Best Practices in Performance and Availability for SQL Server 2005/2008
Kimberly L. Tripp and Paul S. Randal
This class has three primary goals (for almost all topics/modules): planning,
practice/implementation and post-mortem - with the largest emphasis on
designing/implementing the RIGHT solution. Questions that you must ask are: How
do you choose technologies to fit requirements and effectively use key features
of SQL Server 2005/2008? How does your technology/choice affect workload
performance?
Only after an in-depth plan is developed should you move on to actual
implementation. So what are the areas that you need to consider?
- Architecting for Availability
- Architecting for Performance
- Maintaining Performance and Availability
And just to be clear, this is not a high-level class on planning. This is an
intense, in-depth class encompassing structures, internals, technologies and
solutions. Planning is a critical part of performance, high-availability,
database maintenance and disaster recovery - but the most-often disregarded.
Performance tuning spans many areas within SQL Server from database creation to
database design to the code you execute (ad-hoc or procedural). A single magic
bullet does not exist (indexing is the closest thing to a magic bullet for some
queries). However, to achieve a truly scalable and reliable database it takes a
variety of best practices - from database creation (including file structure and
placement) to table design and creation (using vertical and horizontal
partitioning techniques) to system architecture (including disaster recovery
planning and implementation) to ongoing maintenance. Whether you're trying to
achieve high performance for a few users or scale to support thousands, there
are numerous areas that you can tune to improve performance - proactively. But,
how do you make this a reality?
SQL Server 2005 and 2008 provide a variety of options to help keep your
database more available. However, even in the event of a disaster, are you sure
you know the best path for recovery - with the least amount of downtime and/or
data loss? Putting a well-thought out plan into practice requires a thorough
understanding of the technologies, their pitfalls and the effects of many
technologies when combined. In terms of architecture, we will start by
discussing the most important part of designing an available solution -
requirements. Then we'll show how to use requirements to drive a technology
decision - not the other way around, which happens so often and results in an
inadequate implementation.
No matter how much effort you spend on the design of your database, if you
don't maintain it in production then it will suffer from performance and
manageability problems - and possibly data loss and/or downtime. The key to
availability and performance is well thought-out and automated database
maintenance. The final part of the course will discuss maintenance strategies
required to keep your carefully designed system available and performing well,
plus a primer on recovering from disasters.
If you're planning, or already manage, an enterprise system and want better
performance and availability - then this is the place to be!
Module List:
- Foundations - SQL Server structures and algorithms
- Architecting for Availability
- Architecting for Performance
- Maintaining Performance and Availability
Why should I attend?
Managing an Enterprise SQL Server implementation is not easy. Performance has to be optimal at all times and your systems have to be available for at least 5 9s. It is quite simply something you have to get right for the good of the business. In Kimberley and Paul we are bringing to you two people who have taught and worked on Enterprise class systems throughout the world. They are very well respected in the Industry.
If you are looking to manage an Enterprise SQL Server implementation or are already in charge of one then this is one lecture you cannot afford to miss. Paul and Kimberley will show you things you didn't even know you didn't know
Course Length/Type
Three day instructor led seminar.
Location
1st - 3rd September 2008 de Havilland, Hatfield
de Havilland Conference, Hatfield Hertfordshire. Directions map PDF, and Vistor Information leaflet.
Timetable