Training Videos > Table and Backup Compression in SQL Server 2008

Table and Backup Compression in SQL Server 2008

Aug 11, 2009

Compression is a key new feature of SQL Server 2008. This training video features a full demo of both the table and backup compression facilities in 2008.
Table compression can be performed on heaps, clustered indexes, non-clustered indexes, index views and partitions.
Table compression comes in two forms:
1. Row Compression is performed on the individual rows in a table and takes fixed length fields and makes them variable length fields.
2. Page Compression is performed at the page level and is done by first performing row compression and then performing prefix and dictionary compression.
To estimate the space savings from using compression the stored procedure sp_estimate_data_compression_savings can be used.

Backup Compression is much requested feature of SQL Server and is now available in the Enterprise and Developer editions of SQL Server (although compressed backups can be restored to other editions of SQL Server).