- Ensure that the server meets our system requirements, including supported operating systems. Remember, if the server just meets the minimum system requirements, then you may experience minimum performance.
- Ensure that there is adequate disk space for the drive where the Blackbaud database log file (ldf) file is located
- If using full recovery mode in SQL Server, then change to simple recovery mode
- Ensure that disk caching is enabled
- If using RAID, insure that you are using a RAID configuration that is supports write intensive operations (i.e., RAID 0, 10, etc.). Note: Blackbaud does not recommend a particular RAID configuration. For information on RAID configurations used with SQL Server, please review the following Microsoft articles:
- For SQL Server 2008, see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms190764.aspx.
- For SQL Server 2005, see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms190764(v=SQL.90).aspx.
- If the issue is related to disk performance, then download the free trial of HD Tune hard disk utility from http://www.hdtune.com/ to diagnose and troubleshoot your disk issue.
See the following Microsoft articles for additional information on disk management, design and best practices:
- SQL Server Physical Database Storage Design for SQL Server 2005, see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc966414.aspx
- Disk Partition Alignment Best Practices for SQL Server 2008, see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd758814(SQL.100).aspx
