Entity Framework Performance for the DBA

Ben Emmett

This session is for any DBA who’s asked “Why is Entity Framework running awful queries on my systems?”. While developers love the productivity benefits of ORMs, ignoring what they do to the database makes it easy to fall into traps that hurt performance.

In this demo-heavy talk we’ll walk through a series of common Entity Framework performance mistakes, unpacking what Entity Framework is doing to convert .NET code into database queries and how it can go wrong. We’ll dig into why they’re so problematic, show a range of ways to fix them, and discuss their trade-offs. Finally, we’ll discuss approaches that make it easier to spot those issues before they reach production.

Spoiler alert: there’s nothing inherently bad about Entity Framework, but like any tool it’s easy for it to do the wrong thing without proper care and attention; this session will give you the understanding and tools to help those around you avoid those mistakes.