How to Find Performance Issues in SQL Server?
As easy it may seem, working on SQL Server is quite complex when it comes to issue handling. The major concern for the database administrators becomes how to find performance issues in SQL Server. And solving the SQL performance issues without knowing the actual cause can be challenging for the users. So to help the database administrators, we are here to know and understand the issues impacting the SQL Server performance.
But before moving to the technicalities, let’s first understand the importance and need for SQL Server performance monitoring.
Why Do We Need to Monitor SQL Performance Issues?
There are numerous benefits of monitoring performance issues in SQL Server. Here we will take a look at these reasons and understand the necessity of observing SQL Server performance issues.
- For Maintaining Application Performance
The applications that are directly dependent on the SQL Server database can be affected by bad SQL performance. The performance issues in the SQL Server can further result in the downtime of the applications. This issue can be prevented by timely resolving how to find performance issues in SQL Server.
- Bottleneck Detection and Solution
The SQL Server performance monitoring helps in finding the exact cause of the slow or poor performance of the SQL Database. And before any issue becomes bigger to cause any further challenges in the database, users can resolve them timely.
- Ensuring Organizations’ Smooth Workflow
Today, many organizations are dependent on SQL Server databases for their sensitive and crucial data. One small issue in the SQL Server can majorly affect the whole organization’s workflow. So, to prevent the disruptions, monitoring SQL performance helps.
- Data Loss Prevention
Keeping the track of the SQL Queries can help the database administrators to identify any cause which can turn into a bigger issue. This tracking can help the users with how to find performance issues in SQL Server preventing any data loss due to the underlying problems.
- Better Security in SQL
SQL Server performance monitoring can help the users to track and find any unusual activities taking place in the database. With the help of this, users can easily safeguard their database from any bigger security threats.
All these are the reasons why the monitoring helps the database administrators to keep an eye on all the activities and possible issues in the SQL Server Database. Let’s now take a look at the possible issues we are talking about.
SQL Server Issues That Require Performance Monitoring
There are so many issues in the SQL Server that can affect the complete database and the applications that are linked to it. Some of these challenges in finding SQL Server performance issues are:
- Delayed SQL Queries
- Overload of Resources
- Deadlocks and Blocking
- High Delay Time
- Problems with Index
- High Downtime or Server Crashes
- Major Security Risks
- High Risks of Data Loss or Data Corruption
All these issues require proper monitoring of SQL Server performance issues. Additionally, when a user is stuck with the question about how to find performance issues in SQL Server, they are usually not much aware of the answer. So, we are here to resolve that for the database administrator to ease their tasks related to SQL Server. Let’s take a look at the methods that can be used to monitor the issues in the SQL Server performance.
How to Find SQL Server Performance Issues? Top Ways Explained
Multiple ways can help keep track of SQL Server performance issues and resolve them before they create any bigger issues. We will take a look at these methods one by one to understand them better. To understand SQL Server performance issues and solutions more clearly, we will now take a look at the best ways that help users resolve SQL Server performance issues. The first method is to monitor performance in SQL Server.
Also Read: Best SQL Server Monitoring Tools For Better SQL Performance.
Method 1: Monitoring the SQL Server Performance
As we already know, there can be many reasons that may be causing the SQL performance issues. So it becomes important to for the users to fix how to find performance issues in SQL Server and check the SQL server resources, if they are working well or not. To do that, you can use various tools like SQL Activity Monitor or SQL Performance Monitor. Let’s take a look at how these tools can help with SQL monitoring.
- SQL Activity Monitor The SQL Activity Monitor is a tool offered by the SQL Server Management Studio. This performance monitoring tool in SQL Server helps users get real-time insights about the SQL database process and its performance. It also helps users track CPU, resource, and memory usage.
- SQL Performance Monitor – The SQL Performance Monitor is a tool offered by Windows to track the system’s overall health, including the resource usage and SQL Server-specific aspects. The PerfMon is also helpful in tracking and providing the CPU, I/O, and disk-related insights.
These tools help users understand how to find SQL Server performance issues concerning high resource usage. The next method we will discuss is analyzing SQL Queries and their performance.
Method 2: By Analyzing the SQL Query Performance
Sometimes the SQL Queries can also become a major reason for the poor performance of the SQL Server. The faulty SQL queries can take longer execution time and use much more resources for the execution. The slow-running queries can affect the performance of the SQL Server. There can be several reasons for the slow-running queries in the SQL database. Additionally, these slow-running SQL Queries can be a sign of underlying issues in the SQL Server. There are a few ways for how to find performance issues in SQL Server and solutions to resolve these issues effectively.
