Project Description
Introduction
Today, businesses store vast amounts of data. There is a constant need to reference data, update it and retrieve information. Each task requires that it be performed as quickly, efficiently, and effectively as possible. Otherwise, frequent database performance issues will result in angry, frustrated customers, who will be more than happy to take their business elsewhere. This is especially true of mission critical environments, which are heavily data dependent. Just as one monitors their health, businesses must monitor the health of their database. As part of the maintenance operations, businesses must take steps to optimize db performance and ensure that the database performance is not compromised.
Maintenance Tips of the MS SQL Server Database
Here are the SQL Server db maintenance tips one must know.
Some of the basic activities that the database administrator performs to keep the index defragmented include rebuilding the index and reorganizing the index.
The index is fragmented, both internally and external owing to database activities like updating or deleting data. Internal fragmentation results in a high percentage of freed up space in the index pages. In the case of the latter, the index pages are in no particular order. This means that there is more work on part of the IO to read the index, while in the former since there are more freed up space, the SQL Server will have a lot more pages to read. In the case of index reorg, it is efficient in the sense that it uses only minimal system resources and the task is performed online. However, this is not useful when there is large defragmentation since only leaf-level pages are reorganised. Index statistics are also not updated. So for purposes of efficiency, it is best to reorganise the index when the fragmentation falls below 20 percent to 30 percent and if you plan to update the statistics at a later date. We have already established a case for index reorganisation. In the case of rebuilding the index, it is the approach to consider when the fragmentation is high. You can rebuild the index either online or offline. However, note that in an offline operation, data in the table is inaccessible.
Basic SQL Server db maintenance tips to follow
Another basic, but important task is performing regular data back-up. This will safeguard your data in the event of a software failure or a hardware crash. But does the back stop here? Not only should you perform regular data back-ups, but you must also verify the data. Verifying the data means to check whether the data is accessible and readable.
What if the database gets corrupted? Now, that will return incorrect values or results. There may even be a situation when the SQL Server is down. To avoid such huge issues, businesses will benefit from regularly running SQL queries. You have the option to either automate these queries or run them manually. The former will save you time, so you can focus on other tasks at hand.
Shrinking the database needlessly is yet another reason why the overall database performance takes a hit. Remember, you only lose space due to defragmentation.