SharePoint Best Practices
Try SPDocKitContact Us
  • SharePoint Best Practices Library by SPDocKit
  • Configuration
    • App Configuration
      • App Services Configured
      • Apps Configured
    • Distributed Cache
      • Appfabric Patched
      • Cache Cluster State
      • Cache Running
      • SharePoint Distributed Cache Size 2013
      • Distributed Cache Collocation Compliance
    • Security
      • Farm Account is not Local Admin
      • Office Web Apps HTTPS
    • Solutions
      • Solution Assembly Deployment Valid
    • Servers
      • Expired Certificates
      • Loopback Disabled
      • Minrole Compliance
  • Databases
    • ModelDB
      • ModelDB Files Autogrowth
      • ModelDB Files Initial Size
      • ModelDB Recovery Model
    • TempDB
      • TempDB Files
      • TempDB Files Configuration
      • TempDB Recovery Model
      • TempDB Response Times
      • TempDB Size
    • Content Database Autogrowth
    • Content Database Capacity
    • Database Files
    • Disk Allocation Size
    • Max Degree of Parallelism
    • SQL Alias
    • SQL Server Memory – SQL Server Memory Allocation Best Practices
  • Hardware Requirements
    • Free Disk Space
    • SharePoint 2013 Server and Hardware Requirements
  • Maintenance
    • Backup
      • Content Database Backups
      • Farm Backup Configured
      • Farm Backup History
    • Misc
      • Farm Accounts Used Interactively
      • PDF iFilter Installed
      • Upgrade Ready
  • Monitoring and Logging
    • Diagnostic Log Path
    • Enable Usage and Health Data Collection
    • SharePoint IIS Log Path
    • Restrict Trace Log Disk Space Usage
    • Search Index Path
    • ULS Active
    • Usage and Health Log Path
    • Verbose Logging Enabled
  • Service Applications
    • Search
      • Crawl Account Search Permission
      • Incremental Search Configuration
      • PDF Extension Added to Search Application
      • Search Content Sources
      • Search Running
    • UPA
      • My Site Configured
      • UPA Up and Running
    • Web Analytics
      • Event Collection Configured
      • Web Analytics Services Started
    • Application Proxies
    • Authentication Providers
    • Exchange Task Sync
    • Multiple Service Applications
    • Sandboxed Code Service
    • SharePoint 2013 Secure Store Service Configured
    • State Service
  • SharePoint Software Boundaries and Limits
    • SharePoint Software Boundaries and Limits Overview
    • Limits by Feature
      • Search Limits
        • Authoritative Pages
        • Content Sources
        • Crawl Components
        • Crawl Databases
        • Crawl Rules
        • Index Partitions
        • Managed Properties
        • Property Databases
        • Scope Rules Count per Search Service Application
        • Scope Rules Count per Search Scope
        • Search Topology Limits
        • Sharepoint Search Service Applications
        • Start Addresses
      • User Profile Limits
        • User Profile Count
      • Visio Services Limits
        • File Size of Visio Web Drawings – Max Web Drawing Size
        • Visio Services Cache Age
        • Visio Web Drawing Recalculation Time-out
      • Word Automation Services
        • Conversion Job Size
        • Conversion Start Frequency
    • Limits by Hierarchy
      • Content Database Limits
        • Content Database Size
        • Number of Content Databases
        • Site Collections per Content Database
      • Server Limits
        • Number of Application Pools
      • Site Collection Limits
        • Number of Site Collections
        • Site Collection Size
        • Web Site
      • Web Application Limits
        • Content Databases
        • Managed Paths
        • Number of Web Applications
        • Site Collections
  • Site Collection Health
    • Farm Features Duplicate IDs
    • Features Duplicate IDs
    • SharePoint Site Collection Upgrade – Upgrade SharePoint 2010 to 2013
    • Site Collections Duplicate IDs
    • Web Application Features Duplicate IDs
  • Updates
    • SharePoint
      • Build Revoked
      • Farm in Trial
      • Is SharePoint Up to Date
      • SharePoint 2013 Language Packs Up to Date
      • Office Web Apps Up to Date - Office Web App Servers
      • Product Supported
    • Servers
      • Sharepoint Server Upgrade Required
      • Windows Updates
      • Hotfixes per Server Role
        • Application Servers Hotfixes
        • DB Servers Hotfixes
        • Distributed Cache Servers Hotfixes
        • Failover Servers Hotfixes
        • Search Servers Hotfixes
        • WFE Servers Hotfixes
  • Web Applications
    • Caching
      • BLOB Caching Enabled
      • Object Cache User Accounts
      • Publishing Cache
    • AppPool User in Performance Log Group
    • Batch Compilation Disabled
    • Web Application in Debug Mode - Web.config Debugging How To
    • Web Application URL Check
    • Web Applications Without Sites
    • SharePoint Web.config Files Equality
Powered by GitBook
On this page
  • Issue description
  • Explanation
  • Solution
  • Additional information

