Perfmon and Profiler for SQL Server

Performance Monitor and SQL Server Profiler are the key to getting started with performance tuning.  I’ll show you how to get started with these tools, how to slice and dice the results, and even how to data mine the results to look for interesting trends.  Whether you like to monitor performance with native tools or third party utilities, knowing how the native tools work will help you get better results out of your tools.

In this one-hour video recorded at the SQLBits 2009 conference, you will learn:

  • Why Perfmon is like a Nissan GT-R’s dashboard
  • What Perfmon counters to measure, and what they mean
  • Four common performance symptoms and how to cure the problems

4 Responses to Perfmon and Profiler for SQL Server
  1. Zaf
    April 12, 2010 | 7:08 PM

    Hey Brent

    This a Univ student trying to learn SQL Server on my own. I was wondering if the Perform has changed over time(windows xp to Windows 7)Im on W7 machine n dont find any resemblance to the steps u talked about while trying to create log counters.
    Am i looking at wrong place.?
    I am looking at what s called “Performance Monitor”

    Any Ignorance to be excused.

    • Brent Ozar
      April 13, 2010 | 7:32 AM

      Hi! Yes, it has indeed changed in Windows 7 & Windows Server 2008. I need to update this article to add screenshots of the new UI.

  2. [...] Brent also has a video which shows how to use SQL Server profiler and Perfmon to find issues with the database engine. You can find the video and the presentation at http://www.brentozar.com/sql-server-training-videos/perfmon-and-profiler-for-sql-server/ [...]

  3. hillbillyToad
    July 20, 2010 | 11:03 AM

    My first thought to your quiz was to serialize the reports, can I have a drink ticket?

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