The transaction log of SQL server is a factor for performance matter.
Here I provide you some collection that matter the performance in case of transaction log optimizations.
1) Try to dedicate the transaction log portion of your database to its own phyiscal disk. In high volume OLTP system, isolating the transaction log can allow the disk head to be ready for the next write by not having other files contend for the physical disk resource. If your database already exists, the best way to "move" your transaction log is to detach your database and then reattach it
a. sp_attach_db
sp_attach_db [ @dbname = ] 'dbname'
, [ @filename1 = ] 'filename_n' [ ,...16 ]
b. sp_detach_db
sp_detach_db [ @dbname= ] 'database_name'
[ , [ @skipchecks= ] 'skipchecks' ]
[ , [ @keepfulltextindexfile = ] 'KeepFulltextIndexFile' ]
2) Defrag the disk(s) on which your transaction logs reside. This will get rid of external fragmentation of the transaction log - better known as disk file fragmentation. This will require that your server be taken offline but if your files have had a lot of auto growth and/or they reside on a disk with a lot of other files that have been modified, then all of your files (incl. the transaction log file) are likely to be interleaved and fragmented.
3) Create only ONE transaction log file. Even though you can create multiple transaction log files, you only need one... SQL Server DOES not "stripe" across multiple transaction log files. Instead, SQL Server uses the transaction log files sequentially. While this might sound bad - it's not. If you want to get better performance out of the transaction log, place it on faster disks and/or a disk (RAID) configuration.
4) Not only should you try to isolate the transaction log to its own physical disk but you should make sure that the logical/physical disk configuration is as efficient as possible. Try to use an isolated RAID 1 mirroring set if you don't need significant capacity. If you need a greater capacity OR you want better performance, consider a combination of RAID 0 and RAID 1 (either RAID 0 + 1 or RAID 1 + 0). While RAID 0 + 1 can often offer better performance, RAID 1 + 0 offers better reliability. If you're new to RAID and are interested in learning more.
5) Don't be caught up in nothing but transaction log speed, you'll also want to make sure that your transaction log is always available as this can help you in times of disaster. Even if the data is damaged, if the transaction log is available and you have a series of backups up to and including the last transaction log then you can make a final backup of the transaction log that will represent all of the changes since your last transaction log backup. If this backup is possible (it's called backing up the "tail" of the log), then you can achieve up-to-the-minute recovery. This is only possible when the log is available. By placing the log on mirrored disks you can increase your chances of recovering data and minimize data loss.
6) Create transaction log files with a reasonable initial size. When you create a database it's ideal to PRE-ALLOCATE both your data files and your transaction log file. A little bit of capacity planning goes a long way... Now, if you think that you've got absolutely no idea how to size your transaction log you're going to need, well - here are the things that have the greatest impact:
- Type of activity - transaction processing or decision support
- Frequency of that activity - the more frequent the changes, the faster the transaction log will grow
- Recovery Model - the recovery model of the database
- Frequency of transaction log backups
- Whether or not replication is used (since the log reader relies on the transaction log)
I wish I could give you a rough idea on sizing but if you look only at database size and none of these other factors, you could end up with a transaction log that's seriously oversized or seriously undersized. I've seen recommendations of 10-25% of the size of the data and you can use that but I would also add a bit of common sense. A larger database with very frequent transaction log backups may not need a transaction log that's even 1% of the size of the data... The best way is to setup your development environment similar to that of your production environment (including backup jobs) and then see how the transaction log grows. If you have a lot of auto growth (because your guess was wrong), you can later clean up the fragmentation that has occurred and get back to a reasonable, intact, and optimal transaction log.
7) Don't let auto growth get out of control. As important as capacity planning, you're not likely to be spot-on in your estimates. I don't recommend completely turning off auto growth but in general I also don't like SQL Server 2000's default growth rate (or max size). In general, I would recommend setting the entire transaction log files attributes: initial size, growth rate AND maximum size. For the growth rate, I recommend something that can be allocated somewhat quickly and something of a fixed size. In general, I recommend a value which is less than or equal to 1GB (based on total size) but something that doesn't mean that you're going to auto grow again soon. So, for databases whose transaction logs are under 1GB then you might set auto grow to somewhere between 20 and 100 MB. For those of you who have transaction logs measured in GB, then I'd set the auto growth to 500MB or 1GB. In general, I don't like the percentage because it needs to be calculated (which I realize isn't really all that big of a deal) but the larger the file the larger the auto growth and the longer it takes.
Follow these easy steps to shrink off the fragmented chunk and add a new, clean chunk to your transaction log:
1. Wait for an inactive time of day (ideally, it would be best to put the database into single user mode first) and then clear all transaction log activity through a regular transaction log backup. If you're using the simple recovery model then you don't need to do a log backup... Instead, just clear the transaction log by running a checkpoint.
BACKUP LOG databasename TO devicename
2. Shrink the log to as small a size as possible (truncateonly)
DBCC SHRINKFILE(transactionloglogicalfilename, TRUNCATEONLY)
3. Alter the database to modify the transaction log file to the appropriate size - in one step
ALTER DATABASE databasename
MODIFY FILE
(
NAME = transactionloglogicalfilename
, SIZE = newtotalsize
)
Posted By : MR. JOYDEEP DAS
Excellent post.
ReplyDeleteWaiting for more.