Random Timeout Error

  • Hi, following a code release we have seen random timeout errors. I'm not sure whats causing the system to slow down to the point that a timeout happens so set a SQL profiler running and found that on 2 traces before the timeout occurs there is a deadlock thing recorded...

    SET DEADLOCK_PRIORITY -10

    Does this mean that a deadlock is being resolved or what? im a c# dev so this really isnt my bag. any help would be much appreciated.

  • That means that the task being run will be cancelled if it is involved in a deadlock.  It doesn't mean that a deadlock will occur.  -10 is the lowest priority possible, so, by default, every other task will be considered more important.

    By default, deadlock priority is 0.  If two tasks get into a deadlock, SQL uses its own stats -- which comes down to SQL determining "which task being cancelled would require less work" -- to determine which one to cancel.

    But, if one task has a lower priority than the other one(s), SQL will cancel that task, no matter what the stats are for each query.

     

    SQL DBA,SQL Server MVP(07, 08, 09) "It's a dog-eat-dog world, and I'm wearing Milk-Bone underwear." "Norm", on "Cheers". Also from "Cheers", from "Carla": "You need to know 3 things about Tortelli men: Tortelli men draw women like flies; Tortelli men treat women like flies; Tortelli men's brains are in their flies".

  • Thats a really nice, easy to understand writeup. thanks a lot.

    Do you have any recommendations as to how I would go about diagnosing what could be causing the timeout?

  • Look in the SQL error log, you might be able to at least some more details about what task timed out, though admittedly not a lot of details.

    Typically timeouts are caused by blocking.  Blocking is normal and expected in SQL Server (or any other relational dbms), but excessive blocking is a problem.

    Also, make sure no database backup(s) are occurring during normal database activity.  Backups can cause serious slowdowns and contentions in any SQL database.

     

    SQL DBA,SQL Server MVP(07, 08, 09) "It's a dog-eat-dog world, and I'm wearing Milk-Bone underwear." "Norm", on "Cheers". Also from "Cheers", from "Carla": "You need to know 3 things about Tortelli men: Tortelli men draw women like flies; Tortelli men treat women like flies; Tortelli men's brains are in their flies".

  • Wonderful @ssc guru. After ruling out deadlocks, checking error logs and backup schedule I actually managed to find a sql agent job that was running some awful queries. ????

Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply