ClearTrace

ReadTrace for SQL Server 2005

Bill Graziano — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 01:59:42 GMT

Microsoft just released an updated Read80Trace that works on SQL Server 2005. The name is simplified to just ReadTrace. ReadTrace is a command-line utility that analyzes a SQL Server trace file and summarizes performance. The new version has a more graphical interface. The original was one of the most helpful performance tuning utilities I've ever used. I expect this one will be just as useful.

I typically use the tool to summarize performance by SQL statement. ReadTrace will "normalize" the SQL statements by replacing constants with placeholders. This lets you identify which SQL statements are using the most resources.

You can read the PSS team's blog entry or just download the utilities. There is some additional functionality for replaying traces.

Read90Trace coming soon!

Bill Graziano — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 03:20:49 GMT

Bob Ward announced in his PASS pre-conference session that Microsoft will be releasing a SQL Server 2005 version of Read80Trace in roughly 30 days. It's currently going through a security review. They're planning to call it ReadTrace instead of Read90Trace though. I don't know what this will do to my plans for more work on ClearTrace. I'll have to wait and see exactly what they release.

ClearTrace 2.0.27 Released

Bill Graziano — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 16:28:58 GMT

I posted another version of ClearTrace just a minute ago. This should process 64-bit trace files on either x86 or x64 machines. If you have trouble please post in the ClearTrace Support Forum. Please visit the ClearTrace download page for the software. Don't forget to enter the beta code "jayhawk" to unlock the capability to save an unlimited number of traces.

Saving Multiple Traces in ClearTrace

Bill Graziano — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 16:04:24 GMT

Back when I actually had time to work on ClearTrace I had visions of selling the software. I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon. I don't have time and there's a bug in SMO that causes problems with traces generated on 64-bit servers.

In the meantime, there is additional functionality in the software that people can take advantage of. Under Tools -> Options you can enter "jayhawk" in the Beta Code field. This will allow you to create multiple trace groups. You can use trace groups for anything you'd like. You could create one per server or one per type of trace you run. It's really however you want to use it.

This also allows you to save the trace information that you are loading into the application. You can continue to load new trace files into a trace group. The key thing to remember is to always use unique filenames. If you reuse a filename it will overwrite the existing trace.

I'm not sure how well the application will perform as the database grows larger and larger. I haven't done much testing in that area.

I'm also going to see if I can't get a command line version working sometime in the next few weeks.

ClearTrace Video

Bill Graziano — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 18:03:00 GMT

I created a small video to demo ClearTrace. It's only about two minutes long. This is also the technology we're planning to use at the PASS Conference to capture presentations.

Yet Another ClearTrace Update

Bill Graziano — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 13:47:00 GMT

These titles seem to be getting repetitive. I updated ClearTrace again. I'm also back to using a ClickOnce installer. Unfortunately if you switch from an unsigned to a signed ClickOnce installation the existing people can't upgrade. How annoying! That was half the reason I switched to an MSI installer. Creating the package just took too much time when I wanted to release an update. It is just so easy to click the Publish Now button and be done with it.

I recently added a feature to capture some anonymous performance data. I'm trying to find out what size files people are importing and how long it takes. This is turned on by default but you can disable it if you'd like. I'm also looking for a few testers. I have a feature that I haven't enabled in the main version that lets you save all your traces. It is very easy to query the changing server performance over time. If you're interested please contact me.

ClearTrace Updated

Bill Graziano — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 20:32:00 GMT

I've been updating ClearTrace for a while now and there's a new version available. I stopped using ClickOnce and switched to an installer. If you're interested in analyzing trace files and summarizing the performance of your SQL take a second and download it. It does require SQL Server 2005 to run. The performance is improved and I'm regularly using this to import and query 2GB of trace files a day. I'd really like to get any feedback you have on the product. There's a menu option to send me a comment from within the application. Take a second and let me know what you think.

ClearTrace Updated

Bill Graziano — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 20:21:00 GMT

Since I last posted here I've updated ClearTrace. You can download it here. There's also a ClickOnce installation if you just want to use the GUI version. ClearTrace now supports moving the trace files to an archive directory after they're processed. It also stores a summarized version of the trace files so it can query it faster. The latest release also includes numerous bug fixes.

ClearTrace 2.0.9

Bill Graziano — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 21:39:00 GMT

I released ClearTrace 2.0.9. You can find the information here. I moved the download to my corporate site so I can keep a static page up for information. I'm pretty happy with this version. It seems to be very useable. It also reports errors back to me so give it a whirl :) There are no huge new features added but everything works a little better. Let me know what you think.

ClearTrace 2.0.7

Bill Graziano — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 13:20:00 GMT

I've made some pretty significant changes to this tool.

It now writes to multiple tables instead of a single table. This greatly reduces the space required and the import time. It creates the objects it needs in the database specified. All the objects have a CT prefix in the name. There is a view included to query them.
There is GUI available now. Both the console version and the GUI version are included in the ZIP file below. They have the same code behind them. There are a few options on the console app that haven't made it to the GUI yet but they will soon.
The GUI includes a simple form to query the saved traces. You can group by SQL statement, login, host or application. You can filter by login, host or application. You can sort by CPU, Reads, Writes and Duration. You can double-click a SQL statement to see an actual statement that you can use for performance tuning.
I don't have much error handling in the GUI yet so let me know if you find any errors.
This is still very, very beta.

Download the latest version.