[Mssqlcompressed-users] GZIP Compression level

[Robert E. <re...@co...>]

Hi,

We are testing msbp with gzip compression against a test db (3.5GB) on
SQL Server 2005 SP4, Server 2008 Standard using the following commands

msbp.exe backup "db(database=VehicleData)" "gzip(level=1)"
"local(path=F:\SQLDumps\VehicleData\VehicleData_backup_20130104_l1.bak.gz)"
msbp.exe backup "db(database=VehicleData)" "gzip(level=9)"
"local(path=F:\SQLDumps\VehicleData\VehicleData_backup_20130104_l9.bak.gz)"

We've found that changing the gzip level makes no difference as to the
size or amount of time taken to perform the backup?
uncompressed: 3530221KB, approx 55 seconds

level=1 400,515KB Approx 4 mins
level=9 400,514KB Approx 4 mins

For us, we are looking to get *some* compression (even 8:10 would be
enough) without a large decrease in speed.

Two questions: does the gzip level definitely get applied and is there
a way for me to verify this?
Secondly: does anyone have any recommendations how to decrease the
duration for gzip level=1?

Something I also noticed, when I gunzipped the files and then re-gzipped them
with the gzip command on our linux server, the file sizes came out larger for
level=1.

Many Thanks,

--
Robert Emery
Database Administrator