Can anyone recommend the best resource for performance tuning a SQL cluster?

I have a couple clusters (each with eight processors total, and 16 GB RAM
total), but am not getting the performance desired. I "inherited" these, I
didn't build them. Can anyone recommend any resources on tuning the cluster
and tuning the SQL service for the best performance?
The Cluster itself has no bearing on performance. You would tune the DB's
just like any other. The only exception is possibly the amount of ram you
use if you have a multi-instance cluster. See here for a start:
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinf...perftuning.asp
Performance WP's
http://www.swynk.com/friends/vandenberg/perfmonitor.asp Perfmon counters
http://www.sql-server-performance.co...ance_audit.asp
Hardware Performance CheckList
http://www.sql-server-performance.co...mance_tips.asp
SQL 2000 Performance tuning tips
http://www.support.microsoft.com/?id=q224587 Troubleshooting App
Performance
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...rfmon_24u1.asp
Disk Monitoring
http://www.sql-server-performance.co...showcontig.asp Understanding
DBCC SHOWCONTIG
Andrew J. Kelly SQL MVP
"Adam Freden" <Adam.Freden@.cpsa-rbha.org> wrote in message
news:uUH3lnnmEHA.3356@.TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> I have a couple clusters (each with eight processors total, and 16 GB RAM
> total), but am not getting the performance desired. I "inherited" these,
I
> didn't build them. Can anyone recommend any resources on tuning the
cluster
> and tuning the SQL service for the best performance?
>
|||Just my two cents. Clusters are almost always built on advanced storage
technology (Except for SCSI-based clusters, which are evil). As such, the
performance of the storage device comes into play. If you find the system
is suffering from I/O limitations, you may need to dig into the SAN
performance and tuning to solve your problems. I would start with the links
Andrew sent and only go after SAN tuning once you have found and fixed all
your other performance issues.
Geoff N. Hiten
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Senior Database Administrator
Careerbuilder.com
I support the Professional Association for SQL Server
www.sqlpass.org
"Andrew J. Kelly" <sqlmvpnooospam@.shadhawk.com> wrote in message
news:%23jH67KomEHA.3100@.TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> The Cluster itself has no bearing on performance. You would tune the DB's
> just like any other. The only exception is possibly the amount of ram you
> use if you have a multi-instance cluster. See here for a start:
>
> http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinf...perftuning.asp
> Performance WP's
> http://www.swynk.com/friends/vandenberg/perfmonitor.asp Perfmon counters
> http://www.sql-server-performance.co...ance_audit.asp
> Hardware Performance CheckList
> http://www.sql-server-performance.co...mance_tips.asp
> SQL 2000 Performance tuning tips
> http://www.support.microsoft.com/?id=q224587 Troubleshooting App
> Performance
>
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...rfmon_24u1.asp
> Disk Monitoring
> http://www.sql-server-performance.co...showcontig.asp
Understanding[vbcol=seagreen]
> DBCC SHOWCONTIG
>
> --
> Andrew J. Kelly SQL MVP
>
> "Adam Freden" <Adam.Freden@.cpsa-rbha.org> wrote in message
> news:uUH3lnnmEHA.3356@.TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
RAM[vbcol=seagreen]
these,
> I
> cluster
>

Can anyone recommend a super fast Raid 10 Scsi controller for SQL?

I have really had enough of Dell's PERC/3 DC controllers.
Firstly they implement Raid 10 as a span of mirrors rather than a stripe.
Secondly they are just very slow even on a plain stripe.
We paid top dollar for these a couple of years ago but they are really
holding our SQL Server back. We have 24 15k U320 disks and three controllers
and wanted the best, safest solution.
ie Raid 10.
Any controller recommendations?
Thanks
Paul
We used such controlled, moved to EMC/Dell CX300.
"Paul Cahill" wrote:

