When
our SQL Server 2000 SP4 Database was setup it was done by developers
without detailed information regarding all of the possible settings so
most settings were left at their defaults.

I have been looking
at the issues around setting the Transaction Log File Growth
properties. The default is to grow automatically and to grow by 10%
percent and the maximum File Size is set for unrestricted growth.That
is our current setup. Our transaction log is 19Gb with a 10Mb data file
so something needs addressing. Part of the reason for this growth has
been some recent imports of data from other systems but these were not
so significant in and of themselves. Total bulk loads were maybe 10,000
rows. There were 3 or 4 bulk deletes and reimports of these records but
still not enough to cause such bloat of our ldf file…I think.

I
found a job that reindexes 35 indexes every night regardless of their
fragmentation. It issues a dbcc dbreindex command and uses 90 for every
fillfactor. I’m thinking this may also cause disk fragmentation which
may be contributing to the disk latency issues we have been having on
reads and writes.

Clearly that will need to be rethought.
Assuming that is straightened out and we’re using intelligent
reindexing, what factors would I look at to set an optimal file growth.
Here are some details that of my installation:

mdf = 194,112Kb
ldf = 19,132,224Kb

We
are running an OLTP db with frequent updates and inserts. We are in
Full backup mode with transaction log backups every 15 minutes. Its an
employee intranet where we handle employee timesheets, leave request,
purchase orders…stuff that folks are partial to ergo the frequent
backups and the FULL mode. We would very much require the transaction
logs in the event that a backup were required.

Our backup sizes are currently 120Mbs and they grow an average of 1MB every 4 days or 5Mbs a month

Other options that are set: Auto Update Statistics, Torn Page Detection and Auto Create Statistics.

That
is the information I have to go by. If there are other datapoints I
could collect please let me know Is there a way to find out what the
growth rate of the Transaction logs has been over time? That might be
where to look first huh?

I know frequent growth of the ldf can
cause performance issues if it has to regrow frequently so I don’t want
to simply shrink the log to its smallest possible size. But I do want
to reclaim space that won’t be needed for awhile. Just could use some
assistance as to what variables to consider.

We will be moving to SQL Server 2008 in a few months but I’d still like to get this part figured out before the upgrade.

Thank you very much!