Optimizing SQL Server for Temenos T24

Best Practices for Running TEMENOS T24 on

Microsoft SQL Server and Windows Server

Guidance for fine-tuning T24 implementations on Windows Server 2008 R2 and on the

SQL Server 2008 R2 and SQL Server 2012 database platform

V1.1 Published: July 2012

Produced by Temenos and Igor Pagliai, Microsoft

Based on previous work done by:

Lonnye Bower, Kun Cheng, Konstantin Dotchkoff, Roger Toren - writing

Peter Carlin, Nicholas Dritsas - reviewing

Abstract

TEMENOS T24 (T24) is a complete banking solution designed to meet the challenges faced by

financial institutions in today’s competitive market. T24 provides a single, real-time view of

clients across the entire enterprise, making it possible for banks to maximize returns and keep

costs down.

Microsoft® SQL Server® provides the ideal database platform for T24. By choosing the Microsoft

platform, T24 customers experience faster funds transfers, higher security-trade volumes, and

quicker close-of-business processes; T24 customers can also benefit from open, state-of-the-art

technologies to accelerate innovation, greatly increasing the speed and effectiveness with which

new products and services are created. Using Windows Server® 2008 R2 as the operating system

makes it possible for T24 to exceed performance standards in a scalable, reliable environment

that offers ease of management.

This white paper provides best practices for configuring and running TEMENOS T24 on Windows

Server and on the SQL Server database platform. Implementing these best practices can help

you avoid or minimize common problems and optimize the performance of your TEMENOS T24

implementation.

Best Practice Guidance for Running TEMENOS T24 on Microsoft SQL Server and Windows Server 2 2

This document is provided “as-is.” Information and views expressed in this document, including URL and

other Internet Web site references, may change without notice. You bear the risk of using it.

This document does not provide you with any legal rights to any intellectual property in any Microsoft

product. You may copy and use this document for your internal, reference purposes.


Table of Contents

OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................................................... 5

1 BEST PRACTICES FOR THE DATABASE SERVER .................................................................................. 7

1.1 SERVER RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................................................... 7 1.1.1 Use the Latest Software Versions...................................................................................................... 7 1.1.2 Use a 64-Bit Server ............................................................................................................................ 8 1.1.3 Use a Dedicated Server ..................................................................................................................... 8

1.2 SIZING RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................................................................ 8

1.3 STORAGE DESIGN RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................................................. 8 1.3.1 Use SAN and RAID 10 ........................................................................................................................ 8 1.3.2 Set the Partition Offset ..................................................................................................................... 9 1.3.3 Set the File Allocation Unit Size and Stripe Size................................................................................. 9 1.3.4 Dedicate a High Percentage of SAN Cache to Writes ...................................................................... 10 1.3.5 Configure Windows Drives .............................................................................................................. 10

1.4 HARDWARE AND NETWORK GUIDANCE ................................................................................................ 10 1.4.1 Windows Server Power Plan ........................................................................................................... 10 1.4.2 Use a Private Network Segment ..................................................................................................... 11 1.4.3 Enable Receive-Side Scaling ............................................................................................................ 11 1.4.4 Consider NIC Teaming ..................................................................................................................... 12 1.4.5 Use Multiple HBAs and Set the HBA Queue Depth .......................................................................... 12

1.5 DATA, LOG, TEMPDB, AND BACKUP FILE RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................. 12 1.5.1 Configure Data Files ........................................................................................................................ 12 1.5.2 Configure the Log File ..................................................................................................................... 13 1.5.3 Configure tempdb Files ................................................................................................................... 14

1.6 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MEMORY SETTINGS ....................................................................................... 15 1.6.1 SQL Server Memory Settings ........................................................................................................... 15 1.6.2 Lock Pages in Memory .................................................................................................................... 16 1.6.3 Instant File Initialization (IFI) .......................................................................................................... 17

1.7 GUIDANCE FOR SQL SERVER CONFIGURATION SETTINGS ......................................................................... 17 1.7.1 Consider Lower Fill Factor ............................................................................................................... 18 1.7.2 Increase the SQL Server Recovery Interval ...................................................................................... 19 1.7.3 Use Trace Flag 834 .......................................................................................................................... 19 1.7.4 Keep Default Setting for Degree of Parallelism ............................................................................... 20 1.7.5 Keep Default Setting for Number of Worker Threads ..................................................................... 20 1.7.6 Encrypt Client Communication if Required ...................................................................................... 20 1.7.7 T24 Database Configuration settings.............................................................................................. 20

2 BEST PRACTICES FOR THE APPLICATION SERVER ........................................................................... 22

2.1 SOFTWARE RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................................................................ 22 2.1.1 Use the Latest Software Versions.................................................................................................... 22

2.2 T24 CONFIGURATION RECOMMENDATIONS .......................................................................................... 22 2.2.1 Configure the T24 Bulk Factor Parameter ....................................................................................... 22


2.2.2 Configure the T24 Handle Cache Parameter ................................................................................... 22 2.2.3 Consider Using Hyper-Threading .................................................................................................... 23

3 BEST PRACTICES FOR PROVIDING HIGH AVAILABILITY ................................................................... 24

3.1 HIGH AVAILABILITY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE DATABASE ................................................................... 24

3.2 HIGH AVAILABILITY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE STORAGE ..................................................................... 25

3.3 T24 RECOVERY................................................................................................................................ 25 3.3.1 Online Recovery .............................................................................................................................. 25 3.3.2 Close of Business (COB) ................................................................................................................... 25

4 BEST PRACTICES FOR DISASTER RECOVERY .................................................................................... 26

4.1 SQL SERVER 2012 HIGH-AVAILABILITY AND DISASTER RECOVERY (HADR) ENHANCEMENTS.......................... 26

4.2 SAN MIRRORING ............................................................................................................................. 27

4.3 SYNCHRONOUS DATABASE MIRRORING ................................................................................................ 27

4.4 ASYNCHRONOUS REPLICATION METHODS ............................................................................................. 27

4.5 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CONNECTION BANDWIDTH ............................................................................. 28

5 BEST PRACTICES FOR REPORTING .................................................................................................. 29

6 BEST PRACTICES FOR PERFORMANCE TUNING .............................................................................. 30

6.1 GUIDANCE FOR IMPROVING QUERY PERFORMANCE ................................................................................ 30 6.1.1 Optimize Standard T24 Queries ...................................................................................................... 30 6.1.2 Optimize Customer-Specific T24 Queries ........................................................................................ 31

6.2 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MONITORING PERFORMANCE OF THE DATABASE TIER .......................................... 36

7 BEST PRACTICES FOR SYSTEM MAINTENANCE ............................................................................... 37

7.1 GUIDANCE FOR BACKING UP THE DATABASE ......................................................................................... 37 7.1.1 Use Backup Compression ................................................................................................................ 37 7.1.2 Implement a Backup Schedule ........................................................................................................ 37 7.1.3 Back Up System Databases ............................................................................................................. 38

7.2 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR UPDATING STATISTICS .................................................................................... 38

7.3 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR REORGANIZING OR REBUILDING INDEXES ........................................................... 38 7.3.1 Reorganize Indexes ......................................................................................................................... 39 7.3.2 Rebuild Indexes when Necessary .................................................................................................... 40

7.4 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR UPDATE MANAGEMENT ................................................................................. 40 7.4.1 SQL Server 2012 Setup Product Update .......................................................................................... 40 7.4.2 Run Anti-Virus Checks During Non-Peak Hours ............................................................................... 41 7.4.3 Consider Running Windows Updates on a Test Server before Production ...................................... 41

8 SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................................... 43

9 APPENDIX 1: CREATE A MAINTENANCE PLAN TO BACK UP THE TEMENOS DATABASE ................... 45

10 APPENDIX 2: CREATE A MAINTENANCE PLAN TO BACK UP THE SYSTEM DATABASES .................... 51

11 APPENDIX 3: UPDATE STATISTICS .................................................................................................. 57

12 APPENDIX 4: REORGANIZE AND REBUILD INDEXES ........................................................................ 61

13 APPENDIX 5: INSTALLATION CHECK LIST ........................................................................................ 68


Overview

To help financial institutions face the challenges posed by today’s around-the-clock, global

marketplace, Temenos Group AG, the leading provider of integrated core banking systems,

offers TEMENOS T24 (T24). T24 pairs comprehensive and powerfully flexible business

functionality with advanced and scalable architecture.

T24 is built on an open architecture, and it uses established standards such as HTTP, XML, and

Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE). The design of T24 supports multiple application

servers and provides horizontal scalability with true non-stop resilience.

The capabilities of T24 can be enhanced by the choice of an enterprise-ready database platform.

Customers running T24 on a Windows Server® operating system and Microsoft® SQL Server®

data management software benefit from a wide range of products and tools that can be used to

further improve the performance and extend the capabilities of the T24 banking solution.

Figure 1 shows a logical model of the interaction of the various services and components that

make up a T24 banking implementation. In this white paper, we focus on best practice guidance

for the database layer (in green).

Figure 1. Logical architecture of T24.


This white paper, intended for database administrators (DBAs), describes optimizations that you

can make to the database tier and describes the database tier’s interaction with the application

tier to help ensure a successful deployment of T24 on SQL Server.

The paper first discusses best practices for configuring the database server and the application

servers and provides guidance for building scalability and high availability into the T24 banking

solution. The paper then looks at the options for disaster recovery. Best practices for reporting

are presented, and best practices for monitoring the performance of the database tier and for

system maintenance are discussed. The paper also provides appendices with step-by-step

guidance and extensive links for further information.

Implementing these best practices can help you optimize the performance of a T24

implementation and can help avoid or minimize common problems.


1 Best Practices for the Database Server

Following are some best practices you should use to configure your database server.

1.1 Server Recommendations

1.1.1 Use the Latest Software Versions

For best performance, you should use the latest software versions. Currently, you should use:

T24 Version R12.

T24 version R12 contains key performance and scalability improvements for running T24 on

Windows Server and SQL Server.

Microsoft® SQL Server® 2012.

SQL Server 2012 contains performance and scalability improvements for running on computes

with many cores (up to 640) and memory (up to 4TB), such as those commonly used in banking

implementations, in addition to various new features like Availability Group for High Availability

and Disaster Recovery. To learn more about SQL Server 2012 new capabilities, visit the link:

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/product-info/overview-capabilities.aspx

Windows Server® 2008 R2 Operating System.

Windows Server 2008 R2 provides many benefits, including:

A more efficient TCP/IP stack than in previous versions of Windows Server. In addition

to reducing latency of transaction processing, this benefits the disaster recovery (DR)

options described in detail in section Best Practices for Disaster Recovery.

Receive-side scaling (RSS), which makes it possible for network packet processing to be

distributed across more CPUs. For more information, see Receive-Side Scaling.

Support for up to 256 logical processors (cores). On previous versions of Windows

Server, only up to 64 cores were supported.

Optimizations for 64-bit processors.

Improved failover clustering capabilities.

Optimized partition offsets when disks are formatted, reducing complexity in I/O

system configuration.

For more detailed information, see Windows Server 2008 R2.

