Chapter 26: Parallel Sorting

This chapter discusses how to configure the server for improved performance for commands that perform parallel sorts.

The process of sorting data is an integral part of any database management system. Sorting is for creating indexes and for processing complex queries. The Adaptive Server parallel sort manager provides a high-performance, parallel method for sorting data rows. All Transact-SQL commands that require an internal sort can benefit from the use of parallel sorting.

Parallel sorting and how it works and what factors affect the performance of parallel sorts is also covered. You need to understand these subjects to get the best performance from parallel sorting, and to keep parallel sort resource requirements from interfering with other resource needs.