The best business analysts understand the value of having a "conversation" with their data. The idea is that they can pose queries, examine results, then quickly modify their questions to home in on a desired answer. This kind of iterative process creates a fluid environment that is highly conducive for identifying meaningful patterns in data. Register for this episode of Hot Technologies to hear Bloor Group Chief Analyst Dr. Robin Bloor and Data Scientist Dez Blanchfield as they outline why fluid analytics should be the norm and which hurdles still stand in the way. They'll be briefed by Bullett Manale of IDERA who will demonstrate his company's diagnostic platform for analytics. He'll provide context, and also deliver a demo that shows real-world solutions that enable iterative analytics.

1. Grab
some
coffee and
enjoy the
pre-show
banter
before the
top of the
hour!

2. H T Technologies of 2016

3. HOST:
Eric Kavanagh

4. THIS YEAR is…

5. THE LINE UP
ANALYST:
Dez Blanchfield
Data Scientist,
The Bloor Group
ANALYST:
Robin Bloor
Chief Analyst,
The Bloor Group
GUEST:
Bullett Manale
Director of Sales Engineering,
IDERA

6. INTRODUCING
Robin Bloor

7. Database Tuning
Robin Bloor Ph.D.

8. The DBA
For sophisticated databases
(Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, etc.)
database tuning is a tough job,
but a SECURE job

9. file://localhost/Users/robinbloor2/Dropbox/
~Desktop/bottlenecks.jpg
The Database Landscape
u Relational databases still dominate in
popularity (> 95%)
u MS SQL Server is second in popularity to
Oracle
u Used both for OLTP and query workloads
u Alternatives (NoSQL & Graph) used mainly
for analytics
u Most companies standardize and use
alternatives only in exceptional
circumstances
u Databases are “strategic” and they evolve
u Neither Hadoop nor Spark is a database

10. file://localhost/Users/robinbloor2/Dropbox/
~Desktop/bottlenecks.jpg
DBA Activities
u Install, config, upgrade
u License management
u ETL & Replication
u Storage & Caplan
u Troubleshooting
u Performance monitoring & tuning
u Security
u BU & Recovery
u S/W Test systems
u Data lifecycle

11. file://localhost/Users/robinbloor2/Dropbox/
~Desktop/bottlenecks.jpg
Database Performance Bottlenecks
u CPU: CPU overload, context switches,
I/O waits, CPU cache, Backplane
throughput
u Memory: Thrashing, fragmentation
u Disk: Caching, I/O saturation,
fragmentation, SSD performance
u Network Overhead (SANs, NAS, local
disk)
u Locking

12. file://localhost/Users/robinbloor2/Dropbox/
~Desktop/bottlenecks.jpg
Hardware Factors
u CPUs, GPUs & FPGAs
u Cross breeding
u 3D Xpoint and PCM
u SSDs & parallel access
u Parallel hardware architectures
At the hardware level
PERFORMANCE is accelerating
and COSTS continue to fall.

13. file://localhost/Users/robinbloor2/Dropbox/
~Desktop/bottlenecks.jpg
Database Issues
u Database entropy (proliferating
instances) is very common – it’s
the norm, with databases being
used as “cupboards”
u Few databases are self-tuning or
properly tuned (especially the ones
that perform)
u SQL needs to be tuned (particularly
for JOINS)
u Most companies employ few DBAs
(they’re expensive)

14. Consequently
DBAs need tools

15. INTRODUCING
Dez Blanchfield

16. @dez_blanchfield
Effec%ve Analy%cs Requires High Performance Queries

17. @dez_blanchfield
The challenge of maintaining a
conversa%on with your data and
iden%fying meaningful pa@erns

18. @dez_blanchfield
Key challenges impac/ng Database Analy/cs performance
§ Infrastructure Performance Monitoring
§ Keeping on top of Query Monitoring
§ Monitoring response 6mes to pla8orm & user
§ Addressing poorly structured queries
§ Itera6ve query / review & fine tuning workflows
§ Keeping on top of deadlocks and blocks
§ ShiF from Historical to Predic6ve aler6ng
Typical day to day performance hits..

19. @dez_blanchfield
Discovering hurdles which get in
the way of making fluid analy%cs
the norm in your organiza%on

20. @dez_blanchfield
Performance issues which regular users can’t easily resolve
§ Performance of complex code you didn’t write
§ Pre-staging of data for performance where possible
§ Dele6ng indexes before bulk imports then re-index
§ Op6mize indexes regularly or aFer a bulk import
§ Limit queries to just number of columns you need
§ Knowing how & when to use temp tables
§ Batch up delete & update workloads efficiently
§ Detec6ng & addressing foreign key constraints
Issues invisible to most mere mortals..

