"Svein Erling Tysvaer"

> >The other thing I have in mind is, that my gab between oldest
> >transaction and next transaction is somewhere around 2000.
> >
> >I think its one of the above that causes the slow update, but can I
> >tell which is more likely to do that ?
>
> Jason Chapman normally knows what he's talking about, and he wrote that he
> didn't think a gap of 2000 should be a problem. But that may depend upon
> how many records each transaction changes (to hold 1 old version of 2000
> records is quite different from holding 2000 old versions of millions of
> records).

You are right of course (not about me knowing what I am talking about :-) ).
I think I will do a few tests to see how performance degrades against
growing transaction gaps. The case you state is very common when someone
puts a trigger on a lines table that updates a sum / count column in the
master, which then does the same to the masters master, this generates hot
spots of record versioning.

I think Michael needs to gather a few more observations about how the
performance degrades in terms of speed vs No active Users, speed vs TX gap.

Finally, these kind of problems keep me busy, so anyone else out there
(especially in the UK), who would like their IB / FB system QA'd, I'm
available : ).

Jason Chapman
JAC2 Consultancy

Training - Development - Consultancy
Delphi, InterBase, Firebird, OOAD, Development lifecycle assistance,
Troubleshooting projects, QA.....
www: When I get round to it....
Mob: (+44) 07966 211 959 (preferred)
Tel: (+44) 01928 751088