SQL Server for SharePoint geeksA gentle introduction

Thomas Vochten • September 8, 2011

About Me• SharePoint Infrastructure Consultant at

Atos (before Siemens IT Solutions & Services)• Accidental DBA• Lousy .NET developer

thomasvochten.com@thomasvochten

What we’ll cover• Disclaimer• Who needs a DBA anyway?• Importance of SQL for SharePoint• The SQL Landscape• Configuration tips• Common problems• Troubleshooting Tips• Counter Intelligence• Resources

Disclaimer• There are no exact truths in SQL• The standard answer always is...

It DependsAlways!

Except maybe in 1 case it doesn’t

PART 1 - SETTING THE SCENE

Who needs a DBA anyway?• A quick poll...

Who manages a production SQL instancethat isn’t a *real* DBA?

• Don’t worry - you’re not alone...

Meet the “Accidental” or“Involuntary” DBA

Common Problems• Data and log file management• Backups• Corruption• Performance troubleshooting• Index fragmentation• Configuration issues

Importance for SharePoint• SharePoint performance = SQL performance• All your data is in a database• The’re a lot of them:

SharePoint Databases

Other Important Considerations• Capacity planning• Performance planning• HA / DR requirements• Information Architecture• Limits & Boundaries: from 100 GB to 200 GB to 4 TB and

beyond

Why SharePoint makes DBAs cry• GUIDs all over the place

• Don’t touch! support policy

Getting rid of the GUID• Grey wizard is good

• White wizard is bad

SQL Landscape

Software Requirements

• SharePoint 2010 requires 64 bit all the way• SQL Server 2008 R2 is your best friend• Other 2008 or 2005 editions are supported too

Editions

• Standard or Enterprise?

Standard vs Enterprise• Hardware

• Enterprise-Only

• Snaphots• TDE• More online operations• PowerPivot

Standard Enterprise

# CPU 4 8

Memory 64 GB 2 TB

What about RBS?

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should

Pro• Potentially cheaper storage• Move-SPSite (after SP1)• Disk I/O optimizations

Cons• Backup / restore complexity• Not supported together with mirroring• General operational burden• 3rd party software

A case for RBS• Heavily focused on document libraries• The vast majority ( >70%) of those files exceed 1MB in size.• The SharePoint content databases holding these files are

relatively large ( >200GB) now or in the immediately foreseeable future

• You have Disaster Recovery tools that are either directly RBS aware, or have processes designed to synchronize backups

• You have highly skilled, expert SQL and Windows administration staff that is currently or has the capacity and directive to be well trained in RBS use, administration, and troubleshooting

[Source: Chris Mullendore, MSFT PFE]

PART 2 - CONFIGURATION TIPS

Pre Setup (1)• Use the latest service pack• Consider the latest cumulative update• Different databases: different I/O needs

TempDB

Logs

Search DB’s

Content DB’s

Pre Setup (2)• Use a normal domain user account as service account• Learn about instant file initialization • Learn about “lock pages in memory”• Check partition alignment• Perform a stresstest with sqlio

demo

demo

Setup• Choose the right product features• Change the default database paths• Put TempDB in the right place immediately

• Only use Windows Authentication Mode

Post Setup• Make sure SQL Server Agent is started• Check Windows Firewall• Explore server & database options

• Minimum & maximum memory usage• Set fill factor to 80% for SharePoint• MAXDOP to 1 for SharePoint• Backup compression• Autogrowth settings• # of database files per database• Model database (not for SharePoint)

• Create and test SQL aliases on your SharePoint servers• Pregrow your SharePoint databases!

demo

demo

Maintaining SQL• Check database integrity weekly with DBCC CHECKDB• Look at index fragmentation

• Learn about Maintenance Plans

[Source: “Database Maintenance for Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products” (revised)]

Caution• Shrinking database files: are you sure?• Autoshrink: the exception to the “it depends” rule

It’s evil!

demo

Common Problems, Revisited

Most common issues• Data and log file management• Backups

Due to lack of understanding of• Recovery models and their influence on space and backups• Backup types (full, differential & logs)

Recovery models• Choosing between SIMPLE or FULL recovery model and what

they bring to the table

demo

Troubleshooting Tips

Learn how to use the tools• Perfmon• Activity Monitor• PAL• Profiler

Learn the basics, like• Don’t restart SQL server in case of corruption• Don’t detach and reattach problematic databases

Counter Intelligence

Get to know your SQL server, fast!• Blitz! scripts by Brent Ozar• Diagnostic scripts by Glenn Berry

demo

ResourcesWhere do I go for SQL help?

Paul Randal (blog | twitter)Kimberly Tripp (blog| twitter)Brent Ozar (blog| twitter)Glenn Berry (blog| twitter)

Fancy some blogs?http://thomaslarock.com/rankings

Get help – fast!#sqlhelp on TwitterWe now have #sphelp too you know

Quick Wins Summary• Partition Alignment• Instant File Initialization• Databases & logs on different spindles• Multiple datafiles, but not for TempDB or for logfiles• Tune server memory usage• Fill factor to 80%• MAXDOP to 1• Tune autogrowth settings• Use SQL aliases• Presize your databases• Check integrity often• No shrinking of data files (autoshrink is evil)• Know the recovery models & their impact on drive space

Thank you