Expanding Databases Automatically

The automatic database expansion stored procedure sp_dbextend allows you to install thresholds that identify devices with available space, and then appropriately alter the database—and the segment where the threshold was fired—on these devices.

After you set up a database for automatic expansion, internal mechanisms fire when a database grows to its free space threshold, and increase the size of the database by the amount of space your expansion policies specify. The automatic expansion process measures the amount of room left on all devices bound to the database. If there is sufficient room on the devices, the database continues to grow. By default, if the size of the device is greater than 40MB, the size of the database is increased by 10 percent. If your database is smaller than 40MB, the size of the database is increased by 4MB. However, you can specify database resizing limits that match the needs of your site.

If any devices are configured for expansion, those devices expand next. Finally, the database is expanded on those devices.

This automatic expansion process runs as a background task and generates informational messages in the server’s error log.