Note: It is highly recommended to install “Service Pack 1” for Windows Server 2008 R2 along

with the recommended non-security related hotfixes for the Cluster component mentioned in

the article: Recommended hotfixes and updates for Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Failover

Clusters (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2545685)

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/product-info/overview-capabilities.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/network/dd277646.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/default.aspx

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2545685


It’s also recommended to install all the proposed operating system updates related to security

available via Windows Update released from Microsoft immediately after the operating system

installation and before installing SQL Server and T24.

1.1.2 Use a 64-Bit Server

64-bit servers provide efficient access to the memory and the number of cores required by T24.

1.1.3 Use a Dedicated Server

If you are mixing workloads on one physical computer, you should use virtual machines or

Windows/SQL Server mechanisms to control and monitor resource usage. Diagnosing

performance problems requires more effort and precision on a system with mixed workloads.

1.2 Sizing Recommendations Every bank has different functionality and different close-of-business processes. Therefore it is

recommended to work with the Temenos Performance and Sizing Team to properly size your

system based on the expected workload. Temenos also provides a Universal Performance

Measurement (UPM) tool that can be used to verify a hardware configuration before T24 is

installed. In some cases, tests that model your business processes as closely as possible may be

necessary to confirm the server sizes required to support your business scenario.

1.3 Storage Design Recommendations Processing large volumes of banking transactions and providing high availability and disaster

recovery (HADR), as well as reporting and extracting to data warehouse (DW) systems, requires

substantial I/O system resources.

Following are best practices you should use when designing storage for your T24

implementation.

1.3.1 Use SAN and RAID 10

You should use RAID 10 if possible for all logical unit numbers (LUNs). RAID 10 offers better

performance and availability than RAID 5 and offers better support for write-heavy

environments. For optimum and predictable performance, the LUNs must be made up of

physical drives that are not used by other applications.

It is generally better to have a larger number of small drives than a smaller number of large

drives. If your storage area network (SAN) has multiple buses (sometimes called shelves), create

each LUN using drives from each bus to improve the internal bandwidth. Table 2 shows how to

choose drives from multiple buses to make up one LUN.


LUN 1 LUN 2… …LUN 4

Bus 1 1 4 7 10 13 … 46

Bus 2 2 5 8 11 14 … 47

Bus 3 3 6 9 12 15 … 48

Table 1. Choosing drives from multiple buses to create a LUN.

You should refer to the article Predeployment I/O Best Practices for procedures to test your I/O

subsystem performance.

Note: For an online transaction processing (OLTP) system the ideal latency values on a well-

tuned I/O subsystem are:

< 5 milliseconds (ms) for log (ideally 1 ms on arrays with cache)

< 20 ms for data on OLTP systems (ideally 10 ms or less)

1.3.2 Set the Partition Offset

If you are using the Windows Server® 2003 operating system, you should use the Diskpart.exe

tool to create the disk partition. Use Diskpart.exe to specify a starting offset of 1 megabyte (MB)

to avoid split writes and reads, as these can seriously degrade performance. If the offset is not

optimal, a single logical I/O becomes multiple physical I/Os. Some storage manufacturers claim

to handle this within their architecture, but there usually is some degradation that can be easily

avoided by setting the appropriate offset.

For more information about DiskPart.exe, see the article DiskPart.

In Windows Server® 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2, the partition offset is set appropriately

by default for new storage. (Note that the offset of existing storage is not changed when

upgrading from Windows Server 2003.)

1.3.3 Set the File Allocation Unit Size and Stripe Size

When formatting the partition that will be used for SQL Server data files, you should use a 64-

kilobyte (KB) allocation unit size for data, logs, and the tempdb database.

The stripe size is also important to reach an optimal configuration. This is set in the SAN

management software, not through Windows Server. The following two equations can be used

to determine if you have an optimal configuration. Each should result in an integer value:

Partition_Offset ÷ Stripe_Unit_Size

Stripe_Unit_Size ÷ File_Allocation_Unit_Size

For details on managing disk partition sector alignment, see Disk Partition Alignment Best

Practices for SQL Server.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc966412.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc773140(WS.10).aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd758814.aspx



1.3.4 Dedicate a High Percentage of SAN Cache to Writes

Most SANs have a large cache that can be split between a read cache and a write cache. SQL

Server provides read-ahead and read caching, and SQL Server does not benefit much from a SAN

read cache. If you have the option (within the constraints of SAN usage by applications), you

should dedicate 90% of the SAN cache to writes to improve write performance (a cache ratio of

10/90 read/write).

Note that virtually all SANs sold today have battery-backed cache. If this is not the case with

your SAN, you must disable write caching or risk losing committed data in the event of a power

outage.

1.3.5 Configure Windows Drives

Once you have configured LUNs on your SAN, you need to assign the LUNs to drives in Windows,

using disk management to create the drives. Table 3 shows a sample Windows Server storage

configuration for use by SQL Server.

Physical Drive LUN Drive Usage

1–12 1 E data

13–24 2 F data

25–36 3 G tempdb

37–48 4 H log

Table 2. Sample storage configuration for SQL Server.

You can also present storage to SQL Server through mount points, disk volumes that are

mounted as folders on other physical disks, without incurring a performance penalty. For further

information about storage design for SQL Server, see Storage Top 10 Best Practices.

1.4 Hardware and Network Guidance The following are some important best practices for the hardware and networking of your T24

database implementation.

1.4.1 Windows Server Power Plan

In some cases we observed degraded overall performance (even around 30-40%) on a Windows

Server 2008 R2 machine when running with the default (Balanced) power plan. The issue may

occur irrespective of SQL Server version and may be exhibited on both native and virtual

environments. The degraded performance may increase the average response time for some

tasks and cause performance issues with CPU-intensive applications. In order to avoid this

situation, it’s recommended to change the OS Power Plan from “Balanced” to “High



Performance” and test the performance difference with a significant workload: if no difference

will be found, Power Plan scheme can be reverted to the default value.

For more information on this potential issue and instructions for changing the Power Plan

options, see the links below:

Degraded overall performance on Windows Server 2008 R2 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2207548/en-us Hyperthreading, Turbo Boost, SQL Server and You (MSDN) http://msdnrss.thecoderblogs.com/2012/07/hyperthreading-turbo-boost-sql-server-and-you

For general tuning information on Windows Server 2008 R2, see the white paper below:

Performance Tuning Guidelines for Windows Server 2008 R2 http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/sysperf/Perf_tun_srv-R2.mspx

1.4.2 Use a Private Network Segment

The traffic between T24 application servers and SQL Server and the traffic between SQL Server

and the storage system is quite high. You should use a private network segment for T24–SQL

Server communication. This should be at least a 1-Gigabit Ethernet network, and a 10-Gigabit

Ethernet network for installations with more than 5 million accounts. This can be in addition to a

standard 100-Mb Ethernet connection to SQL Server for administration purposes.

1.4.3 Enable Receive-Side Scaling

You should enable Receive-Side Scaling (RSS) on the SQL Server network interface card (NIC)

that is serving the application servers. This setting is found on the Advanced Property tab of the

network card. Also, be sure that offloading options are enabled. See the Microsoft® Developer

Network (MSDN®) articles Introduction to Receive-Side Scaling and Receive-Side Scaling

Enhancements in Windows Server 2008 for more information. If your NIC does not support

these options, consider replacing it with one that does.

You should configure the maximum number of RSS processors by setting the MaxNumRssCpus

registry key value to 8 on a computer system with 32 or more CPU cores. For computer systems

with less than 32 cores, use the default setting.

The RSS base CPU number (RssBaseCpu) is the CPU number of the first CPU that RSS can use.

RSS cannot use the CPUs that are numbered below the base CPU number. You should set

RssBaseCpu carefully so it does not overlap with the starting CPU.

Lab testing has shown good results with setting both registry key values to 8 (on a computer

system with more than 32 cores); this means that 8 RSS processors are used starting with core

number 8 to process network traffic.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2207548/en-us

http://msdnrss.thecoderblogs.com/2012/07/hyperthreading-turbo-boost-sql-server-and-you

http://msdnrss.thecoderblogs.com/2012/07/hyperthreading-turbo-boost-sql-server-and-you

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/sysperf/Perf_tun_srv-R2.mspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff556942.aspx

http://download.microsoft.com/download/A/D/F/ADF1347D-08DC-41A4-9084-623B1194D4B2/RSS_Server2008.docx



Note: You should use the Windows RSS registry keys to configure these values instead of NIC

settings because NIC settings can be overridden by the Windows registry keys.

1.4.4 Consider NIC Teaming

If you have three or more application servers, NIC teaming on the SQL Server side of the

network segment may help, but often this type of NIC teaming disables RSS and other offloading

options. Check with your vendor to select a NIC teaming option that can support RSS or provide

equivalent features. You should be sure to test this configuration against your original

performance to be sure that any benefit of NIC teaming is not offset by the disabling of any of

the RSS and offloading options.

IMPORTANT: NIC teaming and RSS are not supported at the same time on Itanium architecture.

1.4.5 Use Multiple HBAs and Set the HBA Queue Depth

You should use at least two host bus adapters (HBAs) to provide redundancy and to increase

bandwidth between the SAN and SQL Server. The HBA cards should be set as load balanced and

configured to provide high availability among them. Connections between the SAN and server

are ideally 8 gigabyte (GB)/sec (but not less than 2 GB/sec).

The HBA queue depth may need to be increased if you have a small number of LUNs. A queue

depth value between 128 (if there are few LUNs) and 32 (if there are many LUNs) should be

considered, queues now default to “per LUN” rather than “per target.” When the queue depth is

set too low, you may get increasing latency and less-than-expected throughput given the

bandwidth between host/storage and the number of disks in a particular configuration.

1.5 Data, Log, tempdb, and Backup File Recommendations The location of SQL Server files affects performance. You should use multiple files for each

filegroup supporting your databases, and use distinct LUNs for each of the data, tempdb, log,

and backup files. Using separate LUNs also helps you monitor the disks based on the type of use.

You should avoid using very large LUNs so that chkdsk does not run for an excessive length of

time if it is invoked by the operating system on startup.

1.5.1 Configure Data Files

The filegroup used for the T24 data should be composed of multiple files. Best practice is to use

one file for every two CPU cores on computer systems with 32 or more cores. On computer

systems with less than 32 cores, use the same number of files as the number of CPU cores (the

ratio should be 1:1). The data files should be equal in size. Note that the out-of-the-box

configuration uses only one file in the primary filegroup, so you need to add additional files for

optimal configuration.

You should pre-allocate enough space in the data files based on the initial size of the computer

system. You should monitor the database free space and if necessary extend each file

simultaneously so that all of the files have the same amount of free space. SQL Server optimizes


writes by spreading its write operations across the files based on the ratio of free space among

the files, so extending all files at once maintains this optimization.

You can leave the autogrowth setting on as an “insurance policy” so that SQL Server does not

stop when it runs out of space; however, do not rely on autogrowth to extend the database files

as a standard way of operating. While you should not allocate space for the data files in small

units, if you allocate in very large units during autogrowth, the application must wait (possibly

several minutes) while the space is allocated. Since you cannot control when autogrowth

engages, allocate only by the space needed for a few days of operations.

