Database Performance Optimisation

Slow queries, timeouts, and reports that take too long - diagnosed and fixed at the root cause.

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Database Performance Optimisation

We diagnose and resolve database performance problems for businesses across the UK and Isle of Man. Slow queries, degrading application performance, reports that take minutes to run, and databases that struggle under load - these are problems with identifiable root causes, and we find and fix them.

Database performance problems are among the most common and most costly technical issues growing businesses face. As data volumes increase and usage patterns evolve, databases that performed well at launch begin to show strain. The symptoms are predictable - slow page loads, timeouts during peak usage, reports that take too long to run, and an overall sense that the application is not keeping up with the business. The causes are almost always identifiable and fixable.

Every performance optimisation engagement is led and delivered personally by Owen Jones, OLXR's founder and lead engineer. We approach database performance diagnostically - finding the actual causes of performance problems rather than applying generic optimisations that may not address the specific issues your database is experiencing.

Who This Is For

Businesses whose application performance has degraded as data volumes have grown and usage has increased
Development teams experiencing slow queries, timeouts, or database errors under load that they cannot diagnose themselves
Organisations whose reporting and analytics queries are taking too long and affecting operational productivity
Businesses preparing for a significant increase in users or data volume and wanting to validate that their database can handle it
Teams that have inherited a database with performance problems and need an experienced assessment of the causes and solutions
Companies experiencing intermittent performance issues that are difficult to reproduce and diagnose

What We Deliver

Query Analysis

Identification of the slowest and most resource-intensive queries in your system using execution plan analysis.

Index Optimisation

Assessment of existing indexes, identification of missing indexes, and removal of redundant ones that slow writes.

Schema Review

Identification of structural issues that are causing performance problems and recommendations for addressing them.

Statistics and Maintenance

Ensuring query optimiser statistics are current and maintenance jobs are configured correctly.

Connection and Configuration Review

Database server configuration assessment for common suboptimal settings.

Load Testing

Validation of performance under expected and peak load before problems occur in production.

Monitoring Setup

Query performance monitoring and alerting so future degradation is caught early.

Documented Recommendations

Prioritised findings with the rationale and implementation guidance for each improvement.

Our Approach

1
Diagnose Before Optimising

Database performance optimisation applied without diagnosis is guesswork. Adding indexes, rewriting queries, or upgrading hardware without understanding the actual cause of performance problems frequently fails to resolve the issue and sometimes makes it worse. We start every performance engagement with a systematic diagnostic phase - identifying the specific queries, schemas, and configurations that are causing the observed performance problems before recommending or implementing any changes.

2
Fix Root Causes, Not Symptoms

A query that runs slowly because it is performing a table scan on a large table can be fixed by adding an index - but only if the reason for the table scan is a missing index rather than a query that cannot use an index due to its structure, or a schema that makes the right index impossible to define. We trace performance problems to their root causes and fix those causes rather than the symptoms. That approach produces improvements that last rather than temporary gains that erode as data volumes continue to grow.

3
Validate in Production Conditions

Database performance improvements validated only in a development environment sometimes fail to deliver the expected improvement in production - because production data volumes, cardinality, and concurrent usage patterns differ from development in ways that affect query performance significantly. We validate optimisations in conditions that reflect actual production usage, and we are honest when an expected improvement does not materialise in testing.

Why Choose OLXR

Database performance diagnosis requires deep SQL knowledge, understanding of query optimiser behaviour, and the experience to recognise the patterns that cause the most common problems. It is a specialist skill that generalist developers often lack.

Specialist Skill

Deep query optimiser and indexing experience, not generalist guesswork

Honest Findings

We tell you what's achievable and what isn't, before billing

Measurable Gains

Improvements verified against real workload, not synthetic benchmarks

Senior-Led

Diagnosed by the founder, not delegated to juniors

Some performance problems can't be fixed with a clever index - we'll tell you that up front rather than burning your budget chasing it.

OJ
Owen Jones
Founder & Lead Engineer

Technologies We Use

SQL Server
PostgreSQL
MariaDB
EF Core
AWS RDS
Azure SQL
Execution Plans
Query Store
Performance Monitor

Don't see your stack? Get in touch.

Frequently Asked Questions

We use a combination of database-native tooling - SQL Server's Query Store, PostgreSQL's pg_stat_statements, and execution plan analysis - to identify the queries consuming the most resources. We also review application-level query patterns, ORM-generated SQL, and the correlation between performance problems and specific application functionality. This gives us a complete picture of where time is being spent rather than a view limited to what the database itself exposes.

Yes - ORM-generated databases are a common source of performance problems because ORMs prioritise developer convenience over query efficiency. We assess the queries your ORM is generating, identify the ones that are performing poorly, and recommend a combination of ORM configuration changes, additional indexes, and where necessary, replacement of specific ORM queries with optimised raw SQL. We work within your existing technology stack rather than requiring you to change your data access approach.

It depends entirely on the specific problems your database has. Databases with missing indexes on frequently queried columns often see dramatic improvements - query times dropping from seconds to milliseconds - because the fix is targeted and direct. Databases with deeper structural problems see more modest improvements from optimisation alone. We conduct a diagnostic assessment before committing to any expected improvement, because promising specific outcomes without seeing the database is not something we do.

Most optimisation work - adding indexes, updating statistics, changing configuration - can be performed without application downtime, though some operations lock tables briefly and need to be scheduled during low-traffic periods. Schema changes that require restructuring data are more complex and need careful planning to execute with minimal downtime. We design the implementation approach for each recommended change with its operational impact in mind.

Related Services

Database Design and Data Engineering

Schema design and data architecture
Database Architecture

Foundational data architecture
Migrations and Consolidation

Data migration and consolidation

Ready to Fix Your Database Performance?

Tell us about the performance problems you are experiencing. We will give you an honest assessment of the likely causes and what it would take to resolve them.

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