| title | Performance best practices for SQL Server on Linux |
|---|---|
| description | This article provide performance best practices and guidelines for running SQL Server on Linux. |
| author | rgward |
| ms.author | bobward |
| ms.reviewer | vanto |
| ms.date | 09/14/2017 |
| ms.topic | conceptual |
| ms.prod | sql |
| ms.technology | linux |
[!INCLUDEappliesto-ss-xxxx-xxxx-xxx-md-linuxonly]
This article provides best practices and recommendations to maximize performance for database applications that connect to SQL Server on Linux. These recommendations are specific to running on the Linux platform. All normal SQL Server recommendations, such as index design, still apply.
The following guidelines contain recommendations for configuring both SQL Server and the Linux operating system.
It is recommended to perform the following configuration tasks after you install SQL Server on Linux to achieve best performance for your application.
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Use PROCESS AFFINITY for Node and/or CPUs
It is recommended to use
ALTER SERVER CONFIGURATIONto setPROCESS AFFINITYfor all the NUMANODEs and/or CPUs you are using for SQL Server (which is typically for all NODEs and CPUs) on a Linux Operating System. Processor affinity helps maintain efficient Linux and SQL Scheduling behavior. Using the NUMANODE option is the simplest method. Note, you should use PROCESS AFFINITY even if you have only a single NUMA Node on your computer. See the ALTER SERVER CONFIGURATION documentation for more information on how to set PROCESS AFFINITY. -
Configure multiple tempdb data files
Because a SQL Server on Linux installation does not offer an option to configure multiple tempdb files, we recommend that you consider creating multiple tempdb data files after installation. For more information, see the guidance in the article, Recommendations to reduce allocation contention in SQL Server tempdb database.
The following recommendations are optional configuration settings that you may choose to perform after installation of SQL Server on Linux. These choices are based on the requirements of your workload and configuration of your Linux Operating System.
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Set a memory limit with mssql-conf
In order to ensure there is enough free physical memory for the Linux Operating System, the SQL Server process uses only 80% of the physical RAM by default. For some systems which large amount of physical RAM, 20% might be a significant number. For example, on a system with 1 TB of RAM, the default setting would leave around 200 GB of RAM unused. In this situation, you might want to configure the memory limit to a higher value. See the documentation on the mssql-conf tool and the memory.memorylimitmb setting that controls the memory visible to SQL Server (in units of MB).
When changing this setting, be careful not to set this value too high. If you do not leave enough memory, you could experience problems with the Linux Operating System and other Linux applications.
Consider using the following Linux Operating System configuration settings to experience the best performance for a SQL Server Installation.
These are the recommended Linux Operating System settings related to high performance and throughput for a SQL Server installation. See your Linux Operating System documentation for the process to configure these settings.
Note
For Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) users, the throughput-performance profile will configure these settings automatically (except for C-States).
The following table provides recommendations for CPU settings:
| Setting | Value | More information |
|---|---|---|
| CPU frequency governor | performance | See the cpupower command |
| ENERGY_PERF_BIAS | performance | See the x86_energy_perf_policy command |
| min_perf_pct | 100 | See your documentation on intel p-state |
| C-States | C1 only | See your Linux or system documentation on how to ensure C-States is set to C1 only |
The following table provides recommendations for disk settings:
| Setting | Value | More information |
|---|---|---|
| disk readahead | 4096 | See the blockdev command |
| sysctl settings | kernel.sched_min_granularity_ns = 10000000 kernel.sched_wakeup_granularity_ns = 15000000 vm.dirty_ratio = 40 vm.dirty_background_ratio = 10 vm.swappiness = 10 |
See the sysctl command |
If you install SQL Server on a multi-node NUMA systems, the following kernel.numa_balancing kernel setting is enabled by default. To allow SQL Server to operate at maximum efficiency on a NUMA system, disable auto numa balancing on a multi-node NUMA system:
sysctl -w kernel.numa_balancing=0The default setting of vm.max_map_count (which is 65536) may not be high enough for a SQL Server installation. Change this value (which is an upper limit) to 256K.
sysctl -w vm.max_map_count=262144Use the noatime attribute with any file system that is used to store SQL Server data and log files. Refer to your Linux documentation on how to set this attribute.
Most Linux installations should have this option on by default. We recommend for the most consistent performance experience to leave this configuration option enabled.
Ensure you have a properly configured swapfile to avoid any out of memory issues. Consult your Linux documentation for how to create and properly size a swapfile.
If you are running SQL Server on Linux in a virtual machine, ensure you select options to fix the amount of memory reserved for the virtual machine. Do not use features like Hyper-V Dynamic Memory.
To learn more about SQL Server features that improve performance, see Get started with Performance features.
For more information about SQL Server on Linux, see Overview of SQL Server on Linux.