1.5.2 Configure the Log File

The transaction log file, generally a sequentially written file, must be written as quickly as

possible—even before the data is written to the data files (the data portion can be rebuilt from

the log if necessary). While there is no performance benefit from using more than one file,

multiple files can be beneficial for maintenance purposes (for example, if you are running out of

space on the log drive). Adding physical devices to support the LUN can benefit performance.

To avoid autogrowth operations on the transaction log file, monitor its size on a regular basis

and adjust it as necessary. As a starting point, you can use the 80-GB transaction log size for T24

installations with 10 million accounts. Since expanding the transaction log is a relative slow

operation, it’s recommended to balance the size of the growth and the number of transaction

log expansions based on the following recommendations:

Never use increments in percentage, always use fixed size autogrowth size;

Increment size should be always higher than 1GB;

Reasonable increment sizes for transaction log are 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 16GB and final

choice should be based on the relative size of the planned initial size of the transaction

log and reflects how big the environment will be in terms of number of accounts;

SQL Server 2008 R2 and later provide tools (SQL Trace and Dashboard reports) of how

much time the autogrowth operations on transaction log will take, if the observed

duration will be consistently higher than 1 second, it’s recommended to:

o Raise the initial size of the transaction log to reduce occurrences of autogrowth

expansions;

o Reduce the autogrowth size;

IMPORTANT: In SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 R2, a bug exists affecting transaction log

file growth of 4GB (or multiples of it) as explained in the article: The SQL Server database

transaction log file does not grow by the configured file growth value

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2633151)



SQL Server 2012 is not affected, for SQL Server 2008 R2 “Service Pack 1” and “Cumulative

Update 4 for SP1” must be installed to solve the problem, for SQL Server 2008 there is no fix; if

not possible to apply the hotfix, it’s recommended to avoid 4GB (or multiples) increment.

1.5.3 Configure tempdb Files

SQL Server tempdb files are used for the storage of temporary data structures. The tempdb files

are responsible for managing temporary objects, row versioning, and online index rebuilds. T24

uses a read-committed snapshot isolation level as its default isolation level, which uses row

versioning. For more information, see Isolation Levels in the Database Engine.

To ensure efficient tempdb operation:

Create one tempdb file per physical CPU core.

This reduces page free space (PFS) contention.

Pre-size the tempdb files, and make the files equal in size.

As a starting point, you can use a 64-GB total size for T24 installations with 10 million

accounts.

Do not rely on autogrowth (see previous section).

Use startup trace flag 1118.

When this trace flag is set, SQL Server allocates full extents for tempdb objects (instead

of using mixed extent allocations).

Use startup trace flag 1117.

If used, SQL Server 2008 R2 (or later) will expand all TEMPDB data files at the same time

to maintain optimal allocation balance, then overall TEMPDB performance: be sure to

take into account the fact that all files will growth when establishing data file growth

size.

For more information about T1118 trace flag, see the article Concurrency Enhancements for the

tempdb Database.

For more information about T1117 trace flag, see the articles below:

http://blogs.technet.com/technet_blog_images/b/sql_server_sizing_ha_and_performa

nce_hints/archive/2012/02/09/sql-server-2008-trace-flag-t-1117.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/axperf/archive/2011/09/12/consider-enabling-trace-flag-

1117-on-dynamics-ax-sql-server.aspx

For information on how to set startup settings for SQL Server 2008, 2008 R2 and 2012, see the

article Configure Server Startup Options (SQL Server Configuration Manager.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189122.aspx



http://blogs.technet.com/technet_blog_images/b/sql_server_sizing_ha_and_performance_hints/archive/2012/02/09/sql-server-2008-trace-flag-t-1117.aspx

http://blogs.technet.com/technet_blog_images/b/sql_server_sizing_ha_and_performance_hints/archive/2012/02/09/sql-server-2008-trace-flag-t-1117.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/axperf/archive/2011/09/12/consider-enabling-trace-flag-1117-on-dynamics-ax-sql-server.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/axperf/archive/2011/09/12/consider-enabling-trace-flag-1117-on-dynamics-ax-sql-server.aspx



NOTE: In SQL Server 2012 the location for changing the startup parameters is changed, be sure

to check the right version in the provided link above.

For further information, see the MSDN article Optimizing tempdb Performance.

1.6 Recommendations for Memory Settings Following are recommendations for the memory settings for SQL Server.

1.6.1 SQL Server Memory Settings

See section Sizing Recommendations (and Table 1) for appropriate memory sizing for the

database system.

For SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 R2 you should then configure the SQL Server “max

server memory (MB)” setting by taking the amount of memory allocated to the database system

and subtracting one GB for every four cores (round up). This leaves the operating system with

enough memory to work efficiently without having to “grab” memory back from SQL Server. For

example, if the server has 64 GB of RAM and 24 cores, set the maximum memory to 58 GB (64

GB minus 6 [24 cores divided by 4]).

For SQL Server 2012, the memory management has been significantly changed and now the

configuration parameter “max server memory (MB)” is a real cap for almost all memory used by

SQL Server and not only the Buffer Pool as worked in previous versions. The bigger component

not yet capped here is the memory required by worker thread stacks, then it’s recommended to

reserve enough memory based on the maximum number of worker threads.

The maximum number of worker threads, if not directly modified in the instance configuration

parameters, is dynamically chosen by SQL Server based on the table contained in the following

link:

Configure the max worker threads Server Configuration Option http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms190219.aspx

For each single worker thread, the following amount of memory is required for specific CPU

architecture:

- (x86): 512KB;

- (x64): 2048 KB;

- (IA64): 4096 KB;

If you need to do calculation over the 32 logical processors, the general formula below can be

used:




32bit CPU <= 4 CPU = 256 > 4 CPU = 256 + ((#CPU - 4) *8) 64bit CPU <= 4 CPU = 512 > 4 CPU = 512 + ((#CPU - 4) * 16)

For example, on a x64 bit machine with 32 logical CPUs, the maximum number of thread is

internally calculated by SQL Server as (512 + (28*16)) = 960 and since on x64 each thread stack

is 2MB, the total amount of memory that should be reserved is (960*2) = 1920 MB.

NOTE: In SQL Server 2012, 32bit AWE memory feature is deprecated:

The "awe enabled" SQL Server feature is deprecated


For more information on how the memory management has been changed in SQL Server 2012,

see the KB article and links below:

Memory configuration and sizing considerations in SQL Server 2012 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2663912

SQL Server Memory Manager Changes in Denali http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlosteam/archive/2011/01/04/sql-server-memory-manager-changes-in-denali.aspx New SQLOS features in SQL Server 2012 http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlosteam/archive/2011/11/10/new-sqlos-features-in-sql-server-2012.aspx

1.6.2 Lock Pages in Memory

To reduce SQL Server paging, you can grant the SQL Server service account “Lock Pages in

Memory” privilege through the Windows Group Policy editor. Enable this privilege for both 32-

bit and 64-bit servers.

For detailed instructions, see How to reduce paging of buffer pool memory in the 64-bit version

of SQL Server on the Microsoft® Support site.



http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlosteam/archive/2011/01/04/sql-server-memory-manager-changes-in-denali.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlosteam/archive/2011/01/04/sql-server-memory-manager-changes-in-denali.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlosteam/archive/2011/11/10/new-sqlos-features-in-sql-server-2012.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlosteam/archive/2011/11/10/new-sqlos-features-in-sql-server-2012.aspx




1.6.3 Instant File Initialization (IFI)

When it's necessary to create a SQL Server data file, the operating system has to go through the

file and ‘Zero out’ the entire file after it is allocated for one of the following operations:

Create a database.

Add files, log or data, to an existing database.

Increase the size of an existing file (including autogrowth operations).

Restore a database or filegroup.

This can take a quite a bit of time for a very large file which can become critical in disaster

recovery and restore operations; to solve this problem, SQL Server 2005 (and later versions) can

leverage Windows (Windows Server 2003 and later) OS Instant File Initialization (IFI) feature to

remove the need to zero-out the file when it is allocated making the process almost

instantaneous. The operating system just allocates the disk space, but the content of the file is

actually what is originally on the disk.

Instant File Initialization (IFI) is only available if the SQL Server database engine service account

has been granted the “Perform Volume Maintenance Tasks” (SE_MANAGE_VOLUME_NAME)

user right at the OS level on the server and all cluster nodes if a clustered configuration is used.

Members of the Windows Administrator group have this right and can grant it to other users by

adding them to the Perform Volume Maintenance Tasks security policy. To grant this right, use

the following steps:

On a pure performance perspective, using this feature is recommended, but there are some

securities implications that should be considered and reviewed in the article below (also apply

to SQL Server 2012):

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms175935(v=sql.105).aspx

If the final customer is comfortable in being able to address this type of risk based on his in-

house security protection mechanisms, configurations and operations, then we recommend to

proceed.

NOTE: This feature is only available for data files, not transaction log files.

For more information on this feature you can visit the link below:

http://sqlskills.com/BLOGS/KIMBERLY/post/Instant-Initialization-What-Why-and-How.aspx

1.7 Guidance for SQL Server Configuration Settings Following is guidance for SQL Server configuration settings.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms175935(v=sql.105).aspx

http://sqlskills.com/BLOGS/KIMBERLY/post/Instant-Initialization-What-Why-and-How.aspx


1.7.1 Consider Lower Fill Factor

In high-volume deployments (installations with 10 million accounts and more), you should

consider a lower fill factor with PAD_INDEX on for indexes on hot tables with high latch

contention. Consider a lower fill factor only if there is need to improve the performance and if

excessive latch contention has been observed. Lab testing has shown good results using a fill

factor of 10% for small tables (less than 1 GB) and 50% for bigger tables.

Page latch contention can be identified by examining the “SQL Server: Wait Statistics – Page

Latch waits” performance counter and querying the dynamic management view

sys.dm_os_wait_stats using this query:

SELECT * FROM sys.dm_os_wait_stats

WHERE wait_type LIKE 'PAGELATCH%'

To identify which tables and which pages experience latch contention, you can use the following

queries:

SELECT *

FROM sys.dm_db_index_operational_stats (DB_ID('T24'), NULL,

NULL, NULL)

ORDER BY [page_latch_wait_in_ms] DESC,

tree_page_latch_wait_in_ms DESC

and

SELECT * FROM sys.dm_os_waiting_tasks

WHERE wait_type LIKE 'PAGELATCH%'

Table 4 shows tables that have been identified as likely candidates for a lower fill factor setting

during lab testing:

Table 3. Table candidates for lower fill factor.

Table Fill factor Pad_index

FBNK_PL_C002 10% On

F_LOCKING 10% On

FBNK_EB_C004 50% On

FBNK_ACCT_ACTIVITY 50% On

FBNK_ACCOUNT 50% On


Note: This testing has been done with a standardized workload. Every application has different

functionality, and if high latch contention is observed, you must identify these candidates for

the application-specific workload profile.

For more information on the fill-factor option for indexes, see the article Fill Factor.

