How a Large Price Comparison Website Solved Its Timeout Issues with AimBetter
A leading price comparison website in Israel had been experiencing significant user complaints. For weeks, visitors to the site had been struggling with slow performance, and in many cases, their search results simply wouldn’t load. The site was facing a critical issue: queries were timing out, leaving users frustrated and affecting the company’s reputation.
The company’s IT team had already identified that many of the timeouts were originating from SQL Server queries. However, pinpointing the root cause was no easy task. Despite their best efforts, the team struggled to narrow down the exact reason behind the high number of timeouts. Given the complexity of the system and the sheer number of variables at play, the DBA team found themselves at a dead end.
AimBetter Steps In
The situation changed when the team decided to implement AimBetter, a powerful performance monitoring and diagnostics tool. AimBetter’s automatic DBA capabilities quickly started to uncover insights that had previously gone unnoticed:
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Inefficient Update Query:
AimBetter quickly identified a particular query executing an UPDATE on the Deals table, which was causing significant timeouts. The problem stemmed from the fact that the WHERE condition was missing, leading to inefficient query execution. The query was attempting to update large portions of the table unnecessarily, which caused significant load and delays. Once the IT team optimized this query by adding the proper WHERE condition, the frequency of timeouts dramatically decreased.
- SQL Server Memory Misconfiguration:
Another major finding was related to memory. Although the server had plenty of available memory, AimBetter flagged that SQL Server was not utilizing it effectively. The max memory configuration for SQL Server had been set much lower than necessary, with no apparent reason for this setting. Once the IT team corrected the memory allocation configuration, they saw a significant improvement in query performance and a reduction in waits related to memory.
The Results: Rapid Resolution and Improved Performance
Within just a few hours of installing AimBetter, the IT team was able to identify and address the root causes of the timeouts. The solution was both swift and efficient, with AimBetter pointing them directly to the problem areas in a matter of minutes. By fixing the query inefficiencies and optimizing the memory configuration, the site’s performance improved drastically.
User complaints dropped significantly, and the website’s search functionality returned to normal, with faster load times and more reliable results.
Why AimBetter Works
The power of AimBetter lies in its ability to automatically detect issues that are often overlooked or difficult to find, especially in large and complex systems. Its automatic DBA algorithms help surface critical insights, enabling businesses to resolve issues faster than ever before.
In this case, AimBetter didn’t just detect the timeouts—it provided the IT team with a clear path to solving them. From the inefficient SQL query to the memory configuration issue, AimBetter’s comprehensive monitoring and analysis saved the IT team hours of manual troubleshooting, allowing them to resolve the issues quickly and efficiently.
By using AimBetter, the price comparison website was able to fix critical performance issues within a fraction of the time it would have taken using traditional troubleshooting methods.
Are you facing similar challenges with your database or application performance? Reach out to us and discover how AimBetter can help you optimize your systems and ensure seamless user experiences.
