I had to go hunting for the SQL forums... Took me a while to find them.

Sicne this is a SQL Server site, how...

Which table is the blocking on? You'll be able to see that from the wait_resource if you query sys.dm_exec_requests or from the resource_associated_entity_id in sys.dm_tran_locks.

Based on what you said, and...

Sounds like a typical parameter sniffing problem.

Let's say the first time SQL comes to execute this, the value for @Branch is 100 and @contact is 0. SQL optimised the proc...

NoLock only applies on selects. SQL will take locks for updates/inserts/deletes.

Check the indexes on the tables, make sure they're not fragmented.

Could you post the proc here with an indication of...

Sure on that?

If you have multiple files in the primary filegroup, then the writes are proportional to the free space in the file, nothing to do with CPU affinity to...

Could you post some sample data and your desired output please.

The 1 file per CPU does apply for user database.

Why? What's the logical reason behind it?

For TempDB, at least on SQL 2000 it was due to the round-robin algorithm...

I'm getting exactly the same error messages from my Itanium server. No power utils are running on th box. It's single-core, none-HT.

Any ideas as to the cause, or should I...

There's a recomendation from MS to have 1 file per CPU for TempDB.

I've never heard that suggestion applied to user databases and I don't think it's a good idea.

Hmmm. will think a bit more. Do you have some sample data please (as insert statements if possible)?

The reason I suggested Full Text is that it does automatically what you're...

Try adding the following after the group by, before the order by. The filter there will depend on the no on keywords. No promices, I'm guessing here.

HAVING COUNT(distinct w1.word) >...

I use amazon.com. I tend to be cautious of any IT book with less than 4 stars.

Gail, can I ask if you passed the exam? I'm assuming you find out there and then as you do with 70-431?

I passed. Got 880. You get the results and...

Have a look in Books online. There's a section on full text search.

Full-Text Search Concepts (ms-help://MS.SQLCC.v9/MS.SQLSVR.v9.en/fulltxt9/html/db3747e0-db12-4c69-9d81-b5011984eb3a.htm) should get you started.

Have you considered using the fulltext search functionality for this?

With fulltext you probably won't even need the keywords tables. Put a full text index on the documents (assuming they're...