Network Management

Reducing the size of a Microsoft SQL Server Express database

This article provides brief information on reducing database size when you have Microsoft SQL Server Express installed and it's showing 90% full.

First published date

10/25/2018 12:59 PM

Last published date

1/30/2025 5:13 PM

Overview

Please note: SQL Express is only intended for use with evaluations of SolarWinds products and is not supported in production environments.

If you need to maintain the data gathered in the database during the evaluation period, please migrate the database to a SQL server with SQL Standard or SQL Enterprise installed and licensed.


When SQL Express is installed and monitoring your environment, you may find that it fills up quickly due to strict limits on the database size Microsoft has put in place.

Product section

Orion Platform

Cause

Microsoft SQL Server databases have strict size limits, which may inhibit the amount of data that a SolarWinds application can store in them. These limits are as follows:

  • Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express edition has a database size limit of 4 GB*
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express edition has a database size limit of 4 GB*
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Express edition has a database size limit of 10 GB*
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Express edition has a database size limit of 10 GB*
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Express edition has a database size limit of 10 GB
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Express edition has a database size limit of 10 GB
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2017 Express edition has a database size limit of 10 GB

The Orion Platform alerts you when you approach these limits.

SQL Express is only intended for use with evaluations of SolarWinds products and is not supported in production environments. 
To resolve the issue, consider migrating the SQL database to a full production SQL server. See Migrate the SolarWinds Orion SQL database to a new server.

Resolution

Resolution: Upgrade your database to a full SQL Server version

  1. Create a backup of the database.
  2. Restore the database to a Full Standard/Enterprise SQL Server.
  3. Run the Configuration Wizard and point to the new SQL Server.

For information on migrating your database, see Migrate the SolarWinds Orion SQL database to a new server.
 

Workaround: Create some space in the database

Please note that these steps are for general troubleshooting purposes and you may find the database fills up again later. It is recommended to use SQL Standard or SQL Enterprise for production environments as the limits on database size in these versions are significantly higher, at 524,272 terabytes per database.
  • Reduce retention periods: In the Orion Web Console, click Settings > All Settings > Polling settings, and make sure retention settings are set to defaults or to lower values. See Set retention settings in Optimize the database used by Orion Platform.
  • Unmanage low priority devices. In the Orion Web Console, click Settings > Manage Nodes. Then, select the nodes to unmanage and click Maintenance Mode > Unmanage Now, See Stop collecting statistics in Suspend data collection or alerts for nodes in Maintenance Mode.
  • Decrease polling frequencies: In the Orion Web Console, click Settings > All Settings > Polling settings. Search for poll interval and poll the devices less often. See Set polling settings in Optimize the database used by Orion Platform.
  • If you have VMAN installed and activated, see the following tips for creating space in the database:
    • Turn off VMAN Recommendations. In My Dashboards, click Virtualization > Recommendations > Recommendation Settings, and turn recommendations off.
    • If you have many reports, delete Capacity Planning reports you do not use.
    • If you only need basic data for the virtual item, switch the polling method of entities to the basic mode.
  • If you have IPAM installed and activated, consider the following tips for saving space:
    • Reduce retention for IPAM History and IPAM Events. In the Orion Web Console, click Settings > All Settings > IPAM Settings > Maintenance Settings. Enter a value as low as possible (by default, Events are retained for 90 days and history for 365 days). 
    • Adjust the Scan interval value for your Subnets, DHCP server, or DNS server to a higher value than the default 4 hours.

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