Quest® Performance Analysis for SQL Server
Version 6.5
Release Notes
August, 2008
Performance Analysis is a database real-time monitoring and historical analysis application. Performance Analysis uses StealthCollect(™) resource-light high sampling rate technology, with the capacity to bind between (anonymous) database activities and real users, programs and SQL Server resource consumers (dimensions) in an intuitive user-friendly interface. Listings, reports, and graphical flows and charts grant you both a system-wide perspective and the ability to drill-down into any existing or user-defined unit.
SQL Server database performance monitoring by system and database administrators is immeasurably enhanced by the Performance Analysis ability to bring together in one screen and report all mission-critical performance data in a customizable manner.
Effective data collection and analysis are essential for identifying and correcting performance problems. Performance Analysis provides the means to comprehensively record SQL Server instance activity for an unlimited period for analysis and diagnosis. With Performance Analysis you can:
Performance Analysis 6.5 is designed to deliver significant scalability and
performance improvements. The improved agent is faster, consumes much fewer
resources and is therefore suitable for mass deployments.
Whereas previously the service could run only by an Administrator, now a user with minimum privileges can also manage the Performance Analysis service.
For details, contact Quest Support.
Key highlights for this release are as follows:
Improved scalability and support for more instances on the same middle-tier hardware.
Significant
improvement in UI response time and in overall application performance.
Improved
data quality and precision.
Extended generic built in support for cluster environments,
allowing the Agent installer to automatically
configure failover for all passive nodes (officially certified on Veritas
and Polyserve clusters)
Key Collector improvements:
Sampling frequency
–
the Collector will now scale to 20 samples per second in the most intensive
environments, delivering unparalleled data precision and quality.
Other activity – the Collector’s algorithm has been improved, allowing the Collector to detect extremely short statements, hence reducing the occurrences of "other activity" to negligible levels
Key Middleware improvements
The Middleware code has been optimized to dramatically reduce the component’s resource consumption. Performance Analysis 6.5 supports approximately 3 times more installations on the same middle-tier host.
Memory footprint
–
significant reduction in the Middleware’s memory footprint.
Processes
–
number of agent processes is reduced by half.
Performance – overall performance is significantly improved, allowing smooth and quick user experience.
Configuration
profiles
–
support for fine-tuning of agent configuration that balances completeness of
data collection and associated agent resource costs.
IntelliProfile
information
–
IntelliProfile information has been added to the repository database,
to enable manual retrieval.
Enhanced encryption
–
meets current security standards, by using AES 256-bit encryption for user/password
information.
Open Transactions -
a new statistic, open transactions,
was added to the session level
to measure the number of open
transactions per session.
More appropriate categorization of
wait events
– a known issue regarding the categorization of wait events was fixed.
Enhanced
filtering –
can now filter grid results (sessions, SQL statements, DB
users and so on) by using "Or" or "And" between the different conditions in
the Filter term
Support for
Support for LDAP
Performance Analysis is installed with a default 30-day trial license key, which also enables the optional PeopleSoft module.
To activate the full production version license of Performance Analysis and purchased module support, enter a valid authorization key and site message in the Help | Help About | Trial Version | Product Authorization dialog box.
The Performance Analysis Agent installation supports a variety of configurations, platforms and options. The Agent installation is performed locally, on the target machine. More information about the Agent installation is available on the Documentation page on the Performance Analysis website
Quest supports the hot-fixes listed in SQL_Server_Versions. If you want to apply a hot-fix not listed in that section, please contact Quest Support for further instructions.
The following is a list of issues addressed and enhancements implemented in this release of Performance Analysis for SQL Server.
