Maintenance and Monitoring - Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Administration - page 353

F 64-bit processors to address additional memory space.
F CPU-wise: L2 or L3 cache that will generally provide better performance and often
play a bigger role than raw CPU frequency.
F Multi-core and multiple processors: doubling the number of CPUs is preferred to help
SQL Server be efficient at parallelizing operations where the workload can be divided
into multiple steps to provide increased performance on multiple CPUs.

SQL Server 2008 R2 DataCenter edition supports up to
256 logical processors on the Windows Server 2008 R2.

F Memory: minimum at 4 GB and maximum can go up to 64 GB for better performance
and reduce bottlenecks; this is ideal for OLTP applications 4 GB of memory per
processor core.
F Disk subsystem: assign required storage space, take on I/O throughput per second
(IOPS), and for SAN-related implementation ensure to include redundant host bus
adapters and switches.
F Finally, use the network adapters and accompanying drivers from the hardware
vendors to provide fault tolerance for increased throughput. It is ideal to equip the
server with more than one Ethernet card. In such cases, one can be used for SQL
Server traffic, one for heartbeat, and the other for operating system purposes.
F The operating system can be Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows 7, Windows Server
2008, and Windows Server 2008 R2.
F Required software for the tool to function: Microsoft Log Parser v2.2, Microsoft Office
Web Components11 (OWC11), PowerShell v2.0 or higher, Microsoft .NET Framework
3.5 Service Pack 1, and Microsoft Chart Controls for Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5.
Download these tools from:
Microsoft Log Parser v2.2 from h ttp://www.microsoft.com/
downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=890cd06b-abf8-4c25-91b2-
f8d975cf8c07&DisplayLang=en .
Microsoft Office Web Components11 (OWC11) from http://
www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.
aspx?FamilyID=7287252c-402e-4f72-97a5-
e0fd290d4b76&DisplayLang=en .
Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 from http://download.
microsoft.com/download/2/0/e/20e90413-712f-438c-988e-
fdaa79a8ac3d/dotnetfx35.exe .

Microsoft Chart Controls for Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 from
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.
aspx?FamilyID=130f7986-bf49-4fe5-9ca8-
910ae6ea442c&DisplayLang=en .