Recommendations for Setting MAXDOP in SQL Server

Products

• Carbon Black App Control (formerly Cb Protection)

Issue/Introduction

There are recommendations for setting max degree of parallelism (MAXDOP) in SQL Server based on Microsoft standards.

Environment

• App Control Server: All Versions
• MS SQL Server 

Cause

SQL performance can be impacted if the configuration is not setup for optimal parallel processing.

Resolution

Use the following guidelines when configuring the max degree of parallelism (MAXDOP) server configuration value:

NUMA nodes	Logical Processors	MAXDOP recommendation
Server with single NUMA node	Less than 8 logical processors	Keep MAXDOP at or below # of logical processors
Server with single NUMA node	Greater than 8 logical processors	Keep MAXDOP at 8
Server with multiple NUMA nodes	Less than 8 logical processors per NUMA node	Keep MAXDOP at or below # of logical processors per NUMA node
Server with multiple NUMA nodes	Greater than 8 logical processors per NUMA node	Keep MAXDOP at 8

Additional Information

• Guidelines are consistent with following Microsoft Guidelines: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2806535/recommendations-and-guidelines-for-the-max-degree-of-parallelism-confi