LINKED Server does not return all rows - sql

Question

This is a little strange for me. I have script like following
DECLARE #maxCustId INT
SELECT #maxCustId = MAX(CustomerId) FROM Customers
SELECT * INTO #temp FROM linkserver.DB.dbo.Customers where CustomerId > #maxCustId
-- Copy records to local db Custome table
DROP TABLE #temp
But sometimes #temp does not fetch all records from linked sever.
Like I had Max CustomerId = 1138 in my local db and when I run above script my temp table (which fetch records from linked server) misses CustoemrIds 1140, 1141. Linked server has customers upto 1160. #temp table has records upto 1160 but misses two records i.e. 1140, 1141
I run that script again and again and on 4th attempt the record 1141 added in #temp table but record 1140 was still missing.
I then put following query on local server to check record in linked server
SELECT * FROM linkserver.DB.dbo.Customers where CustomerId = 1140
Above query return no records.
To verify this I went to linked server and wrote same query on server from where I have created LINKED server.
-- This is the server which I am using as linked server in my local server
SELECT * FROM Customers where CustomerId = 1140
Custoemr 1140 was in db, which I was sure that it would be there but I run above script to verify it.
I come back to my local server and run this query
SELECT * FROM linkserver.DB.dbo.Customers where CustomerId = 1140
This time my linked server returns customer 1140 which it was not returning earlier.
I run the whole query again and now my #temp table has all records.
I am so confused that why first time linked server did not return all records.
This is sample from a long procedure which copy records from linked server to local server and because of this reason my local db has less records than linked server db.
Linked server: SQL Server 2005 Standard with SP2
Local Server: SQL Server 2008 Web Edition with SP2
Provider: SQL Native Client 10
Linked server security options:
Be made using the securing context
Remote Login
With Passowrd
login user details:
Server Roles: public and sysadmin
User Mappings: sa is not mapped with
db I query.
Linked server db updated frequently
No NOLOCK at any point in query
Any help.

Answer 1

I have seen similar behaviour with linked servers (although usually Oracle not SQL Server) and the problem was traced to the driver being used for the linked server.
I see you have SQL Native Client 10 as the provider, could you try using Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server instead and seeing if it makes a difference?

Answer 2

Also would be curious to know if you have the same problem when you use OpenQuery instead of the four-part naming convention:
SELECT * FROM OpenQuery(linkserver,'SELECT * FROM Customers where CustomerId = 1140')
IIRC, that should be faster, anyway... I believe that would force it to take care of the "where" part on the linked server and only return the appropriate values as opposed to returning the whole dataset and doing the filterin' on the destination side. Of course, I'm also pretty sure I saw a UFO at my Granny's house when I was eight, so take my wisdom with a grain of salt.