Extended events provide DBAs with a powerful tool that can be used to troubleshoot and investigate SQL Server. Throughout this session, you’ll walk through five great reasons, with demos. By the end of the webcast, you’ll be itching to grab the scripts from the demos to start building your own extended event sessions today.

1. 5 Amazing Reasons DBAs
Need to Love Extended Events

2. Jason
Strate
e: jstrate@pragmaticworks.com
e: jasonstrate@gmail.com
b: www.jasonstrate.com
t: StrateSQL
Resources jasonstrate.com/go/xevents
Introduction
MAKING BUSINESS INTELLIGENT
www.pragmaticworks.com

3. MAKING BUSINESS INTELLIGENT
www.pragmaticworks.com
• Founded 2008 by MSFT MVP Brian Knight
• Focused on the MSFT SQL Server Platform
• Provides services, training and software
• MSFT/HP “go to” partner:
• Gold Certified:
o BI
o Data Management
o SQL Performance
• Team led by multiple MVP’s
• Offices throughout the US with Corporate
HQ in Jacksonville, FL
Pragmatic Works Company History

4. Extended Events

5. Extended Events
Dynamic, highly configurable tracing
tool that provides access to events and
related information from the event.

6. Amazing!

8. Love!

9. 5 Amazing Reasons DBAs
Need to Love Extended Events

10. Data Survivability

11. MAKING BUSINESS INTELLIGENT
www.pragmaticworks.com
Data Survivability
Scenario
• Weekend performance
issues expected
• Configure SQL Trace to
capture statistics
• You enjoy your weekend
• Sysadmin/junior DBA
restarts instance on Friday
night
• Monday morning… GO!

12. MAKING BUSINESS INTELLIGENT
www.pragmaticworks.com
Data Survivability
Scenario
• Performance issue shows
up
• Start Profiler to collect
some events
• Initial analysis deems
– New events are needed
– New columns are needed
• Collected data is still
important
• Change the trace… GO!

13. MAKING BUSINESS INTELLIGENT
www.pragmaticworks.com
Data Survivability
• Solution exists with SQL Trace/Profiler
– Configure startup stored procedures
– Save off data
• Extended events
– Keep the session, restart on SQL Server startup
– Add events and columns on the fly
– Existing target unaffected

14. MAKING BUSINESS INTELLIGENT
www.pragmaticworks.com
DATA SURVIVABILITY
Demo

15. MAKING BUSINESS INTELLIGENT
www.pragmaticworks.com
Key Points on Data Survivability
• Extended events are highly configurable
• Active sessions
– Events can be added/removed
– Columns can be added/removed
• Sessions
– Retained on startup
– Can automatically restart

16. Get What You Want

17. MAKING BUSINESS INTELLIGENT
www.pragmaticworks.com
Get What You Want
Mo’ Problems
• Performance issue shows
up
• Start Profiler to collect
some events
• Initial analysis deems
– New events are needed
– New columns are needed
• Collected data is still
important
• Change the trace… GO!

18. MAKING BUSINESS INTELLIGENT
www.pragmaticworks.com
Get What You Want
Mo’ Problems
• Textdata returns
parameterized T-SQL
• Do you need BigintData1
and BigintData2?
• Aggregate data for trends

19. MAKING BUSINESS INTELLIGENT
www.pragmaticworks.com
Get What You Want
Mo’ Solutions
• Actions
– Plan_handle
– Query_handle
– Query_hash
– TSQL_stack
– Is_system
• Targets
– Histogram/Bucketizer
– Event_coutner
– Event_stream

20. MAKING BUSINESS INTELLIGENT
www.pragmaticworks.com
GET WHAT YOU WANT
Demo

21. MAKING BUSINESS INTELLIGENT
www.pragmaticworks.com
Key Points on Get What You Want
• Extended events are highly configurable
– STILL!!
• Actions
– Add in the columns that you need
– Create actionable traces
• Targets
– More options that are useful

22. DMV Integration

23. MAKING BUSINESS INTELLIGENT
www.pragmaticworks.com
DMV Integration
DMV Information
• Summary information
• Deeper information
DMV Columns
• Plan_handle
• Query_handle
• Query_hash
• TSQL_stack

24. MAKING BUSINESS INTELLIGENT
www.pragmaticworks.com
DMV INTEGRATION
Demo

25. MAKING BUSINESS INTELLIGENT
www.pragmaticworks.com
Key Points on DMV Integration
• DMVs allow expansion of trace results
– More detail
– Link other items together
• Build the complete picture
– Analyze all at once
• No intermediate levels of aggregation

26. Wait Stat Tracing

27. MAKING BUSINESS INTELLIGENT
www.pragmaticworks.com
Waits & Queues Methodology

28. MAKING BUSINESS INTELLIGENT
www.pragmaticworks.com
Wait Stat Tracing
DMVs
• Sys.dm_os_wait_stats
• Sys.dm_os_waiting_tasks
Problem
• High level
• Aggregate
• Point in time

29. MAKING BUSINESS INTELLIGENT
www.pragmaticworks.com
Wait Stat Tracing
Scenario
• Instance has been online for
months.
• Code change deployed
recently
• CPU spiked from 40% to 100%
• High SOS_SCHEDULER_YIELD
waits and counts
– Death by a million cuts
• High CPU items in DMVs are
overnight maintenance jobs

30. MAKING BUSINESS INTELLIGENT
www.pragmaticworks.com
WAIT STAT TRACING
Demo

31. MAKING BUSINESS INTELLIGENT
www.pragmaticworks.com
Key Points on Wait Stat Tracing
• Waits & Queues is a popular methodology
– Difficult to track waits to statement
• DBAs empowered in Waits & Queues
– Truly perform root cause analysis
• Specific waits can be traced and captured
– Instance
– Database
– Application
– User

32. Latch Tracing

33. MAKING BUSINESS INTELLIGENT
www.pragmaticworks.com
Latch Tracing
Latch: Lightweight
synchronization activity.
Examples:
• Page allocations
• Disk-to-memory transfers
• In-memory transfers
DMV
• Sys.dm_os_latch_stats

34. MAKING BUSINESS INTELLIGENT
www.pragmaticworks.com
Latch Tracing
Scenario
• New application deployed
• High volume of users
• High number of LATCH_EX waits
– Non-buffer latching
– Exclusive
• Other applications appear to be
affected
• Application is much slower than
in test
• Where’s the problem… GO!

35. MAKING BUSINESS INTELLIGENT
www.pragmaticworks.com
LATCH TRACING
Demo

36. MAKING BUSINESS INTELLIGENT
www.pragmaticworks.com
Key Points on Latch Tracing
• Latch issues can be hard to troubleshoot
• Typically happening out of sight
• Latches can be traced and captured
– Instance
– Database
– Application
– User

37. 5 Amazing Reasons DBAs
Need to Love Extended Events

38. Loving Extended Events
Data Survivability
Get What You Want
DMV Integration
Wait Stat Tracing
Latch Tracing

40. Learn More About Extended Events
MAKING BUSINESS INTELLIGENT
www.pragmaticworks.com

41. Services
Speed development through training, and
rapid development services from
Pragmatic Works.
Products
BI products to covert to a Microsoft BI
platform and simplify development on
the platform.
Foundation
Helping those who do not have the
means to get into information technology
achieve their dreams.
For more information…
Name: Jason Strate
Email: jstrate@pragmaticworks.com
Blog: www.jasonstrate.com
Resource: jasonstrate.com/go/xevents