SQL 2005 Maintenance for SharePoint
The Maintenance Plan Wizard in SQL Server 2005 enables administrators to perform the following maintenance tasks against SharePoint databases:
Check database integrity
- Reduce a database
- Reorganize an index
- Clean up the history
- Update statistics
- Rebuild an index
We have tested these tasks and the effects that these tasks have on database schema and performance. The following table summarizes the results of these tests.
| Task | Safe to perform this task? |
| Check database | Yes |
| Reduce a database | Yes |
| Reorganize an index | Yes |
| Clean up the history | Yes |
| Update statistics | Yes. However, this task is unnecessary because the SharePoint Timer service performs this task automatically. |
| Rebuild an index | No. The task does not restore existing index options before the rebuild operation. However, you can use scripts that restore index options. Note This problem was corrected in SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2. |
We used the following criteria to determine whether a task was safe to perform:
- Whether the task modified the database schema from its default state
- Whether the task decreased performance
Results may vary depending on the environment. However, if you use the Maintenance Plan Wizard to perform the tasks that are listed in the table as “safe to perform,” you are likely to experience increased performance in SQL Server 2005.
For more information about support for changes to the databases that are used by Microsoft Office server products and by Windows SharePoint Services, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
932744 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932744/ ) Information about the Maintenance Plan Wizard in SQL Server 2005 and about tasks that administrators can perform against SharePoint databases..
-Ivan
Ivan Sanders My LinkedIn Profile, My Blog, @iasanders, MVP