◆ Microsoft SQL Server

Analyze system performance

This is real work, not a feature someone invented — it comes from real job ads and real questions people asked. Below are four ready AI prompts: get it done, make it easy for the next person to say yes to, work out the right move when you are stuck, and stop it coming back.

4prompts

The same task, four prompts

today's deadline · the next reviewer · the stuck moment · the pattern
AExecute — do the immediate taskGenerate a report on CPU utilization for the 'ProductionDB' database over the last 24 hours,…+
Generate a report on CPU utilization for the 'ProductionDB' database over the last 24 hours, broken down into 15-minute intervals. Include average, maximum, and minimum CPU percentages. Save the output as a text file named 'ProdDB_CPU_20240416.txt' on the shared monitoring drive.
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
BImprove — make it easier to acceptBefore I present this performance report to the operations lead, make it clear where the…+
Before I present this performance report to the operations lead, make it clear where the bottlenecks are. Highlight any periods where CPU utilization exceeded 80% for more than 30 consecutive minutes, and for those periods, include the top 3 most resource-intensive queries that were running. Also, add a summary showing the overall average I/O wait time for the day.
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
CDecide — diagnose the stuck momentThe 'OrderProcessing' application team is screaming about slow response times, but when I check…+
The 'OrderProcessing' application is reporting slow response times, but basic CPU and memory metrics look normal.
The 'OrderProcessing' application team is screaming about slow response times, but when I check our standard monitoring, CPU and memory on the database look fine. I'm afraid the problem is hiding somewhere subtle, maybe contention, but I can't immediately pinpoint it. What's the most likely cause of application slowness when primary resource metrics are normal, and what's my best next step to quickly diagnose the actual bottleneck before the Friday afternoon rush?
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
DBecome — change the patternI'm constantly reacting to performance complaints from application teams, which wastes my time…+
I keep getting reactive calls about performance issues instead of proactively identifying them.
I'm constantly reacting to performance complaints from application teams, which wastes my time and their's. I want to shift to proactive identification of issues. What habit should I change in my daily routine or monitoring setup to better anticipate and address potential performance bottlenecks before they impact users, so I can improve system stability and reduce firefighting?
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?

Questions people actually ask

honest answers, no sign-up

Every task here was seen in the real world. Someone doing the job named it, a real job ad asked for it, or a lot of people asked about it online.

If nothing real showed a task, it is not on the page. That is the whole rule.

They are the same job approached four ways, because what you need depends on where you are.

Get it done today. Make it easy for the next person to say yes to. Work out the right move when you are stuck. Learn the pattern so the job stops coming back.

For most of these jobs it can carry the heavy thinking - draft it, sort it, check it, rehearse it with you.

It cannot sit in your chair, take the blame when a number is wrong, or notice what nobody wrote down. Let it do the first 80%. Keep the last 20% that is truly yours.

No. Copy any prompt and paste it into the AI you already use. No account, no score, no wall in the way.

Any of them. The prompts describe the work rather than naming a product, so they are not tied to one assistant.

That is also why they keep working when you switch.

Change it freely. Every prompt is a starting line, not a rule.

Put in your real numbers, your real names and your real deadline. The more you make it yours, the better the answer comes back.

The tasks come from real job ads, published job data and the questions people ask in public forums.

The steps come from Microsoft SQL Server's own documentation, with practitioner sources for the traps the manual does not mention.

Push once. Ask it to sharpen the weakest part and to say what it assumed.

Most wrong answers come from a missing detail rather than a bad prompt - tell it the thing it could not know.