The Premiers

Performance Dashboard Reports for SQL Server 2008

2009-04-02T06:25:00Z

Recently, I learned from a colleague that it's possible to run the SQL Server 2005 Performance Dashboard reports on SQL Server 2008, with a couple of slight modifications. There is a great new feature in SQL Server 2008 called Performance Data Collection, which I have blogged about in the past, and this is excellent for tracking SQL Server performance over time across your 2008 estate. There is also the excellent revamped Activity Monitor in SQL 2008. However, if you want to continue to use the Performance Dashboard reports, which many DBA's have found invaluable, they are not supported in SQL Server 2008.

To learn how to configure these reports to run on SQL Server 2008, click here for more information.

Regards,

Rob Carrol, SQL Server PFE, Microsoft UK

SQL Server 2005 Books Online - Make sure you've got the December 2008 version

2008-12-17T14:56:00Z

SQL Server 2005 Books Online (December 2008)

https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=be6a2c5d-00df-4220-b133-29c1e0b6585f&displaylang=en

Download an updated version of Books Online for Microsoft SQL Server 2005. Books Online is the primary documentation for SQL Server 2005. The December 2008 update to Books Online contains new material and fixes to documentation problems reported by customers after SQL Server 2005 was released. Refer to "New and Updated Books Online Topics" for a list of topics that are new or updated in this version. Topics with significant updates have a Change History table at the bottom of the topic that summarizes the changes. Beginning with the December 2008 update, SQL Server 2005 Books Online includes documentation updates for the SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3 (SP3) release.

Books Online includes the following types of information:

Setup and upgrade instructions.
Information about new features and backward compatibility.
Conceptual descriptions of the technologies and features in SQL Server 2005.
Procedural topics describing how to use the various features in SQL Server 2005.
Tutorials that guide you through common tasks.
Reference documentation for the graphical tools, command prompt utilities, programming languages, and application programming interfaces (APIs) that are supported by SQL Server 2005.
Descriptions of the sample databases and applications included with SQL Server 2005.

Itay Braun Senior Premier Field Engineer - SQL Server and BI Microsoft Services - UKE-Mail: itayb@microsoft.com Mobile: +44-796-928-9996 Blog: http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/thepremiers/Veni Vidi Fixit

Microsoft Busniess Intelligence Surface Demo

2008-12-16T12:42:00Z

Hi,

6 Minutes and 33 seconds of magnificent BI Application Roadmap

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAbtc_PZOjs

SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3 is ready for download!!

2008-12-16T12:39:00Z

Microsoft SQL Server Service pack 3 (SP3) can be downloaded at :http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ae7387c3-348c-4faa-8ae5-949fdfbe59c4&displaylang=en

List of the bugs that are fixed in SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3 - http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=955706

SQL Server 2005 SP3 contains the hotfixes that were included in cumulative update packages for SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 from cumulative update package 1 to cumulative update package 9. For more information about the cumulative update packages for SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

937137 - (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/937137/ ) The SQL Server 2005 builds that were released after SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 was released

Note If you are upgrading from SQL Server 2005 SP2 Cumulative Update 10 or from SQL Server 2005 SP2 Cumulative Update 11, you must apply a post-SP3 cumulative update after you upgrade to SP3 to obtain all the fixes. For more information about the post-SP3 cumulative update, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

960828 - (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/960828/ ) Cumulative update package 1 for SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3

How to obtain the latest service pack for SQL Server 2005 - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/913089/

BTW, SQL Server 2005 BOL has been updated recently for Dec '08 - here :

SQL Server 2005 Books Online (December 2008) - https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=be6a2c5d-00df-4220-b133-29c1e0b6585f&displaylang=en

Cheers,

Scottish Area SQL Server User Group

2008-11-10T20:18:00Z

I'm happy to announce that the next Scottish SQL Server User Group will be hosted at Microsoft Edinburgh on the evening of the 13th November. Full details of the agenda and how to register can be found on the UK SQL Server User Group site here:

http://sqlserverfaq.com/events/144/Scottish-Area-SQL-Server-User-Group-Jammin-SQL-Server-2008.aspx

The theme of the meeting is "Jammin' with SQL Server 2008", so I'm looking forward to some freestyle SQL Server 2008 demos and discussions !