|
Feature |
Resolved Issue |
Change Request |
| Internal issues | Typo in ADV_SET_ADVISORY_PARAMS | CR#0230914 |
| DBFileConfig advisory has incorrect internal sort | CR#0231159 | |
| Repository upgrade kills all instance connections | CR#0230275 | |
| DB Availability, DB Up and DB Down should all use Instance instead of DB | CR#0231084 | |
| Help | Monitor down links to the wrong explanation in the online help | CR#0231087 |
| Wait events changes | Re-categorize EXECSYNC as Parallel Coordination Wait | CR#0226868 |
| Re-categorize SOS_RESERVEDMEMBLOCKLIST as Memory Wait | CR#0230673 | |
| Re-categorize RESOURCE_SEMAPHORE_QUERY_COMPILE as Memory Wait | CR#0230674 | |
| Re-categorize CXPACKET as Parallel Coordination Wait | CR#0230700 | |
| Re-categorize ASYNC_DISKPOOL_LOCK as I/O | CR#0230701 | |
| Re-categorize BAD_PAGE_PROCESS as Memory Wait | CR#0230702 | |
| Re-categorize DBTABLE as I/O Wait | CR#0230740 | |
| Re-categorize DEADLOCK_ENUM_MUTEX and DEADLOCK_TASK_SEARCH as Lock Wait/Internal Lock Wait | CR#0230741 | |
| Re-categorize EXCHANGE as Parallel Coordination Wait | CR#0230742 | |
| Re-categorize QRY_MEM_GRANT_INFO_MUTEX as Memory Wait | CR#0230770 | |
| Re-categorize SOS_LOCALALLOCATORLIST as Memory Wait | CR#0230771 | |
| Add SOS_MEMORY_USAGE_ADJUSTMENT to Memory Wait | CR#0230772 | |
| Add RESMGR_THROTTLED to Other Misc Wait | CR#0230773 | |
| Add RG_RECONFIG to Other Misc Wait | CR#0230774 | |
| Long program name support | The varchar(max) datatype needs to be supported | CR#0230169 |
| House cleaning | Repository manager should not print failed SQLs for explain plan to stderr | CR#0230512 |
| Remove redundant indexes from Repository Database | CR#0230698 | |
| Change tracking still runs when "disabled" in Agent Administration | CR#0231158 | |
| Scalability issues | Remove cursors from procedures, generally improve procedure performance | CR#0230894 |
| Change global temporary table in inefficient indexes advisory to local temporary table to enable concurrent executions | CR#0231334 | |
| Use SQL Server’s sql_handle instead of fake mssql_hash_value 2005/8 only | CR#0229825 | |
| Middleware should provide option to ignore TempDB for object resolution | CR#0226392 | |
| Enable configuration options for not retrieving system code syntax, excluding system database object retrieval, retrieving first 4000 chars of user code | CR#0230895 | |
| Stop holding duplicate object records in middleware dictionary files | CR#0230896 | |
| Ignore temporary objects and only retrieve MSShipped object names, no definitions | CR#0230916 | |
| Change execution plan retrieval process (requires CR0229825 first) 2005/8 | CR#0229826 | |
| New metric | Add "Open Transactions" to Real Time session overview | CR#0231389 |
| Web console compatability | Add Advisory Alerts to standard advisory retrieve feature for PAWC | CR#0230842 |
The following is a list of issues known to exist at the time of the Performance Analysis 6.5 release.
|
Feature |
Known Issue |
Change Request |
| General | Installing the Performance Analysis Client/Agent in a folder that contains non-English characters is not supported. |
CR#0213891 CR#0213896 |
| Running Performance Analysis using a localized username will result in difficulties extracting and creating a support bundle. | CR#0213885 | |
| Agent | Multiple Agents monitoring the same SQL Server instance cannot share the same performance repository (regardless of Agent installation port). This situation will result in data corruption and inconsistencies. | CR#0213900 |
| Uninstalling an Agent from a clustered environment should always be done directly from one of the cluster nodes. | CR#0213901 | |
|
Data that is related to a newly created database may be associated with the
database ID, rather than its actual name for a period of up to 6 hours.
Workaround: In the Performance Analysis Agent Administration | Agent Options tab, click Refresh Now. |
CR#0213902 | |
|
Using the agent's Remove Literals feature in SQL Server 2005 with the auto
parameterize option on is not recommended as the agent will replace the parameterized values with variables following the agent's functionality naming conventions. Work around: Disable the remove literals feature |
CR#0204401 | |
| Installation of Performance Analysis Agent using a localized user name/ password set either using Windows authentication as well as DB authentication is not supported in the current release. | CR#0213894 | |
|
If SQL Server stores data of more than a single language, the Performance
Analysis Agent sampling language must be that of the primary language.
