RelationalDBDesign
SQL Configuration Monitoring - Glossary
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SQL Server can obtain a very high level of performance with relatively little configuration tuning. You can obtain high levels of performance by using good application and database design, and not by extensive configuration tuning. See the "References" section of this article for information about how to troubleshoot various SQL Server performance issues.
When you address a performance problem, the degree of improvement that is available from configuration tuning is typically modest unless you do not currently have the system properly configured.
In SQL Server version 2000 and later, SQL Server uses automatic configuration tuning and it is extremely rare that configuration settings (especially advanced settings)
need any changes. Generally, do not make a SQL Server configuration change without overwhelming reason and not without careful methodical testing to verify
the need for the configuration change.
You must establish a baseline before the configuration change so that you can measure the benefit after the change.
- Alerts
- An alert signifies when a given condition has been reached.
- Checkpoint
- The SQL Server processes in which data pages that have been modified are flushed to disk.
- Collation sequence
- Determines the order in which unicode data is sorted.
- COM
- Component Object Model is a model for APIs used to access data.
- Compute by
- A TSQL extension that allows you to have summary rows intermixed with detail rows.
- Connection
- A person or application that has logged onto SQL Server.
- Data transformation service (DTS)
- A SQL Server component that allows you to transfer data between multiple data sources.
- DBCC
- Database consistency checker - a set of utilities for verify a database and performing various system administrator tasks.
- Deadlock
- When two connections each hold locks on resources that the other connection wants.
- Density
- The number of rows in which a column has a given value.
- Derived Columns
- A calculated column. SQL Server allows you to define derived columns as part of the table definition.
- Dirty page
- A memory page in which data has been changed.
- Errorlog
- The OS file that SQL Server writes errors and messages to.
- Event
- A significant occurrence.
- Event category
- A group of events.
- Event class
- A group of events.
- Event log
- The windows NT logging mechanism.
- Extended stored procedures
- SQL Server stored procedures that access external DLLs.
- Extent
- SQL Server allocation unit. An extent is 8 data pages.
- Filter
- Limits what is viewed.
- Fragmentation
- A condition that occurs when data is not stored consecutively.
- Hard paging
- When the data used by an application is on the swap file.
- Hetrogeneous data sources
- Data that is stored by a different RDBMS.
- Histogram
- A range of values within an index.
- Homogeneous data sources
- Data that is stored by the same RDBMS.
- Identity column
- An automatically incrementing column.
- Index Tuning Wizard
- A wizard that helps you develop the correct indexes .for a table.
- Jobs
- A SQL Server agent set of tasks.
- Latches
- A light weight object that does not need to be locked.
- Leaf page
- The lowest level of an index.
- Least recently used (LRU)
- The in memory data page that has gone the longest time without being accessed.
- Linked servers
- OLE-DB connection to external data sources.
- Lock
- A SQL Server mechanism use to ensure transaction isolation levels.
- MAPI
- Mail Application Programming Interface - An interface that Microsoft uses to send and read mail.
- Master server
- In a multi server SQL Server Agent environment, a master server is the server that stores the SQL Server Agent information.
- MIB
- Management Information Bulletin - A SNMP component that describes the information that can be monitored.
- Microsoft Repository
- A set of Microsoft ActiveX interfaces and data models that are used to define database schema and data transformations as specified by the Microsoft Data Warehousing Framework.
- Most recently used (MRU)
- The in memory data page that was the last data page to be accessed.
- msdb
- The system database that is used to store SQL Server Agent information and DTS information.
- OLE-DB
- A COM API that allows you to access data sources.
- Operators
- A person that gets notified when an alert occurs.
- Package
- A set of DTS commands used to transform data.
- POP3
- A standard mail interface.
- Procedure cache
- The amount of memory that SQL Server reserves for storing stored procedures.
- Registry
- A repository for application and system configuration information.
- Remote procedure calls(RPC)
- A means of communicating between two SQL Servers.
- Scalar functions
- A function that returns a single value.
- Single user mode
- A database that is configured to allow only one user to access it.
- SNMP
- Simple Network Management Protocol- a protocol for monitoring and managing network components.soft paging Removing data from
the page cache.
- Soft paging
- Removing data from the page cache.
- SQL Mail
- SQL Server's interface to your e-mail system.
- SQL Server Agent
- A SQL Sever component that allows you to schedule jobs, define alerts, and define operators.
- SQL-DMO
- An API that allows you to access SQL Server's Data Management Objects.
- Statistics
- Track the data distribution.
- System catalog table
- A system wide table, stored in the master database, that tracks system resources.
- System stored procedure
- A procedure stored in the master database which begins with sp_ that is used to perform system functions.
- Target server
- In a multi server SQL Server Agent environment, this is a server that a job will run against.
- Task
- One of the steps in a job.
- Trace
- The information that SQL Server profiler gathers.
- trace flags
- A SQL Server dbcc option that changes the behavior of SQL Server.
- Trace Wizard
- A SQL Server wizard that helps you set up a trace.
- Trigger
- Code that is executed in response to a database event, or in response to a SQL statement issued against a table.
- Workflow
- Describes the steps need top be done to complete a task.