Free technical events available for customers & partners in October, November and December

2008-10-17T11:22:00Z

Microsoft

21 October 2008, Reading: Understanding Microsoft's Server Product Licensing in a Virtual Environment

22 October 2008, Bristol: Taking Care of Business Every Day with Small Business Server 2008 and Essential Business Server 2008

22 October 2008, Bradford: TechNet: Security Improvements with Windows Server 2008 and Bitlocker

23 October 2008, Exeter: TechNet: SQL Server - Under New Management

29 October 2008, London: Recipient management, policies and permissions in Exchange Server 2007

29 October 2008, London: Taking Care of Business Every day with Small Business Server 2008 and Essential Business Server 2008

7 November 2008, Reading: TechNet Exclusive! Hear from the Guy who Brought you Microsoft Enterprise Computing for Small and Medium Businesses

17 November 2008, London: Microsoft “After hours” – the sequel

18 November, London: Virtual Earth: Use mapping for user experience to delight your customers

Microsoft Online – MCS Presents
29 October 2008, Online: TechNet Presents: MCS Talks Enterprise Architecture Session 7 - Configuration Management

12^th November, Online: TechNet Presents: MCS Talks Enterprise Architecture Session 8 -Operations Management
26^th November, Online: TechNet Presents: MCS Talks Enterprise Architecture Session 9 –Sharepoint as the strategic platform for the enterprise
10^th December, Online: TechNet Presents: MCS Talks Enterprise Architecture Session 10-Application Virtualization

Cumulative update package 9 for SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2

2008-08-20T12:33:00Z

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 hotfixes are created for specific SQL Server service packs. You must apply a SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 hotfix to an installation of SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2. By default, any hotfix that is provided in a SQL Server service pack is included in the next SQL Server service pack.

Cumulative Update 9 contains hotfixes for SQL Server 2005 issues that have been fixed since the release of Service Pack 2.

Note This build of the cumulative update package is also known as build 3282.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953752/en-us

Itay Braun Premier Field Engineer - SQL Server and BI Microsoft Services - UKE-Mail: itayb@microsoft.com Mobile: +44-796-928-9996 Blog: http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/thepremiers/Veni Vidi Fixit

New TechNet Events: Register Now

2008-08-07T23:47:00Z

We are pleased to announce a new series of TechNet experts. These are delivered by Microsoft technical professionals and deliver level 200 technical "how to" information for IT professionals. They are free to attend.

Virtualisation and Management Technologies
21 August 2008, Liverpool: Microsoft Virtualisation and Management Technologies
9 September 2008, Reading: Microsoft Virtualisation and Management Technologies

11 September 2008, Edinburgh: Microsoft Management and Virtualisation Technologies

SQL Server 2008
10 September 2008, Reading: SQL Server 2008 Unleashed
7 October 2008. Manchester: TechNet: SQL Server - Under New Management

23 October 2008, Exeter: TechNet: SQL Server - Under New Management

A bit of Fun

10 September 2008, London: Microsoft "After Hours" - The Sequel

Exchange Server 2007

29 October 2008, London: Recipient management, policies and permissions in Exchange Server 2007

Licensing
2 October 2008, Reading: An Introduction and overview of Microsoft Licensing

21 October 2008, Reading: Understanding Microsoft's Server Product Licensing in a Virtual Environment

Windows Powershell

14 October 2008, Birmingham: TechNet: Windows PowerShell: Around the Data Centre in 80 Scripts

Unified Communications
2 September 2008, Reading : TechNet: the Microsoft Vision for Unified Communications

