log file on Windows striped volume

I'm using SQLServer 2000 on a Windows Server 2003 machine as my backend
database
for the SPECjAppServer benchmark. Originally I had the database's tables
and logs on
the same disk drive and noticed that drive activity on the DB machine was
quite high and I
supposed that this was causing long disk delays and my transaction timeouts.
I added 4
drives to the machine and created a Windows striped volume across those 4
disks. I
then move the DB log file to this striped volume. The individual disk
utilizations from the
striped volume disks are now much lower than the single disk was before but
my
SPECjAppServer transaction latency has not decreased. Any there any
optimizations hints
to maximize transaction throughput using log files on a striped volume?
thanks,
ToddFor log files you want to use either Raid 1 or 10 but in either case do not
use the OS to do the raid. Use hardware Raid instead. You say that you
"suppose this was causing delays". Don't suppose, check it with perfmon and
see if they are or not. Otherwise you can be chasing the wrong thing.
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/administration/2000/perftuning.asp
Performance WP's
http://www.swynk.com/friends/vandenberg/perfmonitor.asp Perfmon counters
http://www.sql-server-performance.com/sql_server_performance_audit.asp
Hardware Performance CheckList
http://www.sql-server-performance.com/best_sql_server_performance_tips.asp
SQL 2000 Performance tuning tips
http://www.support.microsoft.com/?id=q224587 Troubleshooting App
Performance
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/adminsql/ad_perfmon_24u1.asp
Disk Monitoring
Andrew J. Kelly SQL MVP
"Todd A. Anderson" <drtodd@.aaahawk.com.N0SPAM> wrote in message
news:chalsl$bsv$1@.news01.intel.com...
> I'm using SQLServer 2000 on a Windows Server 2003 machine as my backend
> database
> for the SPECjAppServer benchmark. Originally I had the database's tables
> and logs on
> the same disk drive and noticed that drive activity on the DB machine was
> quite high and I
> supposed that this was causing long disk delays and my transaction
timeouts.
> I added 4
> drives to the machine and created a Windows striped volume across those 4
> disks. I
> then move the DB log file to this striped volume. The individual disk
> utilizations from the
> striped volume disks are now much lower than the single disk was before
but
> my
> SPECjAppServer transaction latency has not decreased. Any there any
> optimizations hints
> to maximize transaction throughput using log files on a striped volume?
> thanks,
> Todd
>|||"Andrew J. Kelly" <sqlmvpnooospam@.shadhawk.com> wrote in message
news:ubbXdyfkEHA.3848@.tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
> For log files you want to use either Raid 1 or 10 but in either case do
not
> use the OS to do the raid. Use hardware Raid instead. You say that you
> "suppose this was causing delays". Don't suppose, check it with perfmon
and
> see if they are or not. Otherwise you can be chasing the wrong thing.
I tried putting the database on the striped volume and the log on a single
physical disk.
Every configuration has behaved pretty much the same.
1) Everything on one physical disk.
2) Log on striped volume, tables on non-striped.
3) Log on non-striped and tables on striped volume.
I would lose to use a hardware RAID but I don't it. I want to get the best
performance
with the equipment that we currently have. Other people have said they've
got
performance gains from techniques such as these but I'm still not seeing it.
Todd
> "Todd A. Anderson" <drtodd@.aaahawk.com.N0SPAM> wrote in message
> news:chalsl$bsv$1@.news01.intel.com...
> > I'm using SQLServer 2000 on a Windows Server 2003 machine as my backend
> > database
> > for the SPECjAppServer benchmark. Originally I had the database's
tables
> > and logs on
> > the same disk drive and noticed that drive activity on the DB machine
was
> > quite high and I
> > supposed that this was causing long disk delays and my transaction
> timeouts.
> > I added 4
> > drives to the machine and created a Windows striped volume across those
4
> > disks. I
> > then move the DB log file to this striped volume. The individual disk
> > utilizations from the
> > striped volume disks are now much lower than the single disk was before
> but
> > my
> > SPECjAppServer transaction latency has not decreased. Any there any
> > optimizations hints
> > to maximize transaction throughput using log files on a striped volume?|||Again, are you using perfmon to see exactly what the disk queue's are? If
they are not very high it won't matter what drive configuration you choose,
you will still get the same performance. Maybe it's not the drives. Those
links I sent should get you started to see where the bottleneck is and how
to address it. Another thing, if you are using just striping (RAID 0) and
you loose a single drive you will loose everything so make sure you have
good and often backups. And make sure you don't backup to the same disks or
you will loose them as well.
--
Andrew J. Kelly SQL MVP
"Todd A. Anderson" <drtodd@.aaahawk.com.N0SPAM> wrote in message
news:chkv5o$3ar$1@.news01.intel.com...
> "Andrew J. Kelly" <sqlmvpnooospam@.shadhawk.com> wrote in message
> news:ubbXdyfkEHA.3848@.tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
> > For log files you want to use either Raid 1 or 10 but in either case do
> not
> > use the OS to do the raid. Use hardware Raid instead. You say that you
> > "suppose this was causing delays". Don't suppose, check it with perfmon
> and
> > see if they are or not. Otherwise you can be chasing the wrong thing.
> I tried putting the database on the striped volume and the log on a single
> physical disk.
> Every configuration has behaved pretty much the same.
> 1) Everything on one physical disk.
> 2) Log on striped volume, tables on non-striped.
> 3) Log on non-striped and tables on striped volume.
> I would lose to use a hardware RAID but I don't it. I want to get the
best
> performance
> with the equipment that we currently have. Other people have said they've
> got
> performance gains from techniques such as these but I'm still not seeing
it.
> Todd
> > "Todd A. Anderson" <drtodd@.aaahawk.com.N0SPAM> wrote in message
> > news:chalsl$bsv$1@.news01.intel.com...
> > > I'm using SQLServer 2000 on a Windows Server 2003 machine as my
backend
> > > database
> > > for the SPECjAppServer benchmark. Originally I had the database's
> tables
> > > and logs on
> > > the same disk drive and noticed that drive activity on the DB machine
> was
> > > quite high and I
> > > supposed that this was causing long disk delays and my transaction
> > timeouts.
> > > I added 4
> > > drives to the machine and created a Windows striped volume across
those
> 4
> > > disks. I
> > > then move the DB log file to this striped volume. The individual disk
> > > utilizations from the
> > > striped volume disks are now much lower than the single disk was
before
> > but
> > > my
> > > SPECjAppServer transaction latency has not decreased. Any there any
> > > optimizations hints
> > > to maximize transaction throughput using log files on a striped
volume?
>sql