June 3, 2003 at 4:33 pm
Hello,
The company I work for collects data from a variety of sources. Our databases contain the following data: Social Demographic, Social Economic, Retail, Car etc, etc. They're currently in Microsoft Access, but I have a migration plan for migrating them to SQL Server 2000.
Some of the files I import (using the DTS wizard) from our clients are over 1.8 gigabytes and contain over 9 million records. The smallest file contains about 500, 000 records. Currently the information in these files are totals on a postcode level, however, we will soon be collecting data on household levels, meaning even more records. New clients are always sending us data to be analyzed. I have a few questions in relation to my scenario, and I will appreciate as much feedback as possible.
I also have several database for clients that contains 5 years of historical data
1. What should be the minimum size (MB) of my TEMPDB database?
2.I have been asked to put a specification together for a new server. I don't have the exact specification I put forward at the time but it looks something like this:
2 * 146 GB 10, 000 rpm SCSI Hard Disk Drive
SCSI Controller card
DUAL Intel Xeon Processor (2.4 GHz)
512MB of the fastest RAM
1 GB DDR SDRAM
Windows 2003 Server
Backup Drive
I will need to create Composite Indexes on all of these tables, and some views to enable our analysts to work quicker. I expect such objects to consume a great amount of disk space.
Management is currently debating if I need such a machine. Unfortunately, the machine I'm currently using is a Pentium 2, with 128MB of RAM, and hardly and disk space remaining.
I really need some help in convincing them that I need the Server, so any help in relation to this will be very much appreciated
Cheers,
Linda
Regards,
Rudi
June 4, 2003 at 4:18 am
As for TEMPDB, generally SQL does a fine job on it's own deciding this so I wouldn't worry unless you start to see issue that can be traced to TEMPDB.
Not sure Windows 2003 is a must except to stay ahead of the game. SQL loves RAM and the more users and data you have the more you need. Also, make sure you pick a proper version of SQL to support needs now and projected growth (Keep in mind they each can only utilize so much RAM so that will make a difference in choice). Dual processors in a server is pretty much a given but you might want to check into a motherboard in whatever system you get for future growth just in case or keep in mind you can scale out to new servers and link them as needed if you must split a server.
Now as for drives. I suggest getting the fastest speed drives you can and make sure the seek versus size doesn't cause and issue. If a 35GB drive is put against a 1000GB drive and they have the same ratios of speed and seek times you may find the 35GB the better choice. Also, you want to consider using RAID so take a look at multiple drives to make a single drive, this will give you higher throughputs and redundancy.
I would however aim for 2 arrays, 1 for data and 1 to be for logs and tempdb. Do that will alo have an impact on speed of the system.
But you might want to consult a few vendors and allow them to design a proper solution (they have people who do just this) and give you a quote. Look at multiple vendors and consider them based on past performance and customer feedback you can get. We have been happy with our Dells, Compaqs, and in the past IBM, but others may have specific experiences you want to be carefull of.
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