Share via


Maximum Capacity Specifications for SQL Server

The following tables specify the maximum sizes and numbers of various objects defined in SQL Server components. To navigate to the table for a SQL Server technology, click on its link:

SQL Server Database Engine Objects

SQL Server Utility Objects

SQL Server Data-tier Application Objects

SQL Server Replication Objects

Database Engine Objects

The following table specifies the maximum sizes and numbers of various objects defined in SQL Server databases or referenced in Transact-SQL statements.

SQL Server Database Engine object Maximum sizes/numbers SQL Server (32-bit) Maximum sizes/numbers SQL Server (64-bit)
Batch size

Note: Network Packet Size is the size of the tabular data stream (TDS) packets used to communicate between applications and the relational Database Engine. The default packet size is 4 KB, and is controlled by the network packet size configuration option.
65,536 * Network Packet Size 65,536 * Network Packet Size
Bytes per short string column 8,000 8,000
Bytes per GROUP BY, ORDER BY 8,060 8,060
Bytes per index key

Note: The maximum number of bytes in any index key cannot exceed 900 in SQL Server. You can define a key using variable-length columns whose maximum sizes add up to more than 900, provided no row is ever inserted with more than 900 bytes of data in those columns. In SQL Server, you can include nonkey columns in a nonclustered index to avoid the maximum index key size of 900 bytes.
900 900
Bytes per foreign key 900 900
Bytes per primary key 900 900
Bytes per row

Note:
SQL Server supports row-overflow storage which enables variable length columns to be pushed off-row. Only a 24-byte root is stored in the main record for variable length columns pushed out of row; because of this, the effective row limit is higher than in previous releases of SQL Server. For more information, see the "Row-Overflow Data Exceeding 8 KB" topic in SQL Server Books Online.
8,060 8,060
Bytes per row in memory-optimized tables

Note:
SQL Server In-Memory OLTP does not support row-overflow storage. Variable length columns are not pushed off row. This limits the maximum width of variable-length columns you can specify in a memory-optimized table to the maximum row size. For more information, see Table and Row Size in Memory-Optimized Tables.
Not supported 8,060
Bytes in source text of a stored procedure Lesser of batch size or 250 MB Lesser of batch size or 250 MB
Bytes per varchar(max), varbinary(max), xml, text, or image column 2^31-1 2^31-1
Characters per ntext or nvarchar(max) column 2^30-1 2^30-1
Clustered indexes per table 1 1
Columns in GROUP BY, ORDER BY Limited only by number of bytes Limited only by number of bytes
Columns or expressions in a GROUP BY WITH CUBE or WITH ROLLUP statement 10 10
Columns per index key

Note: If the table contains one or more XML indexes, the clustering key of the user table is limited to 15 columns because the XML column is added to the clustering key of the primary XML index. In SQL Server, you can include nonkey columns in a nonclustered index to avoid the limitation of a maximum of 16 key columns. For more information, see Create Indexes with Included Columns.
16 16
Columns per foreign key 16 16
Columns per primary key 16 16
Columns per nonwide table 1,024 1,024
Columns per wide table 30,000 30,000
Columns per SELECT statement 4,096 4,096
Columns per INSERT statement 4096 4096
Connections per client Maximum value of configured connections Maximum value of configured connections
Database size 524,272 terabytes 524,272 terabytes
Databases per instance of SQL Server 32,767 32,767
Filegroups per database 32,767 32,767
Filegroups per database for memory-optimized data Not supported 1
Files per database 32,767 32,767
File size (data) 16 terabytes 16 terabytes
File size (log) 2 terabytes 2 terabytes
Data files for memory-optimized data per database Not supported 4.096
Delta file per data file for memory-optimized data Not supported 1
Foreign key table references per table

Note: Although a table can contain an unlimited number of FOREIGN KEY constraints, the recommended maximum is 253. Depending on the hardware configuration hosting SQL Server, specifying additional FOREIGN KEY constraints may be expensive for the query optimizer to process.
253 253
Identifier length (in characters) 128 128
Instances per computer 50 instances on a stand-alone server for all SQL Server editions.

SQL Server supports 25 instances on a failover cluster when using a shared cluster disk as the stored option for you cluster installation SQL Server supports 50 instances on a failover cluster if you choose SMB file shares as the storage option for your cluster installation For more information, see Hardware and Software Requirements for Installing SQL Server 2014.
50 instances on a stand-alone server.

