SCENARIO
Menaubi Foods is a wholesale distributor of non-perishable food items to locations around the globe. The company runs a SQL Server 2000 machine that is used through a web site for online queries and updates. The server is also used on the local LAN, where a Visual Basic application provides accounting information and updates the same. The database consists of a complex structure of tables that have been fully normalized for efficient storage. During some accounting updates, the Internet application stops responding, and after a time the machine running the accounting application must be rebooted. How would you go about finding the problem? ANALYSISThere are potentially a few problems in this scenario. The most likely is some form of error in the accounting application. There also seems to be a deadlock or blocking situation preventing the Internet application from responding. Run the Profiler, set up for a replay trace, and ensure that you are tracking locking information as well as the standard template data. The trace could then be replayed on a test machine to diagnose the problem. It also might be beneficial to reinstall the accounting application. If you suspect locking, the quickest, most direct way to confirm this is to use the Enterprise Manager or the stored procedures sp_who or sp_lock . |