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Data Storages and Sizing

Netwrix Data Classification uses two forms of data storage:

  • NDC SQL database — SQL Server or PostgreSQL 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​

Deploy the NDC Server and the NDC SQL database on different machines. Netwrix recommends hosting the NDC SQL database on a dedicated SQL Server or PostgreSQL instance.

  • The minimum required version of SQL Server is SQL Server 2008 R2 Standard Edition.
  • The minimum required version of PostgreSQL is PostgreSQL 16.

For all databases:

  • 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. Due to built-in limitations of size and capacity, SQL Server Express edition is only suitable for evaluation and proof-of-concept (PoC) environments (processing up to 1,000,000 documents).
note

Netwrix strongly recommends using SSD storage for both the database and Netwrix Data Classification servers.

See Configure NDC SQL database for full configuration details.

NDC Index​

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

As a general estimate, calculate required space as 35% of the total data size you plan to index. 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 groups environments by the number of objects to classify, 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 environmentDeployment planning requires a system architect's assistance.

For large-size and extra-large environments, Netwrix recommends configuring a cluster of several NDC Servers and applying Distributed Query Server (DQS) mode. See Configuring NDC Servers Cluster and Load Balancing with DQS Mode for details.