21. @dez_blanchfield
It behooves us to find be@er
ways to perform real-%me
PlaJorm Performance
Diagnos%cs intelligently

22. INTRODUCING
Bullett Manale

23. © 2016 IDERA, Inc. All rights reserved.
Proprietary and confidential.
IDERA - SQL DIAGNOSTIC MANAGER
Hot Technology, The Key to Effective Analytics: Fast-Returning Queries
Bullett Manale
Director, Sales Engineering

24. © 2015 IDERA, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential. 2

25. © 2015 IDERA, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential. 3
§ FOCUS: SQL DIAGNOSTIC MANAGER

26. © 2015 IDERA, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential. 4
§ Data Manager
§ DBA
§ Acting DBA (or most technical person in the room)
TYPICAL USER OF SQL DIAGNOSTIC
MANAGER

27. © 2015 IDERA, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential. 5
RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE DBA
(ACCORDING TO WIKIPEDIA)

28. 6© 2016 IDERA, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential.
USUALLY MORE TO A QUESTION THAN MEETS THE EYE
‘Loaded’ Questions:
What is my worst performing query? | (Reads, Writes, CPU, Frequency, Waits, Duration)
Show me blocking incidents within my production environment? | (Blocking by count, by blocking time)
When will I run out of space? | (Drive space, Database space, VM Host Space, Partition)
What is my worst instance of SQL Server running? | (CPU, Waits, I/O, Memory, Alerts, etc..)
What is my worst performing application? | (CPU, I/O, by user, by client, by database)
What caused my problem that happened last night? | (What time last night, CPU, I/O, Non-responsive)
What can I do proactively to improve my performance? (Totally Open Ended)

29. 7© 2016 IDERA, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential.
TYPICAL REQUIREMENTS OF A GOOD ANALYTICS TOOL
BE ABLE TO…..
…collect the information at little to no cost
…collect the appropriate data and leave out the unnecessary data
…once collected, access the data quickly and efficiently
…easily understand the data or provide additional resources that help educate
...easily share the information with others using reports, exporting, and integration
…easily drill even deeper into the data if it is called for

30. 8© 2016 IDERA, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential.
SQL DIAGNOSTIC MANAGER CORE DELIVERABLES
§ Manage at the Enterprise Level – DBAs typically manage a lot of database instances. Having a view that represents the
health of each instance in a single window is vital. This provides peace of mind for the DBA in that they can quickly glance at a screen to
know if everything is running as it should be; if it’s not, then to have the ability to drill down and identify and troubleshoot. The tool also
needs to be presented in a way that is familiar to the day to day operations of the DBA (DBA Centric View).

31. 9© 2016 IDERA, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential.
SQL DIAGNOSTIC MANAGER CORE DELIVERABLES
§ Ability to Look Into the Past – A DBA can’t continuously stare at a console and wait for problems to happen. Problems happen
during meetings, in the middle of the night and off hours. Having a tool to help see the state of a server when a problem happened in the
past is vital. Additionally, the historical data collected can be used for other purposes than just troubleshooting. For example: What is my
fastest growing database over the last year?

32. 10© 2016 IDERA, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential.
SQL DIAGNOSTIC MANAGER CORE DELIVERABLES
§ Query Performance and Accountability – The DBA is often left holding the bag whenever there is a
performance related issue. The perception is that if the database is the slowdown (or calls to the database)
then it must be the DBAs fault. Having the ability to identify performance issues down to the command
level is a vital part of what SQL Diagnostic Manager does.

33. 11© 2016 IDERA, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential.
SQL DIAGNOSTIC MANAGER CORE DELIVERABLES
§ Ability to be Proactive – Proactive means different things to different people. For DBAs, in most cases, it
means taking corrective action before the user experience is diminished; or even going so far as to
automate the remediation of known issues automatically. SQL Diagnostic Manager can help with all of
these.

34. 12© 2016 IDERA, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential.
SQL DIAGNOSTIC MANAGER CORE DELIVERABLES
§ Overall Flexibility – Every environment is different. Out-of-the-box SQL Diagnostic Manager has canned
metrics that are monitored and collected historically for review. The same holds true for reports. Having
the ability to extend this monitoring footprint is paramount, especially for larger enterprise shops. Obscure
monitoring requirements will be necessary. Having a tool that adapts to the environment is crucial.

35. 13© 2016 IDERA, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential.
ARCHITECTURE OF SQL DIAGNOSTIC MANAGER
SQLdm
Thick
Consoles
SQLdm
Services
SQLdm
Repository
(SQL server
2005+)
Management Service
Collection Service
Active
Android
iOS
Windows
• Nothing installed on the monitored SQL instance
• No agents, stored procedures, etc.
• Monitor physical and virtual databases
IDERA
core services
SQL Diagnostic Manager SQLSafe Backup*SQL Enterprise Job Manager*
SQLdm &
Other
Web
Consoles
* Sold separately* Sold separately
SQLdm
Mobile
Licensed per
instance
Now
Supports
2016!

36. 14© 2016 IDERA, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential.
INTRODUCING SQL WORKLOAD ANALYSIS
(PART OF SQL DIAGNOSTIC PRO BUNDLE)

37. 15© 2016 IDERA, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential.
QUICK DEMONSTRATION
SQL DIAGNOSTIC MANAGER

39. The Archive Trifecta:
• Inside Analysis www.insideanalysis.com
• SlideShare www.slideshare.net/InsideAnalysis
• YouTube www.youtube.com/user/BloorGroup
THANK YOU!