ClearTrace - great free tool for troubleshooting database performance issues

ClearTrace is a free tool available for download that will analyze SQL Server trace files and trace tables to give you a normalized view of query performance.  It offers various sorting capabilities 

From the site:

ClearTrace imports SQL Server 2000 and 2005 trace (and profiler) files into SQL Server and displays summary performance information.  It is designed to provide the same performance summary as Read80Trace but in a graphical environment and for SQL Server 2005.

Features

• Summarize SQL Server Query Performance
• Enhance SQL Server Performance Tuning

Normalized SQL Statements

ClearTrace "normalizes" the SQL statements to eliminate transient differences in SQL statements.  For example, the following statement

Select * From qryLinksByNewsletterID Where NewsletterID=19

is normalized to

SELECT * FROM QRYLINKSBYNEWSLETTERID WHERE NEWSLETTERID={##}

This allows the common SQL statements to be grouped together to determine their impact on the system.  Other steps include:

• All numeric, string and date constants are converted to a placeholder
• Prepared SQL is displayed as the actual statement executed
• Server-side cursors are prefixed with "{CURSOR}" so they can be identified and removed
• sp_executesql displays the actual SQL statement executed
• Stored Procedure names are pulled from the RPC:Completed event

Integrated Query Results 

• Includes a simple query tool to display the performance data
• Groups by Normalized SQL text, Application, Host or Login
• Filters by Application, Host or Login
• Sorts by CPU, Reads, Writes or Duration

Other Features

• Will process all trace files sequentially from a trace
• Stores the data in SQL Server where it can be easily queried or stored in a data warehouse
• Can move the trace files to an archive directory after processing is complete.

 

Go and download it, its a great tool!