1. th
EVENT Pre and Post tips to
Installing SQL Server
correctly
SQL Server 2008, 2008R2, 2012,2014Antonios Chatzipavlis
Database Architect • SQL Server Evangelist • Trainer
MCT, MCSE, MCITP, MCPD,MCSD,MCDBA,MCSA,MCTS, MCAD,MCP, OCA,ITIL-F
Jan 22, 2015
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2. I have been started with computers.
I started my professional carrier in computers industry.
I have been started to work with SQL Server version 6.0
I earned my first certification at Microsoft as Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (3rd in
Greece) and started my carrier as Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) with more than 20.000
hours of training until now!
I became for first time Microsoft MVP on SQL Server
I created the SQL School Greece (www.sqlschool.gr)
I became MCT Regional Lead by Microsoft Learning Program.
I was certified as MCSE : Data Platform, MCSE: Business Intelligence
Antonios Chatzipavlis
Database Architect • SQL Server Evangelist • Trainer • Speaker
MCT, MCSE, MCITP, MCPD, MCSD, MCDBA, MCSA, MCTS, MCAD, MCP, OCA, ITIL-F
 1982
 1988
 1996
 1998
 2010
 2012
 2013

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4. help@sqlschool.gr

5. Selecting and Sizing the Server

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SQL Server places different demands on its underlying hardware depending on what
type of database workload is running against the instance of SQL Server
• OLTP workloads
• OLAP workloads
You also have to keep in mind that very few database workloads are pure OLTP- or
pure DW-type workloads, so you will often have to deal with mixed workload types.
You also might have to host multiple databases on a single SQL Server instance,
where each database has a different type of workload
Understanding your Workload

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• Characterized by a high number
• of short-duration transactions
• and queries
that are usually executed on a single thread of execution.
• They can have a higher percentage of write activity
• The data in some tables can be extremely volatile.
• These characteristics have important implications for the
hardware selection and configuration process.
OLTP Workloads

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• Characterized by longer running queries against more static data.
• These queries are often parallelized by the query optimizer, so having a higher
number of physical cores in your processors can be very beneficial.
• Having a large amount of physical RAM is very useful for DW
workloads
• Because you will be able to have more data in the SQL Server buffer cache, which
will reduce the read pressure on the I/O subsystem.
• Tends to have very little write activity
• DW-type queries read large amounts of data as they calculate aggregates
• So good sequential read I/O performance is very important.
• Which will also affect how you configure your I/O subsystem in terms of storage
type and RAID level
OLAP Workloads

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• Server Processor Count Selection
• One common mistake is to assume that a “bigger” server in terms of
physical processor count is a faster server compared to a smaller server.
• Processor Vendor Selection
• Intel or AMD
• Processor Model Selection
• The performance of SQL Server is hugely dependent on the size of the L2
and L3 caches.
• Economizing on the L2 and L3 cache size is not usually an good choice.
Processor Selection

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• The basic rule of thumb for SQL Server is that
• You can never have too much memory
• Total number of memory slots
• More slots is better
• SMP vs NUMA
Memory Selection

11. Selecting and Configuring Windows OS

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• Windows Server 2012 R2
• Highly recommended especially for server than need to be
highly available.
• Avoid Windows Server 2008 R2 and older versions
Choosing Windows OS

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• If you plan to use AlwaysOn AG it is important to apply the
following patches
• Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 – KB2545685
• Windows Server 2012 – KB2784261
• Windows Server 2012 R2 – KB2920151
• Prerequisites, Restrictions, and Recommendations for AlwaysOn Availability
Groups
Apply patches and hotfixes on WinOS

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• SQL Server does not need a giant page file
• If SQL Server is the major service on the box a 2GB page file
on system drive it’s enough
• Beware removing the page file (KB254649)
Configure the Windows page file

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• Confirm that the Windows power plan is set to high
performance
• Confirm that the processors are running at full speed using
CPU-Z
Power Option

16. Setting Anti-Virus

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• The servers is public on the Internet.
• The server have open ports to servers that are not behind a
firewall.
• The server read or execute files from other servers.
• The server run HTTP servers
• The server hosting file shares.
• The server use Database Mail to handle incoming or outgoing
email messages.
Use Anti-Virus when…

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• Directories of SQL Server instance
• SQL Server data files
• SQL Server backup files
• Full-Text catalog files
• Trace files
• SQL audit files
• SQL query files
• SQL Server service
Setting Anti-Virus exclusions

19. Configuring Disks Storage subsystem

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• Minimum RAID 1 for all drives
• Including OS system drive
• Even SSD or PCI-Express
• RAID 10 for best performance
• Use 128GB drive for OS system drive
• Test the I/O performance SQLIO/SQLIOSIM
Use RAID

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• OS System drive should be formatted with the default (4K)
cluster size.
• All drives holding data & log files should be formatted with
64K cluster size
• Check your storage for partition alignment
• Follow this rule even if it’s a VM on shared storage
Disk Drive Format

