to define the symptoms first. The most common SQL Server performance symptoms are CPU, memory, network, and I/O bottlenecks, and slow running queries. CPU bottlenecks are caused by insufficient hardware resources. Troubleshooting starts with identifying the biggest CPU resource users.

What is database Performance Analyzer?

Database Performance Analyzer is an application-performance monitoring solution that helps users monitor and analyze database performance. The software is suitable for database administrators (DBAs), developers, system admins and DBA managers.

What is database performance?

Therefore, database performance can be defined as the optimization of resource use to increase throughput and minimize contention, enabling the largest possible workload to be processed. The core of the DBMS contributed to the performance speed equation.

What is key performance indicators in database?

Key database performance metrics are useful for keeping track of database performance and resources and optimizing them for your organization. Doing so enables you to create and maintain quality and high availability (HA) enterprise application infrastructure that reaps tangible results.

What are the main measures of performance of the database system?

Database throughput is one of the most important database performance metrics. It is the volume of work done by your database server over a unit of time such as per second, or per hour. It is usually measured as number of queries executed per second.

How do you improve database performance?

How to Improve Database Performance?1: Check your database server.2: Improve indexing strategies.3: Identify access to database.4: Evaluate connection capacity.5: Optimize Queries.6: Database Performance Resources.

How do you performance tune a database?

Refining your approach to database performance tuningKeep statistics up to date. ... Don't use leading wildcards. ... Avoid SELECT * ... Use constraints. ... Look at the actual execution plan, not the estimated plan. ... Adjust queries by making one small change at a time. ... Adjust indexes to reduce I/O. ... Analyze query plans.More items...•

How can SQL database performance be improved?

How to Optimize Database Performance:Deploy a Performance Monitoring Solution.Use the Latest and Greatest Version of SQL Server and the OS.Design Your Server from the Ground Up.Ensure Your Server Can Handle the Expected Workload.Assign the Optimal Data Types.Resolve Blocking and Deadlocks.Optimize Indexes.More items...•

What are the six tools used for troubleshooting?

Some of the basic network troubleshooting tools are as follows:Ping.Tracert/ Trace Route.Ipconfig/ ifconfig.Netstat.Nslookup.Pathping/MTR.Route.PuTTY.

What are the different types of troubleshooting?

Here we will explore the different kinds of troubleshooting steps and the tools we use for fault detection and closure of the same.Troubleshooting IP Problems.Troubleshooting Local Connectivity Issues.Correcting the Repetitive IP address Entry Issue.Troubleshooting Physical Connectivity Issues.More items...•

Which tool helps in troubleshooting a problem occurring in Windows 10?

Use a fix-it tool with Windows 10Select Start > Settings > Update & Security > Troubleshoot, or select the Find troubleshooters shortcut at the end of this topic.Select the type of troubleshooting you want to do, then select Run the troubleshooter.More items...

How do you troubleshoot a computer problem?

Tech Tips to Troubleshoot a ComputerWhat's Wrong? Determine the who, what, and when of the issue you're experiencing. ... Consult Google. ... Reboot. ... Check Connections. ... Look for Program Updates. ... Close Background Tasks. ... Clean Up Your Hard Drive. ... Run an Antivirus Program.

How to Check Database Performance issue in SQL Server ?

Before resolving the issues, user needs to know the symptoms first. Some of the common issues are associated to CPU, memory, network and I/O bottlenecks and slow SQL queries.

What are the issues with SQL Server?

Most of the common issues encountered by the user of SQL Server database are degradation of performance, which has negative impact on the working of the SQL database. It is necessary to monitor both the hardware and software parameters in order to prevent any SQL Database performance issues.

Why is SQL Server not working?

If some applications are consuming all the resources, SQL Server may lack enough disk resources for its working and would have to wait for long time.

Why is SQL query slower?

The database tables needs to be properly normalized and if not, problem may arise. If the SQL query is well formed or optimized, it can give better performance.

Why is SQL Server memory bad?

Memory issues can be caused by less memory storage and high consumption of memory by SQL Server instances. Improper indexing requires scanning of the SQL Server database table as large number of rows means large table. It needs to be read from disk and the queries will take time to execute.

Why is SQL Server response slower?

The issue cannot be detected easily and often user considers it as the problem related to other resource. If there is a delay of data sent over network, it will lead to slower SQL Server response.