Small Business Server 2008 and Essential Business Server 2008

22 October 2008, Bristol: Taking Care of Business Every day with Small Business Server 2008 and Essential Business Server 2008

29 October 2008, London: Taking Care of Business Every day with Small Business Server 2008 and Essential Business Server 2008

Windows Server 2008

16 October 2008, Edinburgh: Windows Server 2008 - What's New and Exciting

European Event

3-7 November 2008, Barcelona: TechED EMEA IT Professionals

Analysis Services Useful Links

2008-08-07T23:11:00Z

In the attached document I listed:· Analysis Services 2005 Tools· Analysis Services 2005 White Paper· List of recommended books· List of some relevant SQL Server 2005 Tools Any comment is much appreciated

Enjoy.

Useful Reporting Services Links (good kickstart with the product)

2008-08-01T11:22:00Z

Reporting Services 2005 useful Links

Written By:

Itay Braun Premier Field Engineer - SQL Server and BI Microsoft Services - UKE-Mail: itayb@microsoft.com Mobile: +44-796-928-9996 Blog: http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/thepremiers/

Veni Vidi Fixit

Administration

Administering a Report Server Database

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa972237.aspx

Querying and Reporting on Report Execution Log Data

Reporting Services stores execution data across several tables in the report server database. Because the internal table structure does not present report execution log data in a format that is accessible to users, you should extract the log data and store it in a separate local report execution log database.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms155836.aspx

Reporting Services Log Files

A report server uses a variety of log files to record information about server operations and status.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms157403.aspx

Configuring Reporting Services for Scale-Out Deploymenthttp://sqlcat.com/technicalnotes/archive/2008/06/05/reporting-services-scale-out-architecture.aspx

Webcasts

Introduction to SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services (Part 1 of 6) (Level 200)

This six-part series presents a comprehensive introduction to Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services for developers. This series is heavy on demos and coding, and light on Microsoft Office PowerPoint. No previous knowledge of Reporting Services is required. In the first webcast, we provide an overview of Reporting Services.

We start by using the wizard to build a simple report. Then we learn about the design tools in the SQL Server Business Intelligence Development Studio. Additionally, we learn about report delivery options, including URL access, the Web service, and the Report Builder.

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032282905&EventCategory=5&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

Introduction to SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services (Part 2 of 6) (Level 200)

This second webcast looks in depth at techniques for delivering canned reports to end users, including URL access, subscriptions, and the Web service. These provide both a push model of report delivery, where a report is automatically delivered, and a pull model, where a user gets a report on an as-needed basis.

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032283016&EventCategory=5&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

Introduction to SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services (Part 3 of 6) (Level 200)

This third webcast focuses on the Report Builder, a tool for ad hoc reporting. We start by examining the Report Builder Client, the tool that helps end users to create ad hoc reports. Next, we learn about the Report Builder Model Designer, a developer tool that allows creation of the business model that represents the underlying data structure.

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032283022&EventCategory=5&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

Introduction to SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services (Part 4 of 6) (Level 200)

In this fourth webcast, we examine some more advanced ideas surrounding report design. Learn how to create tabular reports, matrix reports, linked reports, charts, and sub-reports. This webcast also includes reports that use cascading parameters and dynamic SQL queries.

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032283046&EventCategory=5&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

Introduction to SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services (Part 5 of 6) (Level 200)This six-part series presents a comprehensive introduction to Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services for developers. The fourth webcast in this series delved deeper into advanced reporting designs. This fifth webcast focuses on SQL Server Reporting Services extensibility. We demonstrate a custom data source for SQL Server Reporting Services that reads data that is not accessible through SQL queries. We also demonstrate techniques for including custom code in reports.

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032283054&EventCategory=5&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

Introduction to SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services (Part 6 of 6) (Level 200)

This six-part series presents a comprehensive introduction to Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services for developers.

