Monitoring Process for Performance Counters

process to monitor performance counters 


To do this, I first created a couple of tables. One table is used to actually store the monitored values. The second table is used for configuration; you insert only the counters you want to monitor.



/* Create the table to store our logged perfmon counters */
Create Table dbo.dba_perfCounterMonitor
(
      capture_id    int Identity(1,1)   Not Null
    , captureDate   smalldatetime       Not Null
    , objectName    nvarchar(128)       Not Null
    , counterName   nvarchar(128)       Not Null
    , instanceName  nvarchar(128)       Not Null
    , value         float(6)            Not Null
    , valueType     nvarchar(10)        Not Null

    Constraint PK_dba_perfCounterMonitor
        Primary Key Clustered(capture_id)
);

/* Create the table that controls which counters we're going to monitor */
Create Table dbo.dba_perfCounterMonitorConfig
(
      objectName    nvarchar(128)   Not Null
    , counterName   nvarchar(128)   Not Null
    , instanceName  nvarchar(128)   Null
);
If you leave the instanceName NULL in the config table, it’ll monitor all instances. Now we’re going to insert some sample performance counters into the config table. The counters you’re interested in can, and likely will, vary.


/* Insert some perfmon counters to be monitored */
Insert Into dbo.dba_perfCounterMonitorConfig
Select 'SQLServer:Buffer Manager', 'Page Life Expectancy', Null Union All
Select 'SQLServer:Locks', 'Lock Requests/sec', Null Union All
Select 'SQLServer:Locks', 'Lock Waits/sec', Null Union All
Select 'SQLServer:Locks', 'Lock Wait Time (ms)', Null Union All
Select 'SQLServer:Buffer Manager', 'Page reads/sec', Null Union All
Select 'SQLServer:Buffer Manager', 'Page writes/sec', Null Union All
Select 'SQLServer:Buffer Manager', 'Buffer cache hit ratio', Null Union All
Select 'SQLServer:Databases', 'Transactions/sec', 'AdventureWorks' Union All
Select 'SQLServer:General Statistics', 'Processes blocked', Null;
Now let’s create our proc. This proc will run for a specified time period and will *average* the counters over that time. I personally take snapshots every 15 seconds for 4 minutes; I have a scheduled task that runs this every 5 minutes. It’s not perfect, but it gives me a good idea of what’s happening on the server.
Create Procedure dbo.dba_perfCounterMonitor_sp

        /* Declare Parameters */
          @samplePeriod    int      =  240  /* how long to sample, in seconds */
        , @sampleRate      char(8)  =  '00:00:15'  /* how frequently to sample, in seconds */
        , @displayResults  bit      =  0  /* display the results when done */
As
/*********************************************************************************
    Name:       dba_perfCounterMonitor_sp

    Purpose:    Monitors performance counters.  Uses the dba_perfCounterMonitorConfig
                table to manage which perf counters to monitor.

                @samplePeriod - specifies how long the process will try to monitor
                                performance counters; in seconds.

                @sampleRate - how long inbetween samples; in seconds.

                The average values over sample period is then logged to the
                dba_perfCounterMonitor table.

    Notes:      There are 3 basic types of performance counter calculations:

                Value/Base: these calculations require 2 counters. The value
                            counter (cntr_type = 537003264) has to be divided
                            by the base counter (cntr_type = 1073939712).

                Per Second: these counters are store cumulative values; the
                            value must be compared at 2 different times to
                            calculate the difference (cntr_type = 537003264).

                Point In Time:  these counters show what the value of the
                                counter is at the current point-in-time
                                (cntr_type = 65792).  No calculation is
                                necessary to derive the value.

    Called by:  DBA

*********************************************************************************
    Exec dbo.dba_perfCounterMonitor_sp
          @samplePeriod     = 60
        , @sampleRate       = '00:00:01'
        , @displayResults   = 1;
*********************************************************************************/

Set NoCount On;
Set XACT_Abort On;
Set Ansi_Padding On;
Set Ansi_Warnings On;
Set ArithAbort On;
Set Concat_Null_Yields_Null On;
Set Numeric_RoundAbort Off;

Begin

    /* Declare Variables */
    Declare @startTime datetime
        , @endTime datetime
        , @iteration int;

    Select @startTime = GetDate()
        , @iteration = 1;

