Over the weekend I finished reading yet another Red Gate book, this one was SQL Server Hardware by Glenn Berry (t - b). Having earned my crust as a Windows Engineer before honing my SQL Server Skills and becoming a DBA, I have had this book on my reading list since it was published but thought others would give me more benefit and teach me more. Oh how wrong I was, I honestly thought 99% of this book I would already know but the reality is that quite a few of the ideas and practices in this book I have overlooked. There are some great nuggets in here like Windows Power Plans for example. Windows Power Plans to quote Glenn are;
“Designed to let you manage how your server uses power, this setting can have a dramatic effect on processor performance, and is controlled through Windows as well as the firmware BIOS settings”
Our SQL Server estate was indeed using the Balanced plan, taking Glenn’s advice and testing the changes we were able to achieve around a 15% improvement in CPU performance on a 2 CPU server. Given this has no up-front cost, is a low risk change with no downtime surely this is a no brainer?! Yes there is a small increase in power consumption somewhere around 5%-10% between the Balanced and High performance plans but the performance increase is surly worth this.
Go on have a look, I would be interested to see if anyone else has overlooked this setting. Glenn’s book can be found over at SQL Server Central, the eBook format is also FREE!
Anyway, back to what I wanted to bring to your attention, the IT industry is full off acronyms many of which are duplicated across technologies. One of the cool features of Glenn’s book is that Appendix C contains a list of abbreviations used in the book. Below is the complete list;
AMB | Advanced Memory Buffer |
AMD | Advanced Micro Devices |
API | Application Programming Interface |
AWE | Address Windowing Extensions |
BI | Business Intelligence |
BIOS | Basic Input Output System |
CAL | Client Access License |
CDC | Change Data Capture |
CIFS | Common Internet File System |
CISC | Complex Instruction Set Computer |
CPI | Cost per Instruction |
CSS | Customer Service and Support |
CU | Cumulative Update |
DAC | Data Tier Application |
DACPAC | Data Tier Application Package |
DAS | Direct Attached Storage |
DDL | Data Definition Language |
DDR | Data Dependent Routing |
DESC | in T-SQL, Descending |
DIMM | Dual in-line Memory Modules |
DML | Data Manipulation Language |
DMV | Dynamic Management View |
DPV | Distributed Partitioned Views |
DRAM | Dynamic Random Access Memory |
DSS | Decision Support System |
DW | Data Warehouse |
EE | Enterprise Edition |
EFD | Enterprise Flash Disks |
EIST | Enhanced Intel Speedstep Technology |
EP | Extended Protection |
EPIC | Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing |
EPT | Extended Page Tables |
FDR | Full Disclosure Report |
HBA | Host Bus Adaptors |
HT | Hyper-threading |
IDE | Integrated Drive Electronics |
ILP | Instruction Level Parallelism |
IOP | Input Output Operation |
IOPS | Input/Output Operations per Second |
ISM | Incremental Servicing Model |
ISV | Independent Software Vendor |
LPIM | Lock Pages in Memory |
LUN | Logical Unit Number |
MAXDOP | Max Degree of Parallelism |
MCH | Memory Controller Hub |
MDS | Master Data Services |
MLC | Multi Level Cell |
MMC | Microsoft Management Console |
MPIO | Multi Path Input Output |
NIC | Network Interface Card |
NTLM | NT Lan Manager |
NUMA | Non-Uniform Memory Architecture |
ODBC | Open Database Connectivity |
OEM | Original Equipment Manufacturer |
OLAP | Online Analytical Processing |
OLTP | Online Transaction Processing |
OMSA | Open Manage System Administrator |
PAE | Physical Address Extension |
PATA | Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment |
PCU | Public Cumulative Update |
PK | Primary Key |
POST | Power On Self-Test |
QPI | Quick Path Interconnect |
RAID | Redundant Array of Independent Disk |
RAS | Reliability, Availability and Serviceability |
RDIMM | Registered Dual In-line Memory Modules |
RISC | Reduced Instruction Set Computer |
RPO | Recovery Point Objective |
RTM | Release to Manufacturing |
RTO | Recovery Time Objective |
RVI | Rapid Virtualization Indexing |
SAN | Storage Area Network |
SAS | Serial Attached SCSI |
SATA | Serial Advanced Technology Attachment |
SCOM | System Center Operations Manager |
SCSI | Small Computer System Interface |
SKU | Stock Keeping Unit |
SLAT | Second Level Address Translation |
SLC | Single Level Cell |
SMB | Server Message Block |
SMP | Symmetrical Multiprocessing |
SPD | Serial Presence Detect |
SPEC | Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation |
SQLCAT | SQL Server Customer Advisory Team |
SQLIO | SQL IO, a disk benchmarking utility |
SQLOS | SQL Server Operating System |
SSAS | SQL Server Analysis Services |
SSD | Solid-State Drives |
SSMS | SQL Server Management Studio |
SSRS | SQL Server Reporting Services |
SUT | System Under Test |
TAP | Technology Adoption Program |
TDE | Transparent Data Encryption |
TPC | Transaction Processing Performance Council |
TpsE | Transactions per second for TPC-E benchmark |
UCP | Utility Control Point |
VAS | Virtual Address Space |
VT | Virtual Technology |
WSUS | Windows Server Update Services |
Enjoy!
Chris
