Estimating Security Expert SQL database sizing

[AdamSteele]

Issue

How to estimate the disk space required to accommodate a given Security Expert installation.

Product Line

EcoStruxure Security Expert

Environment

• Security Expert
• Microsoft SQL Server

Cause

The Security Expert databases will grow in size depending on the configuration and logging requirements. Therefore, estimating how much a database will grow over time should be done to determine which Microsoft Database solution and hard drive requirements.

Resolution

1. The Installation Guide does have some hardware recommendations under the System Requirements section, and these should be used as a baseline for allowing appropriate database storage.
   1. 10 controllers w/ 16 modules each - 40GB
   2. More than 10 controllers w/ any number of modules each - 100GB.
2. The configuration database (SecurityExpert) is relatively small and will typically not grow much.
3. The events database (SecurityExpertEvents) is what logs all events and alarms, and it will grow over time, rapidly depending on what is being logged and how often. There are many variables in play from one site to another. The space required for a standard Security Expert Database is dependent on, but not exclusive to:
   1. The amount of Inputs/Outputs/Readers you have with Log Events enabled.
   2. The amount of traffic through the site.
   3. The number of Expanders and other Records.
   4. The frequency of backups and purging of events from the SecurityExpertEvents database.
4. As a guideline, we can broadly calculate storage requirements based on the size of each event being logged. Typically this will be 564 bytes per event. If you have 2000 Events per day, here is the calculation for how many MB will be used per day:
   1. 564 B x 2000 = 1128000 B = 1.07 MB per day
   2. If those events that are being logged are alarms as well, then this total would be doubled.
5. Another way to calculate this is to take what a typical usage requirement would be for a site or monitor a live site over a week/month to calculate the sites' average usage and extrapolate that to fit.
   1. For example, a site with 130 doors being used 8 hours a day and with door openings and closings 10 times an hour would equate to just under 1GB a month. Please note these are very rough guesses; individual sites might be busier/quieter.
6. Performing regular SecurityExpertEvents database backups and purges will ensure that the database size does not get too large for the installation.
   1. For instructions, see the System Backups section in the Installation Guide and AN 279 Security Expert Differential Backups.