Why are stored procedures good?

Stored procedures provides a good way for performing complex computations as they are already compiled and it requires less network for the result as compared to SQL queries.

What happens if a database goes down?

Databases are fundamental to your entire organization’s ability to deliver services, so if one database goes down, it will likely take down some important dependencies as well. Databases need to be resilient, frequently backed up, and monitored constantly to catch issues before they take down major parts of your infrastructure.

What is the best tool to check database performance?

I highly recommend using a tool such as SolarWinds ® Database Performance Analyzer (DPA) or SolarWinds Database Performance Monitor (DPM) to check database performance metrics. These tools guide you in identifying database performance problems, automating large parts of the troubleshooting process, so you can focus your efforts and attention on critical issues.

What is query performance?

Query performance is one of the most important database performance metrics to monitor. Your database is accessed by queries. If these are formatted poorly or are requesting large amounts of information each time, they’re introducing slowdowns and performance problems into the fabric of the database.

What are the key metrics to monitor?

Key metrics can be grouped into the following categories: Query performance. User and query conflicts. Configuration. Capacity.

Why is it important to keep tabs on database performance?

There are several common database problems you’re likely to encounter when managing a large IT network, and solving these quickly can make a big difference in terms of preventing disruptions for your end users. As a result, it’s critical to keep tabs on database performance, meaning you must be looking at key metrics and common problems in ...

Why is database configuration important?

Database configuration is an important metric to check. If you’ve left everything on the default settings, you may want to try changing some of these settings, checking the results, and then continuing to change configurations and optimize as needed.

Why is my database locked?

While someone is reading a table with a read query, the database will “lock” the table to stop it being changed while it’s being read. If you have many users accessing the database simultaneously, tables can be locked while other users are waiting to read, change, or access them. This results in slowdowns.

How many types of physical database files are there?

There are three types of physical database files:

Why is it important to understand SQL?

Understanding how to deliver SQL execution efficiency is a crucial part of the system development process. It’s especially important during the design stage. Every single database connection comes at a cost, which is why DBAs should always endeavor to use the smallest number of concurrent database connections as possible without compromising the system. If you’re using multi-tiered applications, you should ensure database connections are pooled together.

Why is Oracle tuning important?

Oracle tuning is used to troubleshoot performance issues. When a network user reports slow-loading pages and application delays, it can often be difficult for DBAs to identify the root cause. Database bottlenecks can be caused by multiple system elements, including the computer, the optimizer, and query statement coding. Oracle database performance issues and solutions become clearer when tuning best practices are implemented.

What is Oracle database?

Oracle is a relational database management system that uses Structured Query Language (SQL) to facilitate communication between the database and applications. Before we dive into the basics of Oracle and Oracle database performance tuning, it’s important to understand the terms involved.

What is the language used in Oracle?

The query language used by Oracle is SQL, which is a popular database language for many reasons. SQL allows you to input, alter, retrieve, and remove data in a database, which gives you a significant amount of control. It allows DBAs to attribute and revoke database access and can be used to create functions and views.

Why is SQL important?

One of the benefits of SQL is it’s nonprocedural. This means SQL statements inform the database management system of what should be done, instead of defining a course of action. SQL is easy to learn and can be embedded within alternative host languages, making it a highly flexible database language choice.

What is the PGA in Oracle?

The Oracle database uses two main types of memory structures for retrieving and storing system data: Program Global Area (PGA): The Program Global Area is a collection of memory regions that aren’t shared, each of which contains data and control information for a single server process.

Why is it important to keep track of CPU performance?

Also, when assessing CPU performance it’s important to keep track of all aspects of CPU performance, including CPU ready times (which can tell you about the times your system attempted to use the CPU but couldn’t because all of the CPU’s resources were too busy or otherwise occupied).

How to make MySQL database run faster?

When many records are written to the database and time goes by, the records are fragmented in MySQL’s internal data files and on the disk itself. The defragmentation of the disk will allow grouping the relevant data together, so I/O related operations will run faster, which will directly impact on overall query and database performance. Also, on a somewhat related note it’s also important to have enough disk space in general when running a database; if you’re looking to truly optimize database performance, make sure to utilize disk defragmentation while also keeping plenty of free disk space available for your database.

Is it important to have enough disk space for a database?

