SQL Server- Understanding Server Storage Technology Explained

First we need to understand the different types of memory below

a.Static random access memory (SRAM) comprising L1 and L2 caches for each physical core of a processor,larger but slower shared L3 cache for the entire processor.

b. Dynamic random access memory (DRAM) which also our RAM we install/upgrade in servers.

Both SRAM and DRAM are volatile and hold data only when electrical power is on.

c. SATA/SAS SSD hard drive(NAND)

d. Magnetic spinning media hard disk drives.

Each of Storage/memory above cost lower per MB or GB with higher total capacity as you go from a to d above.

Now New NVM Express PCIe SSD’s (NAND). These are really good with latency of 50-100 microsecond range.

Direct Access Storage (DAX) Volumes use memory mapped files which provide applications with direct access to devices for the absolute best performance.

So higher speed memory means higher speed Database Read Write activity which means higher performance of Database. I will go more in depth in next articles.