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032283061&EventCategory=5&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

More webcasts:· MSDN Webcast: End-User Ad Hoc Reporting with SSRS (Level 300)· MSDN Webcast: Integrating Windows SharePoint Services with SQL Server Reporting Services (Level 200)· MSDN Webcast: Intelligent Reporting: Using the Visual Studio 2005 Report Viewer Controls (Level 200)

Virtual Labs:

Last Update 2008-07-02. Check here http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/virtuallabs/aa740409.aspx

for the complete list of labs

· MSDN Virtual Lab: Business Intelligence Reporting Services · MSDN Virtual Lab: Building Integrated Business Intelligence Solutions Leveraging SQL Server 2005 and SharePoint Server 2007 · MSDN Virtual Lab: Business Intelligence- Using Business Scorecard Manager 2005 and ProClarity for Performance Management · MSDN Virtual Lab: Business Intelligence- Report Builder · MSDN Virtual Lab: Business Intelligence- Integration Services · MSDN Virtual Lab: SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services · MSDN Virtual Lab: SQL Server 2005 Report Builder · MSDN Virtual Lab: SQL Server 2005 Report Viewer Controls

More useful DMV queries

2008-07-28T19:16:00Z

in the attached file you can find queries about Blocking, DiskIO, Memory, Running Queries, Indexes etc ...

Itay Braun Premier Field Engineer - SQL Server and BI Microsoft Services - UKE-Mail: itayb@microsoft.com Mobile: +44-796-928-9996 Blog: http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/thepremiers/

Veni Vidi Fixit

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-040 - Vulnerabilities in Microsoft SQL Server Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (Important)

2008-07-09T09:48:00Z

Executive Summary

This security update resolves four privately disclosed vulnerabilities. The more serious of the vulnerabilities could allow an attacker to run code and to take complete control of an affected system. An authenticated attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full administrative rights.

This security update is rated Important for supported releases of SQL Server 7.0, SQL Server 2000, SQL Server 2005, Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE) 1.0, Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE 2000), Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition, Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (WMSDE), and Windows Internal Database (WYukon). For more information, see the subsection, Affected and Non-Affected Software, in this section.

The security update addresses the vulnerabilities by modifying the way that SQL Server manages page reuse, allocating more memory for the convert function, validating on-disk files before loading them, and validating insert statements. For more information about the vulnerabilities, see the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) subsection for the specific vulnerability entry under the next section, Vulnerability Information.

Recommendation. Microsoft recommends that customers apply the update at the earliest opportunity.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS08-040.mspx

Virtual Earth -> Sql Server 2008 Geospatial Data Generator

2008-07-09T00:00:00Z

Virtual Earth -> Sql Server 2008 Geospatial Data Generator

Check this out!

The Virtual Earth -> Sql Server 2008 Geospatial Data Generator (http://mikeo.co.uk/demo/sqlspatial/default.aspx ) is a great tool which generates SQL Server 2008 Geospatial data.

Draw the polygon on the Virtual Earth Map and the T-SQL which inserts the geospatial data is generated automatically.

Cool.

Special Thanks to Keith Burns, a Data Architect in Microsoft, who told me about this website.

Cheers,

Itay Braun Premier Field Engineer - SQL Server and BI Microsoft Services - UK

E-Mail: itayb@microsoft.com Mobile: +44-796-928-9996 Blog: http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/thepremiers/

Veni Vidi Fixit

SQL Server 2005 (64-Bit) Multi-Instance Installations

2008-07-02T05:38:00Z

When you start Installing a SQL Server 2005 (64-Bit) Multi-Instance Farm environment, you may encounter this particular error message during the Installation process itself. Your first SQL Server 2005 ‘Default’ Instance would be successfully installed and then patched upto Service Pack 2. However, when your second ‘Named’ Instance was started – this specific error message might be displayed during the SQL Server 2005 Database Services Installation process : [Microsoft][SQL Native Client][SQL Server]Password validation failed. The Password does not meet Windows Policy requirements because it is too short. To continue, correct the problem, and then run SQL Server Setup again. Launch script file C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.4\MSSQL\Install\instmsdb.sql

