How to Use System Monitor to Identify SQL Server Hardware Bottlenecks

System counter	Description	Ideally Average	Issue	Solution
Memory: Pages/sec	This counter measures the number of pages per second that are paged out of RAM to disk, or paged into RAM from disk.	0~20	memory bottleneck due to a lack of needed RAM
Available Bytes	physical RAM	> 5MB	needs more physical RAM
Physical Disk: % Disk Time	This counter measures how busy a physical array is	< 55%	Happen often (several times an hour) I/O bottleneck	reducing the load on the server ,getting faster drives ,using a different version of RAID
Physical Disk: Avg. Disk Queue Length	Avg. Disk Queue Length counter	<2	exceeds 2 for continuous periods (over 10 minutes or so during your 24 hour monitoring period) , ), then may be a I/O bottleneck
Processor: % Processor Time	The Processor Object: % Processor Time counter, is available for each CPU (instance), and measures the utilization of each individual CPU	< 80%	exceeds 80% for continuous periods (over 10 minutes or so during your 24 hour monitoring period), then may be a CPU bottleneck.	reducing the load on the server, getting faster CPUs, getting more CPUs, getting CPUs that have a larger on-board L2 cache
System: Processor Queue Length	Processor Queue Length counter	<2	exceeds 2 per CPU for continuous periods (over 10 minutes or so during your 24 hour monitoring period), then may be a CPU bottleneck.
SQL Server Buffer: Buffer Cache Hit Ratio	How often SQL Server goes to the buffer, not the hard disk, to get data.	>90% or >99%		If your buffer cache hit ratio is lower than 90%, you need to go out and buy more RAM today. If the ratio is between 90% and 99%, then you should seriously consider purchasing more RAM
SQL Server General: User Connections	the number of user connections		exceeds 255, then you may want to boost the SQL Server configuration setting, "Maximum Worker Threads" to a figure higher than the default setting of 255