SQL Server has included the ability to replay a trace captured in SQL Server Profiler for quite some time. This feature allows us to run a real-life transactional load against a test or development server, which is useful for simulation purposes.
However, the Achilles' heel of this ability has been that it has only been possible to replay the trace from a single machine, thereby capping its scalability. This limits the usefulness of the tool as it cannot realistically simulate heavy, mission critical loads. In turn, this means you don't always receive meaningful results.
Thankfully, this is not the case anymore. In SQL Server 2012, Microsoft introduces Distributed Replay. This allows DBAs to run that load concurrently from up to 6 client machines. If you are thinking "only 16?", then how about 16 clients x 512 threads per client, or over 8,000 concurrent connections on the Enterprise Edition of SQL Server 2012? This is a very useful feature indeed, not only for...