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Asked: 2026-05-11T14:56:28+00:00

I’m interested to know how I could improve the performance of SQL Server when

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I’m interested to know how I could improve the performance of SQL Server when using sequential GUID when using Access 2007 as a front end to SQL Server 2008 (please note it’s the only context I’m interested in).

I have made some tests (and gotten some fairly surprising results, in particular from SQL Server when using sequential GUID: the insert performance degrades very very quickly and it doesn’t seem right to degrade so quickly to me.

Basically the test is as follow:

From the Access front-end, using VBA only, insert 100,000 records in batches of 1000, sequentially.

  • I tried it both with a Identity and a sequential GUID as the PK.
  • I tried it in SQL Server 2008 Standard (no special tweaking just default install) as and an Access 2007 database as the back-end. All tables linked back to the front-end.

Some of the results (more, with raw data available on my blog entry about the test):

It’s clear that, as the database grows, the insert performance is reduced but SQL Server isn’t performing very well at all here.

http://blog.nkadesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/chart02.png

Expanded view of the results for SQL Server: http://blog.nkadesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/chart03.png

Edit 13APR2009

I’ve found an issue with my server configuration and I updated the tests on my blog.
Thanks to all for your replies, they helped me a lot.

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1 Answer

  1. My question is whether your test setup represents the reality of your application or not. In short, are you testing the right thing?

    Is your app going to be appending large numbers of records one at a time?

    Or is it going to be appending batches of records based on a SQL SELECT?

    If the latter, you might look at trying to do it all server-side, particularly if the source table(s) in the SELECT are on the server. It’s important to realize that with ODBC, a batch append is going to be sent to the SQL Server as a single insert for every single row (every similar to the recordset-based approach in your test code). If you move the same process entirely server-side, it can be done as a batch operation.

    Also, you should test again using ADO instead of DAO. It may optimize the operation completely differently.

    Last of all, someone brought to my attention just this past week this fascinating article by Andy Baron:

    Optimizing Microsoft Office Access Applications Linked to SQL Server

    I’m still absorbing the contents of that very useful article, and it discusses several issues in regard to non-GUID-specific topics that may help you optimize your process for maximum efficiency.

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