Access Methods

The metrics in this category search through and measure the allocation of Microsoft SQL Server database objects, such as the number of index searches or number of pages that are allocated to indexes and data.

For Microsoft SQL Server 2008/2012/2014/2016

Default Collection Interval — Every 30 minutes

Table 2-1 Access Methods Metrics

Metric	Description
Access Method Counter Name (key column)	Performance metric name.

The Access Method Counter Name key column contains several metrics. The following table provides a list of these metrics and a description for each.

Table 2-2 Access Method Counter Name Metrics

Metric	Description
Extents Deallocations/sec	Number of extents deallocated per second from database objects used for storing index or data records.
Extents Allocated/sec	Number of extents allocated per second to database objects used for storing index or data records.
Forwarded Records/sec	Number of records per second fetched through forwarded record pointers.
FreeSpace Page Fetches/sec	Number of pages returned per second by free space scans used to satisfy requests to insert record fragments.
FreeSpace Scans/sec	Number of scans per second that were initiated to search for free space in which to insert a new record fragment.
Full Scans/sec	Number of unrestricted full scans per second, which can be either base-table or full-index scans.
Index Searches/sec	Number of index searches per second. These are used to start range scans and single index record fetches and to reposition an index.
Mixed Page Allocations/sec	Number of pages allocated per second from mixed extents. These are used for storing the first eight pages that are allocated to an index or table.
Page Deallocations/sec	Number of pages deallocated per second from database objects used for storing index or data records.
Page Splits/sec	Number of page splits per second that occur because of overflowing index pages.
Pages Allocated/sec	Number of pages allocated per second to database objects used for storing index or data records.
Probe Scans/sec	Number of probe scans per second. These are used to directly find rows in an index or base table.
Range Scans/sec	Number of qualified range scans through indexes per second.
Scan Point Revalidations/sec	Number of times per second that the scan point had to be revalidated to continue the scan.
Skipped Ghosted Records/sec	Number of ghosted records per second skipped during scans.
Table Lock Escalations/sec	Number of times locks on a table were escalated.
Workfiles Created/sec	Number of workfiles created per second.
Worktables Created/sec	Number of work tables created per second.
Worktables from Cache Base	Denominator ("base") of a fraction that the performance counter Worktables from Cache ratio represents.
Worktables from Cache Ratio	Percentage of work tables created where the initial pages were immediately available in the work table cache.