Release 10.1A: OpenEdge Deployment:
Startup Command and Parameter Reference

Speed Sort (-TB)

Use Speed Sort (-TB) primarily to improve sort performance, particularly during index rebuild operations.

Operating system and syntax	UNIX Windows	-TB blocksize
Use with	Maximum value	Minimum value	Single-user default	Multi-user default
Client Session	31	1	2	2

blocksize

The block size in kilobytes, to allocate when sorting records for reports and when rebuilding indexes. The default block size is 2K but can be reset anywhere from 1KB to 31KB.

If you increase the block size beyond 2KB, Progress sorts records faster but uses more memory and disk space in the process. If system memory is severely limited, you might actually choose to lower the block size.

Sort space is allocated in the SRT file, a temporary session file having a system-generated unique name with the prefix srt. Progress uses the SRT file to store session-compile modules and as temporary work space during sorting (including rebuilding indexes). Use -TB to set the SRT file block size-the increments by which the SRT file grows.

In summary, increase -TB to at least 8 to improve index rebuild operations by 15 percent or more. Or, decrease -TB to 1 to relieve severe Windows memory shortages during sort operations. See also the description of the Merge Number (-TM) startup parameter.

Note: Increasing the -TB value to 4 or more can improve network performance when Progress reads large r-code files across a network.