Dynamic Management Views (DMV) for SQL Server Performance and Tuning

In the earlier versions of SQL Server, it was a daunting task to diagnose and resolve performance issues. With DMV’s being introduced in SQL Server 2005 and enhanced in SQL Server 2008, this task has become much easier now.

Sometime back I had written on Important DMVs to monitor CPU – SQL Server. Here are 6 important DMV’s that in my opinion are very useful to diagnose and tune the performance of your SQL Server Database.

sys.dm_os_performance_counters - Returns a row per performance counter maintained by the server

sys.dm_db_index_usage_stats - Returns counts of different types of index operations and the time each type of operation was last performed

sys.dm_db_index_physical_stats - Returns size and fragmentation information for the data and indexes of the specified table or view

sys.dm_db_index_operational_stats - Returns current low-level I/O, locking, latching, and access method activity for each partition of a table or index in the database.

sys.dm_os_waiting_tasks - Returns information about the wait queue of tasks that are waiting on some resource

sys.dm_exec_query_stats - Returns aggregate performance statistics for cached query plans.

Feel free to share the DMV’s that you think are helpful in tuning a Database performance.

You can also read SQL Azure: Troubleshoot and Optimize Queries using DMV’s – Free Whitepaper

About The Author

Suprotim Agarwal, MCSD, MCAD, MCDBA, MCSE, is the founder of DotNetCurry, DNC Magazine for Developers, SQLServerCurry and DevCurry. He has also authored a couple of books 51 Recipes using jQuery with ASP.NET Controls and a new one recently at The Absolutely Awesome jQuery CookBook.

Suprotim has received the prestigous Microsoft MVP award for nine times in a row now. In a professional capacity, he is the CEO of A2Z Knowledge Visuals Pvt Ltd, a digital group that represents premium web sites and digital publications comprising of Professional web, windows, mobile and cloud developers, technical managers, and architects.

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