1. Collecting Performance Metrics
By Tracy Boggiano

2. About Me VOLUNTEER WORK SQL EXPERIENCE PASS INVOLVEMENT
19+ years experience on SQL Server dating back to 6.5
Idera Ace 2018 and Idera Superstar 2018
SQL EXPERIENCE
Co-leader of SIG Advanced DBA of TriPass In Raleigh
Leading getting Linux content in the existing Virtual Groups
PASS INVOLVEMENT
Founder of WeSpeakLinux.com
Member of SpeakingMentors.com
Volunteer with abused and neglected foster children through the NC Guardian ad Litem (volunteerforgal.org) also known as CASA nationwide (casaforchildren.org)
VOLUNTEER WORK
Tracy Boggiano
Database Superhero
Broadvine
Database Superhero 2018

3. Agenda
Why
When
What
How
Why
When
What
How

4. Why
Database Superhero 2018

5. Why Having Performance Metrics is Important
Understanding the trends in your environment
You can find a problem before someone complains
Proactive tuning
Makes troubleshooting easier
Capacity planning
Understanding the trends in your environment
You can find a problem before someone complains
Proactive tuning
Makes troubleshooting easier
Capacity planning

6. Why Having Performance Metrics is Important
Gives you a baseline to show normal performance
What’s the normal CPU Utilization
How much memory is used for Buffer Pool vs. Plan Cache
What is the PLE (Page Life Expectancy)
Shows you abnormalities that need to be investigated
CPU suddenly increases by 10%
Is the Buffer Pool lower than normal or Plan Cache higher than normal
PLE is lower than normal
Gives you a baseline to show normal performance
What’s the normal CPU Utilization
How much memory is used for Buffer Pool vs. Plan Cache
What is the PLE (Page Life Expectancy)
Shows you abnormalities that need to be investigated
CPU suddenly increases by 10%
Is the Buffer Pool lower than normal or Plan Cache higher than normal
PLE is lower than normal

7. When
Database Superhero 2018

8. When Should You Collect Performance Metrics
All the time
Collect samples on a regular interval such as every 30 seconds
Some things that we don’t cover such as table space less frequently
All the time
Collect samples on a regular interval such as every 30 seconds
Some things that we don’t cover such as table space less frequently

9. What
Database Superhero 2018

10. What Systems Should You Collect Metrics On
Production is most important
But your test environment is “production” to your developers
Answer “ALL OF THEM”
Production is most important
But your test environment is “production” to your developers
Answer “ALL OF THEM”

11. How
Database Superhero 2018

12. sp_whoisactive Captures what is occurring now on the server
Can setup to capture to a table for later troubleshooting
EXEC DBA.DBMaint.WhoIsActive
@get_plans = 1,
@get_full_inner_text = 1,
@format_output = 0,
@get_task_info = 2,
@destination_table = 'dbo.WhoIsActiveOutput’;
Setup a job to cleanup the data
Captures what is occurring now on the server
Can setup to capture to a table for later troubleshooting
EXEC DBA.DBMaint.WhoIsActive
@get_plans = 1,
@get_full_inner_text = 1,
@format_output = 0,
@get_task_info = 2,
@destination_table = 'dbo.WhoIsActiveOutput’;
Setup a job to cleanup the data
Kendra Little did a podcast on setting up to run with when an alert fires so you can run under certain conditions

13. Query Store Fix queries that have recently regressed
Identify top queries
Audit the history of query plans for a given query
Analyze the resource usage patterns for a particular database
In 2017
It shows us wait stats for each query
Auto plan correction
Fix queries that have recently regressed
Identify top queries
Audit the history of query plans for a given query
Analyze the resource usage patterns for a particular database
In 2017
It shows us wait stats for each query
Auto plan correction

14. For those who can’t upgrade to 2016/2017 (yet)
Open Query Store
For those who can’t upgrade to 2016/ (yet)
Come with reports integrate with SSMS
Backwards compatible to 2008
Opensource
For those who can’t upgrade to 2016/2017 (yet)
Come with reports integrate with SSMS
Backwards compatible to 2008
Opensource

15. Telegraf Solution
Database Superhero 2018

16. InfluxDB Open Source Time Series Database
Name implies optimized for time-stamped or time series data
So it’s created for storing monitoring data
Tracks events tracked, monitored, downsampled, and aggregated over time
This could be server metrics, application performance monitoring, network data, sensor data, events, clicks, trades in a market, and many other types of analytics data. 
The key difference with time series data from regular data is that you’re always asking questions about it over time.
A Time Series Database is built specifically for handling metrics and events or measurements that are time-stamped.
A TSDB is optimized for measuring change over time.
Open Source
Time Series Database
Name implies optimized for time-stamped or time series data
So it’s created for storing monitoring data
Tracks events tracked, monitored, downsampled, and aggregated over time

17. Grafana
Provides a graphical interface for our data we are going to collect
Very interactive
Provides the ability to create alerts
Provides the ability to add links to charts
Provides a graphical interface for our data we are going to collect
Very interactive
Provides the ability to create alerts
Provides the ability to add links to charts
20% improvement in CPU after turning on Query Store Auto Plan Correction

18. Telegraf Open Source Has many outputs (InfluxDB) Has many inputs
Cassandra
Docker
InfluxDB*
Linux*
MySQL
PostgresSQL
Redis
SQL Server*
Windows*
*The ones we will take a look at