    Declare @samples Table
    (
          iteration     int             Not Null
        , objectName    nvarchar(128)   Not Null
        , counterName   nvarchar(128)   Not Null
        , instanceName  nvarchar(128)   Not Null
        , cntr_value    float           Not Null
        , base_value    float           Null
        , cntr_type     bigint          Not Null
    );

    Begin Try

        /* Start a new transaction */
        Begin Transaction;

        /* Grab all of our counters */
        Insert Into @samples
        Select @iteration
            , RTrim(dopc.object_name)
            , RTrim(dopc.counter_name)
            , RTrim(dopc.instance_name)
            , RTrim(dopc.cntr_value)
            , (Select cntr_value From sys.dm_os_performance_counters As dopc1
                Where dopc1.object_name = pcml.objectName
                And dopc1.counter_name = pcml.counterName + ' base'
                And dopc1.instance_name = IsNull(pcml.instanceName, dopc.instance_name))
            , dopc.cntr_type
        From sys.dm_os_performance_counters As dopc
        Join dbo.dba_perfCounterMonitorConfig As pcml
            On dopc.object_name = pcml.objectName
                And dopc.counter_name = pcml.counterName
                And dopc.instance_name = IsNull(pcml.instanceName, dopc.instance_name);

        /* During our sample period, grab our counter values and store the results */
        While GetDate() < DateAdd(second, @samplePeriod, @startTime)
        Begin

            Set @iteration = @iteration + 1;

            Insert Into @samples
            Select @iteration
                , RTrim(dopc.object_name)
                , RTrim(dopc.counter_name)
                , RTrim(dopc.instance_name)
                , dopc.cntr_value
                , (Select cntr_value From sys.dm_os_performance_counters As dopc1
                    Where dopc1.object_name = pcml.objectName
                    And dopc1.counter_name = pcml.counterName + ' base'
                    And dopc1.instance_name = IsNull(pcml.instanceName, dopc.instance_name))
                , dopc.cntr_type
            From sys.dm_os_performance_counters As dopc
            Join dbo.dba_perfCounterMonitorConfig As pcml
                On dopc.object_name = pcml.objectName
                    And dopc.counter_name = pcml.counterName
                    And dopc.instance_name = IsNull(pcml.instanceName, dopc.instance_name);

            /* Wait for a small delay */
            WaitFor Delay @sampleRate;

        End;

        /* Grab our end time for calculations */
        Set @endTime = GetDate();

        /* Store the average of our point-in-time counters */
        Insert Into dbo.dba_perfCounterMonitor
        (
 captureDate
, objectName
, counterName
, instanceName
, value
, valueType
)
Select @startTime
   , objectName
   , counterName
   , instanceName
   , Avg(cntr_value)
   , 'value'
From @samples
Where cntr_type = 65792
Group By objectName
   , counterName
   , instanceName;

        /* Store the average of the value vs the base for cntr_type = 537003264 */
        Insert Into dbo.dba_perfCounterMonitor
        (
 captureDate
, objectName
, counterName
, instanceName
, value
, valueType
)
Select @startTime
   , objectName
   , counterName
   , instanceName
   , Avg(cntr_value)/Avg(IsNull(base_value, 1))
   , 'percent'
From @samples
Where cntr_type = 537003264
Group By objectName
   , counterName
   , instanceName;

        /* Compare the first and last values for our cumulative, per-second counters */
        Insert Into dbo.dba_perfCounterMonitor
        (
 captureDate
, objectName
, counterName
, instanceName
, value
, valueType
)
Select @startTime
   , objectName
   , counterName
   , instanceName
   , (Max(cntr_value) - Min(cntr_value)) / DateDiff(second, @startTime, @endTime)
   , 'value'
From @samples
Where cntr_type = 272696576
        Group By objectName
   , counterName
   , instanceName;

        /* Should we display the results of our most recent execution?  */
        If @displayResults = 1
            Select captureDate
                , objectName
                , counterName
                , instanceName
                , value
                , valueType
            From dbo.dba_perfCounterMonitor With (NoLock)
            Where captureDate = Cast(@startTime As smalldatetime)
            Order By objectName
                , counterName
                , instanceName;

        /* If you have an open transaction, commit it */
        If @@TranCount > 0
            Commit Transaction;

    End Try
    Begin Catch

        /* Whoops, there was an error... rollback! */
        If @@TranCount > 0
            Rollback Transaction;

        /* Return an error message and log it */
        Execute dbo.dba_logError_sp;

    End Catch;

    Set NoCount Off;
    Return 0;
End
Go