Re: What affects performance?

In article <2sk35o$80v_at_goshen.connected.com>, Kurt Schmidt <slores_at_goshen.connected.com> wrote:
>In article <Cqq0no.9x9_at_boi.hp.com>, Jack Parker <jparker_at_boi.hp.com> wrote:
>>
>>But more seriously, Paul and the other posters made some very valid points.
>>What the original requestor was asking for was a white paper on performance,
>>or rather the basis to write one.
>>...
>>For example: What's
>>faster a Maserati or a schoolbus? But are you trying to win the Indy 500
>>or move people from point a to point b? Sure the Maserati can get there 3
>>times faster but it can only carry two people.
>>
>>I am now supposed to read a white paper which states this? Sure it's possible
>>to document in general what makes a system fast. But how high is the sky?
>[stuff deleted]
>
>I think it would be quite worthwhile to describe, or to try to describe, various
>parameters that influence the performance of a system. Or in the words of
>the example above, mentioning to the reader that the number of people
>being transported must be taken into consideration, as well as the speed
>priority. Other items could include information on how to analyze the data
>being stored, in order to make a reasonable decision (ex.: if BLOBs are
>involved, what would be of importance? If BLOBs are NOT involved, would the
>same parameters need to be considered?). Sky's pretty high, but we did touch
>it, and went even farther :-).

Why would it seem reasonable for us to discuss the specific effects on performance here when Sybase offers a 5-day class on the subject? Things that directly affect performance are:

1. Volume of data
2. Clustered indexes
3. Non-clustered indexes
4. Raw partitions (vs. data files)
5. Memory
6. Number of users, both using the database and others
7. CPU size and speed
8. Parameter settings
9. Network performance

and most importantly

1. How the SQL code is written (with respect to the optimizer)

ALL of these things have to be taken into consideration when considering performance. And I'm sure I left out a whole bunch of other considerations as well, so basically you should take a WAG and go with it.

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