Backup and Recovery Best Practices › Backup Concepts › Backup Considerations › Required Full Backup › Database Consistency Checks

Database Consistency Checks

When your database activity is low, you should run a database consistency check (DBCC), particularly with a large database. Although it takes some time, it is important to determine that your Microsoft SQL Server database is functioning well.

A DBCC tests the physical and logical consistency of a database. When you enable the Database Consistency Check option for a backup, the DBCC performs the following tests:

• DBCC CHECKDB: Checks the allocation and structural integrity of all objects in the specified database. By default, the CHECKDB performs a check for indexes that can increase the overall execution time.
• DBCC CHECKCATALOG: Checks for consistency in and between system tables in the specified database.

For more information, see Database Consistency Check (DBCC) Options.