Since I just spent a bit more than half of my 24 Hours of PASS presentation on tuning queries talking about monitoring performance, you could probably tell that I think that the two are inextricably linked. I’m not alone. Tom LaRock has put a post on why it’s important to understand the extent of your problem prior to attempting to fix it. It’s absolutely spot-on and a must read.
Remember, if someone says performance on a system you manage is slow, you have to ask, as compared to what? You need to understand what “normal” performance is on your system in order to arrive at the ability to identify a particular process as performing in an abnormal manner. That’s not to say that you couldn’t tune a query in complete isolation to a baseline of performance. Of course you could. The question that Tom is answering is, are you tuning the right query for the right reasons?
Oh, and for those that are interested, some of the presentations made during 24 Hours of PASS are now available for download. The rest of the sessions will be available after the Summit. If you haven’t made plans to go, I’d get on over there now and register.