Databases are an integral part of an application and without them, no application can be useful as it is intended to be.
Therefore, the performance of any application largely depends on how efficient the database is. There are several factors that affect the performance and efficiency of a database including how data in the app is modeled and how files are stored.
Minor adjustments to these elements and more can create a major change and have a big impact. In this article, we will lay down some of the best practices to maximize database efficiency.
Store Certain Files on a Separate Disk
Store data, backup, and log files onto a separate storage drive when you are setting up a database server. If you did not do this in the start, the efficiency and performance boost you will receive from doing this now are worth the effort. If you put everything onto a single storage drive, your database performance will suffer. Not only that, but it’ll be hard to recover the data in case of a crisis.
Upgrade Your Hardware
You can maximize your database efficiency by throwing some cash at it. Since every query runs through memory, you can speed things up by adding more capacity to your database server. However, if you want to take advantage of extra hardware, you must configure your server properly. You should check the disk latency of your server. When you add hardware, it will increase and cause your database performance to decrease. Take advantage of available caching mechanisms in your database to fix this issue.
If you can spare some more money, consider upgrading your database to solid-state drives. Nonetheless, make sure to still place the backup, log and data files on a separate drive to maximize your database efficiency.
Check the Capacity of Your Connection
If connection acquisition consumes a lot of the database’s response time, then you must re-configure the connection pool. You should know the number of connection the database is capable of handling. Never set the default to a maximum as this can lead to problems for other clients who are connected to your database.
The pool size of the connection should always be constant, so make sure to set the maximum and minimum at the same value. You can determine your database’s connection capacity by gradually increasing the number of connected users and load while monitoring the server’s metrics. When your memory or CPU is maxed out, you will know your limits. You can use a database activity monitoring software for this purpose.
You should know about the overall architecture of your database to be better prepared to make improvements that can increase database efficiency and performance. Optimizing database efficiency isn’t a one-time task. It requires ongoing work and diligence. So, follow the best practices we have shared with you and keep on looking for more ways to maximize your database efficiency.
