Sql-server – How to get an actual execution plan from the linked server

linked server is Oracle, the first thing that I tried was to check if the Server hosting the SQL Server instance, was able to connect to the listener on the Oracle Database Server using tnsping.

tnsping searched to the path C:\product\11.1.0\db_1\bin initially, this will initially use the used parameter file C:\product\11.1.0\db_1\network\admin\sqlnet.ora

tnsping successfully connected to the Oracle database from the SQL Server box. Then check the Provider details while creating the Linked Server.

The Linked Server provider was Oracle Provider for OLE DB. This is the driver that gets installed along with the Oracle Client Components.

Error 7302 can be a result of MSDAORA.dll not being registered correctly. In this case it had to be an issue with the dll related to Oracle Provider for OLE DB i.e.OraOleDB.dll. Before checking the dll related issues,to check if something was missing in the registry. The list of Providers in the Linked Server is populated from the Providers key in the registry.

Error 7303 means that the username and password combination is not correct, hence the login failed for the user specified in the Linked Server. When the correct login credentials for the Oracle database were entered, the Linked Server got created successfully!

I insert into this table small amount of data just about 1000 rows and it takes more than 4 minutes

Remote data modifications through a linked server use the sp_cursor model. The effect is similar to issuing 1000 separate single inserts (one for each row). If a round trip takes 250ms, 1000 such trips will take 4 minutes and 10 seconds. Using a bulk loading method such as bcp or SSIS will generally be more efficient (unless the number of rows to be inserted is tiny).

Another alternative for ad-hoc needs is to build a string containing a single INSERT statement with multiple rows in the VALUES clause. The statement is then used with EXECUTE AT, for example:

-- Note local-to-azure table name used, not four-part syntax
DECLARE @sql varchar(max) = 'INSERT dbo.Test VALUES ';

-- Build a list of 1000 numbers to insert    
SELECT @sql += '(' + CONVERT(varchar(11), n) + '),'
FROM dbo.Numbers AS N
WHERE n BETWEEN 1 AND 1000;

-- Remove trailing comma
SET @sql = LEFT(@sql, LEN(@sql) - 1);

-- For debugging
PRINT @sql;

-- Execute the finished statement at the remote server;
EXECUTE (@sql) AT AZURE;

The constructed insert statement executes at the Azure database, so a local name is used for the table (note: building a dynamic insert statement using a four-part target name buys you nothing).

Note that EXECUTE ... AT requires RPC and RPC OUT enabled in the linked server options.

The VALUES clause for a plan INSERT statement is limited to 1000 elements. There are ways around that (a VALUES clause in a CTE does not have that restriction). You could also choose to build 1000-row batches or build single-row insert statements, but if the there is that much data on a regular basis, you would probably be better off using one of the bulk loading methods instead.