| Author |
Topic |
|
trisloth
Starting Member
3 Posts |
 Posted - 2009-09-18 : 15:24:37
|
| Hello,We are currently running SQL Server 2005 on a two-processor server, but with only one processor license. This server runs both our customer service database (iMIS) and our organization's web site CMS database (Ektron CMS). The server is extremely slow when traffic is heavy.What kind of performance gain could we expect if we were to upgrade to a two-processor license?Thanks in advance. |
|
|
Bustaz Kool
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
1834 Posts |
Posted - 2009-09-18 : 19:23:40
|
| I'd want to know how busy each of the two processors are. You can use Task Manager to do this.You really want to know WHERE the bottleneck is before making changes to the system. Is the CPU the limiting factor? Is it disk? Memory? Network? Once you have identified the culprit, you can take corrective action.If the SQL CPU is maxed during high traffic and the website CPU is low, you could potentially double your performance.Generally, you want your SQL Server to be on a dedicated machine. Compare the cost of a second server for your website against the cost of the second SQL license.=======================================Men build too many walls and not enough bridges. -Isaac Newton, philosopher and mathematician (1642-1727) |
 |
|
|
trisloth
Starting Member
3 Posts |
Posted - 2009-09-20 : 17:57:29
|
| Hi,Thanks for your reply. The web site itself is hosted on another machine, only the CMS database is located on the database server. The combined traffic of the CMS SQL database and the customer service database causes the CPU on the database server to spike. We believe the CPU is the bottleneck in this instance, as the database server has 4GB of RAM.What would your recommendation be? I do not believe we can afford to buy a second database server for the web site CMS database. Would the second processor license give us enough of a performance boost?Thanks again,Gordon |
|
|
|
tripodal
Constraint Violating Yak Guru
259 Posts |
Posted - 2009-09-22 : 14:48:59
|
| What model processor do you have now?It is possible to upgrade that as well. SQL should be spiking the use of 1 processor socket. Keep in mind that if your cpu is dual or quad core, sql will already be making use of the entire socket.As you describe it, when SQL server traffic is high, you should be at approximiately 50-60% cpu utilization with sqlservr.exe in task manager.If task manager reports 100% CPU utilization, you are looking for more hardware or faster code.In terms of Memory usage, 2gb will be your functional limit (i am guessing your using 32bit windows)In either case, if your memory is larger than your database that is probably enough ram.Performance monitor tracking disk counters will clarify that if you are curious. |
|
|
|
afrika
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
2706 Posts |
Posted - 2009-09-22 : 17:43:17
|
quote:
Originally posted by trisloth
I do not believe we can afford to buy a second database server for the web site CMS database. Would the second processor license give us enough of a performance boost?Thanks again,Gordon
if its on a hosted environment you dont have to buy the lic, you can simply rent it from a provider. Thats what we are doing, Call Microsoft in your country |
|
|
|
tkizer
Almighty SQL Goddess
38200 Posts |
Posted - 2009-09-22 : 18:15:21
|
| New blade servers are cheaper than purchasing Enterprise edition per CPU licenses, especially considering you just have to buy licenses per socket and not per core. The per socket licensing has drastically reduced the number of licenses that we have to purchase. Renting a license from a provider is not something that we could even consider. Our systems are too highly critical, have way too high of SLAs, etc... It just depends upon your business requirements what you would need to do.Tara KizerMicrosoft MVP for Windows Server System - SQL Serverhttp://weblogs.sqlteam.com/tarad/Subscribe to my blog"Let's begin with the premise that everything you've done up until this point is wrong." |
|
|
|
Michael Valentine Jones
Yak DBA Kernel (pronounced Colonel)
7020 Posts |
Posted - 2009-09-22 : 18:22:07
|
| By default, SQL Server will use all processors, unless you have specifically disabled them.You should check the server configuration to see how many processors SQL Server is actually using.CODO ERGO SUM |
|
|
|
trisloth
Starting Member
3 Posts |
Posted - 2009-09-23 : 13:28:26
|
| Yes, SQL Server is already using both processors. We didn't realize that, and we are now buying the second processor license to be in compliance.So, from what I'm gathering, we should look at buying a new server or upgrading the CPU(s) of our existing one? I don't believe RAM is an issue, since the server has 4GB.Thanks for all of your replies.Gordon |
|
|
|
tkizer
Almighty SQL Goddess
38200 Posts |
Posted - 2009-09-24 : 00:18:51
|
| 4GB of memory surely wouldn't cut it on any of my production systems. We use a minimum of 16GB and have some with 64GB. But it depends on your needs and it doesn't look like we have enough information to be able to tell you if 4GB is enough or not. You'll need to do some PerfMon monitoring to determine where your weak point is. I'd start with memory, CPU, and I/O.Tara KizerMicrosoft MVP for Windows Server System - SQL Serverhttp://weblogs.sqlteam.com/tarad/Subscribe to my blog"Let's begin with the premise that everything you've done up until this point is wrong." |
|
|
|
|
Per-processor licensing and performance