Item: SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer
Rating: 10
Author: Mike Saedi

Overall Satisfaction with SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

As a consultant, I recommend and use SolarWinds across multiple clients currently at Nortek/Broan-Nutone, BlastMotion, and Hansen and Adkins. I use this on a daily basis to assist me with monitoring SQL servers and assisting me with troubleshooting performance issues as they arise. I have also used SolarWinds DPA to set up alerts for issues like low drive space and query plan changes.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Excellent for trending SQL Performance over time.
Excellent for monitoring deadlocks and blocking.
Good for trending SQL query changes over time.

Cons

It would be nice to have more built-in alerting capabilities.
Indexing recommendations are also somewhat unclear. I have seen areas that say you could improve performance on a table for example but not giving any additional details beyond that.
More in-depth recommendations, other tools like Idera Diagnostic Manager I feel are stronger in this area.

Return on Investment

I definitely receive value from this product. Before DPA, I could not easily pinpoint why my SQL Server was slow at any given point in time.
The graphs and trending also help me visualize where problems are and fix and address them much more quickly.

Alternatives Considered

SQL Sentry, SQL Diagnostic Manager, Redgate SQL Monitor and Foglight

Overall DPA is the best tool that I have used because of its simple interface and ability to dig in within a few clicks to see the root of a performance issue, but Idera and SQL Sentry have some areas where they are better than DPA, such as blocking and deadlocks.
I also feel the Idera tool has a slight edge over DPA when it comes to recommendations for improvements.

Other Software Used

Redgate SQL Compare, SQL Sentry

Likelihood to Recommend

I like the fact that I can visually see what my SQL server is doing over time and drill into top queries.
Alerting and notifications are not as strong as some other tools I have used.
Blocking and deadlocking features/analysis could be improved also.

SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer Support

Evaluating SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer and Competitors

Evaluation Lessons Learned

I researched many SQL tools and have always come back to DPA because of the easy to use graphical interface and easy to drill down features

Comments

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SolarWinds DPA is an Excellent Performance Monitoring Tool for SQL Server