Item: SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer
Rating: 10
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer to fine-tune SQL Server workloads and alert us to unexpected issues occurring on our database clusters. It helps us to see problems before they happen - long running queries or unexpected disk thrashing and to fix these problems before users become aware of a situation.

Pros and Cons

Analyzing query performance
Index recommendation
Wait time categorization and explanation

Navigation is generally good, but some items can be confusing to find again

Return on Investment

Identified excessive blocking and allowed correction
Prevented need to upscale Amazon servers
Ensured that developers write efficient SQL code

Key Insights

Do you think SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer's feature set?

Yes

Did SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer again?

Yes

Likelihood to Recommend

The product works incredibly well when trying to understand blocking and overall performance issues. It produces minimal load on the database server and provides a wealth of information. After you use the product to assist with urgent performance issues, it then alerts you to trends on your database server that may require your attention. By review these trends and adding indexes or modifying query patterns, you can substantially improve the performance and reduce the resources needed to running your database server. The software does require someone that understands query performance and optimization -- by no means does it do all of the work for you - but it does offer suggestions that are typically viable and worthwhile.

Business Processes Supported

Performance optimization
Detecting uncommon system issues
Understanding usage trends
Training

Innovative Uses

Locating unexpected legacy code
Improving developer consciousness of SQL efficiency
Finding and mitigating attack attempts

Future Planned Uses

Improving code performance through example
Monitor deployments for real-time affects on performance
Automate responses to attack-like behaivors

Support Rating

10

The one time I contacted support, they were easy to speak to and resolved my question quickly.

Usability

10

It's super simple to install, manage and you'll find yourself acting on insights within minutes of the installation.

SolarWinds DPA saves the day every time

Overall Satisfaction with SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer