SQL Server at the system level

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SQL Server at the system level

SQLDCH

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December 4, 2009 at 11:52 am

#385896

I'm looking for some information about SQL Server at the system level. Some examples:
memory utilization/management
OS interaction
CPU utilization
I/O
Does anyone have links to some good content that will explain to me what SQL Server is doing at the system level? I've googled around but don't get any real meat and potatoes.
TIA.
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GSquared SSC Guru Points: 260824 More actions · Answer 1

I guess I'm not sure what you're asking for. Are you asking about the internal workings of the engine (memory addressing, I/O requests, etc.), or about performance characteristics (baseline CPU use, etc.), or something else?

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Grant Fritchey SSC Guru Points: 398882 More actions · Answer 2

If I understand the question, the best resource I know for this is Kalen Delaney's book: Inside SQL Server 2008: The Storage Engine. Absolutely fantastic.

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SQLDCH SSChampion Points: 11630 More actions · Answer 3

Thanks for the replies.

G, I'd like to know a little more about both of those sections.

I've seen excerpts of Kalen's book (it does look excellent), but does it relate to SQL Server 2005?

Here's some examples of what I'd like to clarify/expand my knowledge of:

"Well it's the way that SQL Server is built, essentially. That is, it was designed to really take over as much of the box as possible. For example, it puts itself into a mode, where it basically will work with the memory directly, and also will schedule threads to be run on the CPUs the way that it wants it to. So it doesn't really pass that off to the operating system to do, because it wants to do it. It wants to take over as much of the box as possible, and that's very different from a lot of other applications that have been successfully virtualized."

"SQL Server will take all memory that is allocated to it (it doesn't share nicely)."

Those are just a couple of quotes from various articles.

I realize this is a big topic, was hoping someone could point me to a blog or article or two that would get me going in some sort of direction.

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Gail Shaw SSC Guru Points: 1004504 More actions · Answer 4

Dan H. (12/4/2009)
I've seen excerpts of Kalen's book (it does look excellent), but does it relate to SQL Server 2005?

The title's actually Inside SQL Server 2005: The Storage Engine. There isn't a 2008 version (well, SQL 2008 internals could be considered the 2008 version++)

Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
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GSquared SSC Guru Points: 260824 More actions · Answer 5

Definitely start with the book. Anything else will mostly be an expansion on that.

Books Online has some details (or MSDN), too.

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Grant Fritchey SSC Guru Points: 398882 More actions · Answer 6

GilaMonster (12/4/2009)
Dan H. (12/4/2009)
I've seen excerpts of Kalen's book (it does look excellent), but does it relate to SQL Server 2005?
The title's actually Inside SQL Server 2005: The Storage Engine. There isn't a 2008 version (well, SQL 2008 internals could be considered the 2008 version++)

Oops. I'm looking at the book as I type and I still get it wrong.

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt

Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning