Object Linking and Embedding Database (OLEDB) is a mechanism used within SQL Server to connect to other database resources. OLEDB waits indicate that SQL Server has been making calls to remote OLEDB resources from within the system. Waits may be affected by any issues on the remote resource. The wait itself defines the length of time that the OLEDB call is taking to return.

The most common cause of this wait type is calls to linked servers set up through OLEDB. It can also be caused by:

• remote procedure calls set up within a query.
• BULK INSERT commands that go through OLEDB calls.
• using full text search, or any other SQL Server resource that has to go through OLEDB to retrieve data from other database resources.

Investigating queries

• Check the affected queries. Determine if queries can be modified to pass filtering on to the remote resource through OPENROWSET.
• Check that the remote resource of a linked server or OPENROWSET is not suffering from some type of bottleneck caused by the query, such as bad or missing indexes or inappropriate T-SQL code.
• Look for queries using BULK INSERT to determine if they are hitting some other type of bottleneck. Look for ASYNCH_IO_COMPLETION, IO_COMPLETION, LOGMGR and PAGEIOLATCH_* waits in association with OLEDB and a BULK INSERT.

Investigating the remote resource

Since this wait type is indicating a wait on an external resource, you may only be able to address the issue at that resource’s location. You may consider avoiding using the external resources in future.