Designing For Performance: Myths and Misunderstandings

2015

TL; DR

Everyone agrees that great database performance starts with great database design.

Session Details

Everyone agrees that great database performance starts with great database design. So why do so many poorly designed databases exist in the world? Attend this session to understand why bad designs will always exist, what you can do to avoid them, and how best to work with them when needed. Discussion topics will include:

Server/Infrastructure design
- VM/Server configuration
- Physical file layouts
- HA/DR options
- Archiving
Database/Table design
- Table design
- PK/FK choices
- Index strategies
Benchmarking
- Monitoring for performance
- Control reports

Attendees will leave this session with an understanding of the following:

Why common issues are so common
How to better anticipate issues before they happen
How to deploy and implement design choices that benefit everyone
Proper performance benchmarking and control reports

The day will include lecture style format as well as interactive discussions and exercises.

3 things you'll get out of this session

Karen Lopez's previous sessions

Graphs Are Everywhere - Graph DB Support in SQL vNext

Learn about graph databases and how they are implemented in SQL Server vNext

7 Databases in 70 Minutes

Learn about 7 SQL and NoSQL databases: how they work, when to use them, and how they form a modern data architecture

5+ Database Design Blunders and How to Avoid Them

Karen discusses five (plus a few more) database design blunders with tips on how to avoid them. Audience members will also be able to contribute their war stories of design fails, WTHs and D'ohs.

Thomas LaRock's previous sessions

From Here to Azure

Attend this interactive session and learn how to create, deploy, and migrate data from your on-premises instance of SQL Server to Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines and Microsoft Azure SQL Database.

Database Design: Size DOES Matter

Great database performance starts with great database design.

Cardinality Estimates in Microsoft SQL Server 2014

Attend this session and understand how, why, and when SQL Server uses statistics and how this new feature will help improve performance.

Monitoring Databases in a Virtual Environment

This session will help DBAs to understand what changes they need to make in their performance and monitoring practices for virtualized database servers.

Database Design: Size Does Matter!

Great database performance starts with great database design. During the design process it is important to select your SQL Server datatypes wisely. Failure to do so will result in wasted disk space, additional I/O overhead, and decreased performance.