SQL Server Best

Practices with Dell

Compellent
Doug Bernhardt
SQL Server Product Specialist

About me
Doug Bernhardt
With Dell Compellent for ~1.5 years
21 years experience in IT
18 years working with SQL Server
Administration, Development, Architecture

Responsible for SQL Server

Replay Manager
HA/DR

Agenda

Setup and Configuration

Data Instant Replay
SQL Server I/O
Flash Storage/SSD
Disaster Recovery

Setup and
Configuration

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Sizing for SQL Server

Appropriate sizing for SQL Server is often overlooked
No typical workload
Usage patterns vary even with vendor packages

Generalizations about OLTP or OLAP dont always apply

No two OLTP or OLAP environments are the same
Based on your business

Size for both performance and capacity

Tier 1 for Performance
All IOPS
20% of capacity

Tier 3 for Capacity

20% of IOPS
80% of capacity

Dont forget write penalty for RAID

Cost depends on RAID type
See SQL Server Best Practices Guide

Collecting performance data

Collect your own metrics
Tools
DPACK or Windows Performance Monitor (Perfmon)
Perfmon is more granular

Performance Metrics
IOPS
Disk Reads/Sec
Disk Writes/Sec
Disk Transfers/Sec

Throughput
Disk Read Bytes/Sec
Disk Write Bytes/Sec
Disk Bytes/Sec

Latency
Avg. Disk Sec/Read
Avg. Disk Sec/Write
Avg. Disk Sec/Transfer

Timing

Collect for 24 hrs. minimum

Busiest time
Performance sensitive time
Collect at 5 sec. intervals

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Storage Setup and Configuration

Single disk pool
Aggregate all I/O bandwidth
Easy to manage

Storage Profiles

Start with Recommended

Monitor
Create custom if needed

Consider Manageability vs. Flexibility

Hard to have both
Once you separate it may be hard to go back

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SQL Server Volume Recommendations

Performance
Requirements

File Type

Number of Volumes

User DB data

At least 1 per instance

Lower
performance may
be acceptable

Frequent, same schedule

as log volume

User DB log

1 per instance

High performance

Frequent, same schedule

as data volume

Data Root directory

(system DBs)

1 per instance

Lower
performance

Infrequent Replays,
independent schedule

Tempdb data and log

1 per instance

High performance
may be required

No Replays

Native SQL Backup

1 per instance

Lower
performance may
be acceptable

Replays optional,
independent schedule

Customization Factors

Replication
Virtualization
Performance
Replay Schedules

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Replay Requirements

Server Setup and Configuration

Format volumes using 64K Allocation Unit
Round Robin is suggested MPIO policy
HBAs
Latest version of firmware and drivers
Verify queue depth settings

iSCSI

Min 1GBit Ethernet recommended

10Gbit suggested
Separate network
MS iSCSI Initiator
SQL dependant on iSCSI Initiator service
Dedicated NICs
Create connections manually rather than Quick Connect

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Other Performance Considerations

Multiple data files per filegroup

SQL Server will stripe I/O across files

All files should be same size
Flexibility to place database on multiple volumes
Spread volumes across multiple controllers

Same storage center or even multiple storage centers!!!

Dedicated volumes for single database allow more control

Maximize cache utilization in database server

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Storage Validation
Numerous components so validation is important!
Desired outcomes
System meets performance needs
System matches design
No unexpected errors

SQLIO and Iometer are popular tools

Be careful of zero filled test files
Use correct parameters for test type

SQLIOSim is NOT intended for performance testing

Suitability not performance

Validate path and disks separately

Help isolate any issues
Different test parameters

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Path Validation
Goal is to only validate path to the storage center
Use one volume per controller
Format volume with 64KB allocation unit
SQLIO Large Block Sequential Read

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10MB file per volume

8 threads total
Sequential read 512KB block size, 32 outstanding I/Os
Run for 2 min

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Disk Validation
Once paths are validated, now test system performance
SQLIO or Iometer tips
Use 100GB file or larger
Test I/O sizes observed in your environment

Use one volume per controller

Pre-allocate the volumes and discard after testing

Interpreting results

Do the math, do results match the design?

Run multiple tests, are results consistent?
Review error logs for unexpected messages

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Data Instant
Replay

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Data Instant Replay

Take advantage of Replays!!!

Fast, taken in seconds or less

Space efficient
No overhead on database server
Frequent backups of large databases are possible!

Daily replays are recommended

Recovery
Assist Data Progression
Replication

Replays are taken on entire volume

Databases with different replay schedules can be placed on separate volumes
Large and/or active databases on separate volumes

Replays may augment rather than replace an existing backup strategy

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Replay Manager
Replay Manager is recommended for SQL Server
Use Replay Manager for database consistent backups
Consistency provided thru VSS Integration to SQL Server

Writes are frozen DO NOT BE AFRAID!!!

Dirty pages flushed to disk (checkpoint)
Backup metadata tables in MSDB are updated
Backup is recorded in error log

Use Replay Manager with log backups for arbitrary point in time recovery.