1.7.2 Increase the SQL Server Recovery Interval

Increasing the recovery interval server configuration option causes the checkpoint process to

occur less often. This can reduce the I/O load driven by checkpoints and improve the overall

performance. During lab testing, a recovery interval of 5–10 minutes has been determined to be

the best setting for T24.

Before changing the recovery interval, you should consider its implication on the mean time to

recovery and recovery point objectives. Note that when using failover clustering, a longer

recovery interval also influences the failover time of the database instance.

There is a new database level option in SQL Server 2012 called “Target Recovery Time

(seconds)”, available in each database as a property that can be used to control checkpoint at

database level instead using instance level (that is for all databases) parameter “Recovery

Interval”. When it is set to 0 (zero) the database uses automatic checkpoint for the current

database that uses “recovery interval” from server level (sp_configure); once

TARGET_RECOVERY_TIME changes to a value bigger than 0, the database starts to use it instead

of automatic checkpoint and it is called indirect checkpoint. For more information on this

feature see the following link:

The value can be specified in seconds (in the GUI interface) or minutes and will define the

maximum time to recover the database after a crash. In SQL Server 2012, if it’s desired to

change the checkpoint process behavior, it’s generally recommended to use database level

option for T24 database. For more information on this specific feature use this link Database

Checkpoints . For more information about the recovery interval option, see the article Recovery

Interval Option.

1.7.3 Use Trace Flag 834

On computer systems with 64 or more CPU cores, use startup trace flag 834. When this trace

flag is set, SQL Server uses Windows large-page memory allocations for the buffer pool.

Allocating buffer pages is expensive, and turning on trace flag 834 boosts performance.

IMPORTANT: Enabling this trace flag will affect time required by SQL Server process to start up

and then greatly augment failover time in Cluster configuration, then it’s highly recommended

to test it on production environment machines directly, before going live.

For more information about this SQL Server trace flag, see Microsoft Support Article 920093.







1.7.4 Keep Default Setting for Degree of Parallelism

Leave the default setting of max degree of parallelism option unchanged.

1.7.5 Keep Default Setting for Number of Worker Threads

Leave the default setting of max worker threads option unchanged.

1.7.6 Encrypt Client Communication if Required

If required, you can enable encrypting client connection communication to SQL Server. SQL

Server supports Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to encrypt the data transmitted between a client and

the database server. SQL Server can be configured to require encrypted connections, in which

case it rejects connections from clients who are not able to support encryption. Clients can also

request encryption when connecting to SQL Server.

For more Information, see Encrypting Connections to SQL Server and How to: Enable Encrypted

Connections to the Database Engine (SQL Server Configuration Manager).

1.7.7 T24 Database Configuration settings

The following recommended settings apply for the T24 database:

Leave value for parameter “Auto Close” to “FALSE” (default configuration);

Leave value for parameter “Auto Create Statistics” to “TRUE” (default configuration);

Leave value for parameter “Auto Shrink” to “FALSE” (default configuration);

Leave value for parameter “Auto Update Statistics” to “TRUE” (default configuration);

Change the value for parameter “Async Update Statistics” to “TRUE” (change required);

Leave value for parameter “Auto Shrink” to “FALSE” (default configuration);

Leave value for parameter “Page Verify” to “CHECKSUM” (default configuration);





For modification of default value (0) for parameter “Target Recovery Time (Seconds)”,

see section “2.7.2 Increase the SQL Server Recovery Interval”.


2 Best Practices for the Application Server

Following are some best practices you should use for configuring your T24 application server.

2.1 Software Recommendations

2.1.1 Use the Latest Software Versions

For best performance, you should use the latest software versions.

Use TAFC Version R12.

Currently, you should use TAFC version R12, which contains key performance and scalability

improvements for running T24 on Windows Server and SQL Server.

2.2 T24 Configuration Recommendations Following are recommendations for some T24 parameters.

2.2.1 Configure the T24 Bulk Factor Parameter

The T24 Bulk Factor parameter (in PGM.FILE, Record IC.COB, Attribute 14) defines how many

Data Manipulation Language (DML) statements are included within each database transaction.

There is a trade-off for increasing this parameter value: increasing the bulk factor value

improves throughput by processing more statements within each transaction but also increases

the possibility of longer transactions and blocking.

You should leave the default value for the bulk factor parameter (currently 5), unless you have a

large installation with 10 million accounts or more. For such high-volume installations,

increasing the bulk factor may improve performance. Lab testing has demonstrated good results

using a bulk factor of 20 for deployments with more than 10 million accounts deployment and a

bulk factor of 40 for a deployment with 25 million accounts.

2.2.2 Configure the T24 Handle Cache Parameter

T24 provides a caching mechanism for OLEDB statement handles. This improves performance by

caching and reusing the handles of frequently used statements, instead of releasing and

preparing them each time.

Each T24 table can have a maximum of 5 different handles (i.e., for the following T24

operations: READ, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, and SELECT). Each handle consumes a fixed amount

of memory (64 KB) and consumes additional memory needed for data cache.

The T24 Handle Cache parameter (JEDI_XMLDRIVER_HANDLE_LIMIT) specifies the maximum

number of statement handles that can be cached. The default value (currently 500) should be

adjusted based on the available application server memory as shown in Table 4.


App Server Memory Handle Cache Parameter

< 8 GB 500 (default)

>= 8 GB and < 32 GB 5000

>= 32 GB and < 64 GB 12000

>= 64 GB 15000

Table 4. Handle cache parameter scale based on application server memory.

2.2.3 Consider Using Hyper-Threading

Hyper-Threading should be off by default for T24 application servers. Lab testing has shown

performance gain on application servers with the latest chipsets (e.g., Intel Nehalem-EX+); you

should consider turning hyper-threading on when using the newer chipsets and observe the

influence on performance.


3 Best Practices for Providing High

Availability

Failover clustering―a high-availability (HA) solution―can keep applications running in the event

of the failure of hardware components. Failover clustering is therefore recommended to provide

database-tier HA for SQL Server in a T24 deployment.

3.1 High Availability Recommendations for the Database In a T24 implementation, SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 R2 are typically installed in a

two-node failover cluster to provide an alternate server for the database. This protects the

system from the failure of server components such as the network adapters, the processors, or

the SAN connectivity.

Typically, the data resides on a SAN with disks configured as RAID 10 (recommended) or RAID 5,

providing redundancy for the LUNs used by SQL Server. The SAN is connected to the servers via

two or more HBAs. The time to detect a fault and switch to the alternate node is typically less

than one minute. (Note that the time is dependent on the current transactional load and on the

configuration, such as the number of drives or other resources in the resource group.)

The cluster can also be used for planned maintenance. With SQL Server 2008 and later versions,

you can apply service packs to inactive nodes, and then you can fail the active SQL Server group

over to the patched nodes. (Note that this results in a brief usage outage.) For more information

on applying service packs to a failover cluster instance, see SQL Server 2008 Failover Cluster

Rolling Patch and Service Pack Process (still valid on SQL Server 2012).

T24 uses database locking from R11 onwards by default and can be turned off if require to use

jDLS (T24 lock arbiter). jDLS can be installed:

In a resilient mode on two application servers.

On the database server if enough resources are available. (Note that approximately 20%

more CPU utilization on the database server is expected in this case.)

On a separate application server.

In a cluster configuration with jDLS installed on the database server, you can configure jDLS in

resilient mode on both database server nodes and have the jDLS in the same failover group as

SQL Server. If the jDLS or SQL Server fails, then the connections are dropped (as well as the

locks), and the processes reconnect to the secondary node and take locks via the jDLS of that

node.




For general overview on the high-availability features of SQL Server, see High Availability—

Always On Technologies and High Availability with SQL Server 2008 R2.

3.2 High Availability Recommendations for the Storage As described in section Storage Design Recommendations, your storage solution should be a

fault-tolerant SAN solution made up of a redundant disk configuration such as RAID 10. The SAN

is still a single point of failure, but the majority of its components are redundant.

You should be sure to consider the disaster recovery options described in the section Best

Practices for Disaster Recovery to mitigate the effect of a total SAN failure.

3.3 T24 Recovery When an error or connection failure occurs (e.g., a database failover event) during the

processing of transactions either online or as a COB agent, the controlling T24 process

terminates. Because the exact transaction state cannot be ascertained between connection

failures and reconnects, the current transaction is completely rolled back and restarted on

another process.

3.3.1 Online Recovery

For the T24 online processes (Web services, Browser, and MQ batch), an agent listener process

is started on each application server.

The listener process spawns and monitors child processes, which process the transaction

requests. Should a child agent fail, the aborted transaction is resubmitted by the application and

is started on a new agent process. This in turn connects to the secondary database node that is

active after the failover, and the transaction is then processed as normal.

3.3.2 Close of Business (COB)

Under normal operation, the T24 COB processes (agents or tSAs) are started and monitored by a

manager process (tSM) on each application server.

If an agent (tSA) fails or aborts because of an error or failover, then the tSM initiates a new

agent to replace the failed agent. The new agent resubmits the request, and this causes a

connection to be established to the secondary database node which lets the COB jobs restart

and continue.

If the error or failover occurs while the tSM is accessing tables in the database (e.g., JOB.LIST)

and is “connected” to the database server, the tSM also terminates, leaving no monitoring

process to automatically restart the tSAs. The tSM needs to be manually restarted, which then

restarts the tSAs letting the COB processes continue from where they left off. You cannot

automatically restart the tSM by design, because an assessment of the failure is required to

ensure that it’s a “real” disconnection rather than a temporary network interruption.

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/wp-sql-2008-high-availability.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/wp-sql-2008-high-availability.aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff658546(v=SQL.100).aspx


4 Best Practices for Disaster Recovery

Disaster recovery (DR) provides alternate services in the event of a catastrophic physical

disruption of the infrastructure at the primary site. For protection from natural disasters such as

earthquakes, the DR site is frequently located far from the primary site. SQL Server provides

various technologies for transferring data changes from the primary database to a disaster

recovery site.

One of the main decisions that you need to make is whether or not you are willing to tolerate

potential data loss in the event of complete destruction of the primary site. Loss-less DR

methods require the use of synchronous replication to the DR site. This means that all writes to

the storage systems must complete at both sites before the transaction is committed, which can

increase the time to perform the transaction significantly, depending on the line speed.

The two primary methods of synchronous replication are SAN mirroring and database mirroring

in “high-safety” mode. SAN mirroring requires additional features provided by the SAN vendor.

Database mirroring is a feature included with SQL Server.

4.1 SQL Server 2012 High-Availability and Disaster Recovery

(HADR) enhancements SQL Server 2012 AlwaysOn Failover Cluster Instances (FCI) and AlwaysOn Availability Groups

(AG) provide a comprehensive high availability and disaster recovery solution. Prior to SQL

Server 2012, many customers used FCIs to provide local high availability within a data center

and database mirroring for disaster recovery to a remote data center. With SQL Server 2012,

this design pattern can be replaced with an architecture that uses FCIs for high availability and

availability groups for disaster recovery business requirements. Availability groups leverage

Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC) functionality, enable multiple features not available

in database mirroring, with or without shared replicated SAN storage between sites providing a

cost effective solution able to guarantee zero data loss.

