SQL Server: Optimizing tempdb Performance : Moving tempDB to a New Location

The size of tempdb can affect the performance of a system. For example, if the tempdb size is too small, the system processing could be too occupied with autogrowing the database to support your workload requirement every time that you start SQL Server. You can avoid this overhead by pre-sizing tempdb. For more information, see Optimizing tempdb Performance and Capacity Planning for tempdb.

Optimizing tempdb Performance

  • Preallocate space for all tempdb files by setting the file size to a value large enough to accommodate the typical workload for the environment. This prevents tempdb from expanding too frequently, which can adversely affect performance. The tempdb database should be also set to autogrow, just in case of unplanned growth. But ideally, any tempDB expansions should be rare.

  • Put tempdb on a fast I/O subsystem.  Use RAID 10 if there are sufficient directly attached disks available. Consider using directly attached Solid State Disks (SSD), such as a FusionIO drive.

  • Create multiple data files to maximize disk bandwidth. Using multiple data files can reduce tempdb contention and yields significantly better scalability. However, do not create too many files because this can reduce performance and increase management overhead. As a general guideline, create as many data files as 1/2 – 1/4 times the number of CPU cores. [Note that a quad-core CPU is considered to be four CPUs.]

  • Make each data file exactly the same size; this allows for optimal proportional-fill performance. Consider tuning on Trace Flag -T1116

  • Put the tempdb database on disks (physical spindles) separate from those used by user databases.

If you’re seeing PAGELATCH (not PAGEIOLATCH) waits on tempdb, then you can mitigate these using trace flag 1118 and creating multiple tempdb data files. Paul Randal wrote a blog post debunking some myths around this trace flag and why it’s still potentially required in SQL 2005 and 2008 – Misconceptions around TF 1118.

 

-- 1.Determine the logical file names of the tempdb database and current location on disk. 

SELECT name, physical_name AS CurrentLocation
FROM sys.master_files
WHERE database_id = DB_ID(N'tempdb');
GO


-- 2.Change the location of each file using ALTER DATABASE.

USE master;
GO
ALTER DATABASE tempdb
MODIFY FILE (NAME = tempdev, FILENAME = 'D:\Data\tempdb.mdf', SIZE = 512MB, FILEGROWTH = 128MB);
GO
ALTER DATABASE tempdb
MODIFY FILE (NAME = templog, FILENAME = 'D:\Logs\templog.ldf', SIZE = 64MB, FILEGROWTH = 64MB);
GO


-- 3.Stop and restart the instance of SQL Server.
net stop "SQL Server"
-- or
net stop "SQL Server (namedinstance)"


-- 4.Verify the file change.

SELECT name, physical_name AS CurrentLocation, state_desc
FROM sys.master_files
WHERE database_id = DB_ID(N'tempdb');

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How to Write Without Writing

I’ve long admired (perhaps even envied) Jeff Atwood’s ability to craft interesting, informative and thought provoking articles on his ‘Coding Horror’ blog. His recent post How to Write Without Writing is a great example why.

Over the last 6 years, I’ve come to believe deeply in the idea that that becoming a great programmer has very little to do with programming. Yes, it takes a modicum of technical skill and dogged persistence, absolutely. But even more than that, it takes serious communication skills:

The difference between a tolerable programmer and a great programmer is not how many programming languages they know, and it’s not whether they prefer Python or Java. It’s whether they can communicate their ideas. By persuading other people, they get leverage. By writing clear comments and technical specs, they let other programmers understand their code, which means other programmers can use and work with their code instead of rewriting it. Absent this, their code is worthless. [Joel Spolsky]

The ability to inform, entertain and present connected ideas is a wonderful skill.

Personally, I’ve always found writing difficult (though perhaps less so in the last 5 years).The main reason I started blogging was to improve my writing (and also to record things I find useful and tend to misplace!). If you set yourself a goal of writing a short blog post once a week, you are forcing yourself to write something. The more often you write, the more likely your writing skills will improve.

Some time ago I answered a question on StackOverflow: Should programmers be able to write clearly? I firmly believe the answer to that question is “Yes”. If you can’t communicate and express yourself clearly, how can you write correct code?

Powershell: Get SQL Server Default File Paths using SMO

I recently needed to find the location of SQL Server’s default data file path in order to create multiple database data files as part of an automated production install. After looking at and discarding a few options that included reading the registry directly, SQL Server Management Objects (SMO) seemed a logical choice. Talking to one of my colleagues, Piers, whose Powershell wizardary has to be experienced to fully appreciate, we (well he!) fired up a Powershell GUI and we took a look at the methods available.

