Which counters/variables to look at?

Hello,

I am tyring to compile a Best Practices list of counters that are almost always good to watch. This to help me better configure our monitoring agents such as NetIQ and Concord agents(sometimes Compuware as well). If I can make a list of the counters that are most helpful in troubleshooting performance problems then I can make a template for all my sql servers. This is especially important when it comes to looking for trends. I would appreciate any input or advice on what to be looking at. Thank you.

Selecting which counters to choose is not always clear cut. The ones described on this website are a good place to start, although I probably would not monitor all of the counters discussed on this website, as you would be flooded with information and you might negatively impact performance.

Each SQL Server is somewhat different and at times, I watch some, at other times, others, depending on my goal. At a minimum, I always watch the following counter, and then add others as needed.

Memory: Pages/Sec
Network Interface: Bytes Total/Sec
Physical Disk: % Disk Time
Physical Disk: Avg Disk Queue Length
Processor: % Processor Time
System: Processor Queue Length
SQL Server Buffer Manager: Buffer Cache Hit Ratio
SQL Server General Statistics: User Connections


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Brad M. McGehee, MVP
Webmaster
SQL-Server-Performance.Com