19. AzureDB: sys.dm_db_resource_stats
What Data is Collected
AzureDB: sys.dm_db_resource_stats
Database IO: sys.dm_io_virtual_file_stats
Memory Clerk: sys.dm_os_memory_clerks
Performance Counters: sys.dm_os_performance_counters
Server properties
Wait stats
AzureDB: sys.dm_db_resource_stats
Database IO: sys.dm_io_virtual_file_stats
Memory Clerk: sys.dm_os_memory_clerks
Performance Counters: sys.dm_os_performance_counters
Server properties
Wait stats
Performance counters
Activity – Transaction/sec, Batch requests/sec, blocked processes
Availability Groups
Log Activity
Memory – PLE, Page Reads/Writes sec
TempDB
Resource Governor

20. Installation
Database Superhero 2018

21. Install and Configure InfluxDB
Go to website and use commands for operating system
Using Linux a few extra steps
Start the service
Set to auto start
Add ports to firewall
Create database
Set retention policy
Go to website and use commands for operating system
Using Linux a few extra steps
Start the service
Set to auto start
Add ports to firewall
Create database
Set retention policy

22. Install and Configure Grafana
Go to website and use commands for operating system
Using Linux a few extra steps
Start the service
Set to auto start
Add ports to firewall
Add InfluxDB as data source
Import dashboards
Go to website and use commands for operating system
Using Linux a few extra steps
Start the service
Set to auto start
Add ports to firewall
Add InfluxDB as data source
Import dashboards

23. Setup a Login in SQL Server
Setup user on SQL Server
USE master; GO
CREATE LOGIN [telegraf] WITH PASSWORD = N'mystrongpassword';
GRANT VIEW SERVER STATE TO [telegraf];
GRANT VIEW ANY DEFINITION TO [telegraf];
Setup user on SQL Server
USE master; GO
CREATE LOGIN [telegraf] WITH PASSWORD = N'mystrongpassword';
GRANT VIEW SERVER STATE TO [telegraf];
GRANT VIEW ANY DEFINITION TO [telegraf];

24. How to Setup Telegraf
Download from website from nightly builds ( egraf-nightly_windows_amd64.zip)
Unzip to a network folder
Later we will PowerShell to install on Windows
Then let’s setup the config file(s)
Download from website from nightly builds (
Unzip to a network folder
Later we will PowerShell to install on Windows
Then let’s setup the config file(s)

25. Demo
Go through conf file
Database Superhero 2018

26. Install Telegraf on SQL Server on Windows
PowerShell Script
$servers
'server1', 'server2' )
$servers | % {
Write-Host "$($_)..."
New-Item -Path "\\$($_)\c$\Program Files\telegraf" -ItemType Directory -Force
Copy-Item -Path "\\server\telegraf\telegraf.*" -Destination "\\$($_)\c$\Program Files\telegraf\" -Force
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $_ -ScriptBlock {
Stop-Service -Name telegraf -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
& "c:\program files\telegraf\telegraf.exe" --service install -config "c:\program files\telegraf\telegraf.conf"
Start-Service -Name telegraf }

27. Install Telegraf on SQL Server on Linux
Go to website and use commands for operating system
Using Linux a few extra steps
Create config file
Edit config file
Start the service
Set to auto start
Go to website and use commands for operating system
Using Linux a few extra steps
Create config file
Edit config file
Start the service
Set to auto start

28. Setup Grafana Datasource
Give it a Name
Check off the Default box
Change to InfluxDB Type
Fill out your URL
Then fill out your InfluxDB Details
Save to test it
Give it a Name
Check off the Default box
Change to InfluxDB Type
Fill out your URL
Then fill out your InfluxDB Details
Save to test it

29. Setup Grafana Dashboards
Click on Dashboards then Import
Copy and paste the JSON in the big box
Rename the dashboard if so choose
Then click Load
All dashboards I use will be available for download
Click on Dashboards then Import
Copy and paste the JSON in the big box
Rename the dashboard if so choose
Then click Load
All dashboards I use will be available for download

30. Demo Database Superhero 2018 Datasources
Check load dashboards and checkout stats
Query Store
Database Superhero 2018

31. Resource Governor

32. Resource Governor

33. Resource Governor

34. Demo What Interrupted My Nap One Saturday? #OnCallSelfie
Database Superhero 2018

35. The Page

36. Memory Clerk and PLE Buffer Pool Dropped 44 GBs
PLE Dropped from 19 hours to 0 ms

37. sp_whoisactive Output

38. #OnCallSelfie

39. Cost of Telegraf Setup
InfluxDB is costing ~$3000 a year for ~500 servers (t4.micro in AWS)
8 CPUs
32 GBs RAM
600 GBs of disk space
Grafana cost $5.26 a month on a year contract (t2.micro in AWS)
1 CPU
1 GB RAM
No space requirements

40. Resources
Capture sp_showisactive to table -
Monitoring Performance By Using the Query Store databases/performance/monitoring-performance-by-using-the-query-store
Open Query Store -
Query Store Primer Presentation - store-primer/
Install SQL on Linux - connect-red-hat

41. Resources Telegraf Plugin - https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/
InfluxDB –
Grafana –
Guide for Setting up Telegraf - telegraf
SQLskills Waits Library -
Wait Stats - views/sys-query-store-wait-stats-transact-sql
Mark’s Announcement -
Mark’s Podcasts on Resource Governor -

42. Questions?

43. Contact Info
TWITTER
@TracyBoggiano
MY WEBSITE
databasesuperhero.com