Boosting SQL Server Priority on Windows

If I dedicate a Win 2003 box to only SQL Server, does it make sense to boost
sql server priority on the box?
--
JohnIf it is the only thing on the box then you shouldn't need it. I have seen
this setting hurt more than help in most cases. I would leave it at the
default unless you know for sure you need it.
--
Andrew J. Kelly SQL MVP
"JT" <Jthayer@.online.nospam> wrote in message
news:1FDFA76C-D8C8-4C48-BDD3-C8165DC0752D@.microsoft.com...
> If I dedicate a Win 2003 box to only SQL Server, does it make sense to
> boost
> sql server priority on the box?
> --
> John

Boost SQL Server priority on windows 2003

Hi,

I've noticed declining performance on our main accounting server. We have a Windows 2003 server running SQL 2000 Enterprise and 8 GBs of RAM.

Has anyone used the "boost SQL Server priority on windows" before? If so, were there any major benefits in using it?

This server is excusively used for SQL btw...

Thanks,
DJI run all of my servers with this option. Check the SQL BOL for Priority Boost Option. Just be sure it is a dedicated SQL server and that it is running SMP (ie, multiple processors).

Regards,

hmscott|||Thanks hmscott. I'll try it out tonight. Hope it works. I'm also going to put the tempdb on a totally different RAID (1 or 10) controlled drive on that server. Apparently that helps as well.|||On re-reading your post, I noted that you started by saying you've seen declining performance on your server. Don't expect priority boost to fix this for you. You probably have other issues in the underlying database. Priority boost just increases the thread priority for the SQLSERVR process (from 7 to 13). That won't yield major performance enhancements on a box that is already dedicated to SQL.

Regards,

hmscott

Boost SQL Priority Pros and Cons

hello,
I have a single, dual-processor SQL server running our companies primary
application for 60 users. We are running SQL 2000 sp4 on 2000 Server, sp4.
Server access via the application seems sluggish at times and I am wondering
if boosting the SQL Priority will help in this regard.
Can someone provide some details on the pro's and con's of enabling this?
Also, what benefit would adding the instance of SQL to Active Directory
provide?
--
Thanks, Jeff"Jeff" <Jeff@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:3E28C261-C90B-4BA1-AD6A-898AEE7B09BF@.microsoft.com...
> hello,
> I have a single, dual-processor SQL server running our companies primary
> application for 60 users. We are running SQL 2000 sp4 on 2000 Server,
> sp4.
> Server access via the application seems sluggish at times and I am
> wondering
> if boosting the SQL Priority will help in this regard.
> Can someone provide some details on the pro's and con's of enabling this?
>
If there are no other applciations running on the server, booting priority
will do nothing. If there are other application running on the server using
lots of CPU, consider using Windows Server Resource Manager to allocate CPU.
It's much more flexible, smarter and safer than messing with process
priority. T
> Also, what benefit would adding the instance of SQL to Active Directory
> provide?
>
None.
David|||If you have performance problems, looking at changing
configuration settings is generally one of the last things
you would typically look at. Many of the times that people
change those settings, it just causes more harm than good.
It's pretty rare to ever need to change the priority.
The following is a pretty good short article on the
configuration settings:
How to determine proper SQL Server configuration settings
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=319942
-Sue
On Thu, 27 Jul 2006 15:04:01 -0700, Jeff
<Jeff@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>hello,
>I have a single, dual-processor SQL server running our companies primary
>application for 60 users. We are running SQL 2000 sp4 on 2000 Server, sp4.
>Server access via the application seems sluggish at times and I am wondering
>if boosting the SQL Priority will help in this regard.
>Can someone provide some details on the pro's and con's of enabling this?
>Also, what benefit would adding the instance of SQL to Active Directory
>provide?|||Jeff wrote:
> hello,
> I have a single, dual-processor SQL server running our companies primary
> application for 60 users. We are running SQL 2000 sp4 on 2000 Server, sp4.
> Server access via the application seems sluggish at times and I am wondering
> if boosting the SQL Priority will help in this regard.
> Can someone provide some details on the pro's and con's of enabling this?
> Also, what benefit would adding the instance of SQL to Active Directory
> provide?
>
More than likely, boosting the priority won't help you out at all. You
should start by looking at sysprocesses during one of the sluggish
periods to see what it running. You could be experiencing blocking, or
just a poorly optimized query that is slowing things down.
Tracy McKibben
MCDBA
http://www.realsqlguy.com|||Thank you all for the responses, I appreciate the input. Sounds like it is
not worth my time.
Our server only runs SQL server and an instance of Backup Exec in SQL, other
than that, it runs nothing.
I think it is more due to the application than the server portion now anyway.
--
Thanks, Jeff
"Tracy McKibben" wrote:
> Jeff wrote:
> > hello,
> >
> > I have a single, dual-processor SQL server running our companies primary
> > application for 60 users. We are running SQL 2000 sp4 on 2000 Server, sp4.
> > Server access via the application seems sluggish at times and I am wondering
> > if boosting the SQL Priority will help in this regard.
> >
> > Can someone provide some details on the pro's and con's of enabling this?
> >
> > Also, what benefit would adding the instance of SQL to Active Directory
> > provide?
> >
> >
> More than likely, boosting the priority won't help you out at all. You
> should start by looking at sysprocesses during one of the sluggish
> periods to see what it running. You could be experiencing blocking, or
> just a poorly optimized query that is slowing things down.
>
> --
> Tracy McKibben
> MCDBA
> http://www.realsqlguy.com
>

