msdb database growth

  • We use databasemail, full and transactional back ups and SSIS packages. The size of the msdb database was 241MB. I was able to bring the size down to 153 after cleanup today by removing everything before 30 days. My question is do I really need to keep the size to 153MB or can I resize it to smaller than that?

    I capture the database file growth in a table in every four hours. My plan is to review that table and see in a month how big it grows and resize to that. Since every end of month I have a process to clean up the msdb.

    Please give me your inputs.

    Thank you!

  • If it is not causing you trouble in terms of disk space, then there is no harm in leaving it as is. Backups will only write the actual data, so unused space in the database file does not affect the size of your backups. If you decide to shrink it, if more data is added to msdb it will just have to grow again. Shrink is harmful to the indexes, fragments them severely, and autogrow can create physical fragmentation, so if you can avoid both you're doing well.

    Make sure you're defragmenting indexes in msdb as well, in case you are not including those in your index maintenance routine.

    There are no special teachers of virtue, because virtue is taught by the whole community.
    --Plato

  • The size is not too terribly large. You can leave it as-is. For recommendations on how much data to retain (job history and table size history), you will need to rely on internal corporate policies.

    Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
    _______________________________________________
    I have given a name to my pain...MCM SQL Server, MVP
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