Yes, this is rather subjective, but I am doing research on that matter and am curious to see if others have come to the same conclusions that I have. So, I ask, if you could only monitor 10 SQL Server 2005 counters, what would they be?
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156answers:
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              Are these SQL Server specific counters or SQL Server Machine Counters? If they are machine wide counters then I recommend these:
- SQLServer: Memory Manager: Memory Grants Outstanding
 - SQLServer: General Statistics:Logins/Sec, Logouts/Sec, User Connections
 - Memory: Available Bytes
 - Memory: Pages/Sec
 - Paging File: % Usage
 - PhysicalDisk: Avg. Disk Queue Length
 - Processor: % Processor Time
 
                  Jeff Widmer
                   2009-07-22 21:17:23
                
              Machine wide counters
                  Mark Callison
                   2009-07-22 21:19:24
                What about SQLServer:BufferManager/BufferCacheHitRatio?  That one is important too - and it looks like you've only got 9 listed there :)
                  Scott Ivey
                   2009-07-22 21:46:34
                
                
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              Try using PAL (http://pal.codeplex.com/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=28708) Performance Analysis of Logs. It makes the task of reviewing perform logs much easier.
                  ira lustman
                   2009-07-22 21:34:07
                
              
                
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            SQL Server Page Life Expectancy (prefer over Buffer Cache Hit Ratio)
Memory Pages/sec
% Processor Time
SQL Server Memory Grants Pending (not Outstanding)
Physical Disk Avg Disk Sec/Read
Physical Disk Avg Disk Sec/Write (prefer over Queue Length, though both work OK)
SQL Server Agent Failed Jobs
SQL Server Lock Waits Avg Wait Time
                  onupdatecascade
                   2009-07-22 22:47:48