Based on these new SQL Server 2012 HADR functionalities, Microsoft and Temenos built a

deployment reference architecture and guidance for implementing a high-availability and

disaster-recovery solution for TEMENOS T24 running on the Microsoft Application Platform and

leveraging SQL Server 2012 new features; the result of this work can be viewed in the white

paper below:

A deployment reference architecture and guidance for implementing an HADR solution for TEMENOS T24 running on the Microsoft Application Platform http://blogs.technet.com/b/sql_server_isv/archive/2012/05/18/a-deployment-reference-architecture-and-guidance-for-implementing-an-hadr-solution-for-temenos-t24-running-on-the-microsoft-application-platform.aspx

http://blogs.technet.com/b/sql_server_isv/archive/2012/05/18/a-deployment-reference-architecture-and-guidance-for-implementing-an-hadr-solution-for-temenos-t24-running-on-the-microsoft-application-platform.aspx




For more information on SQL Server 2012 AlwaysOn technologies and Availability Group, you

can visit the links below:

Microsoft SQL Server AlwaysOn Solutions Guide for High Availability and Disaster Recovery http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/hh781257.aspx SQL Server 2012 AlwaysOn High Availability and Disaster Recovery Design Patterns http://sqlcat.com/sqlcat/b/msdnmirror/archive/2011/12/22/sql-server-2012-alwayson-high-availability-and-disaster-recovery-design-patterns.aspx

4.2 SAN Mirroring SAN mirroring synchronizes the contents of one SAN with another and requires very high

bandwidth between the two SANs―usually dark fiber is recommended. A benefit of SAN

mirroring is that it mirrors all of the storage, not just the database. SAN mirroring is provided by

the storage vendor (it is not part of the Windows Server operating system).

Note: Asynchronous SAN mirroring is not recommended because it is not possible to determine

if the mirror is synchronized after a disaster, and you cannot easily discover any differences.

4.3 Synchronous Database Mirroring Also known as high-safety mode, synchronous database mirroring guarantees that the mirror

and the primary databases are synchronized on all committed transactions. It is important to

note that only the one database being mirrored is synchronized―no other databases or files are

synchronized in the same operation.

Database mirroring can use any form of TCP connectivity between the two servers, but as with

SAN mirroring, a large bandwidth is important in providing responsive, low-latency service. One

option to mitigate the cost of the network between the primary site and the DR site is to use

two levels of DR sites:

One site is geographically close to the primary site (under 100 kilometers [km]) and uses

mirroring to maintain an exact mirror of the primary site.

A second site is geographically remote from the primary site and is synchronized using

one of the asynchronous methods that can use a lower, less-expensive bandwidth.

For more information, see Synchronous Database Mirroring (High-Safety Mode).

4.4 Asynchronous Replication Methods If a small potential for loss of recently committed transactions is acceptable, synchronization

performance can be improved by using asynchronous protocols between primary and secondary

database servers. Using asynchronous protocols means that there is no dependency between

the database servers when committing a transaction. A transaction may be committed on one

server, but not on the other until much later.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/hh781257.aspx

http://sqlcat.com/sqlcat/b/msdnmirror/archive/2011/12/22/sql-server-2012-alwayson-high-availability-and-disaster-recovery-design-patterns.aspx




The primary methods of asynchronous replication are asynchronous database mirroring, log

shipping, or transactional replication (server-to-server transactional replication or peer-to-peer

replication). With these methods, there is a window of a few seconds to a few minutes where

the transactions committed on the primary site are not yet committed on the DR site.

Note that when using asynchronous database mirroring or log shipping, the log from the

primary site cannot be applied to the DR site once the DR site has been used to store new

transactions in its new role as the primary database. Transactions that were not shipped to the

DR site before switching to the secondary database server are lost.

For more information, see Log Shipping Overview, Database Mirroring Overview, and

Transactional Replication Overview.

4.5 Recommendations for Connection Bandwidth An important consideration is the connection bandwidth between the primary and DR sites. Lab

testing with 10 million accounts showed peak log usage of 34 MBytes/sec during COB, with

values above approximately 15 MBytes/sec for more than an hour during IC processing. COB is

the most intensive workload, and can generate large numbers of log records. With an estimated

log compression ratio of 1:4, you should plan at least a 40-Mbit/sec (or 5 MBytes/sec) link to the

DR site for configurations with 10 million accounts.





5 Best Practices for Reporting

In the default implementation of T24, reports are generated from the same database as online

services and using any read-only copy of the production database is not supported for in-the-

box T24 reporting capabilities. For external reporting purposes only, including feeding data

warehouses, outside the context of T24 reporting features, a secondary copy of the production

database can be created.

There are various options that can be considered, including snapshots, log shipping, database

mirroring (SQL Server 2008 R2) and Availability Group (SQL Server 2012):

Snapshots give only point-in-time data (typically once per day). When you update the

snapshot, all connections to the previous snapshot are broken, providing a poor user

experience. Snapshots can be generated by the SAN or you can use database snapshots.

Log shipping or database mirroring keeps the target database in “recovery” mode, and it

cannot be accessed for reading except through a database snapshot. This again means

that it is only point-in-time data, and when updating, all previous connections are

broken.

Database mirroring can only mirror to one other server. You cannot mirror a database

to both the DR site and to a reporting site.

SQL Server 2012 Availability Group supersedes SQL Server Mirroring functionalities

removing the constraint of a single copy, in addition to powerful features not available

in any other available technology such as readable secondary Replica that can be used

for external reporting purposes.

The reporting database may be configured for simple database recovery because it is not

updated by client transactions; this lets you skip the backup process, but it means that if the

database becomes corrupted, you need to re-initialize the subscription from the primary

backup. Another possible alternative, both for SQL Server 2008 R2 and SQL Server 2012, is

Transactional Replication but it’s not recommended since:

It requires modifications to the database schema (triggers, views, tables, stored

procedures);

There are several strict requirements on the structure of the published tables;

The overhead on the primary production T24 database may affect heavily database

throughput;


6 Best Practices for Performance Tuning

Following is guidance for performance tuning for a T24/SQL Server implementation.

6.1 Guidance for Improving Query Performance A typical T24 application consists of T24 core functionality, a number of T24 modules for specific

banking industry areas, and a custom application code that reflects the particular business

requirements. The following sections describe the various performance considerations for the

standard T24 core components and for customer-specific queries.

6.1.1 Optimize Standard T24 Queries

Temenos provides a post-installation script for creating indexes on the fields that the standard

T24 application code uses most often. You should run this script after installation on all your T24

environments to ensure proper performance of the standard T24 queries.

As every application has different functionality, close-of-business processes, and a specific

transaction mix profile, you should monitor the usage of the standard indexes and consider

dropping indexes that are rarely used.

You can use the following query to identify indexes that have not been used since the last time

SQL Server was started:

SELECT

object_name(i.object_id) AS object_name,

i.name AS index_name

FROM sys.indexes i JOIN sys.objects o ON i.object_id =

o.object_id

WHERE o.type = 'U'

AND i.index_id NOT IN

(SELECT s.index_id

FROM sys.dm_db_index_usage_stats s

WHERE s.index_id = i.index_id

AND s.object_id = i.object_id

AND s.database_id = db_id())

ORDER BY object_name(i.object_id) ASC

The sys.dm_db_index_usage_stats dynamic management view provides statistics about

the index usage from the last time SQL Server was started.


You can use the following query to monitor the index usage on a regular basis:

SELECT

object_name(i.object_id) AS object_name,

i.name AS index_name, s.index_id,

user_seeks + user_scans + user_lookups AS user_reads,

system_seeks + system_scans + system_lookups AS

system_reads,

user_updates,

system_updates

FROM sys.dm_db_index_usage_stats s JOIN sys.indexes i

ON s.index_id = i.index_id AND s.object_id = i.object_id

WHERE s.database_id = db_id()

AND i.type <> 0

ORDER BY user_reads DESC

6.1.2 Optimize Customer-Specific T24 Queries

For queries used by customer-specific code, you should go through the following steps in order

to identify performance issues, consider optimizations, and verify the benefit of the

optimizations.

1. Identify slow-running queries.

To improve query performance, start by identifying slow-running queries.

COB queries:

The close-of-business (COB) calculations are generally the most processing-intensive tasks in

T24. The optimization of COB queries is critical for reducing the total duration of the COB.

To identify slow-running queries (or just queries which can be optimized to help shorten the

COB time), you can use the sys.dm_exec_query_stats dynamic management view.

The following query selects the top 50 SQL Server statements ordered by the total CPU time

(i.e., total amount of CPU time, in microseconds, for all executions of each statement):

SELECT TOP 50

SUM(query_stats.total_worker_time) AS "total CPU time",

SUM(query_stats.total_worker_time)/SUM(query_stats.executio

n_count) AS "avg CPU Time",

SUM(query_stats.execution_count) AS "executes",

SUM(query_stats.total_logical_reads) AS "total logical

reads",

SUM(query_stats.total_logical_reads)/SUM(query_stats.execut

ion_count) AS "avg logical reads",

SUM(query_Stats.total_logical_writes) AS "total logical

writes",

SUM(query_Stats.total_logical_writes)/SUM(query_stats.execu

tion_count) AS "avg logical writes",

MIN(query_stats.statement_text) AS "statement text"

FROM

(SELECT QS.*,


SUBSTRING(ST.text, (QS.statement_start_offset/2) + 1,

((CASE statement_end_offset

WHEN -1 THEN DATALENGTH(ST.text)

ELSE QS.statement_end_offset END

- QS.statement_start_offset)/2) + 1) AS

statement_text

FROM sys.dm_exec_query_stats AS QS

CROSS APPLY sys.dm_exec_sql_text(QS.sql_handle) as ST) AS

query_stats

GROUP BY query_stats.query_hash

ORDER BY 1 DESC

After completion of the COB, you should look at F_JOB_TIMES for long COB job times. When

you have identified the long-running jobs, search the content of the T24 log file &COMO& to

match the jQL queries corresponding to the long-running jobs. Compare these jQL queries to

the previously identified SQL Server statements to select queries that are good candidates

for optimization.

Online Processing:

For online processing, identify slow-running operations in the user interface (UI) based on

user feedback and try to reproduce them (on a test database system). Use the SQL Server

Profiler to capture the corresponding SQL Server queries. After identifying the SQL

statements, you should test them and measure the CPU time and I/Os. This can be done

using the sys.dm_exec_query_stats dynamic management view and the query

described in the previous section.

If you identify multiple long-running queries involved in the online operations, sort the

queries based on the average CPU time, and consider the number of executions of each

query. Optimizing a query which is executed very often is more important than optimizing

queries executed only few times.

2. Consider optimizations.

After identifying slow-running queries that are good candidates for optimization, consider

the following:

If there are queries on tables STMT_ENTRY, CATEG_ENTRY, or RE_CONSOLSPEC_ENTRY

using a “where” clause that is different from RECID = <value>, then these are most likely

jQL SELECT queries in a custom-developed code.

