 WebProWorld
Dev Forum |
Web Position Gold
Have for a while now owned a copy of Web Position Gold but never got round to testing it out. Would be interested in hearing comments on its usefulnes. It seemed a litle complicated on both times I took time to look at it.
Thunderbird 1.0
Mozilla released Thunderbird 1.0. I was using 0.8 and upgraded today. So far I haven't found any of the new features to be anything I'll likely be using, but I think some people will find them handy.
Blocking websites witout a server
I've been working at a high school and we're dealing with a problem. Our students are spending important time playing online games and using AIM through the web. We'd like to block certain sites, but we do not have a server. Does anyone have any suggestions on blocking certain websites? Any and all help would be appreciated.
|
|
|
 |
|
Recent Articles |
Embedded Databases
An Embedded database is a specific database genus that does not run as a separate process, instead, it is directly linked ("embedded") into the application. Herein, the database is integrated into the application and the end-user has little or no knowledge that the database exists.
The Best Day Ever to Design a Database Structure
Have you ever been faced with the challenge of designing a new database structure? Do you have to redevelop an existing database?
Using Performance Monitor to Identify SQL Server Hardware Bottlenecks
The best place to start your SQL Server performance audit is to begin with the Performance Monitor (System Monitor). By monitoring a few key counters over a 24 hour period, you should get a pretty good feel for any major hardware bottlenecks your SQL Server is experiencing.
Backing Up And Restoring Your MySQL Database
If you've been using MySQL database to store your important data, it is imperative that you make a backup of your data to prevent any loss of data. This article shows you how to backup and restore data in your MySQL database.
|
|
|
|
12.15.04
SQL Server Hardware Performance Checklist
 By Brad M. McGehee
Auditing SQL Server Hardware Is An Important Early Step
From this previous article, on using Performance Monitor, you may have identified some potential hardware bottlenecks that are negatively affecting your SQL Server's performance. In this section, we will take a look at each of the major components of a SQL Server's hardware, and examine what can be done to help maximize the performance of your hardware.
This portion of the audit will be divided into these major sections:
CPU
Memory
Disk Storage
Network Connectivity
Misc.
As part of this audit, you will want to complete the above checklist. As you do, you may find out things about server you were not aware of.
 CPU
Number of CPUs
This first point is obvious, the more CPUs your SQL Server has, the faster it can perform. The standard edition of SQL Server 2000 can support up to 4 CPUs. The Enterprise version can support up to 32 CPUs, depending on the OS used. Multiple CPUs can be effectively used by SQL Server to boost overall performance.
It is very difficult to estimate the number of CPUs any specific SQL Server-based application will need. This is because each application works differently and is used differently. Experienced DBAs often have a feel for what kind of CPU power an application might need, although until you really test your server's configuration under realistic conditions, it is hard to really know what is needed.
Because of the difficulty of selecting the appropriate numbers of CPUs to purchase of a SQL Server, you might want to consider the following rules of thumb:
Purchase a server with as many CPUs as you can afford.
If you can't do the above, then at least purchase a server that has room to expand its total number of CPUs. Almost all SQL Servers need more power as time passes and workloads increase.
Here's some potential scenarios:
SQL Server will be used to run a specialized accounting application that will only be used by no more than 5 users at a time, and you don't expect this to change in the next couple of years. If this is the case, a single CPU will most likely be adequate. If you expect that the number of users may increase fairly soon, then you would want to consider purchasing with a single CPU now, but with room to expand to a second one should the need arise.
| Get Hundreds of Incoming Links - Instantly ->> more info |
|
SQL Server will be used to run a specialty application written in-house. The application will not only involve OLTP, but need to support fairly heavy reporting needs. It is expected that concurrent usage will not exceed 25 users. In this case, you might want to consider a server with two CPUs, but with the ability to expand to 4 if necessary. It is hard to predict what "fairly heavy reporting needs" really mean. I have seen some fairly simple, but poorly written reports, peg out all of a server's CPUs.
SQL Server will run an ERP package that will support between 100 - 150 concurrent users. For "heavy-duty" applications like this, ask the vendor for their hardware recommendations, as they should already have a good idea of their product's CPU needs.
I could provide many other examples, but the gist of what I am trying to get across is that it is very hard to predict exactly how many CPUs a particular SQL Server-based application will need, and that you should generally purchase a system bigger than you think you will need, because in many cases, usage demands on an application are often underestimated. It is less expensive in the long run to purchase a larger server now (with more CPUs), than to have to replace your entire server in 6-12 months because of poor estimates.
Read the Rest of the Article.
About the Author:
Brad M. McGehee is a full-time DBA with a large manufacturing company, and the publisher of http://www.SQL-Server-Performance.Com, a website specializing in SQL Server performance tuning and clustering.
He is an MVP, MCSE+I, MCSD, and MCT (former). |
