Question

I am using C#, Entity Framework and SQL Server 2008 Express.
I am connected to the database over the internet.
What is the best method to speed up saving/updating data to database?
It takes 87 seconds to save 180 records to the database.
It takes only 3.5 seconds to save the same number of records to local (on the same machine) SQL Server.

For every record that I save/update I check if record with this primary key exists in the database,
if it doesn’t exists I simply save it,
if it exists I update it using ObjectContext.ApplyCurrentValues(entitySetName, currentEntity) method.

Answer 1

A couple of reasons not to use SQL over the internet.

• One, to me it would pose too much of
  a risk exposing a sql
  server on the internet. I do not want SQL attacks :). If you vpn the
  traffic, then it’s a different story
  since man in the middle attacks are
  that much harder.
• Two, the SQL
  protocol is a “chatty” protocol, so a
  link between servers with high
  latency will impact your queries a
  lot.

If possible, I would set up a WCF service on the SQL end, and have my client send the data to the service, which would execute the queries to the database. Any WCF protocol would be less chatty compared to SQL, and you would most likely achieve a speed gain compared to what you are seeing now.

And of course batching the data when transferring it will help reduce the traffic needed to commit the records. You want as few calls over the wire as possible due to latency.