Spurious slow performance in SQL 2000

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From: Lee Gillie (Lee_at_nospam.odp.com)
Date: 11/10/04 

Date: Wed, 10 Nov 2004 07:25:09 -0800

We have processes which load data collected from around the country in
night time DTS processes. Tasks are loaded and run one on the heels of
another. These have a pretty consistent performance profile most of the
time. But sometimes, almost always at night, we see a 10 fold increase
in the wall time needed for some of these loads. This can be enough to
cause timeouts in DTS ActiveX scripts using ADO.

Our theory is that SQL is doing extents or doing some other processing
behind the scenes.

Seeking advice on what kinds of things we can do to get a better handle
on these long run times, and if possible, eliminate them.

Thanks for any wisdom
Best regards
Lee Gillie
Online Data Processing, Inc.
Spokane, WA