The Basics of Sizing a SQL Server Database

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The Basics of Sizing a SQL Server Database

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RBarryYoung SSC Guru Points: 143329 More actions · Answer 1

Thanks for the feed back, JJ.

[font="Times New Roman"]-- RBarryYoung[/font], [font="Times New Roman"] (302)375-0451[/font] blog: MovingSQL.com, Twitter: @RBarryYoung [font="Arial Black"]
Proactive Performance Solutions, Inc. [/font][font="Verdana"] "Performance is our middle name."[/font]

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1003894 More actions · Answer 2

dbaker (8/4/2008)
simply that either we should either encourage usage of undocumented features [with due warnings] or not [like pregnancy, there's no middle ground]

Heh... it's not the undocumented features we should warn about... it's the documented features that sometimes go away that really wreak havoc. 🙂

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Martin Goebbels SSC Enthusiast Points: 190 More actions · Answer 3

Gentlemen, that discussion is very interesting, but I'd like to post another issue:

Now I know the the disk space I need, but and the rest? I mean, can someone help to find out about the Hardware, how many processors, how much RAM, etc, etc, etc.?

Thanks.

Wayne West SSC-Insane Points: 22586 More actions · Answer 4

Tough question, Martin, as there are so many variables. OLAP? OLTP? How many users? How many databases on the server? How many instances on the server? Is the server dedicated for SQL Server or is it also doing other things? Characteristics of what users are doing (more query than update, etc)? Type of processes being hosted? Clustered? The minimum requirements that Microsoft publishes for SQL Server are quite low. The reality is that if you're buying a new server, most minimum server levels are far above the minimum requirements from MS.

HERE are the requirements for 2005. You can (allegedly) run SQL Server 2005 on a P3 with 512 meg of ram, but most people would agree that you'd be daft to try such a thing in a production environment. HERE are the requirements for 2008.

An ideal system for general purpose use, as far as I'm concerned, would have a minimum of two dual-core CPUs, 4-8 gig of ram (or as much as the OS/server will allow), and at least 5 disks in RAID-5. In an ideal environment, you might want a fiber channel SAN with at least five IO paths: one for the system drive, one for data files, one for log files, one for tempdb, one for backups. The rule of thumb is that the more disk spindles that you can spread your system across, the better.

(No, I'm not a fan of RAID-5, but if you have a small number of disks, whatcha gonna do?)

One thing that I would definitely do if you're making your own server, which I don't know that I would recommend, is to make sure your server is on Microsoft's Hardware Compatibility List (HCL). If you're having a problem and you're working with their support, it could come down to "oh, your RAID controller isn't on the HCL, so we can't take this any further."

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[font="Arial"]Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it. --Samuel Johnson[/font]

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1003894 More actions · Answer 5

Martin Goebbels (8/19/2008)
Gentlemen, that discussion is very interesting, but I'd like to post another issue:
Now I know the the disk space I need, but and the rest? I mean, can someone help to find out about the Hardware, how many processors, how much RAM, etc, etc, etc.?
Thanks.

That's pretty simple... how much do you have left in your budget? One consideration on processors that many forget, though, is how will SAQL Server be licensed? By CAL of by processor? Will it impact your cost? Even at that, I'd add as much memory as the operating system can handle regardless of which edition SQL Server will be... memory = speed.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

CyclingRabbit Say Hey Kid Points: 693 More actions · Answer 6

Also, you should consider running a 64 bit installation, so you need x64 capable CPU's, 64 bit OS, and 64 bit SQL.

Wayne West SSC-Insane Points: 22586 More actions · Answer 7

Alin Winters (8/20/2008)
Also, you should consider running a 64 bit installation, so you need x64 capable CPU's, 64 bit OS, and 64 bit SQL.

Check out this article by MVP Linchi Shea. This is another one of those areas that may require some testing and benchmarks, going 64/64 may not be the best performance model.

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[font="Arial"]Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it. --Samuel Johnson[/font]

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1003894 More actions · Answer 8

Wayne West (8/20/2008)
Alin Winters (8/20/2008)
Also, you should consider running a 64 bit installation, so you need x64 capable CPU's, 64 bit OS, and 64 bit SQL.
Check out this article by MVP Linchi Shea. This is another one of those areas that may require some testing and benchmarks, going 64/64 may not be the best performance model.

Heh... I love tests. Thanks for the link, Wayne.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Wayne West SSC-Insane Points: 22586 More actions · Answer 9

It's not exhaustively scientific, Jeff, but it is interesting. Shea does a lot of cool tests like this, he recently did one on the number of file groups per database that was rather interesting. He also has one on IO performance and block alignment on SANs.

I glommed on to him from his SQL Server Administration With Perl book.

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[font="Arial"]Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it. --Samuel Johnson[/font]

dbaker-620086 SSCrazy Points: 2336 More actions · Answer 10

the comments on his post suggests a repeat with SQL2008 (now RTM'ed) would be cool to see if anything has changed.

If either of you know the dude perhaps you could encourage this!

cheers

Dick

Wayne West SSC-Insane Points: 22586 More actions · Answer 11

Heh. I think that 2008 re-eval suggestion was mine. 😀

I'm hoping he'll be at PASS, and doubly-hoping I get to go! Maybe someone can corner him there about it.

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[font="Arial"]Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it. --Samuel Johnson[/font]