The reason that this error message occurs is because your Windows Server 2003 GPO (Group Policy) may be stipulating a password which is greater than 8 characters and this particular password "Yukon90_" (located in the instmsdb.sql file) is only 8 characters in size :

create certificate [##MS_AgentSigningCertificate##] encryption by password = 'Yukon90_' with subject = 'MS_AgentSigningCertificate'

A workaround solution has been discovered, in relation to this Microsoft KB (Knowledge Base) Article : Error message in the SQL Server Errorlog file after you upgrade SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2005 on a server that is running Windows Server 2003: "Unable to update password policy" – http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936892/en-us.Which provides us with the information that this Trace Flag (-T4606) can be used to bypass the Windows Server 2003 Local GPO Password Policy requirements for a SQL Server 2005 Installation. This Trace Flag is added into the Windows Server 2003 System Registry before any subsequent Instances of SQL Server 2005 (whether that be 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 etc) commence, it’s entered into this Registry Key Hive : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.X\MSSQLServer\Parameters

Where the ‘x’ represents the actual numerical increment to the SQL Server 2005 Multi-Instance Environment.

Using BDF_Set_Key.exe

In order for this Registry Key entry to become consistent with any subsequent SQL Server 2005 Instances, a specific executable has been created which will provide us with some continuity here. This BDF_Set_Key.exe will need to be placed into the <Root_Installation_Path>\SQL Setup folder and executed (double-clicked) from this location before the next Installation (2^nd, 3^rd or 4^th etc) of SQL Server 2005 – which will in essence add this Trace Flag (-T4606) into the System Registry to the appropriate position. For example:

During the First SQL Server 2005 (64-Bit) Installation Process as a ‘Default Instance’ –
Database Services would be Installed into the C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\BINN folder
Analysis Services would be Installed into the C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server \MSSQL.2\OLAP\BIN folder
Reporting Services would be Installed into the C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.3\Reporting Services\Report Server\BIN folder
Second SQL Server 2005 Installation as a ‘Named Instance’ –
Database Services would then be Installed into this C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.4\MSSQL\BINN folder

Therefore this Trace Flag (-T4606) would then be added to this System Registry Hive : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.4\MSSQLServer\Parameters

When you execute this BDF_Set_Key.exe, a Windows NT Command Window will ‘pop-up' - along with this Dialogue Box :

You can verify that this Trace Flag has been successfully added into the Windows Server 2003 System Registry by checking the output “BDF_Set_Key.log” file, which will be positioned in the same folder structure (<Root_Installation_Path>\SQL Setup) from where this BDF_Set_Key.exe file was launched.

Using BDF_Del_Key.exe

Once your next SQL Server 2005 Installation has completed successfully and received the Service Pack 2, this System Registry Key can then be removed from the Hive using this ‘BDF_Del_Key.exe’ executable file. The file should also be in this position <Root_Installation_Path>\SQL Setup folder and executed (double-clicked) from there. When this file is run, as before a Windows NT Command Window will ‘pop-up' along with this dialogue box :

You can verify that this Trace Flag has been successfully removed from the Windows Server 2003 System Registry by checking the output “BDF_Del_Key.log” file, which will be positioned in the same folder structure (<Root_Installation_Path>\SQL Setup) from where this BDF_Del_Key.exe file was launched.

These BDF_Set_Key.exe and BDF_Del_Key.exe files have been attached to this Web posting as "BDF_Keys.zip". There is also an MSDN forum posting here : Re: SP1 install problem with password - http://forums.microsoft.com/msdn/showpost.aspx?postid=2238519&siteid=1&sb=0&d=1&at=7&ft=11&tf=0&pageid=0

Thank you,

Gareth Ford

Premier Field Engineer - Microsoft | Services | Mob:+44(0)7791 191780 | 0870 501 0800 (Technical support UK only) http://www.microsoft.com/uk/support http://www.microsoft.co.uk/premierpeople/ Microsoft Limited (company number 01624297) is a company registered in England and Wales whose registered office is at Microsoft Campus, Thames Valley Park, Reading. RG6 1WG