Workaround: Adjust the Sampling Language attribute from within the Collector tab, accessible in the Performance Analysis Agent administration. |
CR#0213898 | |
| When an invalid collation exists (this can often result when SQL Server and/or the host operating system have been upgraded and a collation dropped), SQL Server will return NULL for the SERVERPROPERTY(‘Collation’) function or creating a new database with the server collation will fail. In these cases, the repository manager will create a database using the Latin1_General_CS_AS collation. This condition can result from configuration changes, upgrades or other scenarios. Use fn_helpcollations to verify valid collations on your server. If the Latin1_General_CS_AS collation is not desired, a manual installation can be chosen | CR#0228798 | |
|
For SQL Server 2000 without Hotfix 8.00.959 installed, when the SQL Server
restarts, SQL Server performance counter metrics are not reinitialized if any
process was attached to the SQL Server performance counters. This results in the
Performance Analysis Agent not collecting SQL Server-provided metrics.
Workaround: Identify and stop all processes attached to the SQL Server performance counters and restart the SQL Server. |
CR#0213899 | |
|
Performance Analysis Client |
||
| The command types for certain statements might appear as unknown – (SQL Server 2005 specific). | CR#0213884 | |
| Using the "Copy to clipboard" feature on a German machine will copy the SQL while replacing the German characters with squares. | CR#0207638 | |
| The online help is not accessible from within the Schedule Report configuration dialog. | CR#0213886 | |
| Only the HTML and PDF file types are supported in the Executive Workload Summary Reports wizard | Print dialog, Print to File option. Other file types will not be correctly formatted. |
CR#0213888 |
|
| Unicode data set within the context_info field may appear with extra characters at the end of the actual value. | CR#0213890 | |
| For SQL statements running as server cursors, only the first 256 characters are displayed. | CR#0213892 | |
|
Performance Analysis for SQL Server does not include support for instances of
SQL Server where the lightweight pooling option is enabled. Enabling lightweight
pooling is an advanced option and is not appropriate for many environments.
For more information please read the following Microsoft Knowledgebase Article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/319942 |
CR#0213893 | |
|
Online Help |
The online help is not accessible from the Schedule Report configuration dialog. |
CR#0213886 |
The following is a list of third party issues known to exist at the time of the Performance Analysis 6.5 release.
|
Feature |
Known Issue |
Change Request |
| McAfee v5.5 |
McAfee v5.5 installations may not allow the Performance Analysis installer to complete. Workaround: Contact Quest Support. |
CR#0214140 |
|
SQL Server 2005 |
The command types for certain statements might appear as unknown. |
CR#0213884 |
|
Citrix |
When running Performance Analysis on Citrix, sufficient OS permissions are required to run scheduled reports. |
CR#0213889 |
For the Agent to function in a mixed environment running both SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2000, upgrade all Performance Analysis Agent components to the latest version.
Performance Analysis version 6.5 supports direct upgrade from version 6.0 and above. Users running a lower version should first upgrade the Performance Analysis Agent to version 6.0 and then upgrade to version 6.5.
Users running Performance Analysis version 6.0 and above should take the following steps to assure successful upgrade to Performance Analysis version 6.5
Users running Performance Analysis version 1.0 and 1.5 should take the following steps to assure successful upgrade to Performance Analysis version 6.5
In case any problem arises, contact Quest Support.
Quest supports the hot-fixes listed in SQL_Server_Versions. If you want to apply a hot-fix not listed in that section, please contact Quest Support for further instructions.
Before installing Performance Analysis 6.5, ensure your system meets the following minimum hardware and software requirements:
| Platform | Pentium III (Pentium IV recommended) or compatible processor. |
| Memory |
Dedicated Client: 512 MB of RAM minimum Shared Client: 1024 MB of RAM minimum Note: The memory required may vary based on the following:
|
| Hard Disk Space | 450 MB of disk space required for a full installation,
which includes 200 MB download of temporary setup files that can be
removed at the completion of the installation.
