SQL Server 2008 R2 Transaction Counts Good Afternoon,
We have a pretty big SQL Box  32proc 128gb. 

We had a change in our environment, not sure what exactly change,  db/code.  We're investigating that aspect as well.   One of the things we noticed from a baseline stats were the number of transactions.   It went from 10-20K to 60-80K. 

SELECT name, transaction_type, COUNT(1)
FROM sys.dm_tran_active_transactions
WHERE name &lt;&gt; 'worktable'
GROUP BY name, transaction_type

Results:
name
implicit_transaction
INSERT
sort_init
UPDATE STATISTICS
UpdateQPStats
user_transaction
LobStorageProviderSession
SELECT
sort_fake_worktable
topn_fake_worktable
workfile
WorkFileGroup_fake_worktable


Some of the names are self explanatory, others not so much.  I have not been able to find any of these on the web.  Does anyone have an explanation or a link where I could find the answers?

Thanks,
Check the transaction log file.  Has it increased significantly.  Also check the full transaction by query.  It will give you more detail about what was actually running.

/* Query to check transaction count per query and session_id */  

select er.session_id, er.request_id,
er.open_transaction_count, er.transaction_id,
at.name, at.transaction_begin_time,
REPLACE (REPLACE([text], char(13), ' '), CHAR(10), ' ') AS sql_text
from     sys.dm_exec_requests er 
join     sys.dm_tran_active_transactions at
  on     er.transaction_id = at.transaction_id
join     sys.dm_exec_query_stats stat
  on     er.plan_handle = stat.plan_handle  
CROSS
APPLY    sys.dm_exec_sql_text (stat.sql_handle)
GO

/* Check task allocation by query */

SELECT t1.session_id, t1.request_id, t1.task_alloc,
t1.task_dealloc, t2.statement_start_offset, 
t2.statement_end_offset, REPLACE (REPLACE([text], char(13), ' '), CHAR(10), ' ') AS sql_text
FROM (Select session_id, request_id,
SUM(internal_objects_alloc_page_count) AS task_alloc,
SUM (internal_objects_dealloc_page_count) AS task_dealloc 
FROM sys.dm_db_task_space_usage 
GROUP BY session_id, request_id) AS t1, 
        sys.dm_exec_requests AS t2
INNER JOIN sys.dm_exec_query_stats stat ON t2.plan_handle = stat.plan_handle
CROSS 
APPLY  sys.dm_exec_sql_text (stat.sql_handle)
WHERE  t1.session_id = t2.session_id
  AND  (t1.request_id = t2.request_id)
GO