Benchmarking SQL Server

A very useful blog entry on Benchmarking SQL Server.

The article looks at the PAL tool found here

The process is straight forward. Create a performance log for a period of time on the SQL Server you need to benchmark. Typical metrics to record are :

Physical Disk
Logical Disk
Process (I will sometimes tweak this down to just the SQL Server process)
Memory
Network Interface (sometimes I will tweak down to just the counters needed and just the NICs involved)
Paging File
Processor
System
SQL Server: Access Methods
SQL Server: SQL Statistics
SQL Server: Buffer Manager
SQL Server: General Statistics
SQL Server: Latches (Often I just look at the two required counters rather than the object)
SQL Server: Locks
SQL Server: Memory Manager

Save this for a reasonable slice of time and then run it through PAL. This then generates a nice report, highlighting any issues. See the above blog link for a more indepth description.