As presented at Cardiff SQL Server User Group on 30-03-2016

1. SQL Server the “Lean” way
Random Thoughts on… DataBloat
Nigel Foulkes-Nock
February 2016
Confidential

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You don’t always notice it straight away…

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A Table can become very large

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Disk usage by Top Tables

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Examples of Inappropriate DataTypes – page 1 of 2
Integer Datatype
ColumnName Example Datatype Range Bytes Suggestion Bytes
LoanDuration 24INT +- 2,147,483,648 4SMALLINT 2
PartitionMonth 7INT +- 2,147,483,648 4TINYINT 1
Numeric Datatype
ColumnName Example Datatype Range Bytes Suggestion Bytes
LoanAmount 16000NUMERIC(18,2) precision 10-19 9… (9,2) 5
UnitCost 12999NUMERIC(18,2) precision 10-19 9… (9,2) 5

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Examples of Inappropriate DataTypes – page 2 of 2
Date Datatype
ColumnName Example Datatype Range Bytes Suggestion Bytes
ApplicationDate DateTime
1753-01-01 00:00:00.000
- 9999-12-31 00:00:00.000 4SMALL DATETIME 2
DateOfBirth 19991103DateTime
1753-01-01 00:00:00.000
- 9999-12-31 00:00:00.000 8DATE 3
Character Datatypes
ColumnName Example Datatype Range Bytes Suggestion Bytes
MonthName January NCHAR(50)
A-Z plus Unicode variance
values 100VARCHAR(10) 10

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SQL Server is just one large Data cache

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Smaller Data size, less Data Cacheing
Faster, smarter, more efficient

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Everything becomes more agile
- Happy Data, Happy you

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Identifying the Issue – Check your tables
sp_help ‘schemaname.tablename’
e.g.
sp_help ‘dbo.TableAdmin’
sp_spaceused ‘schemaname.tablename’

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References
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10-things/10-plus-
common-questions-about-sql-server-data-types/
http://www.connectionstrings.com/sql-server-data-
types-reference/

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http://www.connectionstrings.com/sql-server-data-
types-reference/

13. FIN
Confidential

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Out-takes (removed slide)