Also, on a somewhat related note it’s also important to have enough disk space in general when running a database; if you’re looking to truly optimize database performance, make sure to utilize disk defragmentation while also keeping plenty of free disk space available for your database.

Is EverSQL good for MySQL?

Essentially, EverSQL is one of the most effective online SQL query optimizers currently available; it is capable of optimizing not just MySQL, but MariaDB and PerconaDB queries as well - and you can try it out entirely for free!

What are the challenges of SQL Server?

A situation that a SQL Server database administrator can face is solving an incident in a production environment. An incident involving an online service with high concurrent usage could be one of the most challenging tasks you will face. Suppose you work as a DBA for Ebay; what would happen if this website is unresponsive and the webmaster sends you an email stating that the error logs shows several "Database Timeout" messages. Your phone will start ringing, even your cell phone and suddenly you will be surrounded by many people like your boss, managers, area managers and even the CTO just to make things worse. Depending on how you handle the situation it could increase your value to the company (if you solve the situation quickly who would deny you a salary increase) or on the other hand you could get fired.

Why is disk access time so high?

A high disk access time could be due table or index fragmentation or because of a problem with the disk subsystem.

How long does SQL Server need to access disk?

SQL Server needs a disk access time below 30 milliseconds to operate properly. The quickest way to check for this is to open the SSMS Activity Monitor, expand the Data File I/O view and sort it by Response Time in descending order.

What would happen if no stored procedures were changed?

Even if no stored procedures were changed, the application's front end could have been altered in such a way that creates performance degradation. It could be the case that the application uses a framework like Hibernate for data persistence meaning that the SQL code is not created by the programmer himself.

How to solve a problem when you aren't calm?

First Step: Pull Yourself Together . You are the person to solve the problem, so you need to be calm even when the people around you aren't calm. You can't provide a solution if you don't work in an orderly fashion even if you are the person who should know how to fix the problem.

What is waiting task type?

According to the waiting task type you can get a clue as to what is going on. For example, the previous image shows that at the time of the report execution there was a locking issue in the instance, but you can get other wait types like SOS_SCHEDULER_YIELD or CXPACKET that will tell you that the problem is related to parallelism. You should take a look at the list of wait types and their descriptions on the MSDN help page for the sys.dm_os_wait_stats Dynamic Management View.

Why is my application unresponsive?

When an application is unresponsive it could be that the application's request to the database is queued because of a session blocking a resource. If this is the case, before killing the blocking session you should take a look at what code the session is executing and where did the session originate. Why? Because if this blocking session is from the application the most probable scenario is that when you kill it another session will run the same code, so you have to keep looking for the answer. But if the blocking session is because someone left a transaction opened and went out for a coffee, then you can probably kill it.

Why is my database down?

When your database appears to be down or unresponsive, and you suspect that this might be related to network problems, it's best first to determine whether traffic is blocked to firewall policies or there are actual network problems.

What to do if managed database provider is operational?

If the managed database provider you are using appears to be operational, your next step would be to check the logs for your specific database instance.

Why does my application log when my database is down?

If your database appears to be down, your application logs might give you insight into any problems accepting requests or connecting to the database. Because the application server handles both client requests and requests to the database, it usually logs errors if there are problems with the database.

Why are client applications so susceptible to bottlenecks?

Client applications might be most susceptible to bottlenecks caused by large data volumes. Unlike the app server and database server, where you may have the ability to increase capacity, client applications that run in the browser or on mobile devices are subject to limitations of the browser, operating system, or both.

How many concurrent requests can a single server handle?

For example, a single server instance might handle 100 concurrent HTTP requests with a pool of 20 DB connections.

How to check if a database is operational?

If you're using a managed service for your database, check your cloud provider's status page first. Most cloud providers provide a way to check if their infrastructure is operational, e.g. Digital Ocean, Google Cloud Platform, and AWS.

What is the response status code for failed requests?

You can find these by filtering for requests with a response status code of 5xx, e.g., 500, that indicates a server error.

Common Database Problems

Database Performance Metrics

Best Practices For Checking Database Performance Metrics

• There are several best practices you can follow for checking on your database performance metrics to prevent database problems. If you notice metrics changing rapidly or declining, you can troubleshoot these issues before they become full-blown problems. If you see a database problem occurring, you can pinpoint which aspects of the IT environment a...

See more on dnsstuff.com

Key Takeaways For Identifying Performance Issues