> I have really had enough of Dell's PERC/3 DC controllers.
> Firstly they implement Raid 10 as a span of mirrors rather than a stripe.
> Secondly they are just very slow even on a plain stripe.
> We paid top dollar for these a couple of years ago but they are really
> holding our SQL Server back. We have 24 15k U320 disks and three controllers
> and wanted the best, safest solution.
> ie Raid 10.
> Any controller recommendations?
> Thanks
> Paul
>
>
|||I'd love to go down this route but it's not a financial option to ditch the
24 scsi drives (and the powervaults).
At this point replacing the Perc3/DCs is the only possibility.
Paul
"andsm" <andsm@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:02EE84E1-7BCF-4801-894C-F02EE7A76B19@.microsoft.com...[vbcol=seagreen]
> We used such controlled, moved to EMC/Dell CX300.
> "Paul Cahill" wrote:
|||Dell has the Perc4's out. They are all based on the Adaptec controller.
With 24 drives, unless you use Fiber, you won't get much faster performance.
SCSI is rather slow over copper.
Regards
Mike Epprecht, Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Zurich, Switzerland
IM: mike@.epprecht.net
MVP Program: http://www.microsoft.com/mvp
Blog: http://www.msmvps.com/epprecht/
"Paul Cahill" <noname@.anon.com> wrote in message
news:OlE46KzcFHA.584@.TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
> I'd love to go down this route but it's not a financial option to ditch
> the 24 scsi drives (and the powervaults).
> At this point replacing the Perc3/DCs is the only possibility.
> Paul
> "andsm" <andsm@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:02EE84E1-7BCF-4801-894C-F02EE7A76B19@.microsoft.com...
>
|||When we bought the Perc3/dcs we thought 3 dual channel controllers would be
OK. We didn't realise they cannot do true raid 10.
Many of our disks are not being hit as the raid 10 arrays are span of
mirrors not a stripe. I built most of the arrays as a set of four and one
set of six.
eg the log file is on a raid 10 set of 4 18Gb 15k drives but only two lights
flash because the log is smaller than 18gb. If it was a stripe of mirrors
all four lights would flash.
Any idea if the perc4 does true raid 10.
Paul
"Mike Epprecht (SQL MVP)" <mike@.epprecht.net> wrote in message
news:%23HgnHJ1cFHA.612@.TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> Dell has the Perc4's out. They are all based on the Adaptec controller.
> With 24 drives, unless you use Fiber, you won't get much faster
> performance. SCSI is rather slow over copper.
> Regards
> --
> Mike Epprecht, Microsoft SQL Server MVP
> Zurich, Switzerland
> IM: mike@.epprecht.net
> MVP Program: http://www.microsoft.com/mvp
> Blog: http://www.msmvps.com/epprecht/
> "Paul Cahill" <noname@.anon.com> wrote in message
> news:OlE46KzcFHA.584@.TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
>

Can anyone recommend a super fast Raid 10 Scsi controller for SQL?