There should generally be no queries on these tables with a search condition using any

fields (other than the RECID). These are the biggest T24 tables, containing huge number

of records, and there is usually heavy activity on these tables.

The application logic and the jQL SELECT queries on these tables should be reconsidered

and, if possible, rewritten. For example, instead of using STMT_ENTRY, you can use the

table ACCT_ENT_TODAY in many cases. ACCT_ENT_TODAY is much smaller in size; the


key is the account number, and the rows in the table contain the key of the entries that

have been made into that account during the current business day.

If a query has a search condition on a single-value field, then consider scalar promotion

(see step 3).

An example of this type of query is:

SELECT t.RECID,t.XMLRECORD FROM F_HOLD_CONTROL t

WHERE

t.XMLRECORD.exist(N'/row/c2[.="NEW.LOAN.REPORT"]') = 1

If a query has a search condition on a specific multi-valued field (specific local reference

field), then consider scalar promotion (see step 3).

For example, the following query uses specifically the eighth value of a multi-value field

in the search condition:

SELECT t.RECID,t.XMLRECORD FROM FBNK_CARD_ISSUE t

WHERE t.XMLRECORD.exist(N'/row/c14[@m="8"][.=12345]')

= 1

Consider the number of promoted columns and indexes per table. Indexes improve the

performance of select queries, but also increase the time that is required to perform

modifications (i.e., inserts, updates, deletes) to the underlying table. Too many indexes

may degrade the overall performance. As a general rule, you should avoid creating more

than seven indexes on a table.

Do not create XML indexes on T24 XMLRECORD fields. The impact on transaction

latency is too high, and the benefit in query performance is usually not significant.

3. Use scalar promotion.

A single-value field (or even a specific value of a multi-valued field) that is part of the

XMLRECORD can be “promoted” as computed column of the table and be used in relational

search conditions. Further, a relational index can be created on the computed column to

improve the query performance. The minimum required T24 version for scalar promotion is

R10 SP5.

The detailed steps to promote a single-value XML field are as follows:

1.) Create a persisted computed column for the specific field.

Create a user-defined function that evaluates the value of the field. The return value

of the function should be a single scalar value. Using this function, the computed

column should be added to the table and persisted.


Following are two examples of scalar promotion:

-- example 1

-- scalar promotion of single valued field

CREATE FUNCTION udf_HOLD_CONTROL_C2(@xmlrecord XML)

RETURNS nvarchar(35)

WITH SCHEMABINDING

BEGIN

RETURN @xmlrecord.value('(/row/c2/text())[1]',

'nvarchar(35)')

END

ALTER TABLE F_HOLD_CONTROL

ADD C2 AS dbo.udf_HOLD_CONTROL_C2(XMLRECORD) PERSISTED

-- example 2

-- scalar promotion of specific multi-valued field

CREATE FUNCTION udf_CARD_ISSUE_CUSTOMER(@xmlrecord XML)

RETURNS integer

WITH SCHEMABINDING

BEGIN

RETURN

@xmlrecord.value('(/row/c14[@m="8"]/text())[1]',

'integer')

END

ALTER TABLE FBNK_CARD_ISSUE

ADD C14_8 AS dbo.udf_CARD_ISSUE_CUSTOMER(XMLRECORD)

PERSISTED

2.) Create non-clustered index on the computed column.

After creating the persisted computed column, create an index for this column:

-- example 1

CREATE INDEX ix_HOLD_CONTROL_C2 ON F_HOLD_CONTROL(C2)

-- example 2

CREATE INDEX ix_CARD_ISSUE_CUSTOMER ON

FBNK_CARD_ISSUE(C14_8)

Once there is a promoted column for a specific field in the table, T24 automatically

translates the queries to use that column relational in the “where” clause if there is

a search condition on that field.


4. Verify optimizations.

Verify that the changes are successful and measure the impact of the optimizations.

For scalar promotion (promoted and indexed fields):

Verify the query translation.

Without scalar promotion, T24 uses a query syntax such as:

SELECT t.RECID,t.XMLRECORD

FROM FBNK_CARD_ISSUE t

WHERE t.XMLRECORD.exist(N'/row/c14[@m="8"][.=12345]')

= 1

The execution of this query usually uses a table scan to retrieve the results.

After promoting the field “c2”, T24 should translate the query as:

SELECT t.RECID,t.XMLRECORD

FROM FBNK_CARD_ISSUE t

WHERE c14_8 = 12345

In this case, index lookup on ix_CARD_ISSUE_CUSTOMER is used.

Prove that the index is used by reproducing the query and verifying the actual

execution plan. You can run the query in SQL Server Management Studio and

activate the icon “Include Actual Execution Plan” on the SQL Editor toolbar.

Alternatively, you can use the SET STATISTICS PROFILE ON statement to

display execution plan information.

Verify the performance of the query has improved.

After using the application for a period of time (e.g., couple of hours or days) or

after running COB, use the sys.dm_db_index_usage_stats dynamic

management view to verify the index usage. Consider the ratio between index reads

and index writes, keeping in mind that an index usually improves the performance

for read operations but slows down modifications (i.e., inserts, updates, deletes) at

the same time.

You can use the queries described in section Standard T24 Queries for this purpose.

You should monitor the index usage statistics on a regular basis.

For jQL queries changed in the application:

Execute the jQL query on the jsh> interface, and verify the performance.

Additionally, you should measure the CPU time and I/O operations on the SQL

Server. You can use the query described in the Close-of-Business section of the

document for this purpose.


5. Use T24 logical optimization.

If you are not able to achieve sufficient performance improvement to specific queries or

COB jobs by applying steps 1–4 above, then consider using concat files, tables used for

application-specific purposes in the application layer. In some cases, concat files can also be

used as a “logical index” in T24.

6.2 Recommendations for Monitoring Performance of the

Database Tier

You should perform system monitoring during development of your system and periodically

during production. Before “going live,” look for bottlenecks and gauge your ability to scale to

your expected long-term workload.

Once in production, you should create a performance baseline and monitor trends in resource

consumption against the performance baseline so that you can predict future bottlenecks and

determine when resource limitations might begin to impact performance as your customer base

grows. You should not worry about seeing short spikes in utilization or high consumption during

processes that are operating at an acceptable performance level.

Note that SQL Server 2008 R2 and SQL Server 2012 introduce new application and multi-server

management features, which can help you manage the T24 database environment more

efficiently at scale, with visibility into resource utilization for consolidation and improved

efficiencies across the application lifecycle. For more information, see SQL Server 2008 R2 -

Application and Multi-Server Management and Automated Administration Across an Enterprise.

Table 5 shows metrics that your monitoring plan should include.

Metric Predicts

Database File Sizes (including tempdb) Need for expansion of files or storage.

Log File Sizes Need to backup transaction log more often.

Processor/% Processor Time: All Instances

Additional processors.

Average Disk Queue Length Storage configuration too slow.

Average Disk sec/transfer May indicate a large amount of disk fragmentation, slow disks, or disk failures. (Should be 10 ms or less.)

Disk Bytes/sec for each LUN Need to spread data across more LUNs.

Paging in Pages/sec Need for additional memory.

Network Interface Bytes Received/sec and Network Interface Bytes Sent/sec

Need for increased network capacity or segmentation.

Table 5. Monitoring plan

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee364757.aspx


http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms180992


7 Best Practices for System Maintenance

You should perform regular maintenance tasks to keep SQL Server running optimally. Your

maintenance schedule should include implementing a backup strategy, updating database

statistics, rebuilding and reorganizing indexes, and identifying and correcting excessive

fragmentation.

For more information about creating maintenance plans, see Appendix 1: Create a Maintenance

Plan to Back Up the Temenos Application Database and Appendix 2: Create a Maintenance Plan

to Back Up the System Databases.

7.1 Guidance for Backing Up the Database You should back up the T24 database regularly to protect your data. You should also back up the

transaction log frequently to protect your data and to keep the transaction log file from growing

too large.

7.1.1 Use Backup Compression

Backing up a large database can require a significant amount of time and a large amount of disk

space for the backup file(s). With SQL Server 2008 (and later versions) backup compression, the

backup file is compressed as it is written; this requires less storage, less disk I/O, and less time

but incurs more CPU cycles as overhead.

The compression is achieved by specifying the WITH COMPRESSION clause in the BACKUP

command or by selecting compression the Options page in the Back Up Database dialog box.

There is also a global setting to compress all backups taken on a server instance by default. (This

setting is accessed by using the Database Settings tab in the Server Properties dialog box or by

running sp_configure with backup compression default set to 1.) The RESTORE command

automatically detects that a backup is compressed and decompresses the backup during the

restore operation.

For more information, see the article Tuning the Performance of Backup Compression in SQL

Server 2008 on SQLCAT.com.

7.1.2 Implement a Backup Schedule

A suggested schedule is a weekly full backup, a daily differential backup, and a log backup every

hour. Frequent log backups can keep the size of the log file smaller and can also minimize data

loss when implementing log shipping for disaster recovery. Frequent full backups can improve

the speed of recovery since it is not necessary to restore as many log files. Your organization

may have specific requirements for recovery times, and you should discuss these with a

qualified database administrator to determine a backup profile that meets these requirements.

http://sqlcat.com/technicalnotes/archive/2008/04/21/tuning-the-performance-of-backup-compression-in-sql-server-2008.aspx



It is recommended to schedule the full backup to run after the COB processing and after any

index maintenance tasks (e.g., index reorganize or index rebuild).

If you implement peer-to-peer replication, you must also implement a backup schedule for the

target database(s). The distributor database operates in simple recovery mode, so it does not

need to be backed up.

7.1.3 Back Up System Databases

SQL Server maintains a set of system-level databases (called system databases) that are

essential for the operation of a server instance. Several of the system databases must be backed

up after every significant update: msdb, master, and model. If any database uses replication on

the server instance, there is a distribution system database that must also backed up. Backups

of these system databases let you restore and recover the SQL Server system in the event of

system failure, such as the loss of a hard disk.

For more information, see the article Considerations for Backing Up and Restoring System

Databases.

7.2 Recommendations for Updating Statistics SQL Server collects statistics about individual columns (single-column statistics) or sets of

columns (multi-column statistics). Statistics are used by the query optimizer to estimate the

selectivity of expressions and thus the size of intermediate and final query results. Reliable

statistics let the optimizer accurately assess the cost of different query plans and then choose a

high-quality plan.

For a typical T24 installation, it is recommended to keep the AUTO_CREATE_STATISTICS and

AUTO_UPDATE_STATISTICS database options on (which is the default setting).

For more information, see the article Statistics Used by the Query Optimizer in Microsoft SQL

Server 2008. For step-by-step guidance for manually updating statistics using a maintenance job,

see Appendix 3: Update Statistics.

7.3 Recommendations for Reorganizing or Rebuilding Indexes The SQL Server Database Engine automatically maintains indexes whenever insert, update, or

delete operations are applied to the underlying data. Over time, these modifications can cause

the information in the index to become scattered or fragmented in the database. Fragmentation

exists when indexes have pages in which the logical ordering, based on the key value, does not

match the physical ordering inside the data file. Heavily fragmented indexes can degrade query

performance and cause your application to respond slowly.

