Sql-server – How to add a rowversion column to a large table with minimal downtime

alter-tablesql serversql-server-2008

Using SQL Server 2008 and later, I want to add a rowversion column to a large table however when I simply

ALTER TABLE [Tablename]
ADD Rowversion [Rowversion] NOT NULL

Then the table is unavailable for updates for too long.

What strategies can I use to reduce this downtime? I'll consider anything. The simpler the better of course, but I'll consider any strategy.

My thinking is that as a last resort, I could maintain a copy staging table maintained by triggers and then sp_rename the staging table into the original table. But I'm hoping for something simpler/easier.

Best Answer

Consider creating a new table with the same schema plus the rowversion column, and add a view atop both tables that does a union all. Have people use the view, and write instead-of triggers against the underlying tables & views.

Inserts should be sent to the new table, updates should move data to the new table, and deletes should be applied to both tables.

Then do batch moves in the background, moving as many records at a time as you can over to the new table. You can still have concurrency issues while this is going on, and some craptacular execution plans, but it lets you stay online while the moves are happening.

Ideally, you start the process on a Friday afternoon to minimize the effect on end users, and try to get it done before Monday morning. Once it's in place, you can change the view to point to just the new table, and the craptacular execution plans go away. Ideally.

To avoid the triggers firing when the data is being migrated in batches, look at the number of rows in the deleted/inserted tables in the trigger, and skip the activities if they're near to the number of rows in your batch.

In the finish, Michael decided to skip the view (and not delete from the original table) to get more stable plans. The trade off was holding essentially two copies of the table. He turned it into a series of blog posts.

Related Solutions

Sql-server – Best way to re-import large amount of data with minimal downtime

A solution I've used in the past (and have recommended here and on StackOverflow before) is to create two additional schemas:

CREATE SCHEMA shadow AUTHORIZATION dbo;
CREATE SCHEMA cache  AUTHORIZATION dbo;

Now create a mimic of your table in the cache schema:

CREATE TABLE cache.IPLookup(...columns...);

Now when you are doing your switch operation:

TRUNCATE TABLE cache.IPLookup;
BULK INSERT cache.IPLookup FROM ...;

-- the nice thing about the above is that it doesn't really
-- matter if it takes one minute or ten - you're not messing
-- with a table that anyone is using, so you aren't going to
-- interfere with active users.


-- this is a metadata operation so extremely fast - it will wait
-- for existing locks to be released, but won't block new locks
-- for very long at all:

BEGIN TRANSACTION;
  ALTER SCHEMA shadow TRANSFER    dbo.IPLookup;
  ALTER SCHEMA dbo    TRANSFER  cache.IPLookup;
COMMIT TRANSACTION;


-- now let's move the shadow table back over to
-- the cache schema so it's ready for next load:

ALTER SCHEMA cache TRANSFER shadow.IPLookup;
TRUNCATE TABLE cache.IPLookup; 

-- truncate is optional - I usually keep the data
-- around for debugging, but that's probably not
-- necessary in this case.

This will be more cumbersome if you have foreign keys and other dependencies (since you may have to drop those and re-create them), and of course it completely invalidates statistics etc. and this, in turn, can affect plans, but if the most important thing is getting accurate data in front of your users with minimal interruption, this can be an approach to consider.

Mysql – Best way to add a new column to a large table? (MySQL – MyISAM)

To make online changes to a table you can use pt-online-schema-change

    pt-online-schema-change --alter "ADD COLUMN c1 INT" D=sakila,t=actor

The table will be blocked for a few seconds when it switches new and old tables. The table though must have a primary keys and not have triggers.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Sql-server – Best way to re-import large amount of data with minimal downtime

Mysql – Best way to add a new column to a large table? (MySQL – MyISAM)

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