Replication performance question

Hello to all,

I have a performance question: we have a cluster with 2 SQL instances on 1 node (another instance is on another node, but no link with my current problem!). Let's call them C1SQL1 and C1SQL2.

This node is a Hyperthreaded Xeon 2.8Ghz with 1 gig of memory.

These 2 instances are using transactionnal replication and are configured as the distributor and publisher. C1SQL1 is not using much power, it's a small replication with around 10 agents. C1SQL2 is a bit heavier, with around 100 distribution agents. C1SQL2 has around 50 subscribers in 12 publications, but not all subscribers are used in each publications.

Once in a while, this cluster node impacts our production environment (since it's also a production server) and we're wondering if performance wise, it's really not powerfull enough to be the distributor?

I've isolated C1SQL2 on it's own logical CPU, and in idle mode, the replication workload (history, checking if new transactions are made) peaks at around 15-50% each 4-10 seconds.

Can I have any input on this?

Thanks!

Can you give some more detail, I'm not clear on what the problem/symptoms are. Regardless, have you been monitoring disk, memory and CPU to rule out hardware bottleneck? The replication workload you mention in the last sentence, are you talking about logreader agent or distribution agent? Is this SQL 2000 or 2005? Are you running Repl MOnitor in the background?