Hierarchy for Diagnosing Design-based Performance Problems
A thorough performance analysis must include each item in the following list. Areas are listed in the order of greatest gain. For example, if your database design is flawed, perfect server configuration cannot help you avoid query performance problems.
1. Database design
2. Storage structures and index design. See the chapter “Choosing Storage Structures and Secondary Indexes.”
3. Key design. See the chapter “Choosing Storage Structures and Secondary Indexes.”
4. Constraints. See the chapter “Managing Tables and Views.”
5. Validation checks and integrities. See the Security Guide and the chapter “Ensuring Data Integrity” in this guide.
6. Grants and views. See the Security Guide.
7. Query design.
8. Application design.
9. Concurrency. See the chapter “Understanding the Locking System” and the System Administrator Guide.
10. DBA utilities and maintenance. See the chapter “Maintaining Databases.”
11. Operating system resources and tuning. See the System Administrator Guide.
12. Server configuration. See the System Administrator Guide.