As an aside, if you are not aware of this ‘trick’ it’s worth explicitly mentioning:

In Powershell, first load the relevant assembly into memory (which in this instance is Microsoft.SqlServer.Smo):

  > [reflection.assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SqlServer.Smo") > <span class="kwrd">null</span></span></pre>    Then, create an instance of the type you are interested in (the <span style="font-family:cons;">Server</span><span style="font-family:consMS;"> </span>type):   <pre class="csharpcode"><span style="font-size:85%;">  >smoServer = new-object Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.Server “servername”

and pipe the object instance default method output through Get-Member to list all the Events, Methods and Properties exposed:

  > smoServer  gm </span></pre>    So having done that we found a property named <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.sqlserver.management.smo.server.defaultfile.aspx">DefaultFile</a> which looked promising, but it just returned an empty string. After a bit of digging around, it transpires that it only returns a path if the current location is different to where the master DB is located, so here it is in Powershell:  <pre class="csharpcode"><span class="kwrd">function</span> Get-SQLServerDefaultDataFilePath(  [<span class="kwrd">string</span>]sqlServer = (<span class="kwrd">throw</span> <span class="str">'sqlServer is required'</span>)){   [reflection.assembly]::LoadWithPartialName(<span class="str">"Microsoft.SqlServer.Smo"</span>) >null
smoServer = <span class="kwrd">new</span>-<span class="kwrd">object</span> Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.ServersqlServer

str =smoServer.DefaultFile

# if DefaultFile property is empty, it means default path has not been changed
if (str)      {str}
else
{$smoServer.MasterDBPath}
}
Update: Piers pointed out that Books Online contains a useful section on programming tasks using SQL Server Management Objects (SMO)


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Visual Studio Database Guide

CodePlex is hosting an excellent whitepaper created by the Visual Studio ALM Rangers, containing guidance on working with Visual Studio 2010 Database projects:

Practical guidance for Visual Studio 2010 Database projects, which is focused on 5 areas:

  • Solution and Project Management
  • Source Code Control and Configuration Management
  • Integrating External Changes with the Project System
  • Build and Deployment Automation with Visual Studio Database Projects
  • Database Testing and Deployment Verification

This release includes common guidance, usage scenarios, hands on labs, and lessons learned from real world engagements and the community discussions.

You can download the Visual Studio Database Guide here.

SQL Sentry Plan Explorer

It may not be the greatest named application out there but SQL Sentry Plan Explorer is a free, lightweight, standalone tool that improves dealing with SQL Server query plans so much, you’ll wonder why it hasn’t been incorporated into SSMS (and let’s face it, viewing plans in SSMS really sucks!).

There are several ways to open a plan: In SSMS, right-click a graphical plan and select “Show Execution Plan XML”, then copy and paste the plan XML into Plan Explorer. Or, save an execution plan from SSMS to a .sqlplan file, then open the file from Plan Explorer.

Download SQL Sentry Plan Explorer here.

TSQL: Round to Nearest 15 Minute Interval

A colleague asked me if I had any TSQL to hand that would round down to a 15 minute interval and also round to nearest 15 minute interval. A quick search found several formulas but several had rounding errors. Here are both without any rounding errors.

declare @adate datetime = ‘2010/02/15 23:59:00’

 

— The epoch, or start of SQL Server time: ‘1900-01-01 00:00:00.000’

— select cast(0 as DateTime) as Epoch

 

— Both these formulas will only work until ‘5983-01-24 02:07:00.000’ !!

— select dateadd(n, 2147483647, cast(0 as DateTime))

 

 

— Round down to nearest 15 minute interval (avoiding any rounding issues)

select dateadd(n,(DATEDIFF(n, cast(0 as DateTime), @adate)/ 15) * 15, cast(0 as DateTime))

 

— Round to nearest 15 minute interval (avoiding any rounding issues)

select dateadd(n,((DATEDIFF(n, cast(0 as DateTime), @adate) + 7)/ 15) * 15, cast(0 as DateTime))

As noted, they have the limitation of working only until 5983 AD, but I figure I won’t be around!

Mark Russinovich: “Zero Day”

Microsoft Technical Fellow and all-round Windows Internals expert, Mark Russinovich, has an upcoming book release. And this time it’s not a new edition of ‘Windows Internals’!

His fiction debut, Zero Day, is set in a world completely reliant on technology (sounds familiar), and surrounds the events of cyber infrastructure attacks released on a largely unprepared world.

How to give great presentations

Assuming your user group is actually holding meetings :), User Group Support Services (UGSS) have released a series of videos on “How to give great presentations” aimed at first time speakers and anyone wanting to improve their skills (I know I need to):

This video series guides you through what you need to know to give your first presentation or to improve your existing presentation skills. You’ll learn how to choose the right subject for you, how to break subjects up so that your explanations and demonstrations are clear and understandable, how to construct your slide deck so that it covers essential subjects without sending your audience to sleep, why being nervous is completely normal and what you can do to make it manageable, tips and tricks for giving great demonstrations, how to prepare your laptop so that it does not fight you while you are presenting and finally how to deliver the presentation that you have worked so hard creating.