When merge replication performs an update, it updates all changed columns in one UPDATE statement and resets unchanged columns to their original values. Alternatively, it can issue multiple UPDATE statements, with one UPDATE statement for each column that has changed. The multicolumn UPDATE statement is typically more efficient.
In previous versions of SQL Server, it was recommended to specify a value of false for the fast_multicol_updateproc article option to address cases in which a multicolumn update (one UPDATE statement) might be less efficient:
- Most updates involve a small number of columns.
- Index maintenance on unchanged columns is high because those columns are reset when updates occur.
Due to performance improvements in SQL Server, this option is no longer required for these cases.