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• SQL Server application folders
• SQL Server database data files
• SQL Server database log file
• including TempDB
• TempDB data files
• Backups
Use separate drive for

23. Configuring Network

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• The connectivity with SQL Server is important!
• You have Failover clustering or Availability Groups
• It’s a good practice even for standalone server
• Teaming NICs
Use Multiple Physical Network Cards when

25. Configuring Server for Security
and Performance

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• Use dedicated domain user account with no special rights on
the domain.
• You do not need or want this account to be a local admin on
the machine where SQL Server will be installed.
• Use a separate, dedicated domain user account for the SQL
Server Agent service.
• If you are going to be installing and using other SQL Server
related services, you will want dedicated domain accounts for
each service.
SQL Server services accounts

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• Enable Instant File Initialization
• Perform Volume Maintenance Tasks
• Grant Lock pages in memory
• Common on SQL Server 2005 / Windows 2003
• Less common with newer versions
(Still it is a good idea to enable LPIM on a new system)
• Add the permissions to the Service Account in AD - KB319723
• readServicePrincipalName
• writeServicePrincipalName
Policy Settings and Rights for the SQL Server service account

28. SQL Server Installation

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• Install only the features you actually need
• This will reduce your attack surface
• It will speed future maintenance of the instance because there are fewer
components to patch
• Install Services Packs or CUs
• Enter a strong password for the sa account if you choose
Mixed Mode authentication
• Set the Data Directories according to plan
• Do not use C: drive
SQL Server Installation

30. Configuring SQL Server

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• 1118
• This trace flag switches allocations in tempdb from single-page at a time for
the first 8 pages, to immediately allocate an extent (8 pages).
• 2371
• that you can use to control when the query optimizer generates autostats
on a table
Trace Flags to enable

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• Enable compressed backups
• Setting Default backup media retention (days)
• Setting Database default location for
• Data files
• Log files
• Backups
Server Properties

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• Max Worker Threads
• Priority Boost
• Lightweight Pooling
• Maximum number of concurrent connections
• Network Packet Size
Server Properties

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• Set Max Server Memory
• Important when LPIM is enabled
• Use this formula to calculate SQL Server
Memory
• Reserve 1GB for OS
• Reserve 1GB for each 4GB after the first 4GB and until
16GB
• Reserve 1GB for each 8GB after the first 16GB
• Monitor the Memory:Available MB
performance counter
SQL Server Memory
Server Memory 64GB
1GB for OS
3GB for 4-16GB
6GB for 16-64GB
10GB in total
64-10 = 54 Max SQL
Server memory

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• Change the default size for data and log files
• Change the file growth to fixed units
Tweak Model database

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• Move TempDB to its own drive
• Grow the size of data file
• Add additional data files as the number of logical processors
up to 8 logical CPUs
• Each file must have the same size
• Pre-allocate the space.
• KB2154845
Configure TempDB

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• Set this to the number of physical cores in a single NUMA
node socket on your hardware or less
• Always use an even value
• Use the value of 1 only of you have specific vendor
requirements
• SharePoint
• BizTalk
• SAP
• KB2806353
Configure MAXDOP

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• General default value of 5 is low for most OLTP workloads
and should be increased.
• Base value of 20-25 used for most server installs.
Cost Threshold of Parallelism

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• Control the amount of memory that is used by single-use, ad
hoc query plans in the plan cache.
• SQL Server store only a small stub of an ad hoc query plan in
the plan cache the first time that the ad hoc plan is executed
• Reduces the memory required for that plan in the plan cache.
• It’s not a panacea for single-use ad hoc query plans
• http://www.sqlschool.gr/blog/do-you-have-optimize-for-ad-
hoc-workloads-on-sql-server-2008-r2-instances-380.aspx
Optimize for Ad-hoc workloads

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• Enable TCP/IP
• Firewall exceptions
• TCP port of instance
• UTP 1434 for SQL Browser
SQL Server Network Connectivity

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• Configure Database Mail
• Create Operators
• Configure SQL Agent to use Database Mail
• Create Alerts for Severity 16 to 25
• Create Alerts for Errors 823, 824, 825
• Adding Ola Hallengren’s Maintenance Solution
• Install Adam Machanic sp_WhoIsActive
• Install and run Brent Ozar sp_Blitz
Configure Alerting and Monitoring

42. User Databases Creation

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• Don’t use the default file size
• Don’t use presentence as file growth
• Pay attention on T-Log size and growth to produce equal
VLFs
• Use more than one filegroups
• In PRIMARY leave system object
• Put all user objects to another filegroup
• Use more than one data files
• Even this are in the same drive
Create Database

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• Don’t set Auto Close
• Don’t set Auto Shrink
• Don’t unset Auto Create/Update Statistics
Database Properties

46. SELECT
KNOWLEDGE
FROM
SQL SERVER
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