number of sort buffers

Summary information

Default value

500

Range of values

0–32767

Status

Dynamic

Display level

Comprehensive

Required role

System Administrator

number of sort buffers specifies the number of 2K buffers used to hold pages read from input tables and perform index merges during sorts.

Sybase recommends that you leave this parameter set to the default except when you are creating indexes in parallel. Setting the value too high can rob non-sorting processes of access to the 2K buffer pool in caches being used to perform sorts.

For more information on configuring this value for parallel create index statements, see “Caches, sort buffers, and parallel sorts” on page 635 in the Performance and Tuning Guide.