Thanks everyone. We have performed a few test loads that seem to work even with other sessions querying the table being loaded. We have some files coming for production so we'll convert a .CTL file to DIRECT and give it a shot. From our research, testing, and the comments here, it should be fine. Thanks again, Jon Knight ----- Original Message ---- From: Jared Still <jkstill@xxxxxxxxx> To: ryan_gaffuri@xxxxxxxxxxx Cc: Mark.Bobak@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Saturday, April 7, 2007 10:41:22 AM Subject: Re: Does SELECT start a transaction? On 4/7/07, ryan_gaffuri@xxxxxxxxxxx <ryan_gaffuri@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: my understanding of a 3 phase commit is: ... I could be mis-remembering it. Theres an article on widipedia that seems to have a good explanation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-phase_commit_protocol -- Jared Still Certifiable Oracle DBA and Part Time Perl Evangelist ____________________________________________________________________________________ No need to miss a message. Get email on-the-go with Yahoo! Mail for Mobile. Get started. http://mobile.yahoo.com/mail