SQL Server
Who needs extra stress in their lives? Well, here’s a tool to add stress to your SQL Server. It’s called SQLIOSim. It’s from Microsoft and it’s free. SQL Server Magazine highlighted this among other great free tools and this one caught my eye. The tool used to be called SQLIOStress and has been upgraded to more accurately reflect I/O patterns of SQL Server 2005. The tests that are run by the tool simulate read, write, checkpoint, backup, sort, and read-ahead activities. It’s always good to do some stress testing when migrating to new hardware and you need to know ahead of time if the hardware will perform up to scratch under the extra load. I recently tested it using a virtual machine and it certainly brought the SQL Server to its knees exposing its insufficient memory. There are many options to customize your tests to your requirements. I used the default configuration file but you can use a variety of provided examples or create your own. Of course, our existing hardware is always stressed. We don’t need a special tool. We just use our legacy applications for that, right? Here’s the download URL: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/231619 cheers Brian
