The time elapsed since the last monitor reset is displayed in the format seconds (days : hours : minutes : seconds). To be sure that enough throughput was processed by the database, check that CPU busy displays a minimum of 500 seconds.

The elapsed time in the display can be greater than the time displayed for CPU idle, which is the sum of idle time for all the CPUs used by SQL Server.

The system displays the statistics cumulated since SQL Server startup. These cumulated values are normally not very informative as the high amount of idle time during the night balances out potential bottleneck situations during the day when the workload is high. You should therefore refresh the display to show values from a representative time frame. Initially and after a refresh, the system displays the time elapsed since the SQL Server started.

In the SAP/SQL Server Database Monitor, the Server Engine/Elapsed section is divided into the following areas:

The number of seconds used by all available CPUs on the database server. That is, the number of seconds that the CPUs have been running SQL Server threads. This value is measured starting from the last time SQL Server was started, or the last time the statistics were reset.

Each CPU counts separately. For example, if during 2 seconds, 3 CPUs are used, CPU busy will be 6.

The CPU busy time should be always less than 70%. CPU idle should be greater than CPU busy divided by 2.

Part of CPU busy. Shows the CPU time that was used by all available CPUs for I/O operations issued by SQL Server. That is, the number of seconds that SQL Server has spent doing I/O operations since SQL Server was started, or the last time the statistics were reset.

The number of seconds that all available CPUs in SQL Server were not running SQL Server threads. The CPU idle time is measured from the last time SQL Server was started, or the last time the statistics were reset. For this time, the CPUs may not have been strictly idle, as they may have been used for R/3 work processes.

The disk I/O is the most time-intensive operation for the database system. You can make significant performance gains by using fast disks and I/O controllers, and by physically separating files with high I/O activity so that they can operate concurrently.

The number of disk reads done by SQL Server since it was last started, or since the statistics were reset. This number is incremented every time a disk read operation is initiated. This includes both pages read for the data cache and procedure cache.

The number of disk write operations by SQL Server since last startup, or since statistics were reset. Each time a disk write operation is initiated, this counter is incremented. The disk writes can be to the database files or to the log files.

The total number of disk I/O errors encountered by SQL Server since last startup, or since the statistics were reset.