SQL Database Guidance for a non-DBA

I've done a lot of development work, and obviously a lot with SharePoint, but I'm not a DBA. So when I had a few different customers ask for some SQL architecture info for budgeting and capacity planning I did a little reading and digging beyond the basic capacity planning tool info.

The list below is my "top 10" list of resources and references for technical SQL info for SharePoint 2007. In other words, if I was asked to stand up a new SharePoint farm and monitor/administer it from a database perspective, here's where I'd start:

#1: Hardware Recommendations

Overview: Blog post containing general hardware guidance from the SharePoint product group and info on the capacity planning tool. This tool is a good place to start for some basic estimates on your farm. However, keep in mind that this is only a first step, and the capacity planning tool isn’t meant as the only source of information – especially for large, complex environments.

https://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2007/12/17/hardware-recommendations-and-sccp-sharepoint-capacity-planning-tool-beta-models.aspx

#2 and #3: MOSS Capacity Planning and physical storage recommendations

Overview: Main MOSS Capacity planning page and physical storage information

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc261716.aspx

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc298801.aspx

#4: Estimating Capacity for Portal Collaboration Environments

Overview: a deeper look at performance and capacity planning for MOSS collaboration/portal content

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263100.aspx

#5: Estimating Capacity for Search Environments

Overview: a deeper look at performance and capacity planning for MOSS search

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262574.aspx

#6: SharePoint Performance Optimization whitepaper
Overview: Whitepaper on how Microsoft IT handles SharePoint performance. See best practices at the end of the document

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc964305.aspx

 

#7: Database maintenance for SharePoint whitepaper

Overview: a SQL database maintenance whitepaper specifically geared toward supporting SharePoint environments

https://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2008/02/28/database-maintenance-for-sharepoint-whitepaper.aspx

#8: SQL 2008 support announcement

Overview: general blog posting on SQL Server 2008 support in MOSS by the SharePoint product group

https://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2008/08/15/sql-server-2008-support-for-sharepoint-products-and-technologies.aspx

 

#9: SharePoint Scalability and Performance whitepaper

Overview: 90+ page paper documents real-world, large-scale MOSS lab implementation

https://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2008/06/17/belated-announcement-sharepoint-server-2007-scalability-and-performance-whitepaper-now-available.aspx

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262067.aspx

#10: Scaling SharePoint 2007 – Storage Architecture

Overview: this is a great whitepaper written by Russ Houberg at KnowledgeLake. Recently updated too. It’s last on this list but it could easily be the first article I’d recommend reading as you consider a storage architecture for SharePoint 2007.

https://www.knowledgelake.com/whitepaper/Scaling%20SharePoint%202007%20-%20Storage%20Architecture.pdf

Did I miss a good reference? If so, send it my way.