Optimal performance is minimal response time and maximal throughput as a result of minimizing network traffic, disk I/O, and CPU time. This goal is achieved by thoroughly analyzing the application requirements, understanding the logical and physical structure of the data, and assessing and negotiating tradeoffs between conflicting uses of the database, such as online transaction processing (OLTP) versus decision support.
Response time measures the length of time required for the first row of the result set to be returned. Response time refers to the amount of time for the user to receive visual affirmation that a query is being processed.
Throughput measures the total number of queries that can be handled by the server during a given time.
As the number of users increases, contention between users increases, which in turn causes response time to increase and overall throughput to decrease.
Periodically monitor Microsoft® SQL Server™ to ensure that it is performing at acceptable levels, or to determine if performance can be further improved. These areas affect the performance of SQL Server:
However, before these areas can be monitored, you must know what level of performance is reasonable given normal working conditions. This is done by establishing a server performance baseline.