25 instances on a failover cluster when using a shared cluster disk as the stored option for you cluster installation SQL Server supports 50 instances on a failover cluster if you choose SMB file shares as the storage option for your cluster installation.
Indexes per memory-optimized table Not supported 8
Length of a string containing SQL statements (batch size)

Note: Network Packet Size is the size of the tabular data stream (TDS) packets used to communicate between applications and the relational Database Engine. The default packet size is 4 KB, and is controlled by the network packet size configuration option.
65,536 * Network packet size 65,536 * Network packet size
Locks per connection Maximum locks per server Maximum locks per server
Locks per instance of SQL Server

Note: This value is for static lock allocation. Dynamic locks are limited only by memory.
Up to 2,147,483,647 Limited only by memory
Nested stored procedure levels

Note: If a stored procedure accesses more than 64 databases, or more than 2 databases in interleaving, you will receive an error.
32 32
Nested subqueries 32 32
Nested trigger levels 32 32
Nonclustered indexes per table 999 999
Number of distinct expressions in the GROUP BY clause when any of the following are present: CUBE, ROLLUP, GROUPING SETS, WITH CUBE, WITH ROLLUP 32 32
Number of grouping sets generated by operators in the GROUP BY clause 4,096 4,096
Parameters per stored procedure 2,100 2,100
Parameters per user-defined function 2,100 2,100
REFERENCES per table 253 253
Rows per table Limited by available storage Limited by available storage
Tables per database

Note: Database objects include objects such as tables, views, stored procedures, user-defined functions, triggers, rules, defaults, and constraints. The sum of the number of all objects in a database cannot exceed 2,147,483,647.
Limited by number of objects in a database Limited by number of objects in a database
Partitions per partitioned table or index 1,000

** Important ** Creating a table or index with more than 1,000 partitions is possible on a 32-bit system, but is not supported.
15,000
Statistics on non-indexed columns 30,000 30,000
Tables per SELECT statement Limited only by available resources Limited only by available resources
Triggers per table

Note: Database objects include objects such as tables, views, stored procedures, user-defined functions, triggers, rules, defaults, and constraints. The sum of the number of all objects in a database cannot exceed 2,147,483,647.
Limited by number of objects in a database Limited by number of objects in a database
Columns per UPDATE statement (Wide Tables) 4096 4096
User connections 32,767 32,767
XML indexes 249 249

SQL Server Utility Objects

The following table specifies the maximum sizes and numbers of various objects that were tested in the SQL Server Utility.

SQL Server Utility object Maximum sizes/numbers SQL Server (32-bit) Maximum sizes/numbers SQL Server (64-bit)
Computers (physical computers or virtual machines) per SQL Server Utility 100 100
Instances of SQL Server per computer 5 5
Total number of instances of SQL Server per SQL Server Utility 200* 200*
User databases per instance of SQL Server, including data-tier applications 50 50
Total number of user databases per SQL Server Utility 1,000 1,000
File groups per database 1 1
Data files per file group 1 1
Log files per database 1 1
Volumes per computer 3 3

*The maximum number of managed instances of SQL Server supported by SQL Server Utility might vary based on the hardware configuration of the server. For getting started information, see SQL Server Utility Features and Tasks. SQL Server utility control point is not available in every edition of SQL Server 2014. For a list of features that are supported by the editions of SQL Server, see Features Supported by the Editions of SQL Server 2014.

SQL Server Data-tier Application Objects

The following table specifies the maximum sizes and numbers of various objects that were tested in the SQL Server data-tier applications (DAC).

SQL Server DAC object Maximum sizes/numbers SQL Server (32-bit) Maximum sizes/numbers SQL Server (64-bit)
Databases per DAC 1 1
Objects per DAC* Limited by the number of objects in a database, or available memory. Limited by the number of objects in a database, or available memory.

*The types of objects included in the limit are users, tables, views, stored procedures, user-defined functions, user-defined data type, database roles, schemas, and user-defined table types.

Replication Objects

The following table specifies the maximum sizes and numbers of various objects defined in SQL Server Replication.

SQL Server Replication object Maximum sizes/numbers SQL Server (32-bit) Maximum sizes/numbers SQL Server (64-bit)
Articles (merge publication) 256 256
Articles (snapshot or transactional publication) 32,767 32,767
Columns in a table* (merge publication) 246 246
Columns in a table** (SQL Server snapshot or transactional publication) 1,000 1,000
Columns in a table** (Oracle snapshot or transactional publication) 995 995
Bytes for a column used in a row filter (merge publication) 1,024 1,024
Bytes for a column used in a row filter (snapshot or transactional publication) 8,000 8,000

*If row tracking is used for conflict detection (the default), the base table can include a maximum of 1,024 columns, but columns must be filtered from the article so that a maximum of 246 columns is published. If column tracking is used, the base table can include a maximum of 246 columns.

**The base table can include the maximum number of columns allowable in the publication database (1,024 for SQL Server), but columns must be filtered from the article if they exceed the maximum specified for the publication type.

See Also

Hardware and Software Requirements for Installing SQL Server 2014
Check Parameters for the System Configuration Checker
SQL Server Utility Features and Tasks