Fatal Deadlock in SQL Server

Metastorm · April 23, 2003

The information in this article applies to product: e-Work - all versions with Engine running on Windows 2000

Issue

There is a persistent Blocking/Blocked situation between two or more SPIDs in SQL Server. The Engine stops responding to user requests and must be restarted, sometimes requiring a reboot of the server.

To check for SPID problems, use Enterprise Manager and navigate from Console Root to Management > Current Activity > Locks/Process ID.

This issue typically occurs when an inline script is being run, and there is a delay in an external call from this script.
A configuration issue with Microsoft's COM+ components can cause the e-Work engine to experience a deadlock or "Deadly Embrace". This occurs because of a default setting in the COM+ components for e-Work. It can affect any e-Work installation where the engine is running on a Windows 2000 server; however, the configuration can be changed easily.
Using the Component Services manager in Control Panel/Administrative tools, expand the Component Services tree until the four Metastorm e-Work Engine components are visible. For each of these, view its properties dialog and select the "Concurrency" tab. The default setting for "Synchronization Support" is "Disabled". Changing this to "Required" should remove the conflict. Restart the engine to make this change effective.
There are no reports of any failures when the engine is running on Windows NT or Windows XP.