Quest Software Maximizes Microsoft SQL Server Performance With Quest Central for SQL Server 5.0

Business Wire, Dec 8, 2004

IRVINE, Calif. -- Quest Central for SQL Server 5.0 Now Delivers Performance Analysis, Allowing DBAs to Discover, Correlate and Report on SQL Server Metrics

Quest Software Inc. (Nasdaq:QSFT), a leading provider of application, database and Windows management solutions, today announced the release of Quest Central(R) for SQL Server version 5.0. The new version of Quest Central for SQL Server includes Performance Analysis to optimize Microsoft SQL Server performance, increase database administrator (DBA) productivity and reduce the risk of downtime. Quest Central for SQL Server is an integrated suite of tools that allow DBAs to quickly diagnose and resolve performance issues through a unified database management console.

"With a low total cost of ownership compared to other relational database management systems, SQL Server is rapidly gaining market share," said Charlie Garry, senior program director, META Group, Inc. "The ability to diagnose and resolve database performance-related issues is a business requirement in many IT organizations that provide service to users throughout the enterprise. Those end users demand instant access to data and their satisfaction depends on system performance."

Most database performance issues are caused by users and applications querying the database. To diagnose user related problems, administrators need a clear understanding of the SQL workload, its associated wait states and key performance metrics. Running a trace to collect this type of data is expensive in terms of server resources, and it results in masses of data that is difficult to analyze. Performance Analysis for SQL Server collects and stores comprehensive SQL workload and performance data, and presents it through an intuitive OLAP interface or canned reports to allow DBA's to diagnose user related problems in real time and historically. This greatly enhances user productivity by allowing DBAs to rapidly identify performance issues then easily drill down into SQL statements, users, programs, machines or files, to quickly resolve specific issues.

Unique features of Quest's Performance Analysis for SQL Server include:

--Fast (sub-second), lightweight collection;

--No connection required to the SQL Server to diagnose problems;

--Provides complete information, including server-side cursor SQL.

With Quest Central for SQL Server, Focus on the Family has restored SQL Server reliability through increased visibility into their critical applications. "Our Web traffic has been steadily increasing and, on occasion, we were encountering long processing times and downtime on our highly visible Web site," said Matt Baylor, Internet engineer, Focus on the Family, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving traditional values and the institution of the family. "We found that Quest Central for SQL Server provides us with the ability to see the actual server processes and the SQL statements that are causing the long-running queries. A particular Web application performance issue had been plaguing our system for months. Soon after installing Quest Central for SQL Server, that problem was diagnosed and resolved within two hours. After repairing the issues identified by Quest Central's Spotlight diagnostics component, we realized a 77 percent increase in CPU performance and a significant decrease in server response time."

Quest Central for SQL Server provides Focus on the Family with enhanced customer satisfaction, resulting in greater revenue generation. Quest Central for SQL Server also allows future applications to be deployed sooner, with better performance and reliability.

"We are excited about the performance enhancements our customers have been realizing as a result of Quest Central for SQL Server," said John Theron, director of product management, enterprise database solutions, Quest Software. "Performance Analysis gives organizations an edge by helping them to quickly identify and resolve workload problems, which in turn increases database scalability, reliability and availability and allows them to service their internal and external customers more effectively."

Quest Central for SQL Server also provides SQL Tuning, which delivers complete SQL performance management including problematic SQL detection and automated SQL optimization. Quest Central for SQL Server's SQL Tuning component gives organizations lower I/O and CPU costs, and better performance. Quest Central for SQL Server supports SQL Server versions 7 and 2000.

Pricing and Availability

Version 5.0 of Quest Central for SQL Server is available now with pricing starting at $1,995 U.S. per server. Additional information on Quest Central for SQL Server can be found at: http://www.quest.com/quest_central/sql_server/.> About Quest Database Management Solutions

Quest Software is a leading provider of heterogeneous database management solutions for open systems. Our solutions help organizations analyze and diagnose database quality, reliability, availability and performance. Quest delivers award-winning products that simplify and automate the management of Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, Sybase and MySQL database platforms. Quest's database management solutions contain built-in expertise and in-depth functionality that increase productivity and quality of database application code. Our solutions are easy to use and can be used by all levels of developers and DBAs to address the complete database lifecycle. Quest's core database offerings that increase performance availability include code quality and optimization, performance and availability, and change and configuration management.