SQL Server caches temp tables created within stored procedures and merely renames them when the procedure ends and is subsequently executed. My question has to do with when the tempdb space is released. I've read that the table is truncated at the end of the procedure. I've read in comments that this is handled on a per-session basis and seen a question about whether or not cleanup is necessary answered on MSDN. But what if it is never executed by the same session twice?
I've also heard that there is a background garbage collection process that frees up that space once the table is out of scope.
Truncating a temp table at the end of the stored procedure that creates it seems to cause the space the table uses in tempdb for the data to be released faster than if no truncate statement is used, despite expectations to the contrary. Why?
What would be the relative performance implications of using or not using such a truncate statement? When using SNAPSHOT isolation, tempdb is often stressed and I would think that releasing space used in tempdb from a large temp table as soon as possible would prevent otherwise unnecessary growth of tempdb. Would this potential space savings come at the cost of performance?
Here is some code to reproduce the issue (mostly from @TheGameiswar, with some changes):
SET NOCOUNT ON;
GO
ALTER PROC usp_test
AS
BEGIN
IF object_id('tempdb..#temp') IS NOT NULL
DROP TABLE #temp
SELECT *
INTO #temp
FROM [dbo].[Event_28] -- This is a table with 15313 rows, using 35648 KB according to sp_spaceused
--SELECT SUM(user_object_reserved_page_count) AS [user object pages used]
-- ,(SUM(user_object_reserved_page_count) * 1.0 / 128) AS [user object space in MB]
-- ,getdate() AS BeforeTruncate
--FROM tempdb.sys.dm_db_file_space_usage;
-- TRUNCATE TABLE #temp
--SELECT SUM(user_object_reserved_page_count) AS [user object pages used]
-- ,(SUM(user_object_reserved_page_count) * 1.0 / 128) AS [user object space in MB]
-- ,getdate() AS AfterTruncate
--FROM tempdb.sys.dm_db_file_space_usage;
END
GO
SELECT SUM(user_object_reserved_page_count) AS [user object pages used]
,(SUM(user_object_reserved_page_count) * 1.0 / 128) AS [user object space in MB]
,getdate() AS 'before'
FROM tempdb.sys.dm_db_file_space_usage;
EXEC usp_test
GO
SELECT SUM(user_object_reserved_page_count) AS [user object pages used]
,(SUM(user_object_reserved_page_count) * 1.0 / 128) AS [user object space in MB]
,getdate() AS 'final'
FROM tempdb.sys.dm_db_file_space_usage;
GO 40
The commented lines were left commented out for some runs and un-commented for others. When the TRUNCATE was commented out, it took between 2.25 and 4.5 seconds before the results of the tempdb.sys.dm_db_file_space_usage query (4472 more pages and 34.9375 MB larger) matched the result before the procedure was executed. With the lines (including the TRUNCATE) un-commented, it only took about 0.11 - 0.9 seconds. These results are from a live system, with some minor data growth in the source table during this experiment.
Sample output with the code commented out (2.69 seconds from the first to last "final" entry):
user object pages used user object space in MB before
---------------------- --------------------------------------- -----------------------
1536 12.000000 2017-10-04 21:03:42.197
Beginning execution loop
user object pages used user object space in MB final
---------------------- --------------------------------------- -----------------------
6000 46.875000 2017-10-04 21:03:42.423
user object pages used user object space in MB final
---------------------- --------------------------------------- -----------------------
6000 46.875000 2017-10-04 21:03:42.533
user object pages used user object space in MB final
---------------------- --------------------------------------- -----------------------
6000 46.875000 2017-10-04 21:03:42.643
user object pages used user object space in MB final
---------------------- --------------------------------------- -----------------------
6000 46.875000 2017-10-04 21:03:42.883
user object pages used user object space in MB final
---------------------- --------------------------------------- -----------------------
6000 46.875000 2017-10-04 21:03:42.990
user object pages used user object space in MB final
---------------------- --------------------------------------- -----------------------
6000 46.875000 2017-10-04 21:03:43.100
user object pages used user object space in MB final
---------------------- --------------------------------------- -----------------------
6000 46.875000 2017-10-04 21:03:43.450
user object pages used user object space in MB final
---------------------- --------------------------------------- -----------------------
6000 46.875000 2017-10-04 21:03:43.650
user object pages used user object space in MB final
---------------------- --------------------------------------- -----------------------
6000 46.875000 2017-10-04 21:03:43.767
user object pages used user object space in MB final
---------------------- --------------------------------------- -----------------------
6000 46.875000 2017-10-04 21:03:43.993
user object pages used user object space in MB final
---------------------- --------------------------------------- -----------------------
6000 46.875000 2017-10-04 21:03:44.103
user object pages used user object space in MB final
---------------------- --------------------------------------- -----------------------
6000 46.875000 2017-10-04 21:03:44.213
user object pages used user object space in MB final
---------------------- --------------------------------------- -----------------------
6000 46.875000 2017-10-04 21:03:44.437
user object pages used user object space in MB final
---------------------- --------------------------------------- -----------------------
6000 46.875000 2017-10-04 21:03:44.553
user object pages used user object space in MB final
---------------------- --------------------------------------- -----------------------
6000 46.875000 2017-10-04 21:03:44.663
user object pages used user object space in MB final
---------------------- --------------------------------------- -----------------------
6000 46.875000 2017-10-04 21:03:44.887
user object pages used user object space in MB final
---------------------- --------------------------------------- -----------------------
6000 46.875000 2017-10-04 21:03:45.003
user object pages used user object space in MB final
---------------------- --------------------------------------- -----------------------
1536 12.000000 2017-10-04 21:03:45.113
Sample results with the code un-commented (0.11 seconds from the first to last "final" entry):
user object pages used user object space in MB before
---------------------- --------------------------------------- -----------------------
1536 12.000000 2017-10-04 21:07:39.807
user object pages used user object space in MB BeforeTruncate
---------------------- --------------------------------------- -----------------------
6016 47.000000 2017-10-04 21:07:39.923
user object pages used user object space in MB AfterTruncate
---------------------- --------------------------------------- -----------------------
6016 47.000000 2017-10-04 21:07:39.923
Beginning execution loop
user object pages used user object space in MB final
---------------------- --------------------------------------- -----------------------
6016 47.000000 2017-10-04 21:07:40.160
user object pages used user object space in MB final
---------------------- --------------------------------------- -----------------------
1536 12.000000 2017-10-04 21:07:40.270
