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Administering Forcepoint Databases > Reporting database specifications and recommendations
Reporting database specifications and recommendations
Administering Forcepoint Databases | Web, Data, and Email Solutions | v8.4.x
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Hardware specifications
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RAM
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Disk considerations
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Virtualization
The performance of Forcepoint reporting solutions is heavily dependent on the SQL Server, and the configuration of its underlying resources. The more you invest in the system, the better it will perform.
For optimal results, host the reporting databases on Windows Server 2012 R2 Enterprise Edition and SQL Server 2014 Enterprise Edition with the latest service pack.
Also consider the factors that follow when designing your database system.
Hardware specifications
Use hardware that meets or exceeds Microsoft's recommended (not minimum) hardware requirements for SQL Server.
Microsoft SQL Server 2016:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143506.aspx
Microsoft SQL Server 2014:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff928358(v=sql.10).aspx
Microsoft SQL Server 2012:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143506(v=sql.110).aspx
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143506(v=sql.105).aspx
Microsoft SQL Server 2008:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143506%28SQL.100%29.aspx
RAM
The reports that administrators generate often require that SQL Server be capable of loading, summarizing, and processing large amounts of data across multiple physical databases. Even if your organization doesn't run complex reports, if there are multiple reporting administrators, the system may frequently be asked to generate several reports concurrently. This places high demands on system memory. As a result, increasing RAM may provide noticeable performance improvements.
Keep in mind that the operating system version and/or the version of SQL Server may limit the amount of physical RAM that can be used by the system. For example, Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition supports SQL Server 2008 running with a maximum of 32 GB of RAM, no matter how much is available in hardware.
Consult your operating system and SQL Server documentation to ensure that you utilize the maximum physical RAM possible in your chosen system.
See Other factors that affect the performance of Forcepoint reporting for guidance on how the memory demands of Forcepoint reporting may increase or decrease based on how you use it.
Disk considerations
Because database operations are often I/O-intensive, a faster, dedicated disk can improve how the database performs. Use high-performance disks whenever possible to ensure optimum database operation.
SQL Server performs better when there is minimal disk contention. For best performance, place tempdb files, reporting database files, and log files on separate physical drives with dedicated controllers. Follow SQL Server recommendations for installing and configuring SQL Server.
RAID controllers provide disk redundancy and can increase disk throughput by spreading I/O activity across multiple physical disks. If you have a high-demand system, for peak performance, use a RAID 10 configuration managed by a hardware-based RAID controller. (For systems with a lower I/O profile, RAID 5 may provide sufficient performance at a lower cost.)
For best performance:
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Use a hardware RAID controller, not software.
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Max out the RAID controller RAM cache.
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Use multi-channel links between the RAID controller and disk shelf or SAN.
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Separate the transaction logs and database files onto separate disks, arrays, or LUNs.
This means separate spindles or RAID arrays, not just separate logical drives.
If you are using a SAN, map the physical and logical LUNs to ensure you are reading and writing key components to separate physical drives. (This is to enable multiple parallel I/O operations.)
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Make sure that different database files are spread across different disks wherever possible. For very large deployments, for example, plan to map wslogdb70_1 to spindle 1, wslogdb70_2 to spindle 2, and so on.
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The disk stripe size (how files are stored across striped arrays) is also critical and is a function of both the typical read/write size and the total database size. Contact Microsoft or a sizing specialist for guidance.
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In large deployments, map different disks, arrays, or LUNs across different hardware controllers to maximize parallel operations and controller cache usage.
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If you are using spinning disks, lower seek times are better.
Virtualization
Forcepoint products can be deployed on virtualized systems. Be aware that the use of virtualization can affect system performance. Expect up to 25% performance degradation.
For specifics on virtualization support, see the article Virtual Machine Support, in the Forcepoint knowledge base.
Note that Microsoft has its own support guidelines for SQL Server, which can be found here:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=956893

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