We are running Navision Financials 2.60B on SQL 2000 on Win 2K server. Our DB is now 11GB and growing at a rate of 1.5 to 2 GB per month now. We need a way to either archive or replicate data to another server. I have read through other threads here on this subject but they gave me just enough info to make me wonder if it is really a good idea. My DBA is very concerned about space (we are adding more drives soon) and would like to get that DB size down to a manageable level. I am more a programmer than a user of Navision. So my knowledge of the “compression” some people have mentioned is very small. I would appreciate any help/advice/experience you can share that can help us with this issue. Thank you, Brian
Hello Brian, the pace with which your database swells is remarkable! I have been running Navision (on the native database) for 3.5 years, and calculates the growth to < 4 GB per year. We are running a Swedish wersion of the production module, which means that there is a lot of item transactions, and also almost the same number of (almost identical) production transactions . I expect the 64 GB limit will last 15 years, which is good enough for me. We are 45 users in a manufacturing business, and have a turnover of $ 30,000. And, as stated, production with a lot of item transactions. I understand you are concerned, expanding the database with 24 GB per year. How does you business look? What transactions are you creating? Have you looked at the size of tables to find out where the problem is? Pelle
Storage solution 60HD with 36GB per HD You are ok for 45Years
well what i am about to say may have already been made known to you. to compress data in navision: 1. optimise your db periodically. this can be done under file->database->information 2. if that does not do much, you can compress your past closed financial years entries. read the help file that came along with it. 3. failling all that, then invest in lots of hard disk…
well what i am about to say may have already been made known to you. to compress data in navision: 1. optimise your db periodically. this can be done under file->database->information 2. if that does not do much, you can compress your past closed financial years entries. read the help file that came along with it. 3. failling all that, then invest in lots of hard disk…
Well, let me explain a little further: Our transaction load is primarily Sales Orders and Invoices. For every transaction on a Sales Invoice, we have anywhere from 2 to 5 lines created in a Sales Invoice. We run about 100K+ transactions a month into our DB. It appears that for every line item there are two(or more) G/L entries. I’m not familiar with the setup of Navision for our company so I can’t offer anything on how we are posting transactions. Thanks again for your help! Brian
Your NSC should be a good source of suggestions as to alternative methods of addressing the problem. They should be familiar with your business and its data retention requirements. Dave Studebaker das@libertyforever.com Liberty Grove Software A Navision Services Partner
I hate to say this but unfortunately they haven’t been much help. Our solution thus far has been to throw more hard drive space at it.
Too bad. There are things you can do to be more proactive if your business needs allow the compromises involved. You should have someone involved who is familiar with Navision, your firm’s use of Navision, and your firm’s data retention requirements. Among the choices are a) the built in data compression - this can be done on a variety of parameter choices and choosing the right one requires knowledge as described above b) making an occasional archive copy of the database prior to compressing or removing data c) eliminating unnecessary data such as that in registers and even posted documents (please don’t everyone yell at me at once - in the right circumstances with proper forethought and planning, it can be quite reasonable to delete (yes, delete) unneeded data) d) you can export historical data then compress or delete it e) in an extreme situation you could license additional Navision Servers and move historical data to another Navision Server located on another set of hardware. Given the low cost of disk drives, this might be an option. A key to deciding an approach is answering the questions about what data you need to keep, how long and in what detail. Dave Studebaker das@libertyforever.com Liberty Grove Software A Navision Services Partner