What should the normal values be for performance counters?

  • Hi All,

    I am new to performance tuning, and am wondering - what the normal (okay values not raising an alarm) are for the following performance counters on a HP server with dual processors, 2 GB of RAM and SQL server 2000 standard edition:

    1. Latch wait
    2. I/O wait
    3. Network Wait
    4. Lock wait
    5. CPU wait

    Also if there is a website that explains what the normal values should be, will also be great. Your help is highly appreciated.

    Thanks,

    TK

     

  • To get a 'feel' for these counters (and any other counters for that matter), you will need to establish a performance baseline. What this means is that you should gather sufficient statistics over a period of time (say 1 week continuous), and identify periods where the server is performing normally and times when it is over-stretched.

    The important thing to remember is that the period that you are gathering statistical data should be representative of normal operation for your system.

  • We have started doing that already, using the Quest Central tools. However, I wanted to better understand the statistics eg : if a particular job is taking x amount of minutes everyday, then is there something I can do to make it use x-y amount of time by looking at eg: the network wait time in that time?

  • There is some discussion of this in this article (http://www.sqlservercentral.com/columnists/abressi/2634.asp) published today. It should help you to get started.

  • You might want to buy SQL Server 2000 performance tuning - ms press , this would give you a good start.

    Most counters have to be read in conjunction with others and related to what your server is actually doing, as Paul says, establishing a baseline is crucial. There are often misconceptions of what these counters actually mean , I've had to fight very hard in the past to make ( usually non dba managers ) understand that because a counter has the word wait or lock in it doesn't mean you can directly relate it to application performance ( I don't want to discuss this btw! )

    If you've bought sql diagnostic manager then this will chug away in the background building up a picture of server performance and usage. You still need other skills to make use of it if you have problems but it will give you a baseline.

    Biggest rule if it ain't broke don't fix it - if your server is performing well ( from the application point of view ) don't spend ages looking for problems that don't exist.

    Each server will have its own level too - beacuse counter xyz is abc on one server doesn't always mean it will be the same on another.

    [font="Comic Sans MS"]The GrumpyOldDBA[/font]
    www.grumpyolddba.co.uk
    http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/grumpyolddba/

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