Optimal Number of SQL Sever Instances for Enterprise Geodatabase

Question

I am new to the GIS Administration world and struggling to wrap my head around this. Currently we are using SQL Sever 14 with a single  SQL Server instance for all our enterprise GIS needs. Hundreds of SDE databases with millions of features and large terrain datasets all on this single instance. Is there a better way to approach this? Any best practices from ESRI? What is the best way to determine if we need to configure more SQL Server instances?

George_Thompson · Answer

I would monitor resources as the number, size and complexity of the geodatabases grows. There may be a need to separate the geodatabases, based on performance and/or resource needs.

NeelKumar · Answer

Thanks George! So in theory, one instance should be okay as long as we're not getting close that that maximum # of instances or having performance issues? I'm not sure what we're at memory/CPU usage wise but I can find that out. Just wanted to make sure I'm not missing anything in terms of best practices. Thanks

George_Thompson · Answer

Based on my experience, I would say it depends on the SQL Server instance and the resources available.

Do you really have 100's of individual geodatabases on a single instance? If so, what is the memory usage/CPU/etc.? Can you combine some of the geodatabases?

Are you having any current issues with the geodatabases?

Updated Note: The limit of SQL Server databases (geodatabases) per instance is 32,767; Maximum Capacity Specifications for SQL Server - SQL Server | Microsoft Docs

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