- The SQL Server Management Studio is one of the tools that can help users find and analyze SQL Server Query Execution plans for better results. The Execution Plans for the SQL Queries provide the following insights:
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- SQL Server Queries that might be taking too long to execute or using more SQL resources.
- The queries that might be creating issues due to missing SQL indexes.
- The Dynamic Management Views (DMVs) also help users to get insights into the live queries and work on analyzing them.
With these tools, users will be able to get an analysis of the queries that might be taking longer to be executed or using comparatively more resources. Furthermore, the users are also able to get the analysis of the queries that might be creating issues due to the missing SQL Indexes.
Also Read: How to Improve the SQL Server Query Performance? Useful Tips.
Moving on to the next method, let’s learn the next method that will help the users to understand how to find performance issues in SQL Server by checking for blocking and deadlocks in the Server.
Method – 3 By Checking Blocking And Deadlocks
The SQL Performance issues can also be created due to the blocking and deadlocks in the SQL Server. Here, to understand the issue better, we must first know about what these two terms mean.
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- Blocking in SQL – It occurs when a resource is occupied by a secondary SQL query and the primary SQL query needs to use it.
- Deadlocks in SQL – This occurs when the two SQL queries block each other, stopping them from execution.
To detect and resolve the deadlocks in the SQL Server, database administrators can use the DMV. Let’s now take a look at what a DMV is and how it can help the users.
The DMVs (Dynamic Management Views) are the built-in tools that provide a detailed report of the SQL Server functioning. The DMVs help the users to take a thorough look at the resource usage and SQL query execution. Multiple SQL queries generate reports regarding different issues in the SQL Server. Here are queries and what they tell us about:
- To find out about the Active or running SQL Queries, use the ‘sys.dm_exec-requests’ query.
- To get a report on the index usage of the server, use the ‘sys.dm_db_index_usage’ query.
- For the report on what the SQL server is waiting for, use the ‘sys.dm_os_wait_stats’ query.
- To understand the blocking and locks in the SQL Server, the query is ‘sys.dm_tran_locks’.
Method 4: Check for Indexing Issues
Another reason for the SQL Server performance issues can be poor indexing. Issues in indexing can directly lead to delayed SQL query execution. To find and resolve the issues within the index, we can use a few solutions that will help the us to monitor the database health.
- Using SQL Server Management Studio – SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) is one of the solutions that will help users find any issues regarding the SQL Index. Using SSMS, users can efficiently track and analyze all the issues regarding the SQL Database and resolve any issues, including the SQL Server Database.
- Using DMV Query – Another way of finding the SQL Server Indexing issues is by using the DMV Queries and getting the detailed insights on the SQL Server Logs for better and more precise results. The users can also use the ‘sys.dm_db_index_physical_stats’ query to get a detailed report on the SQL Index.
These tools will allow you to analyze the issues regarding the database log files and further resolve any challenges regarding the Log Files in the Database. The next method for how to find SQL Server performance issues is by checking if there are any configuration issues in the database.
Advanced Solution For SQL Error Logs
In case you have encountered performance issues due to SQL Server Log errors, you can repair and solve them by using the SysTools Log Analyzer. This tool has advanced technical features that can help to do a thorough analysis of the SQL Error logs to find out the issues.
Additionally, the tool also helps to trace the error logs to pinpoint the exact reason that might be causing the performance issues in the SQL Server.
Method 5: Monitor Configuration Issues in the SQL Server
Incorrect configuration settings of the SQL Server can also become a factor to directly impacts the SQL performance. So it becomes necessary to monitor the configuration settings in the SQL Server. To understand the SQL Server Performance issues and solutions, we will now take a look at how users can resolve the misconfigurations in SQL Server. Here, we will learn about these methods and see how they work. The first tool we will be using is the SSCM.
- With SQL Server Configuration Manager: The SSCM is a tool offered by Microsoft to efficiently manage the services and network configurations in the SQL Server. To check if the SQL Server has encountered any configuration issues, the users can go for this solution. With the help of this tool, they can analyze and correct the configuration settings.
- With the Help of SQL Server Management Studio: The SSMS by Microsoft also allows users to run configuration commands in SQL Server and effectively manage the databases.
- With DMV Query: Similarly, users can also try the SQL query for getting the details about the configuration of the SQL Server. The query for the same is ‘sys.configurations’.
With the help of all these methods, one can easily analyze and repair any issues in the SQL Server. These methods make the SQL Server performance issue monitoring easier.
Conclusion
To sum up the article, here we have discussed a major concern of the users, which is, how to find performance issues in SQL Server. Additionally, we have mentioned why performance monitoring is necessary in SQL Server. To make the monitoring process easier, we have also mentioned the methods of monitoring and repairing whatever the issue is arising in the SQL Server.