Was this helpful?

  1. Databases

SQL Alias

SQL Alias best practices report by SPDocKit determines whether the SharePoint servers are configured to use SQL aliases. If not, it can introduce some manageability issues.

PreviousMax Degree of ParallelismNextSQL Server Memory – SQL Server Memory Allocation Best Practices

Last updated 1 year ago

Was this helpful?

Issue description

This check determines whether the SharePoint servers are configured to use SQL aliases. From SPDocKit version 7.3 onwards, this report checks if your service applications and content databases are using a SQL alias in their connection strings. If your SQL alias is not configured correctly, it can introduce manageability issues.

Explanation

An alias is an alternate name that can be used to make a connection. The alias encapsulates the required elements of a connection string and exposes them with a name chosen by the user. Aliases can be used with any client application. By creating server aliases, your client computer can connect to multiple servers using different network protocols, without having to specify the protocol and connection details for each one.

Aliases can be very useful for moving databases between different SQL servers and ease scaling out the SharePoint environment. We recommend that you group the databases based on the usage and purpose and define the aliases based on that. The following table can be used as an example of database distribution and grouping:

Env.
SQL Alias
Host
Port
Instance
description

Prod

DB_P_Config_P

sql01.contoso.com

TCP/1433

default

SharePointConfig (principal)

Prod

DB_P_Service_P

sql01.contoso.com

TCP/1433

default

SharePoint Service App databases (principal)

Prod

DB_P_Usage_P

sql01.contoso.com

TCP/1433

default

SharePointUsagedatabase (principal)

Prod

DB_P_Search_P

sql01.contoso.com

TCP/1433

default

SharePoint Search Databases (principal)

Prod

DB_P_Content_P

sql01.contoso.com

TCP/1433

default

SharePoint Contentdatabases (principal)

Prod

DB_P_Config_M

sql02.contoso.com

TCP/1433

default

SharePointConfig (mirror)

Prod

DB_P_Service_M

sql02.contoso.com

TCP/1433

default

SharePoint Service App databases (mirror)

Prod

DB_P_Usage_M

sql02.contoso.com

TCP/1433

default

SharePointUsagedatabase (mirror)

Prod

DB_P_Search_M

sql02.contoso.com

TCP/1433

default

SharePoint Search Databases (mirror)

Prod

DB_P_Content_M

sql02.contoso.com

TCP/1433

default

SharePoint Contentdatabases (mirror)

Solution

There is no supported way to change connection parameters for some databases, like SharePoint Configuration Database. Therefore, configuring SQL Server aliases before deploying SharePoint is very important. To create a SQL alias, use SQL Server Client Network Utility by clicking Start > Run > CliConfg.exe.

Additional information

Additional information can be found in the TechNet article:

Best practices for SQL Server in a SharePoint Server farm
Download SPDocKit