Protecting your SQL database can mean saving thousands for your company in terms of ensuring productivity, meeting regulatory requirements, and preventing downtime and data loss. If there is a problem you can contact the SQL tuning service. Here are some tips and tricks to ensure that your SQL database is properly implemented and available when the data is most needed.
In addition to the data, the SQL server includes transaction logs as well as a system database. Both must be carefully protected if the application is to be recovered smoothly.
Watch Your Workload Around the Backup Windows
SQL backups can be performed while the user is actively querying the database and the transaction is being processed. SQL backup uses a lot of system resources, especially I / O, so we recommend doing an intensive full backup when the system experiences light load times.
Streamline Data Backup
If the overall performance is degraded due to the long backup window, some action can be taken to reduce the time the system performs the backup. One way to shorten this is to back up to disk. If you back up to disk before moving to another backup system, be careful not to back up to the same disk that is used to store databases or transactions.
Copying the database to a separate array can prevent I / O overload as well as ensure the database is available in the event of a primary system failure.
Use a Different Backup Method
SQL server offers different backup methods – full, differential, and transaction backups. There is a built into SQL server. Choosing a backup method is very dependent on your environment. Specifically, this depends on how large the database is and how important it is to your business. Full backups can overwhelm your server and storage system, so plan carefully how often you need to perform full backups versus differential or transactional backups. A small database that is not very large and changes infrequently can be backed up only on a daily or weekly basis. Very important transactional databases should be backed up as often as possible.
Backup Frequent Transaction Logs
Apart from databases, transaction logs are the most important data in a SQL server database. The logs include activity and can be used to perform PiT (point-in-time) recovery.
Remember: transactional backups only back up to the last transactional backup, so a full restore can mean performing a series of transactional backups to fully use the database.
Transaction logs should be performed every ten minutes for very active databases, and at least several times a day.
Back up the SQL System Database
The system database is another important component of any SQL server application, including msdb and master. It contains important data such as system configuration and is required if a complete recovery. However, the system database changes less frequently and should be backed up at least weekly, or daily if it is a very active database.
One of the biggest factors affecting Microsoft SQL server performance and protection is the I / O of the disk subsystem.
Storage Reserves and Growth
Multiple backups can incur significant storage costs because full, differential, and transactional backups are performed for the active SQL system on a regular basis. Here are some ways to control costs, and make sure your data is backed up properly.
- Low-cost, offloading of backups to separate storage arrays. This practice ensures high-performance, high-cost disks are freed up for the active database.
- Planning for growth ahead of time can prevent expensive last-minute storage purchases. When purchasing a storage array from Reliant Technology, your storage consultant will help you predict your database growth precisely and ensure you have enough low-cost, high-capacity disks to properly protect system and transactional logs for your database.
Always Place Log Files on a RAID 1 + 0 (or RAID 1) Disk
Placing databases and log files in RAID 10 can dramatically improve performance and offer better protection from hardware failures. With better write performance, your system will avoid crashes and errors.
Note: In general, RAID 1 + 0 will give better results for write intensive applications. The amount of performance gained will vary based on the HW vendor’s RAID implementation. The most common alternative to RAID 1 + 0 is RAID 5. In general, RAID 1 + 0 provides better write performance than other RAID levels that provide data protection, including RAID 5.
