Question : SQL 2000 database -  How to shrink and what to expect.

Microsoft SQL 2000 database on Server 2003

My support people told me to "shrink my database".  I know how to perform this action but would like to know what to expect and what I should consider before doing this action as I have never done it on a live database.  I have only done this to static access databases.  I have 160G free on my server.

My database is currently 115G and should be around 30G.  My .ldf file ballooned from a normal of around 5G to 85G.  So I called the people who support the application which I am running and their support people said to shrink the database after a good backup.  My backup executed successfully last night.

1. Is shrinking a database this big going to eliminate access to the database for an extended period of time?
2. When I do shrink the database what options are recommended:
           Maximum free space in files after shrinking:  "default is 0%"
           Move pages to beginning of file before shrinking "unchecked"
           
3. Also is it recommended to leave the main database alone   .mdf and only shrink the .ldf file?

Answer : SQL 2000 database -  How to shrink and what to expect.

it seems like you are not backing up the log files, this is really a mistake unless you are ready to face the conseqquences once your db/system crashes.  in order to reclaim the spaces, use

http://sqlserver2000.databases.aspfaq.com/how-do-i-reclaim-space-in-sql-server.html