Blog: http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/thepremiers/ People Talk, I deliver

SQL Server 2008 - Performance Studio

2008-06-20T17:11:00Z

I've been looking at this new feature of SQL Server 2008 in order to demo it to customers, and I have to say it's pretty cool ! Along with Resource Governor and compression, it's one of my favourite new features and a good reason to consider an upgrade. Performance Studio builds on the concept of the Database Reports in SQL Server 2005 and the Performance Dashboard introduced in SQL Server 2005 SP2. Like it's predecessors, it's built on top of standard DMV's but with one crucial advantage... data is historical and is persisted across service restarts. Previously, you had to roll your own code in order to persist DMV data, now SQL Server 2008 gives you it straight out the box.

Setting it up is easy... expand the 'Management' folder and then right-click 'Data Collection' then 'Configure Management Data Warehouse'. This opens a wizard which guides you through the configuration of the Management Data Warehouse (MDW). Select the 'Create or Upgrade a Management Data Warehouse' option and enter your server details. You can either configure a new database or use an existing one in order to collect the performance data.

Once the MDW has been configured, run through the wizard again and select the 'Set up Data Collection' option. At this point you need to also ensure that SQL Server Agent is running or else the performance counters will not be uploaded to the database. Also, SQL Server Integration Services is required to manage collections. There are 3 new database roles in the MDW database: MDW Admin, MDW Writer, MDW Reader. It's a good idea to restrict access to this database, especially if you are collecting sensitive data. Performance Studio will only collect data against SQL Server 2008 databases, so unfortunately you can't use it to monitor older versions of SQL Server. MSDB is used to store the log entries, Agent jobs and SSIS packages.

When creating the MDW, plan for data growth of up to 250 - 500 MB a day, depending on your query plans and consider running an archive job to aggregate summary data before SQL Server runs it's purge job after 14 days. Regarding performance overhead, Microsoft detected approximately 3 - 4% increase in CPU performance on it's TPC-C tests, which is fairly low overhead.

Performance Studio comes with 3 built-in Collection Sets: Disk Usage Collection Set, Query Activity Collection Set and Server Activity Collection Set. The Disk Usage Collection Set collects data every 6 hours and retains it for a default of 730 days. It gathers data and log disk usage and plots them over time. This gives a nice visual view of data file growth over time.

The Query Activity Collection Set uploads query activity every 15 minutes and retains it for 14 days. It caches active sessions and requests from DMV's every 10 seconds. It uses dm_exec_query_stats and uploads the 3 most "interesting" queries and any queries where the query plan has changed. What constitutes an interesting query, I have no idea :-) These can then be viewed graphically based on CPU, Duration, Total I/O, Physical Reads or Logical Writes. You can drill-down into the reports to show the query text, query plan, showplan and any missing indexes identified that could improve the query execution.

The Server Activity Collection Set may turn out to be the most useful performance tuning weapon. Data is uploaded every 15 minutes to the MDW and is collected every 10/60 seconds depending on the particular counter. This data is retained for 14 days before being purged. It collects data on Server CPU usage, Memory, Waitstats, Disk I/O and Network Usage, amongst others. Again, you can click through these reports for detailed information.

In addition to the built-in functionality, you can also create your own collection sets, however be careful doing this or you may end up collecting huge amounts of data, particularly if you run a SQL Trace collection. However, if you do want to run a Profiler collection, set up a trace in Profiler, select "Export" then "Script trace definition for SQL Trace Collection Set" option. This will then script out the XML trace definition for you which can then be executed against your SQL Server system... pretty cool !

For more information, see the following Webcast. It's well worth taking a look !

https://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?culture=en-US&EventID=1032349947&CountryCode=US

Cheers,

Rob Carrol

PFE SQL Server

Microsoft UK