Benefit of Defragging SQL Server Data files located on a SAN

Question

In the past, I have used contig.exe to remove physical fragmentation from SQL Server data files. They have always been on locally attached storage. Is there any benefit to running this on a data file that is stored on a SAN?

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:14

2

Not recommended to defragment files on a SAN, SQL or otherwise.

See this related ServerFault question and this excellent whitepaper. The major points include:

Defragmenting is very I/O intensive
Defragmenting doesn't always improve performance on logical volumes
Defragmenting is definitely not recommended for certain specific configurations, like Virtual Storage Pools and Replicated Volumes

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:14

Community

1

answered Sep 17 '09 at 19:00

BradC

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Good pointers. I should have looked a little harder before posting thanks – Jason Horner Sep 17 '09 at 22:25

Benefit of Defragging SQL Server Data files located on a SAN

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