How do you document your performance tuning strategies?

1 Why document your performance tuning strategies?

Documenting your performance tuning strategies can benefit you and your organization in several ways. First, it can help you track your progress, identify the impact of your changes, and justify your decisions. Second, it can facilitate communication and collaboration with other system administrators, developers, and stakeholders, who may need to understand or replicate your tuning methods. Third, it can serve as a reference and a guide for future performance tuning projects, as well as a source of feedback and improvement.

2 What to document in your performance tuning strategies?

The content and format of your performance tuning documentation may vary depending on your goals, scope, and audience, but should include the baseline performance metrics and benchmarks before tuning, such as CPU, memory, disk, network, and application usage. Additionally, you should specify the performance goals and objectives of the tuning project, along with the tools and techniques used. Furthermore, you should document the performance tuning actions and changes implemented, as well as the results and outcomes of these changes. This will help you evaluate the achieved performance improvements and potential trade-offs or side effects.

3 How to document your performance tuning strategies?

When documenting your performance tuning strategies, it's important to follow some general principles. These include using a clear and consistent structure and format, such as a template, a checklist, or a report. Moreover, you should use concise and precise language and style, avoiding jargon, ambiguity, or redundancy. Relevant and accurate data and evidence should be used for your documentation; this could include graphs, tables, screenshots, or code snippets. Additionally, the documentation should be in a logical and chronological order to explain the rationale, process, and outcome of your tuning steps. Finally, secure storage and distribution for your documentation should be used; this could include a wiki, repository, or cloud service.

4 How to review and update your performance tuning documentation?

Your performance tuning documentation is not a static or final product, but a dynamic and evolving one. Therefore, it's important to review and update your documentation regularly to ensure its validity, reliability, and usefulness. After each tuning session or cycle, review your documentation for accuracy, completeness, and consistency. Whenever you make new changes or discover new information, update your documentation to reflect the current state and performance of your system. Also, compare your documentation with other sources or peers to verify your findings, identify discrepancies, or learn from best practices. Additionally, solicit feedback and suggestions from colleagues or stakeholders to improve the quality and clarity of your documentation. Finally, archive or delete your documentation when it becomes obsolete or irrelevant to avoid confusion or clutter.

5 How to use your performance tuning documentation?

Your performance tuning documentation is not only a record or a report of your tuning activities, but also a resource and a tool for your future work. Therefore, it should be used effectively to enhance your performance tuning skills and results. As a baseline or benchmark, it can be used to measure progress, achievements, or gaps. As a reference or guide, it can help revisit methods, decisions, or outcomes. Additionally, it can be utilized as a source or input to generate new ideas, insights, or solutions for performance challenges. Furthermore, it can serve as learning or teaching material to share knowledge, experience, or lessons with others. Finally, it can be used as a portfolio or showcase to demonstrate expertise, value, or impact.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?