SQL Server 2012 has many interesting features but the most talked feature is AlwaysOn. Performance tuning is always a hot topic. I see lots of need of the same and lots of business around it. However, many times when people talk about performance tuning they think of it as a either query tuning, performance tuning, or server tuning. All are valid points, but performance tuning expert usually understands the business workload and business logic before making suggestions. For example, if performance tuning expert analysis workload and realize that there are plenty of reports as well read only queries on the server they can for sure consider alternate options for the same. If read only data is not required real time or it can accept the data which is delayed a bit it makes sense to divide the workload.

A secondary replica of the original data which can serve all the read only queries and report is a good idea in most of the cases where there is plenty of workload which is not dependent on the real time data. SQL Server 2012 has introduced the feature of AlwaysOn which can very well fit in this scenario and provide a solution in Read-Only Workloads. Microsoft has recently announced a white paper which is based on absolutely the same subject. I recommend it to read for every SQL Enthusiast who is are going to implement a solution to offload read-only workloads to secondary replicas.

Download white paper AlwaysOn Solution Guide: Offloading Read-Only Workloads to Secondary Replicas

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)