Boost SQL Priority Pros and Cons

hello,
I have a single, dual-processor SQL server running our companies primary
application for 60 users. We are running SQL 2000 sp4 on 2000 Server, sp4.
Server access via the application seems sluggish at times and I am wondering
if boosting the SQL Priority will help in this regard.
Can someone provide some details on the pro's and con's of enabling this?
Also, what benefit would adding the instance of SQL to Active Directory
provide?
Thanks, Jeff"Jeff" <Jeff@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:3E28C261-C90B-4BA1-AD6A-898AEE7B09BF@.microsoft.com...
> hello,
> I have a single, dual-processor SQL server running our companies primary
> application for 60 users. We are running SQL 2000 sp4 on 2000 Server,
> sp4.
> Server access via the application seems sluggish at times and I am
> wondering
> if boosting the SQL Priority will help in this regard.
> Can someone provide some details on the pro's and con's of enabling this?
>
If there are no other applciations running on the server, booting priority
will do nothing. If there are other application running on the server using
lots of CPU, consider using Windows Server Resource Manager to allocate CPU.
It's much more flexible, smarter and safer than messing with process
priority. T

> Also, what benefit would adding the instance of SQL to Active Directory
> provide?
>
None.
David|||If you have performance problems, looking at changing
configuration settings is generally one of the last things
you would typically look at. Many of the times that people
change those settings, it just causes more harm than good.
It's pretty rare to ever need to change the priority.
The following is a pretty good short article on the
configuration settings:
How to determine proper SQL Server configuration settings
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=319942
-Sue
On Thu, 27 Jul 2006 15:04:01 -0700, Jeff
<Jeff@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>hello,
>I have a single, dual-processor SQL server running our companies primary
>application for 60 users. We are running SQL 2000 sp4 on 2000 Server, sp4.
>Server access via the application seems sluggish at times and I am wonderin
g
>if boosting the SQL Priority will help in this regard.
>Can someone provide some details on the pro's and con's of enabling this?
>Also, what benefit would adding the instance of SQL to Active Directory
>provide?|||Jeff wrote:
> hello,
> I have a single, dual-processor SQL server running our companies primary
> application for 60 users. We are running SQL 2000 sp4 on 2000 Server, sp4
.
> Server access via the application seems sluggish at times and I am wonderi
ng
> if boosting the SQL Priority will help in this regard.
> Can someone provide some details on the pro's and con's of enabling this?
> Also, what benefit would adding the instance of SQL to Active Directory
> provide?
>
More than likely, boosting the priority won't help you out at all. You
should start by looking at sysprocesses during one of the sluggish
periods to see what it running. You could be experiencing blocking, or
just a poorly optimized query that is slowing things down.
Tracy McKibben
MCDBA
http://www.realsqlguy.com|||Thank you all for the responses, I appreciate the input. Sounds like it is
not worth my time.
Our server only runs SQL server and an instance of Backup Exec in SQL, other
than that, it runs nothing.
I think it is more due to the application than the server portion now anyway
.
Thanks, Jeff
"Tracy McKibben" wrote:

> Jeff wrote:
> More than likely, boosting the priority won't help you out at all. You
> should start by looking at sysprocesses during one of the sluggish
> periods to see what it running. You could be experiencing blocking, or
> just a poorly optimized query that is slowing things down.
>
> --
> Tracy McKibben
> MCDBA
> http://www.realsqlguy.com
>