INF: Database Creation and Backup Operations Use Parallelism

ID: Q196911

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft SQL Server version 7.0

The ALTER DATABASE statement uses parallelism to extend each file on a distinct logical drive. Likewise, the BACKUP DATABASE statement uses a separate thread per logical drive. Although this is a useful performance feature in certain circumstances, it does not mean that creating many logical drives is generally preferred over combining those drives in a RAID array. SQL Server uses asynchronous I/O and can usually leverage all available I/O capacity in a multi-disk RAID array. Combining most available drive spindles to a large RAID array (of the appropriate type) often provides the best performance over the broadest circumstances.

Additional query words: box machine drv seperate

Keywords          : SSrvEntMan SSrvTran_SQL 
Version           : WINNT:7.0
Platform          : winnt
Issue type        : kbinfo

Last Reviewed: December 31, 1998