Notes:
|
| Monitor | VGA with a minimum resolution of 1024x768, small fonts |
| Printer | Optional for printing graphs and reports. |
| Mouse | Required for accessing all features |
| CD drive or Internet connection | Required for installation only |
| Operating System |
|
| Browser | Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or later |
| Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) | Version 2.6 or later installed. To verify the MDAC version installed on your computer, follow the instructions from Microsoft's website: |
| Citrix Support |
|
| Platform |
|
| CPU |
According to the Hardware requirements document accessible from the Documentation page on the Performance Analysis website. |
|
Memory |
According to the Hardware requirements document accessible from the Documentation page on the Performance Analysis website. |
|
Hard Disk Space |
According to the Hardware requirements document accessible from the Documentation page on the Performance Analysis website. |
| Operating System |
|
| CD/DVD drive or Internet connection | Required for installation only |
| PeopleSoft Versions | 8.0 or later |
| Performance Repository | SQL Server 2005 SQL Server 2000 SP3a and above |
| Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) | Version 2.6 or later installed. To verify the MDAC version installed on your computer, follow the instructions from Microsoft's website: |
| SQL Server Versions |
32 bit Platforms
64 bit (Windows x64) Platforms
64 bit (Itanium) Platforms
|
Performance Analysis requires 2.5GB of free disk space on the repository host for each instance that is configured on it in order to create the repository database – 2GB for data files and 512MB for transaction log files. Please note, while the initial size of the repository database is 2.5GB, the database will grow as data is accumulated for each monitored instance configured to use that repository. Performance Analysis provides the ability to configure multiple agents to share a common repository database, so the repository size will depend on the sum of all agents' observed activity. The final size of the repository database is also dependent on a number of factors that are unique to each application environment including the instance workload (which includes the number of unique SQL statements captured and the number of unique dimension members observed for each of the historical dimensions) and the settings configured for data retention.
This section contains information about installing and operating this product in non-English configurations, such as those needed by customers outside North America. This section does not replace the materials about supported platforms and configurations found elsewhere in the product documentation.
This release supports any single-byte or multi-byte character set. In this release, all product components should be configured to use the same or compatible character encodings and should be installed to use the same locale and regional options. This release is targeted to support operations in the following regions: North America, Western Europe and Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, Far-East Asia.
This release has the following known capabilities or limitations: 1. This release was officially certified on the following localized non-English Windows versions: German, French and Korean. Windows versions that are supported according to the above statement and were not officially certified may suffer from various I18N related issues. 2. Advisories generated on Korean environment do not support non-English characters. Korean text will appear corrupted.
Note - Performance Analysis supports a "Single Language at a Time" (SLAT). SLAT support means that all portions of the installation and configuration must use the same language and collation for non-English, non-Unicode (Performance Analysis does not support Unicode) characters to be displayed correctly.
If Performance Analysis is installed in the recommended 3-tier architecture, this would require the collector, middleware, and long-term performance repository machines all to use the same collation. Performance Analysis’s Sampling Language attribute must be adjusted as well. Using the Performance Analysis GUI client, open Agent Administration, and then on the Collector tab (default tab for Agent Administration) choose the appropriate language by clicking the language hyperlink near the bottom of the display. Click OK, and then restart the Performance Analysis Agent for the changes to take effect.
The Performance Analysis for SQL Server version 6.5 release package contains the following products:
- Windows x86 (32 bit) (D_PASS_Agent_65309_Windows_x86.exe)
- Windows x64 (64 bit) (D_PASS_Agent_65309_Windows_x64.exe)
- Windows Itanium (64 bit) (D_PASS_Agent_65309_Windows_ia.exe)
- These release notes (PASS_65_Release_Notes.htm)
- Installation Checklist/Quick Guide (Pre Installation Check List.pdf)
- Agent Installation User Guide (Agent Installation User Guide.pdf)
- Client Online Help (Performance Analysis for SQL Server.chm)
Performance Analysis Agent installation should be performed as follows.
Download the Agent installation file matching the target SQL Server platform (Windows 32 bit x86, Windows 64 bit x64, Windows 64 bit Itanium).
Run the installation file on the SQL Server host and follow the displayed instructions.
For detailed instructions see the Documentation page on the Performance Analysis website or contact Quest Support.
| info@quest.com | |
| Quest Software, Inc. World Headquarters 5 Polaris Way Aliso Viejo, CA 92656 USA | |
| Web |
Refer to our Web site for regional and international office information.
Quest Support is available to customers who have a trial version of a Quest product or who have purchased a commercial version and have a valid maintenance contract. Quest Support provides around the clock coverage with SupportLink, our web self-service. Visit SupportLink at http://support.quest.com.
From SupportLink, you can do the following:
View the Global Support Guide for a detailed explanation of support programs, online services, contact information, and policy and procedures. The guide is available from: http://support.quest.com/pdfs/Global Support Guide.pdf.
This document contains proprietary information protected by copyright. The software described in this guide is furnished under a software license or nondisclosure agreement. This software may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of the applicable agreement. No part of this guide may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording for any purpose other than the purchaser’s personal use without the written permission of Quest Software, Inc.
© 2008 Quest Software, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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