Dynamics Community Forum Thread Details

Hello Inkey Solutions,

You've hit a common and often surprising consequence of enabling Relevance Search in Dynamics 365: a significant increase in database storage consumption. This is because Relevance Search creates and maintains a separate index of your data for faster searching.

Here's a breakdown of why this happens and how to manage it:

Why Relevance Search Increases Database Storage:

Indexing: Relevance Search creates an external index of your data, separate from the primary database tables. This index is optimized for fast text-based searches.
Data Duplication: The index essentially duplicates a significant portion of your data, leading to increased storage requirements.
Index Size: The size of the index depends on the amount of data you're indexing and the number of entities and fields included.

Strategies to Reduce Relevance Search Storage:

Limit Indexed Entities:
- Identify Critical Entities: Carefully evaluate which entities are truly essential for Relevance Search.
- Remove Unnecessary Entities: Exclude entities that are rarely searched or contain large amounts of non-text data.
- Go to: Settings > Customizations > Customize the System > Relevance Search > Select Entities.

Limit Indexed Fields:
- Focus on Searchable Fields: Index only the fields that users commonly search.
- Exclude Large Text Fields: Avoid indexing very large text fields (e.g., notes, descriptions) unless absolutely necessary.
- Go to: Settings > Customizations > Customize the System > Relevance Search > Select Entities > Select Entity > Select Fields.

Optimize Data:
- Data Cleanup: Remove or archive unnecessary data, such as old records or attachments.
- Data Deduplication: Eliminate duplicate records.
- Data Compression (If Applicable): Some large text fields might benefit from compression, though this is less common in Dynamics 365.

Rebuild the Index:
- After making changes to the indexed entities or fields, rebuild the Relevance Search index.
- This will ensure that the index reflects the current configuration and data.
- Go to: Settings > Customizations > Customize the System > Relevance Search > Rebuild Index.

Monitor Storage Usage:
- Regularly monitor your database storage usage to track the impact of Relevance Search.
- Use the Dynamics 365 Administration Center to view storage metrics.

Consider Alternative Search Methods (If Applicable):
- If Relevance Search is causing excessive storage consumption and your search requirements are not very demanding, consider using the traditional Quick Find search.
- Quick Find search does not create a separate index and therefore has a lower storage footprint.

Microsoft Support:
- If you've tried these steps and are still experiencing excessive storage consumption, contact Microsoft Support.
- They can provide further guidance and assistance.

Important Considerations:

Performance Impact: Reducing the number of indexed entities or fields might affect search performance.
User Requirements: Balance storage optimization with user search requirements.
Testing: Thoroughly test any changes to the Relevance Search configuration to ensure that search functionality remains adequate.

Steps to Take:

Identify the largest entities indexed for Relevance Search.
Remove unneeded entities and fields from the relevance search configuration.
Rebuild the Relevance Search index.
Monitor the storage usage.

By following these steps, you should be able to bring down the database storage consumption caused by Relevance Search. Remember to prioritize user search needs while optimizing storage.

If my answer was helpful, please click Like, and if it solved your problem, please mark it as verified to help other community members find more. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact me.

My response was crafted with AI assistance and tailored to provide detailed and actionable guidance for your Microsoft Dynamics 365 query.

Regards,

Daivat Vartak

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Relevance Search taking lots of Database Space

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