You can defragment indexes by either reorganizing or rebuilding. For partitioned indexes built

on a partition scheme, you can rebuild or reorganize a complete index or a single partition of an

index.



http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd535534.aspx



To decide which defragmentation method to use, analyze the index to determine the degree of

fragmentation. By using the DMF sys.dm_db_index_physical_stats, you can detect

fragmentation in a specific index, all indexes on a table or indexed view, all indexes in a

database, or all indexes in all databases. Using this function, you have access to the

fragmentation levels available in defined columns at any given time.

Table 6 shows some of the information returned by the sys.dm_db_index_physical_stats

function.

Column Description

avg_fragmentation_in_percent The percent of logical fragmentation (out-of-order pages

in the index).

fragment_count The number of fragments (physically consecutive leaf

pages) in the index.

avg_fragment_size_in_pages Average number of pages in one fragment in an index.

page_count The total number of index or data pages.

Table 5. Columns returned from sys.dm_db_index_physical_stats.

You can then use Table 7 as a guide to determine the best method to correct the fragmentation.

avg_fragmentation_in_percent Corrective statement

> 10 percent and < = 80 percent ALTER INDEX REORGANIZE

> 80 percent ALTER INDEX REBUILD

Table 6. Corrective defragmentation method to use.

Note that very low levels of fragmentation (less than 10%) should not be addressed by either of

these commands because the benefit from removing such a small amount of fragmentation is

almost always vastly outweighed by the cost of reorganizing or rebuilding the index. The white

paper Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Index Defragmentation Best Practices can provide additional

guidance.

7.3.1 Reorganize Indexes

Reorganize an index when the index is not heavily fragmented. Use the ALTER INDEX statement

with the REORGANIZE clause (replaces the DBCC INDEXDEFRAG statement in Microsoft® SQL

Server® 2000). To reorganize a single partition of a partitioned index, use the PARTITION clause

of ALTER INDEX.


http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc966523.aspx#EIAA


The reorganize process uses minimal system resources. Also, reorganizing is automatically

performed online. The process does not hold long-term blocking locks; therefore, it does not

block running queries or updates.

7.3.2 Rebuild Indexes when Necessary

Rebuilding an index drops the index and creates a new one. In doing this, fragmentation is

removed, disk space is reclaimed by compacting the pages using the specified or existing fill-

factor setting, and the index rows are reordered in contiguous pages (allocating new pages as

needed). This can improve disk performance by reducing the number of page reads required to

obtain the requested data.

The following methods can be used to rebuild clustered and non-clustered indexes:

ALTER INDEX with the REBUILD clause. This statement replaces the DBCC DBREINDEX

statement.

CREATE INDEX with the DROP_EXISTING clause.

Each method performs the same function, but there are advantages and disadvantages to

consider. See Reorganizing and Rebuilding Indexes for more information. Note, that the

clustered index cannot be rebuilt online if the underlying table contains XML data type.

Appendix 4: Reorganize and Rebuild Indexes provides step-by-step guidance on creating

maintenance plans for these operations.

7.4 Recommendations for Update Management A general recommendation is to keep your Microsoft software up to date with the most recent

software updates. Software Updates (e.g., hotfixes, Cumulative Updates, service packs, etc.) can

help prevent or fix problems, enhance the security of your computers, and improve how the

computers work. Consider testing and applying software updates on a regular basis.

For more information on applying updates, see Update Management TechCenter and SQL

Server 2008 failover cluster rolling patch and service pack process (also apply to SQL Server

2012).

7.4.1 SQL Server 2012 Setup Product Update

Product Update is a new feature in SQL Server 2012 Setup. It integrates automatically the latest

SQL Server 2012 product updates with the main product installation so that the main product

and its applicable updates are installed at the same time. Product Update can search Microsoft

Update, Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), a local folder, or a network share for

applicable updates. After Setup finds the latest versions of the applicable updates, it downloads

and integrates them with the current SQL Server setup process. Product Update can pull in a

cumulative update, service pack, or service pack plus cumulative update.


http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/updatemanagement/default.aspx




For more information on this feature see the links below:

New features in SQL Server 2012 setup: Product Updates in SQL Server 2012 Installation http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh231670(v=SQL.110).aspx Product Updates in SQL Server 2012 Installation http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh231670.aspx

7.4.2 Run Anti-Virus Checks During Non-Peak Hours

While every environment and infrastructure will have its own unique considerations, you should

consider avoiding running real-time anti-virus checks; instead, run scheduled virus checks during

non-peak hours.

7.4.3 Consider Running Windows Updates on a Test Server before

Production

As with anti-virus checks, you should carefully consider the unique characteristics of your

infrastructure when deciding on a plan for patch management. Your update strategy will depend

on your organization’s policies, as well as those of Temenos. As a general rule, enterprises

should manage the update process in a different way than desktop users; enterprises should

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh231670(v=SQL.110).aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh231670.aspx


implement their own update services, defining a specific strategy and installing the updates on a

test server to verify their impact before installing them in production. For more information, see

Windows Server Update Services.

Security patching is an important subset of updates. You can find information about security

patching in Ten Principals of Microsoft Patch Management. Also see the Microsoft Support

article Guidelines for choosing antivirus software to run on the computers that are running SQL

Server.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/bb332157





8 Summary

TEMENOS T24, coupled with Microsoft SQL Server database software, provides financial

institutions with a complete banking solution. Using the best practices described in this white

paper can help optimize the performance of the database tier. The links in the section that

follows provide even more information.

For the latest benchmarking results on SQL Server 2012, see the link below:

TEMENOS T24 and SQL Server 2012 running on Intel Xeon processor-based servers set a new

world record in the latest high-water benchmarking tests

Following is a list of technical articles that can help you learn more about specific Windows and

SQL Server topics:

Windows Configuration:

Receive-Side Scaling

Introduction to Receive-Side Scaling

Receive-Side Scaling Enhancements in Windows Server 2008

Desktop Heap Overview

Desktop Heap, part 2

Storage Configuration:

Predeployment I/O Best Practices

Storage Top 10 Best Practices

DiskPart

Disk Partition Alignment Best Practices for SQL Server

SQL Server Configuration:

Isolation Levels in the Database Engine

Optimizing tempdb Performance

Configure Server Startup Options

Recovery Interval Option

Fill Factor

How to reduce paging of buffer pool memory in the 64-bit version of SQL Server

High Availability and Disaster Recovery:

A deployment reference architecture and guidance for implementing an HADR

solution for TEMENOS T24 running on the Microsoft Application Platform

Microsoft SQL Server AlwaysOn Solutions Guide for High Availability and Disaster

Recovery

SQL Server 2012 AlwaysOn High Availability and Disaster Recovery Design Patterns

Introducing SQL Server 2012 AlwaysOn

http://blogs.technet.com/b/sql_server_isv/archive/2011/11/18/temenos-t24-on-sql-server-2012-ctp3-sets-a-new-world-record-in-latest-high-water-benchmark.aspx

http://blogs.technet.com/b/sql_server_isv/archive/2011/11/18/temenos-t24-on-sql-server-2012-ctp3-sets-a-new-world-record-in-latest-high-water-benchmark.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/network/dd277646.aspx



http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ntdebugging/archive/2007/01/04/desktop-heap-overview.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ntdebugging/archive/2007/07/05/desktop-heap-part-2.aspx



http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc773140(WS.10).aspx













http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/gg490638


Overview of AlwaysOn Availability Groups

High Availability with SQL Server 2008

Failover Clustering in Windows Server 2008 R2

SQL Server 2008 Failover Clustering

Database Mirroring Overview

Synchronous Database Mirroring (High-Safety Mode)

Database Mirroring Best Practices and Performance Considerations

Log Shipping Overview

Transactional Replication Overview

Best Practices for Replication Administration

Replication Security Best Practices

Peer-to-Peer Transactional Replication

Database Maintenance

Considerations for Backing Up and Restoring System Databases

Tuning the Performance of Backup Compression in SQL Server 2008

Best Practices for Recovering a Database to a Specific Recovery Point

Statistics Used by the Query Optimizer in Microsoft SQL Server 2008

Reorganizing and Rebuilding Indexes

SQL Server 2008 R2 - Application and Multi-Server Management

SQL Server 2008 failover cluster rolling patch and service pack process

Update Management TechCenter

Troubleshooting Performance Problems in SQL Server 2008

See the SQL Server Best Practices portal for technical white papers, the SQL Server Best

Practices Toolbox, Top 10 Lists, and other resources.


http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee523927.aspx

http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/B/D/5BD5C253-4259-428B-A3E4-1F9C3D803074/WS08%20R2%20Failover%20Clustering%20White%20PaperTDM.docx

http://download.microsoft.com/download/6/9/D/69D1FEA7-5B42-437A-B3BA-A4AD13E34EF6/SQLServer2008FailoverCluster.docx



http://technet.microsoft.com/library/cc917681



http://technet.microsoft.com/library/ms151818


http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms151196.aspx








http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/updatemanagement/default.aspx


http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/bb671430.aspx


9 Appendix 1: Create a Maintenance Plan to

Back Up the Temenos Database

It is important to create a maintenance plan to back up the Temenos database. The following

step-by-step instructions guide you through the process.

1. Open SQL Server Management Studio, expand the Management node, and then

expand the Management Plans node.

2. Right-click Maintenance Plans, click Maintenance Plan Wizard, and then type an

appropriate name for this Temenos application database backup plan.

Figure 2. Click Maintenance Plan Wizard.

3. Click Separate schedules for each task, because you will later select both full and

transaction log backups. Click Next.

Figure 3. Select the plan properties.


4. On the Select Maintenance Tasks dialog box, select Clean Up History, Back Up

Database (Full), Back Up Database (Transaction Log), and Maintenance Cleanup Task.

Click Next twice.

Figure 4. Select maintenance tasks.

5. As you complete the Maintenance Plan Wizard, you should select options based on the

needs of your organization. The following figures show examples of options you may

want to select.

a. On the Define History Cleanup Task dialog box, select the historical data you

want to delete and the schedule. Click Next.

Figure 5. Options to define the history cleanup task.


b. On the Define Back Up Database (Full) Task dialog box, click on These

databases, and select the T24 user database in the Database(s) box. Click OK.

Figure 6. Options to configure the backup database task.


c. On the Job Schedule Properties dialog box, select the frequency and duration of

full backups. It is recommended to schedule the full backup to be executed,

after the COB processing. Click OK.

Figure 7. Options to select for the job schedule properties.

d. On the Define Back Up Database (Full) Task dialog box, specify information

about the full backup. Click Next.

Figure 8. Options to set the backup parameters.


e. On the Job Schedule Properties dialog box, select the frequency and duration of

transaction log backups. Click OK.

Figure 9. Options to set the frequency and duration of transaction log backups.

f. On the Define Back Up Database (Transaction Log) Task dialog box, configure

the transaction log backup. Click Next.

Figure 10. Options to configure the transaction log backups.


g. On the Define Maintenance Cleanup Task dialog box, configure the cleanup

tasks. Click Next.

