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Data Storages and Sizing

Netwrix Data Classification uses two data storages:

  • NDC SQL database — SQL Server database that stores product configuration and metadata for the data sources.
  • NDC Index — a full-text search index that comprises a set of files in the proprietary format (.CSE).

NDC SQL database​

Ensure you have NDC Server and NDC SQL database deployed on different machines.

It is recommended to create the NDC SQL database on a dedicated SQL Server instance.

  • Minimal requirement is SQL Server 2008 R2 Standard Edition.

  • Estimate required disk space assuming 10 - 12 KB per indexed object. For example, for 5, 000, 000 objects, the database size will be approximately 50 GB.
    Therefore, SQL Server Express edition will be only suitable for evaluation and PoC environments (up to 1, 000,000 documents to process).

    TIP: Netwrix recommends using SSD storage for both: database and Netwrix Data Classification servers.

  • If configuring database settings via SQL Server Management Studio, you will need to set Autogrowth / Maxsize values for the PRIMARY database files as follows:

    • File growth: 128 MB - recommended value for small to medium environment, 512 MB - for large environment, i.e. if planning to index data sources containing 1, 000, 000+ objects.
    • Maximum File Size - select Unlimited.

  • Set the Recovery model for this database to Simple. Don't change the recovery model to avoid log file growth.

NDC Index​

Required disk space for the NDC Index file storage will depend, in particular, on the data processing mode you plan to use (No Index, Keyword, or Compound Term).

As a general guideline, required space can be calculated as 35% of data you plan to be indexed. For example, if you have 45 GB of files, they will require up to 15 GB for the NDC Index files.

Scalability and Performance​

Scalability and performance testing revealed that based on the number of objects to classify, the environments can be ranged as follows:

Number of objects to classifyEnvironmentComment
Up to 1, 000, 000Proof-of-concept and small-size environment
Up to 16, 000, 000Mid-size environment
Up to 64, 000, 000Large-size environment
More than 64, 000, 000Extra-large environmentSystem architect's assistance is required for deployment planning requires

For large-size and extra-large environments, strongly consider configuring a cluster of several NDC Servers and applying DQS mode to these clustered servers. See Configuring NDC Servers Cluster and Load Balancing with DQS Mode for details.