Using the “SELECT TOP” pharse in a query on SQL Server 2005 can take a very long time to return results when the query sorts on a column with no index. In those instances, instead of SELECT TOP, use the deprecated “SET ROWCOUNT” to return results in a reasonable time. Originally discovered by Davide Mauri, he has a SQL test script available and also notes that the bug won’t be fixed in the first MS-SQL 2005 production release, but in the first service pack.

It’s not a surprise that there are some strange bugs in MS-SQL 2005, but I am surprised that Microsoft will wait until the first service pack to patch them. Let’s hope that the service pack comes soon after the database server goes on sale.

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