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We are working for a client with an asp.net/SQL server application which has been using a SQL Server 2005 system till now. The client has decided to upgrade the database to SQL Server 2008 R2 and has procured a powerful server machine with 16 processors with enough RAM and installed Windows Server 2008 64 bit on the system. Now we are tasked with the installation of SQL Server 2008 on the system followed by migration of the existing DB from the SQL 2005 box. Now I am not a SQL Server DBA nor am I a System Administrator by role. Hence, in spite of reading up a lot of the literature on the net, I am not quite able to make sense of it all or put it in the right order of execution. Can somebody explain me the following items, preferably in terms of bullet lists:

What are the points of consideration during installation of SQL Server 2008, specifically in terms of

        Configuring memory usage

        Configuring the SQL Server to take advantage of the multiple processors available

        Other factors to configure to enable SQL Server 2008 features for performance and scalability

        Other points, if any, for configuring the Windows Server 2008 with respect to SQL Server 2008 

Note: We will only use the Database Engine services in SQL Server. The applications does not use SSIS, SSRS, etc.

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This is a complex issue, but for the most part SQL Server manages all of this itself -- it has very capable management of memory, disk IO, threading and the like sitting between the OS and the database engine itself. It's not like Microsoft make their flagship database engine slow by default. –  ta.speot.is Mar 23 '12 at 6:13
There are FAR too many things to cover with these broad questions. –  hkf Mar 23 '12 at 6:13
This would be a better question for dba.stackexchange.com and even then it would be borderline. With no knowledge of how you will be using the db, there is not advice we can offer beyond generic "more memory is better" "RAID 1+0 is faster than RAID 5" etc. SQL Server is unlike DBMSs like MySQL in that you don't generally have to configure memory usage. –  Code Magician Mar 23 '12 at 6:15

1 Answer 1

  • SQL Server will take advantage of whatever processors are available. Processors will be shared between sessions - if all of the work is being done by a single session, then it will all occur on the same processor (to the best of my knowledge - this requires citation).
  • Memory usage is dynamic by default, meaning that there is no restrication on memory usage. You can limit the memory usage used by the server (right-click on the connection in SSMS and select properties) if needed. This is generally used if the instance is part of a server performing other tasks, such as running other database instances, web service tasks, etc.
  • SQL server is pretty good it sorting itself out according to its environment. If you are in a position that you need to create a server farm and distribute data and processing between different machines, this is a whole new topic, discussed at length on MSDN and the StackExchange forums.
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