How Your SQL Server Data Type Choices Can Affect Database Performance

Did you know that poor data type choices can have a significant impact on your database design and performance? Developers and DBAs can improve database performance by understanding the data types supported by SQL Server and the implications of choosing different ones. A best practice is to “right size” data types by asking business questions and determining the data types that are best suited to the organization’s and application’s needs.

Right-sizing can result in tremendous storage savings, which can lead to faster database performance. Other considerations to keep in mind are SQL Server’s 8KB data page size limit and the conditions that can lead to page splitting. Also watch out for implicit conversions, an unfortunate by-product of mismatching data types. Taking steps to avoid mismatches and page splitting can greatly enhance performance.

Following are some guidelines for right-sizing your data types—and boosting database performance.