Can I use SQL Server Express?
Applies to:
- Forcepoint Web Security and Forcepoint URL Filtering, v8.5.x
- Forcepoint DLP, v8.5.1, v8.6.x, v8.7.x, v8.8.x, v8.9.x, v9.0, v10.x
- Forcepoint Email Security, v8.5.x
- Forcepoint appliances, v8.5.x
Microsoft SQL Server Express may be bundled into Forcepoint Security Installer for Windows. If it is not, it can be downloaded from Microsoft and installed manually.
Regardless of the resources available on the machine hosting the database engine, Microsoft limits the resources that SQL Server Express can use.
This results in practical limits on the amount of data that can be stored in SQL Server Express, while still maintaining acceptable performance when generating reports and processing log data. For best performance, no more than 30 GB of data should be stored in SQL Server Express across all Forcepoint security products. The sizing recommendations below are based on this assumption.
For an explanation of particular demands that Forcepoint reporting places on available memory, see Other factors that affect the performance of Forcepoint reporting.
Use the charts below to see how much data you can store using SQL Server Express based on the Forcepoint product or products you are using. You can then determine if that limit still meets your data retention requirements. If so, you can use SQL Server Express.
| Users | Web* | Web and Data | Data and Email** | Web, Data, and Email |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000+ | Do not use | Do not use | Do not use | Do not use |
| 2000 | 45 days | 30 days | Do not use | Do not use |
| 1500 | 60 days | 45 days | Do not use | Do not use |
| 1000 | 90 days | 60 days | Do not use | Do not use |
| 750 | 4 months | 3 months | Do not use | Do not use |
| 500 | 6 months | 4 months | 30 days | Do not use |
| 250 | 1 year | 8 months | 60 days | 30 days |
| 100 | 1 year+ | 1 year | 5 months | 3 months |
- * Web: Actual size is based on web requests processed per day, which can be extrapolated from the peak requests per second in your network. If you are not able to determine these numbers, Forcepoint has found that the ratio of users to their peak number of web requests per second (as opposed to average number per second) is 10 to 1. This is an acceptable ratio to use for the purposes of estimating the number of users that this traffic represents in the average network. Note that this calculation is based on a standard curve distribution of traffic throughout the day, where the peak is mid-day and there is almost no traffic throughout the night.
- ** Email: Actual sizing is based on total email messages sent and received per day, including spam. Forcepoint has found that an estimate of 1 message per user per minute (including spam) is an acceptable estimate for the purposes of estimating the email volume generated for any given number of users.