Built in tools troubleshoot SQL Server memory usage. Memory affects SQL Server performance more than any other piece of hardware. Without enough memory, SQL Server is forced to read and write data to disk to complete a query. Memory access is 1,0. By submitting your personal information, you agree that Tech. Sql Monitoring Tools Comparison' title='Sql Monitoring Tools Comparison' />The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of network monitoring systems. Please see the individual products articles for further. Target and its partners may contact you regarding relevant content, products and special offers. You also agree that your personal information may be transferred and processed in the United States, and that you have read and agree to the Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy. You need to monitor SQL Server memory usage regularly to ensure enough memory is available for mitigating drastic performance problems and to ensure SQL Server is running as fast as possible. The good news is that SQL Server provides built in tools, which you can use to track down the root cause of SQL Server memory bottlenecks, identify how much memory is available, and how SQL Server is currently using the memory. Dynamic management views. Dynamic management views, first introduced with SQL Server 2. These views are useful for monitoring overall SQL Server health, identifying the root cause of SQL Server performance bottlenecks, and tuning SQL Server instance or database performance. The following is a list of dynamic management views available in SQL Server 2. R2, SQL Server 2. SQL Server 2. 01. Monitors the 600 possible wait types that a database server posts when SQL statements do not move forward due to resource contention or being queued due to. Sql Monitoring Tools Comparison' title='Sql Monitoring Tools Comparison' />You can use these views to obtain SQL Server memory usage information for example, how much memory is available to a SQL Server instance or how well a SQL Server instance is using the available memory. In addition to these views, SQL Server 2. In Memory OLTP engine. For more information, refer to the article Memory Optimized Table Dynamic Management Views Transact SQLOn Microsoft Developer Network. DBCC MEMORYSTATUS command. MEMORYSTATUS is an undocumented DBCC command that provides a snapshot of SQL Servers current memory status. This memory usage information helps you quickly identify the root cause of the memory pressure on SQL Server and analyze how well SQL Server is using its allocated memory. Some of the information included in DBCC MEMORYSTATUS output is still not available through dynamic management views. To ensure optimum SQL Server performance, you need to monitor SQL Server memory usage regularly. This article describes builtin tools that can make the job easier. ApexSQL offers the most comprehensive set of SQL Server DBA and Developer tools, with a broad array of awardwinning tools, backend by killer support. That is why Microsoft Customer Support Services teams and experienced database administrators still rely on this undocumented DBCC command to quickly troubleshoot SQL Server memory consumption issues. The DBCC MEMORYSTATUS command describes the distribution of 8k buffers among various components of SQL Server. It provides measurements that show how memory is currently allocated in SQL Server, information that is particularly useful if youre troubleshooting issues related to SQL Server memory consumption. The commands output Figure 1 shows Distribution of committed memory. Size and makeup of the buffer pool. Makeup of the procedure cache. Distribution of Dynamic Memory Usage. Distribution of various global memory usage. Query memory grant information. Concurrent query optimization status. Apex_SQL_Data_Diff_267817.jpg' alt='Sql Monitoring Tools Comparison' title='Sql Monitoring Tools Comparison' />Memory management information, such as VM Reserved, VM Committed, AWE Allocated, Reserved Memory, Reserved Memory In Use. How the SQL Server buffer cache is divided up, including buffer activity. Information about Memory Manager, Clerks, Buffer Manager and a number of other SQL Server processes that consume SQL Server memory. Figure 1 Sample output from the DBCC MEMORYSTATUS command. Extended Events. Extended Events, a highly scalable and lightweight performance monitoring system, uses very few system resources. You can use Extended Events systemhealth Session to monitor memory related information such as memory broker, memory node out of memory errors, and so on. For more information about how to use it, refer to the article Use the systemhealth Session on Microsoft Developers Network. The system stored procedure spserverdiagnostics was first introduced with SQL Server 2. It captures useful diagnostic data and health information about SQL Server to detect potential failures. For example, you can use this stored procedure to capture physical and virtual memory, buffer pools, pages, cache and other memory objects. Be The Bear Mermaid. For more information about this stored procedure, see its documentation at SQL Server Books Online. SQL Server Profiler. SQL Server Profiler is a graphical user interface that captures SQL Server and Analysis Services activities. SQL Server Profiler captures the events as trace data, which you can save to a local file, network file or inside a SQL Server table. You can use SQL Server Profiler to capture memory intensive queries and workloads running on a SQL Server instance. You can then optimize these queries to consume less memory. Windows Performance Monitor. Windows Performance Monitor Figure 2 is a Microsoft Management Console MMC snap in that provides several useful counters that you can use to track SQL Server memory usage. Figure 2 Windows Performance Monitor. Using Windows Performance Monitor, watch these three general categories of memory counter Potential low memory conditions in system memory. SQL Server memory usage, so you can determine whether or not SQL Server is causing the problem. Potential low memory conditions related to the In Memory OLTP engine. Figure 3 shows the most common memory related performance counters you should monitor if youre experiencing memory pressure on SQL Server. Object. Counter. Description. Memory. Available Bytes. Amount of memory available for processes should be consistently higher than 5,0. KB. Memory. Pagessec. Should never climb consistently above 0. Process. Page Faultssec. A high value indicates excessive paging, which can result in both memory and the hard disk becoming performance bottlenecks. You must determine if the problem is being caused by SQL Server or by another process running on the system. Process. Working Set. Monitor this value for each instance of SQL Server running on the system to determine the amount of system memory being used by SQL Server. This value should be greater than 5,0. KB at all times. SQLServer Buffer Manager. Buffer Cache Hit Ratio. For most applications, this value should be 9. A lower value can indicate a memory bottleneck or a poorly designed application. SQLServer Buffer Manager. Total Pages. A low value here can indicate a need to install additional memory. Typically, a low number here is accompanied by a low Buffer Cache Hit Ratio. SQLServer Memory Manager. Total Server Memory KBIf this value is relatively high in comparison to total system memory, its a good indicator that you should install more memory. Figure 3 Common memory related performance counters. In addition to these counters, monitor Memory Grants Pending in the Performance Monitor object SQL Server Memory Manager Counters. This counter indicates the total number of processes per second waiting for a workspace memory grant. Typically, small OLTP transactions dont require large memory grants. Memory grants with a value of greater than zero for a sustained period of time is a sign of memory pressure.