Why is MSDB database so large?

MSDB stores backup and restore history. Imagine a server with 2000 databases that takes a log backup of all of them every 15 minutes. That’s 192,000 new rows into the backupset and backupmediaset tables EVERY DAY! Keeping a few weeks or months of history can cause the size of MSDB to get very large.

What is the size of Varbinary Max?

varbinary [ ( n | max) ] Variable-length binary data. n can be a value from 1 through 8,000. max indicates that the maximum storage size is 2^31-1 bytes. The storage size is the actual length of the data entered + 2 bytes.

What is true about Msdb?

The msdb database is mostly known as “the SQL Server Agent database” because it stores information of all SQL Agent jobs as their configuration and their execution history. But it is not dedicated mainly to SQL Server Agent. Features like the Service Broker or the Database Mail also stores data in msdb database.

What causes Msdb to grow?

Backup and restore history is the most common reason for the msdb database to bloat, however Database Engine Tuning Advisor, SQL Server Agent history, service broker, log shipping and lack of index maintenance can all contribute to excessive growth of msdb and impact the performance of the database.

Can I shrink Msdb?

Can you shrink the database and transaction log for the MSDB database? The data and log files for the MSDB database can be resized. Like any other database, this isn’t an operation that should be needed very often.

How do I change the initial log size?

Initial size of the log file is changing back to its original…

  1. SELECT DB_NAME(DATABASE_ID)DBNAME, [NAME] LOGICAL_FILENAME, Size*8/1024 SIZE_MB.
  2. FROM MASTER. SYS. MASTER_FILES.
  3. WHERE DB_NAME(DATABASE_ID) = ‘TEMPDB’

How do I get the size of a Varbinary in SQL?

The VARBINARY(MAX) field allocates variable length data up to just under 2GB in size. You can use DATALENGTH() function to determine the length of the column content.

How is Varbinary stored?

The VARBINARY type is similar to the VARCHAR type, but stores binary byte strings rather than non-binary character strings. M represents the maximum column length in bytes. It contains no character set, and comparison and sorting are based on the numeric value of the bytes.

What is stored in MSDB database?

The msdb database is a system database that is used by several SQL Server components such as the SQL Server Agent service. In addition to SQL Server Agent configuration and task information, replication, log shipping, and maintenance plan data are stored in the msdb database.

What is the purpose of Msdb?

The msdb database is used by SQL Server Agent for scheduling alerts and jobs and by other features such as SQL Server Management Studio, Service Broker and Database Mail. For example, SQL Server automatically maintains a complete online backup-and-restore history within tables in msdb.