

After reading this article you will be able to explain how a deadlock can occur and how we can get extended information about this deadlock so that we will be able to diagnose and take the appropriate actions.
FIND DEADLOCK IN SQL SERVER SERIES
This article is the first one of a series that will focus on deadlock issues and reporting. Due to their nature and like any similar blocking situation, deadlocks can have a direct impact on user experience and the more they occur, the bigger the impact.
FIND DEADLOCK IN SQL SERVER CODE
Sometimes, poorly written code or lack of indexes will generate blocking conditions that we refer to as a“Deadlock”. In a deadlock graph, the resources are displayed as resource nodes.As a DBA, I’ve been, more than, confronted with performance problems. In a deadlock, two processes are each waiting for a resource held by the other process. Input buffer of the current process, defines the type of event and the statement being executed. Pointer to the transaction descriptor that describes the state of the transaction. Transaction ID for the processes which are using transactions and currently waiting on a lock. For more information about possible values, see SET DEADLOCK_PRIORITY (Transact-SQL). The execution context ID of a given thread associated with a specific SPID.ĮCID = represent the subthreads.ĭeadlock priority for the process. Server process identifier (SPID), a server assigned identifier for the process owning the lock.Įxecution context identifier (ECID). The following table explains the components of a process. In a wait-for graph, the process node contains information about the process. The lock mode is included in the edge description. An owner edge occurs when a resource waits for a process. A request edge occurs when a process waits for a resource. The components of wait-for graphs are defined in the following table:Ī thread that performs a task for example, INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE.Ī database object for example, a table, index, or row.Ī relationship between a process and a resource. The deadlock wait-for graph contains process nodes, resource nodes, and edges representing the relationships between the processes and the resources. SQL Server Profiler and SQL Server Management Studio use a deadlock wait-for graph to describe a deadlock.

Individual events can also be extracted and saved by right-clicking a specific event and choosing Extract Event Data. Using the Extract SQL Server Events option on the File menu. Note that this tab does not appear until you select the Deadlock graph event on the Events Selection tab. This extraction can be done in any of the following ways:Īt trace configuration time, using the Events Extraction Settings tab.

You can configure SQL Server Profiler to extract Deadlock graph events to a single file that contains all Deadlock graph events, or to separate files. SQL Server Profiler can extract the XML document to a deadlock XML (.xdl) file which you can view later in SQL Server Management Studio. This event class populates the TextData data column in the trace with XML data about the process and objects that are involved in the deadlock. To trace deadlock events, add the Deadlock graph event class to a trace. Using SQL Server Profiler, you can create a trace that records, replays, and displays deadlock events for analysis. A deadlock occurs when there is a cyclic dependency between two or more threads, or processes, for some set of resources within SQL Server. Use SQL Server Profiler to identify the cause of a deadlock. Applies to: SQL Server Azure SQL Managed Instance
