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7 Best Tips for Effective Database Performance Tuning

DATE
August 14, 2023
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7 Best Tips for Effective Database Performance Tuning

There are three main pillars of security: confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Besides ensuring that your users have access to their information at all times, the information should be readily and easily accessible. 

How significant is tuning database performance? 

Data is the lifeblood of the globe (the business-focused parts of it, anyway). Databases must operate effectively to ensure that data is rapidly and easily accessible. However, maintaining optimal database performance might be difficult. 

 

What is Database Tuning?


Database tuning involves a group of activities used to optimize and homogenize the performance of a database. It usually overlaps with query tuning, which refers to the design of the database, selection of the database software, and configuration of the database's environment, for example, operating system, CPU, etc. 

Database tuning aims to maximize the use of efficient resources to perform work efficiently and rapidly as soon as possible. 

Most systems are designed to manage their use of resources. However, there is always room to improve the efficiency of websites and applications by customizing their settings and configurations. 

 

Database tuning involves two main areas: 

1. Input database tuning and output database tuning 

I/O tuning involves the evaluation and enhancement of database hardware configuration. Consider a situation where I/O bottlenecks (a high I/O wait percentage that delays communication between the CPUs and the disk subsystem) are present. Performance can frequently be harmed by the improper placement of transaction logs, which are significant I/O consumers. The Softomore Solution will investigate the specific reason for the slow performance during I/O tuning, set up the hardware as necessary, and get your users back on track.

 

2. Database software tuning 

A software tune change cannot be touched, seen, heard, or compared to hardware. Only a software adjustment can make changes to performance noticeable. Engine tuning is an adjustment, modification, or alteration to an internal combustion engine's control unit, also referred to as its ECU (Engine Control Unit). 

In database tuning, it is vital to examine the following components: 

● Raid level and configuration 

● Allocation of block and stripe size 

● Controllers' cards 

● Storage cabinet 

● Configuration of the disc 

● External storage system 

However, examining these components may seem easy to the eyes, but there are steps to tune your database. This brings us to the top 7 tips for proper database performance tuning. 

 

How to Achieve Effective Database Performance Tuning?

 

● Make minimal adjustments to queries one at a time 

There are many ways to tune a query, but the most vital way is not to rush the process. Most of the time, it's best to start with the most basic adjustments and work your way up. 

This can be done by adjusting indexes or adding a simple skip list around the query. You can also run a command on your database to identify queries with high selectivity. Then, you can make changes to these queries by adding indexes or altering the query plan. These simple changes can have a great impact on performance.

● Compare and contrast optimized and original SQL 

To compare the original statement with the improved version, ensure to highlight changes in the SQL statement while optimizing SQL queries. To do this on Microsoft SQL Server version 2022, point to Data Compare, and click New Data Comparison. 

The data comparison window will open, the new data comparison will show up, and Visual Studio will automatically name the new data comparison Datacomapre1. To achieve effective performance tuning, make sure to take note of any differences between the two SQLs while contrasting. 

 

● Examine query plans 

A set of procedures utilized to access data in a SQL relational database management system is known as a query plan (or query execution plan). This is a special instance of the access plan idea from a relational model. 

Databases can execute operations more effectively by using artificial intelligence like Oracle and DBeaver to examine your execution plan and determine how to alter it. 

 

● Use Constraints 

Data or data types that can be inserted, changed, or deleted from a table are restricted by constraints. Constraints provide the sole goal of preserving data integrity during a table update, deletion, or insert. 

Using constraints is an effective method of increasing query speed and aids the SQL optimizer in creating a better execution plan, but the increased performance comes at the expense of the data requiring more memory, which is another thing to consider. 

 

● Automated SQL Analyser 

In addition to analyzing your SQL statement, automated SQL optimization tools like Database Performance Analyzer or Profiler can also automatically rewrite it or optimize indexes until they find the version that improves the query execution time the most. This is a great addition for effective performance tuning.

 

● Examine the actual execution plan rather than the projected plan 

Although it gives you a taste of how the plan will work when composing queries, the projected execution plan is blind to parameter data types, which may be inaccurate. When performing performance optimization, it is preferable to study the actual execution plan because it employs the most recent and accurate facts. 

 

● Adapt indexes to cut down on I/O 

When the database engine reads and writes blocks containing records to and from the disk into memory, this is known as the database I/O. The database engine tries to maintain a block in memory after reading it for the first time to reduce database disk I/O. 

Adjusting the indexes and query tuning to cut down on I/O has a significant impact on practically all performance-related areas, so when they are improved, many additional performance issues are also resolved. 

At the end of the day, database performance tuning takes a different approach. You need to analyze the root cause of a performance problem and not just treat the symptoms, else you will end up with issues that are inevitably going to pop back up. If you follow these tips, you will be able to effectively tune your database for optimal performance.