SQL Server Over Wifi

[CJ_London]

Years ago a client of mine had to do this on a fairly regular basis. The server was taken off line to users and the process took about an hour. The process was

1. remove all indexes
2. shrink the db
3. rebuild the indexes



Maybe they used a different process and didn't use the 'shrink' option but all databases leave empty spaces when records are deleted or modified and in time you then either need a bigger server of you need to compact it is some way. It wasn't my area but that was what I was told.

[NoellaG]

I agree with madpiet, shrinking a SQL database is something you only do as a last resort after running into trouble. If you see that your database is getting too large and growing very fast, check if you're not in full recovery mode. If you're working in full recovery mode without taking log back-ups at regular intervals (in most cases this is every 15 minutes, but depends on your situation) the log file will blow up and eventually take all available space on your drive. If this is the case: schedule regular log back-ups or, if you are happy with 1 back-up/day: set the recovery model to simple and just take a daily full backup.

[NoellaG]

Years ago a client of mine had to do this on a fairly regular basis. The server was taken off line to users and the process took about an hour. The process was

1. remove all indexes
2. shrink the db
3. rebuild the indexes

This is very bad, just use normal index maintenance (reorganize/rebuild options), the Ola Hallegren method is widely recognized as one of the best. https://ola.hallengren.com/sql-serve...intenance.html

[CJ_London]

This is very bad

it was a number of years ago and I’m not a dba. As far as I’m concerned not my problem then and certainly isn’t now

[kd2017]

We went a little off topic in the best kind of way Thanks for the information everyone! I'm not a 'real' DBA either so this is all great info.