How to Find Performance Issues in SQL Server?

As easy as it may seem, working on SQL Server is quite complex regarding issue handling. The major concern for database administrators is how to find performance issues in SQL Servers. 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 get affected with 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 observation of the SQL performance.

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 for preventing 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 how 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 what can be 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 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 usually aren’t 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. 

Ways to Monitor SQL Performance Issues

There are multiple ways that can be helpful in keeping track of SQL Server performance issues and resolving them before they create any bigger issue. We will take a look at these methods one by one to understand them in a better way. 

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 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 the SQL monitoring. 

• SQL Activity Monitor – A tool offered by SQL Server Management Studio to keep a track of the memory usage, CPU Usage, and the locks in the SQL Server. 
• SQL Performance Monitor – To keep the track of CPU Usage and resource usage in the SQL Server, Windows offers the Performance Monitor(PerfMon) tool. 

Both these tools are majorly used to keep a track of the resource usage of the SQL Server and detect any issues that can be caused due to high usage rates. 

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. Hence it becomes important for the database administrators to monitor the SQL Query execution. 

To analyze the SQL Queries, a user can check the Execution Plans for the SQL Queries and can get the following in result:

• 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.

Also Read: How to Improve the SQL Server Query Performance?  Useful Tips.

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. 

• • 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 the 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. There are multiple SQL queries that generate reports regarding different issues in the SQL Server. Here are queries and what they tell 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, users can go for the following solutions:

• Using SQL Server Management Studio – with the help of SSMS, a user can easily find the issues that might be impacting the functioning of the SQL Server, and repair or rebuild the problematic indexes. 
• Using DMV Query – The users can also use the ‘sys.dm_db_index_physical_stats’ query to get a detailed report on the SQL Index. 

Method – 5 Monitor Configuration Issues in the SQL Server

Incorrect configuration settings of the SQL Server can also become a factor to directly impact the SQL performance. So it becomes necessary to monitor the configuration settings in the SQL Server. For the same, the database administrators can use the given methods:

• With SSCM:  To check if the SQL Server has encountered any configuration issues, the users can go for SQL Server Configuration Manager. With the help of this tool, they can analyze and correct the configuration settings. 
• 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.