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SQL Server performance monitoring with Data Collector Newsletter

February 19, 2014 by Milena Petrovic
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What is SQL Server Data Collector

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SQL Server Data Collector is a feature for performance monitoring and tuning available in SQL Server
Management Studio. It was introduced in SQL Server 2008 and is available in the Enterprise, Standard, Business
Intelligence, and Web editions

What information can it gather?

Data Collector can gather performance information from multiple SQL Server instances and store it in a single
repository. It has three built-in data collecting specifications (data collectors) designed to collect the most
important performance metrics. The information collected by default is about disk usage, query statistics, and
server activity. You can also create additional data collectors and monitor more metrics

How does Data Collector work?

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Data Collector can run constantly, or on a pre-defined schedule
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“The data collector also uses a data warehouse, a relational database that enables you to manage the data that Multiple options to transposing rows into columns
you collect by setting different retention periods for your data.” [1]
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It is recommended for the Management Data Warehouse (MDW) database to be stored in a non-production SQL
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Server instance. The best solution is to use a SQL Server instance designated only for the MDW, as the feature
doesn’t have an option to exclude a specific database from data collecting. Keep in mind that the MDW can A DBA guide to SQL Server performance
troubleshooting – Problems and performance
grow fast and make sure you have enough free disk space available. The MDW growth rate depends on the metrics
number of transactions, and for high-transaction databases, this can be a couple of hundred MBs a day
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One DMW database can be used as a central database repository for all monitored SQL Server instances SQL Server query execution plans – Understanding
and reading the plans

The data it captures is not only displayed in real-time graphs, like with Activity Monitor, but also saved for later SQL Server 2014 – Install a clustered instance – step-
by-step (1/3)
analysis
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Server Management Studio
Besides Data Warehousing, Data Collector uses SQL Server Agent and Integration Services
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database
Once Data Collector is enabled, it creates a number of scheduled jobs necessary for automatic data collection
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and data upload into the MDW database. They are also used to purge stored. The feature also adds tables to the
SQL Server query execution plans – Viewing the
msdb database, to store the configuration, auditing and collection history information, job information and SSIS
plans
packages
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Integration Services packages transform and load the collected data into the MDW database
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“Collection sets are defined and deployed on a server instance and can be run independently of each other. Each How to migrate the logins of a database to a
different server
collection set can be applied to a target that matches the target types of all the collector types that are part of a
Creating and using CRUD stored procedures
collection set. The collection set is run by a SQL Server Agent job or jobs, and data is uploaded to the management
data warehouse on a predefined schedule.” [1] 10 most important SQL Server transaction log myths

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Predefined data collection sets

Solutions
The Disk Usage data collection set collects information about disk space used by both data and log files for all
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databases on the SQL Server instance, growth trends, and average day growth
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UPDATE and DELETE operations

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By default, the Disk Usage data collection set collects data every 60 seconds and uploads data into the MDW objects
database every 6 hours in non-cached mode
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remote sources
“In non-cached mode, collection and upload are on the same schedule. The packages start, collect, and upload data Recover SQL data from a dropped table without
at their configured frequency, and run until they are finished. There is only one job created for collection sets in backups

non-cached mode. Non-cached mode allows for the collection and uploading of data to occur on demand, as well How to restore specific table(s) from a SQL Server
as at the intervals specified in the job.” [2] database backup

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The Query Statistics data collection set collects information about query statistics, activity, execution plans and How to recover SQL Server data from accidental
updates without backups
text on the SQL Server instance. It does not store all executed statements, only 10 worst performing ones
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data

Open LDF file and view LDF file content

To collect more than top 10 worst performing queries, disable the default Query Statistics Collection Set and Quickly convert SQL code to language-specific client
code
create a custom one using T-SQL or its API
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database backup
The Query Statistics data collection set uploads the collected data in the cached mode
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without backups
“In cached mode, the data collection and uploading of jobs are on different schedules, so two jobs are created for How to recover SQL Server data from accidental
each collection set. Cached mode supports continuous collection of data, but less frequent uploads. For example, DELETE, TRUNCATE and DROP operations
the default Server Activity collection set uploads data by default every 15 minutes. However, the collection items are Reverting your SQL Server database back to a
collected every 60 seconds.” [2] specific point in time

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In the cached more, one SQL Server job is executed every 60 seconds to collect the data. This data is stored Migrate a SQL Server database to a newer version of
(cached) into a local cache folder. Another job is run every 15 minutes to read the cached data and insert it into SQL Server

the MDW database How to restore a SQL Server database backup to an

older version of SQL Server

The cashed mode creates less overhead than non-cached

The Server Activity collection set collects information about resource usage (CPU, memory, disk I/O, and
network), SQL Server waits, instance activity (batch requests, logouts, SQL compilations and recompilations,
transactions, user connections, and logins), and operating system activity. Data is collected every 60 seconds and
uploaded in cached mode every 15 minutes

The Data Collector feature is pre-defined to collect the data necessary to identify and troubleshoot most
common SQL Server performance problems. It can be set up easily, without coding. If you want to collect more
than the pre-defined metrics, you can create custom collection sets, but coding is required. The feature provides
comprehensive built-in reports for the default collection sets. In the next part of this series, we will give steps to Categories
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[1] MSDN – Data Collection
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[2] MSDN -SQL Server 2008 Management Data Warehouse
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Milena Petrovic Query analysis (52)

Milena is a SQL Server professional with more than 20 years of experience in IT. She has started Reports (6)
with computer programming in high school and continued at University.
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She has been working with SQL Server since 2005 and has experience with SQL 2000 through SQL Spinlocks (1)
2014.
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Her favorite SQL Server topics are SQL Server disaster recovery, auditing, and performance SSIS monitoring (2)
monitoring. SSRS monitoring (3)

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