As the number of users and data size grow, disk speed is becoming increasingly important, as it is the main performance bottleneck for database systems. In virtualized environments, for example, a poorly configured storage system could slow down a database server drastically. In many cases, it’s difficult or even impossible to convince the storage system administrator that their system is not up to speed.

This session will give you the tools you need to benchmark and verify disk access requirements, and hopefully convince the IT department to upgrade their hard drives or SSDs! To increase acceptance from enterprise IT departments, this session will focus on a (free) tool from Microsoft – SQLIO – which is used to test storage systems on MS SQL Server and MS Exchange. We’ll explain how to use SQLIO and analyze the reports it produces, allowing IT admins to verify and optimize the storage system using Microsoft tools and Microsoft best practice documents.

Furthermore, we’ll provide a 4D component to make usage even easier with a graphical interface that creates human readable reports, including charts. This component can be integrated into your system, letting you run benchmarks regularly, i.e. on weekends, or run separately. It also helps prepare DOS batch files to run on customer machines that often only have Microsoft tools installed.

Presented by: Thomas Maul – Managing Director, 4D Northern Europe