I have really had enough of Dell's PERC/3 DC controllers.
Firstly they implement Raid 10 as a span of mirrors rather than a stripe.
Secondly they are just very slow even on a plain stripe.
We paid top dollar for these a couple of years ago but they are really
holding our SQL Server back. We have 24 15k U320 disks and three controllers
and wanted the best, safest solution.
ie Raid 10.
Any controller recommendations?
Thanks
PaulWe used such controlled, moved to EMC/Dell CX300.
"Paul Cahill" wrote:
> I have really had enough of Dell's PERC/3 DC controllers.
> Firstly they implement Raid 10 as a span of mirrors rather than a stripe.
> Secondly they are just very slow even on a plain stripe.
> We paid top dollar for these a couple of years ago but they are really
> holding our SQL Server back. We have 24 15k U320 disks and three controllers
> and wanted the best, safest solution.
> ie Raid 10.
> Any controller recommendations?
> Thanks
> Paul
>
>|||I'd love to go down this route but it's not a financial option to ditch the
24 scsi drives (and the powervaults).
At this point replacing the Perc3/DCs is the only possibility.
Paul
"andsm" <andsm@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:02EE84E1-7BCF-4801-894C-F02EE7A76B19@.microsoft.com...
> We used such controlled, moved to EMC/Dell CX300.
> "Paul Cahill" wrote:
>> I have really had enough of Dell's PERC/3 DC controllers.
>> Firstly they implement Raid 10 as a span of mirrors rather than a stripe.
>> Secondly they are just very slow even on a plain stripe.
>> We paid top dollar for these a couple of years ago but they are really
>> holding our SQL Server back. We have 24 15k U320 disks and three
>> controllers
>> and wanted the best, safest solution.
>> ie Raid 10.
>> Any controller recommendations?
>> Thanks
>> Paul
>>|||Dell has the Perc4's out. They are all based on the Adaptec controller.
With 24 drives, unless you use Fiber, you won't get much faster performance.
SCSI is rather slow over copper.
Regards
--
Mike Epprecht, Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Zurich, Switzerland
IM: mike@.epprecht.net
MVP Program: http://www.microsoft.com/mvp
Blog: http://www.msmvps.com/epprecht/
"Paul Cahill" <noname@.anon.com> wrote in message
news:OlE46KzcFHA.584@.TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
> I'd love to go down this route but it's not a financial option to ditch
> the 24 scsi drives (and the powervaults).
> At this point replacing the Perc3/DCs is the only possibility.
> Paul
> "andsm" <andsm@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:02EE84E1-7BCF-4801-894C-F02EE7A76B19@.microsoft.com...
>> We used such controlled, moved to EMC/Dell CX300.
>> "Paul Cahill" wrote:
>> I have really had enough of Dell's PERC/3 DC controllers.
>> Firstly they implement Raid 10 as a span of mirrors rather than a
>> stripe.
>> Secondly they are just very slow even on a plain stripe.
>> We paid top dollar for these a couple of years ago but they are really
>> holding our SQL Server back. We have 24 15k U320 disks and three
>> controllers
>> and wanted the best, safest solution.
>> ie Raid 10.
>> Any controller recommendations?
>> Thanks
>> Paul
>>
>|||When we bought the Perc3/dcs we thought 3 dual channel controllers would be
OK. We didn't realise they cannot do true raid 10.
Many of our disks are not being hit as the raid 10 arrays are span of
mirrors not a stripe. I built most of the arrays as a set of four and one
set of six.
eg the log file is on a raid 10 set of 4 18Gb 15k drives but only two lights
flash because the log is smaller than 18gb. If it was a stripe of mirrors
all four lights would flash.
Any idea if the perc4 does true raid 10.
Paul
"Mike Epprecht (SQL MVP)" <mike@.epprecht.net> wrote in message
news:%23HgnHJ1cFHA.612@.TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> Dell has the Perc4's out. They are all based on the Adaptec controller.
> With 24 drives, unless you use Fiber, you won't get much faster
> performance. SCSI is rather slow over copper.
> Regards
> --
> Mike Epprecht, Microsoft SQL Server MVP
> Zurich, Switzerland
> IM: mike@.epprecht.net
> MVP Program: http://www.microsoft.com/mvp
> Blog: http://www.msmvps.com/epprecht/
> "Paul Cahill" <noname@.anon.com> wrote in message
> news:OlE46KzcFHA.584@.TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
>> I'd love to go down this route but it's not a financial option to ditch
>> the 24 scsi drives (and the powervaults).
>> At this point replacing the Perc3/DCs is the only possibility.
>> Paul
>> "andsm" <andsm@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:02EE84E1-7BCF-4801-894C-F02EE7A76B19@.microsoft.com...
>> We used such controlled, moved to EMC/Dell CX300.
>> "Paul Cahill" wrote:
>> I have really had enough of Dell's PERC/3 DC controllers.
>> Firstly they implement Raid 10 as a span of mirrors rather than a
>> stripe.
>> Secondly they are just very slow even on a plain stripe.
>> We paid top dollar for these a couple of years ago but they are really
>> holding our SQL Server back. We have 24 15k U320 disks and three
>> controllers
>> and wanted the best, safest solution.
>> ie Raid 10.
>> Any controller recommendations?
>> Thanks
>> Paul
>>
>>
>

Can anyone recommend a super fast Raid 10 Scsi controller for SQL?

