One thing that I have not done lately is delve into all of the cool SQL Server 2005-2008 features that are targeted for administrators as much as I would like; although my roles lately have been centered on our around development and SSIS, I still try to remain knowledgeable, because my next gig might require them! Today I found a blog on MSDN that you might want to go check out, and it’s on database compression. It’s located at this link. Mostly a reminder, its a high-level on compression, and includes a couple of links worth investigating.
One feature that I honestly was never aware of was the Database Compression Wizard. I always used the sp_estimate_data_compression_savings system stored procedure for getting information on what the table would look like, but it’s just as easy to right-click on your table, choose Storage, and then Manage Compression. There you can choose row or page compression and then hit calculate to see your savings. Very cool.
Compression is a great feature in SQL Server, and I would consider using it without hesitation in a data warehousing setting first on older data (partitions, log tables, archives, static data, etc. come to mind). From there, it would be worth the effort to engage in considerable testing for performance at anything beyond.
Lee
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Admins rock…but devs rule!!!
Refs
http://blogs.msdn.com/teamcenteronsql/archive/2010/03/19/sql-server-data-compression.aspx
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