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FREE trialCornwall Insight chose DBmarlin to monitor the performance of their Microsoft SQL Server databases, which underpin the analysis and reporting of energy usage and market trends. Their customers include energy suppliers, retailers, generators, investors, regulators, and large industrial users, all of whom rely on accurate insights delivered quickly and reliably. Ensuring these databases run consistently at high performance is critical, as timely access to information is essential for decision-making in a fast-moving industry.
Joe Jordan, Senior SQL Server DBA, said: “the best thingabout DBmarlin is the team behind the software, who areresponsive to user needs and continually add new featureswith regular updates”
. The Cornwall Insight team uses
DBmarlin to drill down into individual SQL statements and
instantly see details such as the plan, users, and platform,
without having to switch between screens.
Other stand out features for the team include change tracking and the time comparison report, which make it easy to see the impact of changes over time. The ability to view execution plans in a clear hierarchical format is another benefit, as is being able to preview queries without leaving the current page. They also welcomed the addition of SQL Statistics and Blocking Sessions, which provide deeper visibility into query behaviour.
The helpful team behind the software is the best thing about DBmarlin. They recognise user needs and update their product with new features every month. When using DBmarlin I appreciate being able to drill down into selected statements and check at-a-glace its plan, users, platform etc. Another couple of stand- out features are change tracking, which shows the impact of a change on performance, and the time comparison report, which shows performance profiles for any two time periods. Also, being able to view the execution plans as a hierarchical view is really helpful.
Joe Jordan
DBmarlin helps Cornwall Insight to monitor and troubleshoot slow performance, quickly identifying the root cause—whether that is a query, process, or system- level issue. They also appreciate having a clear overview of database health at a glance, which often highlights issues they might not otherwise have noticed.
They particularly value DBmarlin’s Activity screen, which shows the top batches and stored procedures in real time. This makes it easy to identify which workloads are consuming the most resources and where to focus tuning efforts, without needing complex queries or manual checks.
The team also values SQL Statistics, which provide detailed breakdowns of CPU and disk reads/writes per statement. This allows them to spot inefficient or I/O- heavy queries quickly. The DB Statistics view adds further context by showing overall system health, while TempDB monitoring offers visibility into one of the most common sources of contention. Together, these features save them time and give them confidence that he is focusing on the right problems to keep systems running fast and reliable.
Cornwall Insight have found the support valuable and that the DBmarlin team always takes feedback on board. Many items on their 'wishlist' have already been delivered, and they are very satisfied with the speed and quality of responses to their input.
DBmarlin has been an early adopter of AI and Cornwall Insight look forward to experimenting to see how LLMs such as Microsoft Co-Pilot can help tune SQL Statements for better performance.
According to Joe Jordan, Senior DBA at Cornwall Insight, DBmarlin supported his team in a number of ways, including:
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