SQL Server Performance Tuning and Monitoring Tutorial

Overview

SQL Server is a great platform to get your database application up and running fast.  The graphical interface of SQL Server Management Studio allows you to create tables, insert data, develop stored procedures, etc., in no time at all.  Initially, your application runs great in your production, test, and development environments, but as use of the application increases and the size of your database increases, you may start to notice some performance degradation or, worse yet, user complaints.

This is where performance monitoring and tuning come into play. Usually, the first signs of performance issues surface from user complaints.  A screen that used to load immediately now takes several seconds.  Or a report that used to take a few minutes to run now takes an hour.  As I mentioned, these issues usually arise from user complaints, but with a few steps and techniques, you can monitor these issues and tune accordingly, so that your database applications are always running at peak performance.

Explanation

In this tutorial, we will cover some of the common issues with performance, such as:

• Deadlocks
• Blocking
• Missing and unused indexes
• I/O bottlenecks
• Poor query plans
• Statistics
• Wait stats
• Fragmentation

We will look at basic techniques all DBAs and Developers should be aware of to make sure their database applications are performing at peak performance.

Greg Robidoux

Greg Robidoux has been working with databases for 35+ years with extensive hands on SQL Server experience from version 6.5 to 2025. He has authored over 250 technical articles and delivered several presentations online and at various conventions. Greg is also the President and founder of Edgewood Solutions, a technology services company delivering services and solutions for Microsoft SQL Server.