0% found this document useful (0 votes)
222 views27 pages

10987C 02

This document discusses SQL Server I/O and covers the following topics: 1. Core concepts of I/O such as IOPS, throughput, latency, magnetic disks, SSDs, and RAID levels. 2. Storage solutions like direct-attached storage, storage area networks, Windows Storage Spaces, SQL Server data files in Azure, and selecting the right storage solution. 3. I/O setup and testing including the Windows I/O system, disk types, mount points, partition alignment, NTFS allocation size, performance testing tools like Diskspd, and demonstrating benchmarking I/O.

Uploaded by

Ayamin
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
0% found this document useful (0 votes)
222 views27 pages

10987C 02

This document discusses SQL Server I/O and covers the following topics: 1. Core concepts of I/O such as IOPS, throughput, latency, magnetic disks, SSDs, and RAID levels. 2. Storage solutions like direct-attached storage, storage area networks, Windows Storage Spaces, SQL Server data files in Azure, and selecting the right storage solution. 3. I/O setup and testing including the Windows I/O system, disk types, mount points, partition alignment, NTFS allocation size, performance testing tools like Diskspd, and demonstrating benchmarking I/O.

Uploaded by

Ayamin
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 27

Module 2

SQL Server I/O


Module Overview

• Core Concepts of I/O


• Storage Solutions
• I/O Setup and Testing
Lesson 1: Core Concepts of I/O

• Input/Output Operations Per Second


• Throughput
• Latency Factor
• Magnetic Disk and SSD
• RAID Levels
Input/Output Operations Per Second

• A measure of the number of operations that a


storage device can support in a second
• Can be further divided into read/write and
random/sequential IOPS:
• Random Read
• Random Write
• Sequential Read
• Sequential Write
• Different SQL Server database files have different
read/write characteristics
Throughput

• A measure of the amount of data that a device


can transfer in a fixed time period
• Normally expressed in seconds per byte
• A device may have different figures for burst
throughput and sustained throughput
• Sustained throughput is generally more
important for SQL Server systems
Latency Factor

• A measure of how quickly a storage device can


complete a read or write request
• Normally measured in seconds per read or seconds per
write
• A lower figure is always more desirable
• Microsoft recommends the lowest latency for
transaction log files
Magnetic Disk and SSD

• Magnetic Disk
• Electro-mechanical technology—many moving parts
• Performance and lifespan limited by mechanical
restrictions
• Slower, cheaper
• SSD
• Electronic technology—no moving parts
• Performance and lifespan limited by integrated circuit
design and firmware
• Faster, more expensive
RAID Levels

RAID 0 RAID 1
ACEGIK ABCDEF

BDFHJL ABCDEF

RAID 5 RAID 10
A#EG#K ACEGIK

BC#HI# BDFHJL

#DF#JL ACEGIK
(# represents a parity value) BDFHJL
Lesson 2: Storage Solutions

• Direct-Attached Storage
• Storage Area Network
• Windows Storage Spaces
• SQL Server Data Files in Microsoft Azure
• Selecting a Storage Solution
Direct-Attached Storage

• One or more storage devices is directly attached


to the server through a host bus adapter
• Dedicated to a specific server
• Advantages:
• Easy and fast to provision
• Easy monitoring and troubleshooting
• Disadvantages:
• Expansion may be limited by hardware design
• Lacks flexibility—unused capacity cannot be shared
with other servers
Storage Area Network

• Pools of drive arrays linked together with a


network
• Each server connects into this network and can
share drives, cache, and throughput with many
more servers
• Advantages:
• Increases disk utilization and reduces management
• Mirroring, snapshots, continuous data protection, clustering, and
geoclustering only offered by SANs
• Disadvantages:
• Unpredictable performance, higher latency, limited bandwidth, and
high cost
Windows Storage Spaces

• Software RAID managed by Windows


• Physical disks are grouped into storage pools
• Storage Spaces enables volumes to be created
from storage pools
• Storage Spaces supports resiliency:
• Mirroring: similar to RAID 1
• Parity: similar to RAID 5
• Simple: similar to RAID 0, no resiliency
SQL Server Data Files in Microsoft Azure

• SQL Server instance connects to database files held in Azure


Blob storage
• Instance may be on-premises or on an Azure virtual machine
• Advantages:
• Unlimited storage—pay for what you use
• Easy migration
• Centralized storage
• Azure snapshot backup
• Disadvantages:
• Maximum file size 1 TB
• Difficult to predict costs
• Not all SQL Server features available
Selecting a Storage Solution

• No one-size-fits-all solution
• Many factors to consider:
• Performance requirements
• Organizational cloud strategy
• Existing solutions
• Budget
• Urgency
Lesson 3: I/O Setup and Testing

• Windows I/O System


• Disk Types
• Mount Points
• Partition Alignment
• NTFS Allocation Unit Size
• Storage Performance Testing
• Demonstration: Benchmarking I/O
Windows I/O System

Applications Windows Services

User mode

Kernel mode

I/O System

Storage Device Drivers

Hardware
Disk Types

• Storage devices must be partitioned by using an


MBR or GPT partition table
• A partition formatted with a file system is
referred to as a volume
• Storage devices may be treated either as:
• Basic disk:
• Supports logical and extended partitions
• Backward-compatible with MS-DOS
• Dynamic disk:
• Supports many complex configurations
Mount Points

• A storage volume can be mounted as a folder on


another storage volume
• Useful for:
• Overcoming the 26-letter drive letter limit
• Adding space to an existing drive letter
Partition Alignment

• Refers to the proper alignment of partitions with


physical storage boundaries
• Misalignment can reduce performance by 30%
• Partitions created on Windows Server 2003 and
earlier may not be aligned
• Partitions created on Windows Server 2008 and
2012 are likely to be aligned
• Check alignment:
• For basic disks, use wmic.exe
• For dynamic disks, use diskdiag.exe (from Microsoft
Support)
NTFS Allocation Unit Size

• Sets the smallest unit of consumption on NTFS


volumes for buffered I/O
• Set during formatting
• Default value is 4 KB
• For SQL Server, a 64-KB allocation unit size is
recommended:
• Only affects a few operations because most SQL Server
I/O is unbuffered
• Improves read-ahead performance
• NTFS compression may not be used
Storage Performance Testing

• Diskspd
• A general-purpose load generator for I/O subsystems
• Can be configured to mimic SQL Server I/O
• Suitable for use as a performance-tuning tool
• Replaces SQLIO

DiskSpd.exe -c500G –d600 -r –w20 -t8 -o8 -b8K -h -L H:\testfile.dat


Demonstration: Benchmarking I/O

In this demonstration, you will see how to:


• Benchmark I/O by using Performance Monitor
Lab: Testing Storage Performance

• Exercise 1: Configuring and Executing Diskspd

Logon Information
Virtual machine: 10987C-MIA-SQL
User name: ADVENTUREWORKS\Student
Password: Pa55w.rd

Estimated Time: 30 minutes


Lab Scenario

Adventure Works Cycles is a global manufacturer,


wholesaler, and retailer of cycle products. The
owners of the company have decided to start a
new direct marketing arm of the company. It has
been created as a new company named Proseware
Inc. Even though Proseware Inc. has been set up
as a separate company, it will receive some IT-
related services from Adventure Works and will be
provided with a subset of the corporate Adventure
Works data.
Lab Scenario (continued)

The existing Adventure Works SQL Server platform


has been moved to a new server that can support
both the existing workload and the workload from
the new company.
Lab Review

In this lab, you ran the Diskspd tool.


Module Review and Takeaways

• Best Practice

You might also like