Optimizing the performance of your database requires numerous factors. Learn how you can assess and fix issues here. Every minute, while you sit in front of the computer, an incalculable volume of data is processed by your computers and stored on servers around the world. The universe of data is becoming more vast and unfathomable, for example, as the creation of new blogs or web pages skyrockets or as online transactions take off.
Companies are hungry for data and their success depends, in large part, on their ability to manage these vast amounts of information. It is already well known that data translates into money and that this is the basis of a company’s operation. You also know that databases are the core of programming, which is, in itself, a process of manipulating information that could not be processed if it were not stored somewhere.
And that is, in fact, the simplest definition of a database: a place where it is possible to store ordered and systematized information. In the 1940s, computers had no memory. Data, volatile, was entered and disappeared. It didn’t take long for computer professionals to ask themselves the question that was the starting point of databases: How do we save this data so that we can refer back to it later?
That is one of the most important features of an efficient database. It is not enough to be a repository or a data warehouse, but it must guarantee the possibility of consultation and have a system or protocol for its analysis. But, as we just mentioned, this task of searching and mastering your company’s information is not easy, especially when you have to deal with very voluminous databases.
That’s when software specialized in database management appears. Since about 70% of application performance problems are related to databases, we are going to tell you how to increase database performance.
Let’s start by explaining what we mean by database performance and the best techniques to increase database performance.
What is database performance?
Delays in a company’s ability to respond can cost thousands of dollars. Therefore, to talk about the performance of a database is to assimilate the idea of speed and to ask how to minimize the response time of each query made in the databases. Performance measures, for example, the number of queries a server can process in a given interval, as well as the performance of network traffic, CPU time, and disk I/O.
A well-performing database is shielded against poor service and downtime — which, we insist, translates into lost credibility and money. To achieve this, database management software plays a crucial role there. Proper monitoring of your database gives you a global overview of the status of different aspects, including error alerts and resource consumption by the operating system. Monitoring is looking carefully, so without this exhaustive review, it is not so easy to optimize the operation of your databases.
5 Best techniques to increase database performance
A good performance of your company’s databases depends on knowing the environment of your users and your data in order to fine-tune filters, joins, and orders. These are the aspects that you should keep an eye on.
- Improve the indexes of your databases
To improve searches, similar to searching for chapters in a book, indexes are also used in databases. When data is requested at a speed greater than the I/O speed of the disks, it is when bottlenecks are created that can be overcome with better indexing. Good indexes improve the latency time, that is, the time it takes for the disks to read and write data.
- Know what type of database you have
It is not the same to have an OLTP database (transaction-oriented, with recurring users, many transactions per second, and short operations, like a bank’s database) as a DSS (Decision Support System) and DW (Data Warehouse), those bases of many terabytes destined to the historical storage of, for example, the sales of a company.
The performance is different and therefore the needs of the database management software must be adapted on a case-by-case basis.
- Optimal Structured Query Language (SQL)
Most of the problems are likely to stem from SQL, the programming language that makes it possible for you to manipulate and retrieve data from your database. If your SQL is not optimal, memory problems, CPU consumption, or excessive disk readings will be recurrent.
- Accurate and informative statistics
One of the causes of poor query performance is slow network communications and outdated statistics, which indicate little or nothing about the performance of your databases.
- Choose the right database software
Once your company has identified the type of database they want to improve and consolidate, they select the type of database management software that most closely matches its analysis and visualization requirements.
How to choose the database software your company needs?
Some of the best known are Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, and MySQL. You will find some services like Database Performance Tuning from Everconnect which will surely assist you to optimize and increase database performance.
Some potentialities of Database software should have.
• Downtime management.
• Personalized alerts and reports.
• Improve the performance of different databases, regardless of their size or location (local, virtualized, or in the cloud).
• Integrate the different SQL versions, including MySQL, DB2, and Oracle.
• Observe all timeouts from resources to lock, hosting, and virtual machine resources.
• A detailed delivery of the overall health of the machine, including CPU usage and other hard-to-identify factors that impact performance.
• Expert advice through query analysis advisors.
Database performance: a common headache for a developer
In the academic world, we are often taught that there are many different roles, specialties, or jobs linked to software: analyst, designer, developer, tester, database administrator, etc. However, the reality is that there are many people who must perform all these roles at the same time. In an SME environment, specifically, it is very common for a developer to have to wear several different hats throughout the day.
In this context, a problem that we have come across with some frequency is the difficulty of a person with a developer profile to manage the databases of their applications efficiently. In case that person belongs to the IT department of the company, another common scenario is usually the lack of knowledge, to optimize, without much risk, the databases or the DB servers of third-party software. In addition, the slowness of a program or database is a very common complaint among users.
