What exactly happens when you reach the DB size limit?

[chockomonkey]

We're about .5gb away from hitting the 4gb mark which BCM still tells us is our size limit.

I'm curious what happens exactly when this point is reached. Any info would be great.

I'm also curious why it is still showing the limit as 4gb, because according to this post here, the DB size limit of our version of SQL has been increased.

Thanks!

 

[wallisellener]

I've just checked our database and we are nowhere near the size limit.

You will probably generate a gravitational wave that will obliterate all your BCM contacts
My assumption would be that bad things happen (much like in any other software ever made) when such limits are achieved/exceed.

Just out of curiosity: what kind of data was pumped to trigger such a growth?

Please do keep us updated, I'm looking forward to your findings.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

It will either warn (as it gets really close) or just stop working (when it's at the max). (Stop working is my guess, with no visible warning except in event viewer, but I've never hit it.) Did you try changing the max database size using the SQL Management Studio?

 

[Diane Poremsky]

Just out of curiosity: what kind of data was pumped to trigger such a growth?

I don't know how well BCM cleans up after itself, but a backup then compact to release unused space might help.

Is it 2005 or 2008 in your version of BCM?
2008: Download Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 Management Studio Express from Official Microsoft Download Center
2005: Download Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Express from Official Microsoft Download Center

 

[chockomonkey]

I've just checked our database and we are nowhere near the size limit.

You will probably generate a gravitational wave that will obliterate all your BCM contacts
My assumption would be that bad things happen (much like in any other software ever made) when such limits are achieved/exceed.

Just out of curiosity: what kind of data was pumped to trigger such a growth?

Please do keep us updated, I'm looking forward to your findings.

Haha yes, it will likely be the end of the world of BCM as we know it... terrifying stuff.

Anyway... I know exactly what sparked this database growth--about 2 years ago we decided that, instead of attaching emails directly to the contact history, we would drag and drop the email from Outlook directly into a business note created per department.



This has made things very organized, but clearly has had the trade-off of massive database growth.



Using the built-in report, I can see that this has made the dbo.Attachments table quite large:

Does anyone know why there's so much "Unallocated" Space as shown in this below report?

It will either warn (as it gets really close) or just stop working (when it's at the max). (Stop working is my guess, with no visible warning except in event viewer, but I've never hit it.) Did you try changing the max database size using the SQL Management Studio?

I have not done this, nor can I find anything online about doing this. Will you point me in the right direction for changing the max database size?

I don't know how well BCM cleans up after itself, but a backup then compact to release unused space might help.

Is it 2005 or 2008 in your version of BCM?
2008: Download Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 Management Studio Express from Official Microsoft Download Center
2005: Download Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Express from Official Microsoft Download Center

Is the "compact" suggestion you're referring to the "Tasks > Shrink > Database" in Management Studio?

I'm using "Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 (SP2) Express Edition (64-bit)" with Management Studio

 

[chockomonkey]

So I restored one of our backups to a new database for testing. Using the method I found at the below link, I increased the database size to well over the maximum 4gb showed by BCM.

How to: Increase the Size of a Database (SQL Server Management Studio)

Initial testing was slow... however I believe that now to be a side-affect of being a completely new database. The more I tinker around with it, the faster it gets. My guess is there's some caching which needs to take place at the start of a new database which has lots of information already.

Anyway, this is how it looks on this development database.

No errors nor issues thus far.