What makes database connection expensive?

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gnewsgroup

We all seem to know that database connections are expensive and we try
to reduce the number of database trips as much as possible.

This may sound like a stupid question: What makes a database
connection expensive? Is it memory intensive? CPU-intensive? Or does
it use a lot of bandwidth? Or none of these?

Thanks.
 
Creating the connection - opening the socket and preparing datastructures -
seems to be where the expense is located relative to the speed of querying
that is.

--

Regards,
Alvin Bruney [MVP ASP.NET]

[Shameless Author plug]
The O.W.C. Black Book, 2nd Edition
Exclusively on www.lulu.com/owc $19.99
 
Creating the connection - opening the socket and preparing datastructures -
seems to be where the expense is located relative to the speed of querying
that is.

--

Regards,
Alvin Bruney [MVP ASP.NET]

[Shameless Author plug]
The O.W.C. Black Book, 2nd Edition
Exclusively onwww.lulu.com/owc$19.99
Click to expand...

Thank you very much.
 
Yes I agree with Alvin and I'd also like to highlight that there are
typically a limited number of simultaneous connections permitted to the
database. So while creating and destroying database connections can be
expensive, keeping them open while they're not being used can also be
expensive.
This is why the built-in connection pooling feature of ADO.NET is so nice
even though it may not be perfectly optimal in all situations.

--
I hope this helps,
Steve C. Orr,
MCSD, MVP, CSM, ASPInsider
http://SteveOrr.net
http://iPhonePlaza.net
 
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