SQL Server locks explained

Question

Below is a list of locks that SQL Server 2000 is meant to support. I am a bit confused as to what the \"intent\" locks actually mean. I\'ve looked around on the Web and the answ

Answer 1

The intent locks are placed on the table level and indicate that a transaction will place appropriate locks on some of the rows in the table.

This speeds up conflict checking for transactions that need to place locks on the table level. For example a transaction needing an exclusive lock on a table can detect the conflict at the table level (the "intent shared" lock will be there), instead of having to examine all of the rows (or pages) for shared locks.