Honey I Shrunk the Database

Dynamics CRM Database

Recently, we’ve been working with a customer who is in the middle of a “server move.” As one would expect, this process has been far from straightforward. Last week, when speaking with the customer’s IT provider they were shocked to hear that the CRM database was 150 GB. The IT provider was concerned that such a large database move would take considerable time and network resources that were scarce to say the least. This being the case, they asked, “Should we shrink the MSCRM database?”

The simple answer seems to be, “let’s just delete some old files!” Unfortunately, this rarely does anything significant to the size of the overall database. Generally speaking, large CRM databases have large amounts of data–and you may want to consider other warehousing options for this “unused data” before removing it. The worst case scenario is needing this data down the road and not being able to access it.

So What Do You Do?

Any CRM Consultant out there will tell you that moving tables to different file groups is not supported when dealing with MSCRM databases. Does this mean that you should never ever shrink your CRM database size? Not exactly, there definitely are cases where shrinking your database makes sense, especially for small sized databases. Another scenario includes those customers that are nearing their limit of space on their SQL server, without any options to add more. For these individuals, shrinking may be the only option.

Before taking any drastic measures, take a deep breath and take a closer look. With CRM On Premise, you can easily figure out which tables are consuming the most space by diving into SQL Management Studio. With CRM Online, you’ll need to get Microsoft Support involved in providing the database use metrics. At the end of the day, Instead of shrinking the database, invest in more storage and save yourself the sleepless nights considering all the scenarios.

Need help with your Microsoft Dynamics CRM database? Contact Alta Vista Technology today!