IT environments continue to grow in complexity. Organizations today are using multiple database platforms, embracing cloud technologies, and generating enormous volumes of data, and users have increasingly high expectations for availability and performance. These trends increase the pressure on DBAs to proactively find and address performance issues, even as budgets tighten. This paper outlines the resulting challenges for DBAs, and offers a solution to help.

1. SQL Server Management Perfected
Ensuring Database Performance in
the Face of Today’s IT Trends
January 2014

2. Intro
The life of a database administrator (DBA) is often stressful, as they find themselves responsible to
ensure peak performance and troubleshoot issues in increasingly complex IT environments with more
and more data.
Organizations today are using multiple database platforms, embracing cloud technologies and
generating enormous volumes of data. These major trends increase the pressure on DBAs to
proactively find and address performance issues, even as budgets tighten.
Based off of Dell Software’s latest whitepaper, “SQL Server Management Perfected – Ensuring
Database Performance in the Face of Today’s IT Trends,” (click to download) this presentation will
highlight the broad IT trends that impact database environments and the resulting challenges for
DBAs. It will also showcase the ways in which Dell™ Spotlight on SQL Server (click for free trial) will
help DBAs rest easy and deliver the high service levels organizations require today.
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3. IT Trends Driving Database Complexity
Data Center Complexity
Data centers are becoming more
complex in several different ways.
• Environments are more
heterogeneous
– A recent Dell customer survey
revealed the usage of multiple
platforms: Oracle, MySQL and SQL
Server to name a few.
• Mix of virtual and physical servers
– Forces some DBAs to take on a dual
role as virtualization admins.
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4. IT Trends Driving Database Complexity
Cloud Computing – The Great Debate
According to research reported by Forbes, the worldwide cloud computing
market will grow at 36 percent compound annual growth rate through 2016,
reaching a market size of $19.5B by 2016. Cloud computing will lead to a major
shift in DB infrastructure and require major upgrades. There are 2 types of
cloud data base environments: private and public.
Based on the decision of the organization, private and public clouds impact
internal databases differently and DBAs must monitor the cloud environment.
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5. IT Trends Driving Database Complexity
Cloud Computing – Private Clouds
-A private cloud is an internally hosted
database environment, which provides
flexibility in managing hardware
resources as shared resource pools.
-Databases can be spun up or shut
down on demand and resources can be
allocated on the fly.
-A virtualization platform (or even
multiple ones) behind the scenes
powers this private cloud infrastructure.
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6. IT Trends Driving Database Complexity
Cloud Computing – Public Clouds
-A public cloud is a database hosted
outside of the company’s network
using a third-party provider, i.e.
Amazon Web Services or Microsoft
Azure.
-In public cloud environments, the third
party provides the hardware and
infrastructure, while the IT customer
“leases” the ability to run databases.
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7. IT Trends Driving Database Complexity
Explosion of Data
Data volumes have been growing and will continue to grow,
exponentially. As these volumes grow larger, challenges around
performance and administration continue to get more complex. Also, more
data sources will pop up and require specialized knowledge and expertise.
IT Departments will address data growth in one of two ways:
• Add servers and databases. As a result, DBAs will be tasked with monitoring,
managing, reporting and maintaining a large number of servers.
• Consolidate databases onto shared hardware. Management and
maintenance will be easier, but importance of individual servers rises
significantly. As a result, DBAs will require a much higher level of visibility.
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8. IT Trends Driving Database Complexity
Explosion of Data – DBAs Beware
Regardless of a DBAs decision to address the explosion, they must remember
to be mindful of SQL Server “sprawl.”
DBAs cannot be everywhere to make sure SQL statements are coded properly
and that shared SQL Server resources are configured properly. Here are a few
things to keep in mind:
 Look for tools that can provide valuable insights into action and resolution.
 Look for tools that can take you to the root of the performance problem.
 Proactive solutions will enable you to work smarter, not harder.
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9. IT Trends Driving Database Complexity
Consumerization of IT
If we were to play the blame game, all fingers point to Apple.
The consumerization of IT is fueled from products that deliver
cool, user-friendly and innovative devices. These devices first
emerged in the consumer market and then spread into
corporate environments.
From here, two additional issues arise:
• Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). Employees expect the flexibility to access and interact with
databases, including SQL Server, through their own devices. DBAs must provide secure access via
non-company issued devices.
• Application Modernization. Today’s apps require greater connectivity to a wide range of services,
each of which can affect availability and performance. DBAs will need to monitor the database and
end-to-end behavior as apps become more critical.
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10. How Do These Trends Affect DBAs?
Cloud computing, data growth and the consumerization of IT are three of
the biggest drives of increased database complexity.
Not surprisingly, these trends align with some of the most common pain points
DBAs identify:
• Inability to be proactive
• Lack of visibility
• Performance monitoring issues
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11. How Do These Trends Affect DBAs?
Inability to be Proactive
Most days, DBAs feel like they just can’t
get ahead. They worry about issues
arising morning, noon and night – and
sometimes, even overnight. Without an
easily accessible, real-time view of the
environment, DBAs find it extremely
difficult to be proactive rather than
reactive when it comes to diagnosing
and addressing both real-time and
historical performance issues.
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12. How Do These Trends Affect DBAs?
Lack of Visibility
Visibility into database activity is even
more critical as the number of
transactions grows. More often than
not, this number grows because:
1. More users attempting to access a
specific database from various
devices.
2. More mission-critical apps running
on top of databases.
3. More data being generated, stored
and accessed from databases.
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13. How Do These Trends Affect DBAs?
Performance Monitoring Issues
Although SQL Server and other
databases include native monitoring
tools to provide some insight into
database performance, the viewing
process is cumbersome and timeconsuming.
As a result, DBAs must use multiple
native tools, toggling from one solution
to the next, which slows down their
efforts to find and address issues.
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14. So, what’s the answer?
Native database monitoring tools
provide baseline activity and
performance metrics that provide so
much raw data it’s difficult for DBAs to
interpret, pinpoint and address the issue
quickly.
With Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise, DBAs can
guarantee database performance by:
-Providing in-depth physical, cloud and virtual SQL
diagnostics
-Pinpointing resource shortages and I/O bottlenecks
-Releasing in-depth information on SQL Server
clusters, replication, database mirroring and logshipping activities
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15. The Right Tools
Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise
provides you with unmatched SQL
Server monitoring, diagnosis and
optimization of your database
environments to ensure peak
performance around the clock.
Don’t believe us? Download a free
trial here and see for yourself. And
while you’re at it, why not read
through the whitepaper, “SQL
Server Management Perfected” –
you might learn something you
didn’t already know!
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