Using Coefficient
When Coefficient is first started, you see a screen, similar to the one below:
The left pane provides a list of available servers. Users can attach to a server as needed.
To start a trace, you click on the Trace Wizard, and the wizard begins, as you see below. You can schedule a trace by specifying the start date and time. Next, you can give the name for a trace table and which will be created in the SQL Server, where all the trace records will be saved in that table.
Using the Advanced Mode (see the screen below), you are able to filter the search depending on the SQL users using logged onto the server, and the applications running on the particular SQL Server you are tracing. Most of the time, you do not need to trace all of the activities or users. For example, if there is a complaint from a user saying that only one application on a particular SQL Server has low performance, then you can limit your trace to that particular application, and to only that particular user who made the complaint.
Once the trace is complete and the analysis of the trace is performed, information logged in the trace table is analyzed by Coefficient. The information is grouped, sorted, consolidated, and analyzed for performance. If necessary, support information is grabbed from the trace table to better help you understand the analysis. For example, if a deadlock occurs, the SQL statements that most likely triggered the deadlock are added to the analysis. No access to the production database is required. Trace tables are self-contained and contain all the necessary metadata from the database.
Analysis also has two modes of analyzing: Advanced and Express. As the name suggests, Express Mode is much easier and faster. In Express Mode, users need to specify only the template and the name of the report.
In the Advance Mode, users have the option of changing the trace events, and filtering the application and users by their names.