Figure 11. Options to define the maintenance cleanup tasks.

h. On the Select Report Options dialog box, select whether to write the report to

text file or send the report through email. Click Next.

6. Review your selections, and then click Finish.


10 Appendix 2: Create a Maintenance Plan to

Back Up the System Databases

You should create a maintenance plan to back up the system databases. The following step-by-

step instructions guide you through the process.



2. Right-click Maintenance Plans, click Maintenance Plan Wizard, and then type an

appropriate name for this Temenos system database backup plan.


3. On the Select Plan Properties dialog box, click Single schedule for the entire plan or no

schedule, and click Change to select the frequency and duration of transaction log

backups. Click Next.



4. On the Select Maintenance Tasks dialog box, select Clean Up History, Back Up

Database (Full), and Maintenance Cleanup Task. Click Next.

Figure 14. Select the maintenance tasks.

5. On the Select Maintenance Task Order dialog box, make sure that the tasks appear in

the order shown in Figure 15. Click Next.

Figure 15. Verify the order of the maintenance tasks.


6. As you complete the Maintenance Plan Wizard, you should select options based on the

needs of your organization. The following figures show examples of options you may

want to select.

a. On the Define Back Up Database (Full) Task dialog box, select System

databases. Click OK.

Figure 16. Select the system databases.


b. Define the full backup task by selecting from the various options. Click Next.

Figure 17. Options to define the full backup.


c. Define the maintenance cleanup task by selecting from the various options.

Click Next.

Figure 18. Options to define the maintenance cleanup tasks.

d. Define the history cleanup task by selecting from the various options. Click Next.

Figure 19. Options to define the history cleanup tasks.


e. Select the report options you want. Click Next.

Figure 20. Options for reporting.

7. Review your selections, and click Finish.


11 Appendix 3: Update Statistics

You should create a maintenance plan to update statistics. The following step-by-step

instructions guide you through the process.



2. Right-click Maintenance Plans, and click Maintenance Plan Wizard.


3. On the Select Plan Properties dialog box, type an appropriate name for this statistics

update plan, and click Single schedule for the entire plan or no schedule. Click Change

to select the frequency and duration of statistics updates.



4. Based on your organization’s needs, select the frequency and duration of the statistics

updates on the Job Schedule Properties – Update Temenos Statistics (FullScan) dialog

box. Click OK, and then click Next.

Figure 23. Select the frequency and duration of updates.

5. On the Select Maintenance Tasks dialog box, select only Update Statistics. Click Next.

Figure 24. Select the update statistics task.


6. On the Select Maintenance Task Order dialog box, make no changes. Click Next.

Figure 25. Make no changes on the task order dialog box.

7. On the Define Update Statistics Task dialog box, click on These databases, and select

the T24 user database in the Database(s) box. Click OK.

Figure 26. Select the Temenos user database.


8. On the Define Update Statistics Task dialog box, select Tables and views in the Object

box. Under Scan type, click Full scan. Click Next.

Figure 27. Define parameters for the update statistics task.

9. On the Select Report Options dialog box, select report options based on your

organization’s needs. Click Next.

Figure 28. Select report options.

10. Review your selections, and then click Finish.


12 Appendix 4: Reorganize and Rebuild

Indexes

The following script samples automatically reorganize or rebuild all partitions in a database. The

first one reorganizes all indexes that have an average fragmentation between 10% and 80%. The

second script rebuilds all indexes with an average fragmentation greater than 80 percent.

Executing these scripts requires the VIEW DATABASE STATE permission. These examples use

DB_ID() instead of specifying particular database name.

Note that an error is generated if the current database has a compatibility level of 80 or less. To

resolve the error, replace DB_ID() with a valid database name. For more information about

database compatibility levels, see sp_dbcmptlevel (Transact-SQL).

For more information, see the article sys.dm_db_index_physical_stats (Transact-SQL).

-- Reorganize indexes

-- Ensure that a USE <databasename> statement has been executed

first.

SET NOCOUNT ON;

DECLARE @objectid int;

DECLARE @indexid int;

DECLARE @partitioncount bigint;

DECLARE @schemaname nvarchar(130);

DECLARE @objectname nvarchar(130);

DECLARE @indexname nvarchar(130);

DECLARE @partitionnum bigint;

DECLARE @partitions bigint;

DECLARE @frag float;

DECLARE @command nvarchar(4000);

-- Conditionally select tables and indexes from the

sys.dm_db_index_physical_stats function

-- and convert object and index IDs to names.

SELECT

object_id AS objectid,

index_id AS indexid,

partition_number AS partitionnum,

avg_fragmentation_in_percent AS frag

INTO #work_to_do

FROM sys.dm_db_index_physical_stats (DB_ID(), NULL, NULL , NULL,

'LIMITED')

WHERE avg_fragmentation_in_percent > 10.0

AND avg_fragmentation_in_percent <= 80.0

AND index_id > 0;

-- Declare the cursor for the list of partitions to be processed.




DECLARE partitions CURSOR FOR SELECT * FROM #work_to_do;

-- Open the cursor.

OPEN partitions;

-- Loop through the partitions.

WHILE (1=1)

BEGIN;

FETCH NEXT

FROM partitions

INTO @objectid, @indexid, @partitionnum, @frag;

IF @@FETCH_STATUS < 0 BREAK;

SELECT @objectname = QUOTENAME(o.name), @schemaname =

QUOTENAME(s.name)

FROM sys.objects AS o

JOIN sys.schemas as s ON s.schema_id = o.schema_id

WHERE o.object_id = @objectid;

SELECT @indexname = QUOTENAME(name)

FROM sys.indexes

WHERE object_id = @objectid AND index_id = @indexid;

SELECT @partitioncount = count (*)

FROM sys.partitions


SET @command = N'ALTER INDEX ' + @indexname + N' ON ' +

@schemaname + N'.' + @objectname + N' REORGANIZE';

IF @partitioncount > 1

SET @command = @command + N' PARTITION=' +

CAST(@partitionnum AS nvarchar(10));

EXEC (@command);

PRINT N'Executed: ' + @command;

END;

-- Close and deallocate the cursor.

CLOSE partitions;

DEALLOCATE partitions;

-- Drop the temporary table.

DROP TABLE #work_to_do;

GO

-- rebuild indexes

-- Ensure that a USE <databasename> statement has been executed

first.

SET NOCOUNT ON;

DECLARE @objectid int;

DECLARE @indexid int;

DECLARE @partitioncount bigint;


DECLARE @schemaname nvarchar(130);

DECLARE @objectname nvarchar(130);

DECLARE @indexname nvarchar(130);

DECLARE @partitionnum bigint;

DECLARE @partitions bigint;

DECLARE @frag float;

DECLARE @command nvarchar(4000);

-- Conditionally select tables and indexes from the

sys.dm_db_index_physical_stats function

-- and convert object and index IDs to names.

SELECT

object_id AS objectid,

index_id AS indexid,

partition_number AS partitionnum,

avg_fragmentation_in_percent AS frag

INTO #work_to_do

FROM sys.dm_db_index_physical_stats (DB_ID(), NULL, NULL , NULL,

'LIMITED')

WHERE avg_fragmentation_in_percent > 80.0 AND index_id > 0;

-- Declare the cursor for the list of partitions to be processed.

DECLARE partitions CURSOR FOR SELECT * FROM #work_to_do;

-- Open the cursor.

OPEN partitions;

-- Loop through the partitions.

WHILE (1=1)

BEGIN;

FETCH NEXT

FROM partitions

INTO @objectid, @indexid, @partitionnum, @frag;

IF @@FETCH_STATUS < 0 BREAK;

SELECT @objectname = QUOTENAME(o.name), @schemaname =

QUOTENAME(s.name)

FROM sys.objects AS o

JOIN sys.schemas as s ON s.schema_id = o.schema_id

WHERE o.object_id = @objectid;

SELECT @indexname = QUOTENAME(name)

FROM sys.indexes


SELECT @partitioncount = count (*)

FROM sys.partitions


SET @command = N'ALTER INDEX ' + @indexname + N' ON ' +

@schemaname + N'.' + @objectname + N' REBUILD';

IF @partitioncount > 1


SET @command = @command + N' PARTITION=' +

CAST(@partitionnum AS nvarchar(10));

EXEC (@command);

PRINT N'Executed: ' + @command;

END;

-- Close and deallocate the cursor.

CLOSE partitions;

DEALLOCATE partitions;

-- Drop the temporary table.

DROP TABLE #work_to_do;

GO

You should generally create a nightly job for index reorganization (using the 1 sample script) and

a weekly job for index rebuild (based on the 2 sample script). Ideally, the index maintenance

tasks (reorganization or rebuild) should be performed after COB processing and before a full

backup is executed.

To create a nightly or weekly job to perform the reorganizing or rebuilding, perform the

following steps:

1. Right-click Jobs, and click New Job.

Figure 29. Click New Job.


2. Name the job so it can be easily identified as the reorganization or rebuilding index.

Figure 30. Name the maintenance job.

3. Click Steps, and then click New.

Enter the step name (e.g., Reorg or Rebuild), select the type Transact-SQL script (T-SQL),

specify the T24 database name, and copy the script sample into the Command field. To

make sure that there are no errors in the T-SQL script, click Parse. Click OK.

Figure 31. Copy the script sample, and parse it.


4. Select the Advanced page, change the On Success action to Quit the job reporting

success, and click OK.

Figure 32. Configure job step advanced options.

5. On the New Job Schedule dialog box, schedule the job to run nightly or weekly,

depending on the needs of your organization. Click OK.

Figure 33. Options for scheduling jobs.


6. On the Job Properties – Temenos Index Reorg/Rebuild dialog box, configure the

notifications for the job based on your organization’s needs. (Note that database email

must be configured correctly for the notifications to work.) Click OK.

Figure 34. Configure job notifications.


13 Appendix 5: Installation Check List

Use the following checklist to assure a successful T24 installation:

Windows Server version:

64-bit edition of Windows Server® 2008 R2 Enterprise

SQL Server 64bit version:

Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 Enterprise Service Pack 2 (SP2), or Microsoft® SQL Server®

2008 R2 Enterprise, or Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 R2 Datacenter, or SQL Server 2012

Enterprise Edition

T24 / TAFC Version:

R12 or higher

Configuration settings:

Service Pack 1 for Windows Server® 2008 R2 Enterprise installed All security hotfixes installed for the Operating System, all SQL Server security

hotfixes approved by TEMENOS installed Recommended non-security hotfixes installed for Cluster component Lock pages in memory privilege granted to SQL service account Perform volume maintenance task user right granted (see security section) Antivirus exclusions configured for SQL Server files Windows Server Power Plan checked

SQL Server configuration:

Trace flag 1118, and eventually Trace flag 1117, added to SQL Server startup

parameters

SQL Server configuration parameter “Max Server Memory” set to proper value

Database log and data files are properly sized for T24 and TEMPDB databases

AUTO_CREATE_STATISTICS and AUTO_UPDATE_STATISTICS options for T24

database are turned on (default setting)

SQL Server maintenance jobs created and active

T24 indexes on standard fields created (post-installation script)

Documents

Optimizing SQL Server for Temenos T24