Will MSSQL DB Server perform better with 2k3?

[bthrnds-ns2]

hey guys--i need some expert advice!

we have a Dell PE 2650 with 2GHz and 2MB RAM with 2000 Server. on it we
have about 6 MSSQL DB's. a couple of the DB's are the back-end for a
decent sized web app (5-10 users on average, 20 users at most). many
times, the cpu skyrockets on our db server when using the web app.
sometimes things timeout, other times not. at this time, upgrading the
hardware is not an option. aside from increasing the timeout periods, i
was wondering if windows 2003 server would utilize the processor better
(even just a little bit?) enough to know the difference.

should i attempt the upgrade, or is 2003 no more efficient with
processor resources?
thanks a bunch!

[Simon Hayes]

Rather than rushing to upgrade, I would first investigate why the
processor is spiking. You can use Perfmon to confirm that the MSSQL
service is using all the CPU (it may be some other process), and then
Profiler and Query Analyzer to investigate exactly which queries are
running when the spikes occur, and what their query plans look like.

If you can find particular queries which are associated with high CPU
usage, then you can look at tuning or rewriting them. Otherwise, you
run the risk of upgrading and then discovering that things have not
improved because you didn't identify the real cause of the problem.

Simon

[bthrnds-ns2]

i agree with you Simon. the developers of the web app have been
looking at their sql calls for 2 weeks now and haven't come up with
anything they can change yet. if in the end nothing is done on that
side, i would be willing to upgrade the OS if it will help.

[Erland Sommarskog]

bthrnds-ns2 (bt*********@yahoo.com) writes:

i agree with you Simon. the developers of the web app have been
looking at their sql calls for 2 weeks now and haven't come up with
anything they can change yet. if in the end nothing is done on that
side, i would be willing to upgrade the OS if it will help.

It's not very likely to have any significant effect.

The best tool to find long-running queries is the Profiler. You can
set up a trace for queries with a duration of 1 second, 100 ms, or
whatever you find appropriate.

Once you have found the queries, it may be as simple as adding some
missing indexes.
--
Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, es****@sommarskog.se

Books Online for SQL Server SP3 at
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinf...2000/books.asp

[Mike Epprecht \(SQL MVP\)]

Benefits of Using Windows Server 2003 with SQL Server 2000
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinf...03benefits.asp

--
--------------------------------
Mike Epprecht, Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Zurich, Switzerland

IM: mi**@epprecht.net

MVP Program: http://www.microsoft.com/mvp

Blog: http://www.msmvps.com/epprecht/

"bthrnds-ns2" <bt*********@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:11**********************@g14g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...

hey guys--i need some expert advice!

we have a Dell PE 2650 with 2GHz and 2MB RAM with 2000 Server. on it we
have about 6 MSSQL DB's. a couple of the DB's are the back-end for a
decent sized web app (5-10 users on average, 20 users at most). many
times, the cpu skyrockets on our db server when using the web app.
sometimes things timeout, other times not. at this time, upgrading the
hardware is not an option. aside from increasing the timeout periods, i
was wondering if windows 2003 server would utilize the processor better
(even just a little bit?) enough to know the difference.

should i attempt the upgrade, or is 2003 no more efficient with
processor resources?
thanks a bunch!