Thanks for the advice.

It appears that the slow down is due to a recurring error. Here are the details of that error:

InnerException: Cannot insert duplicate key row in object 'dbo.dnn_SearchItem' with unique index 'IX_dnn_SearchItem'. The statement has been terminated.
Message: System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: Cannot insert duplicate key row in object 'dbo.dnn_SearchItem' with unique index 'IX_dnn_SearchItem'. The statement has been terminated. at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior cmdBehavior, RunBehavior runBehavior, Boolean returnStream) at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ExecuteScalar() at Microsoft.ApplicationBlocks.Data.SqlHelper.ExecuteScalar(SqlConnection connection, CommandType commandType, String commandText, SqlParameter[] commandParameters) at Microsoft.ApplicationBlocks.Data.SqlHelper.ExecuteScalar(String connectionString, CommandType commandType, String commandText, SqlParameter[] commandParameters) at Microsoft.ApplicationBlocks.Data.SqlHelper.ExecuteScalar(String connectionString, String spName, Object[] parameterValues) at DotNetNuke.Data.SqlDataProvider.AddSearchItem(String Title, String Description, Int32 Author, DateTime PubDate, Int32 ModuleId, String Key, String Guid, Int32 ImageFileId) in C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\Dnn311\Providers\DataProviders\SqlDataProvider\SqlDataProvider.vb:line 956 at DotNetNuke.Services.Search.SearchDataStoreController.AddSearchItem(SearchItemInfo item) in C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\Dnn311\Providers\SearchProviders\SearchDataStore\SearchDataStoreController.vb:line 45 at DotNetNuke.Services.Search.SearchDataStore.StoreSearchItems(SearchItemInfoCollection SearchItems) in C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\Dnn311\Providers\SearchProviders\SearchDataStore\SearchDataStore.vb:line 506

This error recurs about 15x per second for several seconds, then stops. It starts again after maybe 20 minutes or maybe a couple hours, has about 50-100 errors, then stops logging errors until next round. When this is happening, the entire server is bogged down to the point that even non-dnn sites are timing out.

We are hopeful that an upgarde to dnn 3.2.2 will correct this issue. Other users have had this problem and a workaround was suggested at http://forums.asp.net/759562/ShowPost.aspx.

If 3.2.2 resolves the problem, that's good... except that we've tried to upgrade to 3.2.2  three times and have consistently failed with the following message:

Installation Status Report
00:00:00.015 - Installing Version: 3.1.0
00:00:00.015 - Installing Script: DotNetNuke.SetUp.SqlDataProvider
00:00:00.156 - Installing Script: DotNetNuke.Schema.SqlDataProvider
00:00:16.281 - Installing Script: DotNetNuke.Data.SqlDataProvider
00:00:16.484 - Installing MemberRole Provider:
00:00:16.484 - Executing InstallCommon.sql
00:00:18.515 - Executing InstallMembership.sql
00:00:20.343 - Executing InstallProfile.sql
00:00:20.687 - Executing InstallRoles.sql
00:00:21.406 - Upgrading to Version: 3.1.1
00:00:24.578 - Upgrading to Version: 3.2.0
00:00:25.703 - Upgrading to Version: 3.2.1
00:00:25.859 - Upgrading to Version: 3.2.2
00:00:25.921 - Performing General Upgrades
00:00:26.937 - Loading Host Settings:
00:00:27.671 - Configuring SuperUser:
00:00:27.890 - Installing Desktop Modules:
00:00:27.890 - Installing Modules:
00:00:27.890 -   Installing Module File D:\Inetpub\wwwroot\DotNetNuke\Install\Module\Announcements_3.1_Install.zip:
00:00:28.140 -   Installing Module File D:\Inetpub\wwwroot\DotNetNuke\Install\Module\Contacts_3.1_Install.zip:
00:00:28.343 -   Installing Module File D:\Inetpub\wwwroot\DotNetNuke\Install\Module\Discussions_3.1_Install.zip:
00:00:28.562 -   Installing Module File D:\Inetpub\wwwroot\DotNetNuke\Install\Module\Documents_3.1_Install.zip:
00: -   Installing Module File D:\Inetpub\wwwroot\DotNetNuke\Install\Module\Events_3.1_Install.zip:
00:00:29.468 -   Installing Module File D:\Inetpub\wwwroot\DotNetNuke\Install\Module\FAQs_3.1_Install.zip:
00:00:29.781 -   Installing Module File D:\Inetpub\wwwroot\DotNetNuke\Install\Module\Feedback_3.1_Install.zip:
00:00:29.843 -   Installing Module File D:\Inetpub\wwwroot\DotNetNuke\Install\Module\HTML_3.1_Install.zip:
00:00:30.078 -   Installing Module File D:\Inetpub\wwwroot\DotNetNuke\Install\Module\IFrame_3.1_Install.zip:
00:00:30.140 -   Installing Module File D:\Inetpub\wwwroot\DotNetNuke\Install\Module\Image_3.1_Install.zip:
00:00:30.218 -   Installing Module File D:\Inetpub\wwwroot\DotNetNuke\Install\Module\Links_3.1_Install.zip:
00:00:30.515 -   Installing Module File D:\Inetpub\wwwroot\DotNetNuke\Install\Module\NewsFeeds_3.1_Install.zip:
00:00:30.656 -   Installing Module File D:\Inetpub\wwwroot\DotNetNuke\Install\Module\Survey_3.1_Install.zip:
00:00:31.328 -   Installing Module File D:\Inetpub\wwwroot\DotNetNuke\Install\Module\UserDefinedTable_3.1_Install.zip:
00:00:32.125 -   Installing Module File D:\Inetpub\wwwroot\DotNetNuke\Install\Module\UsersOnline_3.1_Install.zip:
00:00:32.328 -   Installing Module File D:\Inetpub\wwwroot\DotNetNuke\Install\Module\XML_3.1_Install.zip:
00:00:32.421 - Executing Additional Scripts:
00:00:32.421 -   Creating Portal: My Website
00:00:35.718 -   Error: The INSERT statement conflicted with the FOREIGN KEY constraint "FK_TabPermission_Permission". The conflict occurred in database "DotNetNuke", table "dbo.Permission", column 'PermissionID'. The statement has been terminated.
00:00:35.718 -   Portal failed to install:
00:00:35.718 - Installing Optional Resources:

Installation Complete

We tried to preemptively head off that conflict prior to last attempt but the table referred to does not even exist in 3.1.1 so we can't try to prevent this same error that way.

Two questions:

1. Will an upgrade to 3.2.2 solve the duplicate key error?

2. How do we upgrade w/o failing due to FOREIGN KEY constraint conflict?

Thanks for your help.