Simple interface

Database centric rather than storage centric

Storage background not required
PowerShell support

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Replay Manager Tips

Consider placing databases for backup sets on separate volumes
Create fast and space efficient database copies
Storage Administrators and DBAs can work together!
Provide DBAs access and awareness of Replay Manager
Data protection and space efficiency require communication

If Replay Manager is not used, use a Consistency Group

No replays on Tempdb

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SQL Server
I/O

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Why is SQL Server I/O challenging?

Applications can be extremely latency sensitive
Largest latency component of SQL Server transactions is typically I/O
Business transactions typically require multiple queries
Each query generates multiple I/O
Latency for each I/O adds up quickly

User can be waiting for search, lookup, auto fill, etc.

SQL Server can be I/O intensive

A single SQL Instance can overwhelm a large storage system

Simple queries and/or commands can have huge impact
Capable of lots of small block random I/O

I/O mix varies greatly

Size ranges from 512B-1MB
Read/write mix and random vs. sequential
Numerous factors

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SQL Server I/O factors

SQL Server architecture and features
Application features and usage
Maintenance activity
Operation

Random/Sequential

Read/Write

Size Range

OLTP Log

Sequential

Write

512 bytes-64KB

OLTP Data

Random

Read/Write

8KB

Read Ahead

Sequential

Read

8KB-256KB

Backup

Sequential

Read/Write

1MB

DBCC CHECKDB

Sequential

Read

8KB-64KB

Source: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlcat/archive/2005/11/17/493944.aspx

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Reducing SQL Server I/O

Why?
Performance
Scalability
Cost

How?
Memory
SQL Server uses most memory for buffer pool (cache)
All I/O goes through buffer pool

Database Compression
Reduce the amount of data
CPU cost varies

Instant File Initialization

Eliminates unnecessary I/O
Data files only
Occurs at inconvenient times

Design

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Database
Query
Application
Maintenance

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High
Performance
SQL Server

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High Performance SQL Server

For most applications spinning disk is fine
Some SQL Server applications can be very demanding
Latency sensitive
High bandwidth
Heavy write

Flash Storage (SSD) MAY be the solution.it depends

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Storage Center All Flash Array

New in Storage Center 6.4
Combination of write intensive SSD and read intensive SSD
Tier 1 write intensive SSD
Tier 2 read intensive SSD
Can also add spinning disk as Tier 3 for hybrid system!

Reference Architecture -High Performance SQL Server with Storage Center

6.4 All Flash Array
http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/extras/m/white_papers/20438061
.aspx
Test Scenario

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OLTP workload
2TB Database SQL Server 2012
16Gb Fibre Channel end to end
2 Dell R820 Servers (application, database)
Compared 3 storage configurations

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All Flash Test Comparison

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All Flash Array Transactions per Second

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All Flash Array - IOPS

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All Flash Array - Latency

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All Flash Testing -Takeaways

Latency makes all the difference

Doubling the number of spinning drives did not double performance
All Flash is a great solution for the most demanding I/O workloads
Once SSD is in place, look for bottlenecks elsewhere
Server CPU
Storage network bandwidth

Other benefits as well

Power
Cooling
Space

Affordable Flash at the price of spinning disk

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Disaster
Recovery

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Disaster Recovery
What are the requirements?
Know your requirements and challenge five nines
As you add nines cost increases exponentially
People, Process, Technology

Replication
Asynchronous
Replicate Active Replay can provide near real-time

Synchronous
High Consistency
Zero data loss

High Availability
Functions like High Consistency until an interruption occurs

Consider latency

Simulate Replication
Assess bandwidth requirements
Convert into live replication

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SQL Server Replication Strategies

Choose what to replicate
Database volumes only

Database level protection

Reduced replication footprint
Dedicated destination server not required
Need process to sync data not stored in user databases
May require additional config at failover time

All volumes (including boot volume)

Server level protection

Entire server is protected
Standby is exact copy of primary
Requires dedicated server
Larger replication footprint

Use Replay Manager to take Replays of database volumes

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SQL Server Optimizations for Replication

Data Compression
Less data to replicate
CPU overhead for SQL Server

Application and database tuning

Minimize data to replicate

File Layout

Only databases being replicated should be on replicated volumes

TempDB
No need to replicate
SORT_IN_TEMPDB option

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PowerShell
Most UI features available as PowerShell cmdlets
Over 140 cmdlets for Storage Center and Replay Manager

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Customize SQL Server Integration

Automate disaster recovery activities
Environment builds
Refresh test/QA environments

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Summary
Covered various tips around

Setup and Configuration

Replays
SQL Server I/O
Disaster Recovery

Think about how these apply to your environment

Consider All Flash Array for performance demanding applications

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Questions?
Contact Info
Doug_Bernhardt@dell.com

DellTechCenter.com
Compellent Technical Content
http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/storage/w/wiki/5018.compellenttechnical-content.aspx

SQL Server Best Practices

http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/extras/m/white_papers/20438053.aspx

All Flash Array

http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/extras/m/white_papers/20438061.aspx

Customer Portal

Customer.Compellent.com

Support

support@Compellent.com
1-866-EZSTORE

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