Microsoft SQL Server has for many years attempted to auto-manage a lot of the administrative and performance characteristics of its database engine. Although some may disagree, SQL Server’s ease-of-use accolades in the areas of setup and basic administration are well deserved, but what about automatic performance management? Does SQL Server competently handle performance in a way that requires no DBA tuning or intervention? Perhaps a coy way to answer this question is by the following observation: If you visit one of the more popular SQL Server forums on the Internet (SQL Server Magazine’s), you will find over 2,000 posts in the performance question category of the site – more posts than in any category other than general administration. So the answer to the previous question is another question: if SQL Server performance analysis has been made obsolete by self-managed performance, then why so many questions on the topic?

Clearly, performance analysis is still required for SQL Server (and every other database engine). That being the case, how does one best approach the practical application of performance analysis? What techniques are needed to quickly find and remove performance inefficiencies that exist in a SQL Server database? The rest of this paper is devoted to answering these important questions. In addition, the paper delivers a performance optimization roadmap that you can immediately put into play to effectively manage the performance of all your critical SQL Server systems.

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