SQL Server

SQL Server Performance Tuning

Performance problems rarely arrive as a new server. A query, a report or a job that used to finish now does not, and the application team is the one who hears about it.

Why it suddenly gets worse

Common causes are a plan that changed, statistics that no longer match the data, blocking that only shows up at peak, or an index that helped one screen and hurt another. Adding hardware first hides the cause and often does not last.

We start from the statement users are waiting on, then look at waits, Query Store where the version has it, and the indexes that query needs. Tuning sits inside SQL Server DBA services when you also want it watched after the fix.

What we measure

  • The query or job that is actually slow
  • Whether the plan changed
  • Blocking and long transactions
  • Indexes and statistics for that workload
  • CPU, memory and I/O only after the query shape is known

Tell us which screen or job is slow

The SQL Server version and when it got worse are enough to start. We will say if this is a query problem or a capacity problem.