Using Workload Tools to Modernize your SQL Server Instances by Gianluca Sartori

Title: Using Workload Tools to Modernize your SQL Server Instances
You bought a license for SQL Server 2022 and it's finally time to upgrade that old SQL Server 2008R2. That's great, but you have no idea how your application will work on the new version. There’s a new cardinality estimator starting from SQL Server 2014: how will it affect performance? Will you encounter any regressions? The new features look very promising, but how will your workload take advantage of them?
The best way to know for sure is to capture performance and compare it to your current system, but it doesn't look like an easy task. WorkloadTools is a collection of open-source tools to capture, analyze and replay SQL Server workloads. It can make your benchmarking projects a breeze. In this demo-intensive session I will show you how to use it to capture a workload, replay it on a target SQL Server (on-prem or in the cloud) and compare performance, identify regressions and plan your modernization projects like a pro.
Goals: Introduce the challenges involved in SQL Server modernization projects and how many tools and techniques fail to address them. Demonstrate how to use WorkloadTools to capture a production workload, without interfering with the user's activity. Demonstrate how to replay the workload against a target instance and compare the performance with the original workload. Demonstrate how WorkloadTools can help identify performance regressions and how to deal with them.