Use this practical guide to analyze and troubleshoot SQL Server performance using wait statistics. You'll learn to identify precisely why your queries are running slowly. And you'll know how to measure the amount of time consumed by each bottleneck so you can focus attention on making the largest improvements first. This edition is updated to cover analysis of wait statistics current with SQL Server 2022. Whether you are new to wait statistics, or already familiar with them, this book provides a deeper understanding on how wait statistics are generated and what they mean for your SQL Server instance's performance.

The book goes beyond the most common wait types into the more complex and performance-threatening wait types. You'll learn about per-query wait statistics and session-based wait statistics, and the types of problems they can help you solve. The different wait types are categorized by their area of impact, including CPU, IO, Latching, Locking, and many more.

Clear examples are included to help you gain practical knowledge of why and how specific wait times increase or decrease, how they impact your SQL Server's performance, and what you can do to improve performance. After reading this book, you won't want to be without the valuable information that wait statistics provide regarding where you should be spending your limited tuning time to maximize performance and value to your business.

What You'll Learn

• Understand how the SQL Server engine processes requests
• Identify resource bottlenecks in a running SQL Server instance
• Locate wait statistics information inside DMVs and Query Store
• Analyze the root cause of sub-optimal performance
• Diagnose I/O contention and locking contention
• Benchmark SQL Server performance
• Improve database performance by lowering overall wait time

Who This Book Is For

Database administrators who want to identify and resolve performance bottlenecks, those who want to learn more about how the SQL Server engine accesses and uses resources inside SQL Server, and administrators concerned with achieving--and knowing they have achieved--optimal performance

Thomas LaRock has over 20 years of IT experience holding roles such as programmer, developer, analyst, and database administrator. He is a Microsoft Certified Master in SQL Server and a Microsoft Data Platform MVP since 2009. Thomas has spent much of his career working with data and databases, which led to his selection as Technical Advocate for Confio Software in 2010 for the software now known as SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer (DPA).

Currently, Thomas serves as Head Geek for SolarWinds, a company specializing in software for enterprise infrastructure monitoring. This role allows him to work with a variety of customers, helping to solve questions regarding network, application, and database performance tuning and virtualization. You can reach him through his blog (thomaslarock.com/blog) and find him on Twitter @SQLRockstar).

Enrico van de Laar has been working with data in various formats and sizes for over 15 years. He is a data and advanced analytics consultant for Dataheroes where he helps organizations optimize their data platform environment and helps them with their first steps in the world of advanced analytics. He is a Data Platform MVP since 2014 and a frequent speaker on various data-related events throughout the world. He frequently blogs about technologies such as Microsoft SQL Server and Azure Machine Learning on his blog at enricovandelaar.com. You can contact Enrico on Twitter @evdlaar.