How Large is your Database?

Excluding user login account names and passwords, your LimsData database is the repository for all data entered in LIMS. Each time you add new data to the LIMS, LimsData will increase in size. In standalone installations the size of LimsData is not normally a concern. However, in multi-user client/server installations where LimsData resides on a server and the LIMS software runs on each client workstation, the size of LimsData may affect system performance.

While there are many hardware and software factors that may affect multi-user system performance, large LimsData databases can contribute to slower performance. Most users will not notice any performance degradation until the LimsData database exceeds 200 MB in size. Take a look at the size of your LimsData database for comparison.

If you suspect LimsData’s size may be affecting performance, you should first compact the database (see “Compact your Database Regularly” in this issue). To see how your network infrastructure is affecting performance, run and time several lengthy queries, reports, or Excel exports with LimsData on your server and repeat with a local copy (see “Troubleshoot Network Problems with a Local LimsData” in this issue). If there is a significant performance improvement when testing with a local copy of LimsData, consider using LIMS archiving to move your oldest samples to an archive database to reduce the size of your LimsData database.