I have really had enough of Dell's PERC/3 DC controllers.
Firstly they implement Raid 10 as a span of mirrors rather than a stripe.
Secondly they are just very slow even on a plain stripe.
We paid top dollar for these a couple of years ago but they are really
holding our SQL Server back. We have 24 15k U320 disks and three controllers
and wanted the best, safest solution.
ie Raid 10.
Any controller recommendations?
Thanks
PaulWe used such controlled, moved to EMC/Dell CX300.
"Paul Cahill" wrote:

> I have really had enough of Dell's PERC/3 DC controllers.
> Firstly they implement Raid 10 as a span of mirrors rather than a stripe.
> Secondly they are just very slow even on a plain stripe.
> We paid top dollar for these a couple of years ago but they are really
> holding our SQL Server back. We have 24 15k U320 disks and three controlle
rs
> and wanted the best, safest solution.
> ie Raid 10.
> Any controller recommendations?
> Thanks
> Paul
>
>|||I'd love to go down this route but it's not a financial option to ditch the
24 scsi drives (and the powervaults).
At this point replacing the Perc3/DCs is the only possibility.
Paul
"andsm" <andsm@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:02EE84E1-7BCF-4801-894C-F02EE7A76B19@.microsoft.com...[vbcol=seagreen]
> We used such controlled, moved to EMC/Dell CX300.
> "Paul Cahill" wrote:
>|||Dell has the Perc4's out. They are all based on the Adaptec controller.
With 24 drives, unless you use Fiber, you won't get much faster performance.
SCSI is rather slow over copper.
Regards
--
Mike Epprecht, Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Zurich, Switzerland
IM: mike@.epprecht.net
MVP Program: http://www.microsoft.com/mvp
Blog: http://www.msmvps.com/epprecht/
"Paul Cahill" <noname@.anon.com> wrote in message
news:OlE46KzcFHA.584@.TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
> I'd love to go down this route but it's not a financial option to ditch
> the 24 scsi drives (and the powervaults).
> At this point replacing the Perc3/DCs is the only possibility.
> Paul
> "andsm" <andsm@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:02EE84E1-7BCF-4801-894C-F02EE7A76B19@.microsoft.com...
>|||When we bought the Perc3/dcs we thought 3 dual channel controllers would be
OK. We didn't realise they cannot do true raid 10.
Many of our disks are not being hit as the raid 10 arrays are span of
mirrors not a stripe. I built most of the arrays as a set of four and one
set of six.
eg the log file is on a raid 10 set of 4 18Gb 15k drives but only two lights
flash because the log is smaller than 18gb. If it was a stripe of mirrors
all four lights would flash.
Any idea if the perc4 does true raid 10.
Paul
"Mike Epprecht (SQL MVP)" <mike@.epprecht.net> wrote in message
news:%23HgnHJ1cFHA.612@.TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> Dell has the Perc4's out. They are all based on the Adaptec controller.
> With 24 drives, unless you use Fiber, you won't get much faster
> performance. SCSI is rather slow over copper.
> Regards
> --
> Mike Epprecht, Microsoft SQL Server MVP
> Zurich, Switzerland
> IM: mike@.epprecht.net
> MVP Program: http://www.microsoft.com/mvp
> Blog: http://www.msmvps.com/epprecht/
> "Paul Cahill" <noname@.anon.com> wrote in message
> news:OlE46KzcFHA.584@.TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
>