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Procedure to shrink the VBR database?

JMeixner
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Hello,

a customer has the problem that his VBR server has gotten very slow the last days and since today some agent and plugin jobs are failing (and yes, agent and plugin jobs only are failing, no VM backup jobs...).

I had a look at the server and it has hit the 10GB constraint of the the MS SQL express edition for the database size…

Is there a procedure to shrink the database? For example to delete the session history or something else?

The setting for the History under General Options is  a option how much entries are shown in the console but not how many entries are saved in the db.

Any ideas? 🤔

Best answer by MicoolPaul

You may find that you can’t amend the DB if you’re right against the limit. If you have a SQL Server standard edition elsewhere in your environment, you may need to attach the database to the fully licensed instance to perform the changes and shrink, then continue. 🙂

 

As @regnor has said, simple recovery is going to help here, but the DB is also quite large and approaching that 10GB magic figure, check how much of that space is unused and potentially shrink the database if you don’t need it to be anywhere near that bit, then set up a SQL alert to notify you when the database grows.

 

Once your database is back to normal, go through the GUI options in SSMS to shrink the database and it should tell you how much space is available within that database (white space)

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Jochen (Joe) Meixner | Veeam Vanguard 2024 | Veeam Legend 2021 - 2024 | Veeam Certified Architect (VMCA) | Twitter: @JoMeix | BlueSky: @jmeixner.bsky.social
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regnor
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I think there are procedures to cleanup the database, but those should only be executed by Veeam Support. You could try to cleanup some catalog information, like file to tape.

But in your screenshot it seems that the log file has reached 10GB, not the database. In that case you should create a database backup and/or change to simple recovery model. That way the Veeam server should be operational again.

Max M. | Systems Engineer @Veeam | VMCE/VMCA | VeeaMVP 2023 | former Legend & Vanguard
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And yes, I know that I can use another - paid - version of MS SQL which does not have this 10GB constraint. But this is not an option for the customer - at least not at once in the next weeks… 😎

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regnor wrote:

I think there are procedures to cleanup the database, but those should only be executed by Veeam Support. You could try to cleanup some catalog information, like file to tape.

But in your screenshot it seems that the log file has reached 10GB, not the database. In that case you should create a database backup and/or change to simple recovery model. That way the Veeam server should be operational again.

OK… Database backup was made today.
I will check the simple recovery model.

Thanks, @regnor 

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You may find that you can’t amend the DB if you’re right against the limit. If you have a SQL Server standard edition elsewhere in your environment, you may need to attach the database to the fully licensed instance to perform the changes and shrink, then continue. 🙂

 

As @regnor has said, simple recovery is going to help here, but the DB is also quite large and approaching that 10GB magic figure, check how much of that space is unused and potentially shrink the database if you don’t need it to be anywhere near that bit, then set up a SQL alert to notify you when the database grows.

 

Once your database is back to normal, go through the GUI options in SSMS to shrink the database and it should tell you how much space is available within that database (white space)

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MicoolPaul wrote:

You may find that you can’t amend the DB if you’re right against the limit. If you have a SQL Server standard edition elsewhere in your environment, you may need to attach the database to the fully licensed instance to perform the changes and shrink, then continue. 🙂

 

As @regnor has said, simple recovery is going to help here, but the DB is also quite large and approaching that 10GB magic figure, check how much of that space is unused and potentially shrink the database if you don’t need it to be anywhere near that bit, then set up a SQL alert to notify you when the database grows.

 

Once your database is back to normal, go through the GUI options in SSMS to shrink the database and it should tell you how much space is available within that database (white space)

Was just about to suggest this as it is very hard when you hit the limit of SQL Express to work in the DB.  All suggestions given are good and should be followed.

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Thank you all, I will have a look at your suggestions.

I am not a big MS SQL specialist and have hoped I can avoid this situation. But this is a customer controlled server and I have to repair it… 😎

I will keep you updated...

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JMeixner wrote:

Thank you all, I will have a look at your suggestions.

I am not a big MS SQL specialist and have hoped I can avoid this situation. But this is a customer controlled server and I have to repair it… 😎

I will keep you updated...

If you have any specific questions that are a bit more sensitive, feel free to DM, I used to be a SQL guy (for my sins!)

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MicoolPaul wrote:
JMeixner wrote:

Thank you all, I will have a look at your suggestions.

I am not a big MS SQL specialist and have hoped I can avoid this situation. But this is a customer controlled server and I have to repair it… 😎

I will keep you updated...

If you have any specific questions that are a bit more sensitive, feel free to DM, I used to be a SQL guy (for my sins!)

Thanks Michael. I will send you a line if we get into problems. 🙂🙂🙂

Jochen (Joe) Meixner | Veeam Vanguard 2024 | Veeam Legend 2021 - 2024 | Veeam Certified Architect (VMCA) | Twitter: @JoMeix | BlueSky: @jmeixner.bsky.social
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You can use the Object Explorer in SQL Server Management Studio to shrink the Db. Check this link.

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