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I am seeing a timeout to the Pricincipel SQL server (2008 R2)

The exact error I am seeing is this:

Timeout expired. The timeout period elapsed prior to completion of the operation or the server is not responding. This failure occured while attempting to connect to the Principle server.

System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException (0x80131904): Timeout expired. The timeout period elapsed prior to completion of the operation or the server is not responding. This failure occured while attempting to connect to the Principle server. ---> System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception (0x80004005): The wait operation timed out at XXXX

What I am trying to understand is is this a standard timeout, ie. the DB was unable to return the required results within the allowed time? Or does the "Principle Server" wording signify another issue?

I have not been able to find much about this specific error and need to know if its a performance issue that tuning the indexes and procs will help resolve or is there another issue I need to look at instead.

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  • What is your setup? The termin principle server is used in database mirroring. Could it be that you're try connecting to a mirrored database? How does your connection string look?
    – Jens D.
    Commented Mar 10, 2014 at 13:30

1 Answer 1

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I am currently investigating an occurrence of the same timeout exception with the same key wording:

This failure occured while attempting to connect to the Principle server.

The environment is SQL Server 2012 with mirroring, so I suspect that the problem was not directly related to a long-running query, but rather to a temporary network/sync issue, either between the application and the SQL servers or between the SQL servers themselves. Stack trace:

System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException (0x80131904): Timeout expired.  The timeout period elapsed prior to completion of the operation or the server is not responding.  This failure occured while attempting to connect to the Principle server. ---> System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception (0x80004005): The wait operation timed out
   at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.OnError(SqlException exception, Boolean breakConnection, Action`1 wrapCloseInAction)
   at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnection.OnError(SqlException exception, Boolean breakConnection, Action`1 wrapCloseInAction)
   at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.ThrowExceptionAndWarning(TdsParserStateObject stateObj, Boolean callerHasConnectionLock, Boolean asyncClose)
   at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.TryRun(RunBehavior runBehavior, SqlCommand cmdHandler, SqlDataReader dataStream, BulkCopySimpleResultSet bulkCopyHandler, TdsParserStateObject stateObj, Boolean& dataReady)
   at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlDataReader.TryConsumeMetaData()
   at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlDataReader.get_MetaData()
   at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.FinishExecuteReader(SqlDataReader ds, RunBehavior runBehavior, String resetOptionsString)
   at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteReaderTds(CommandBehavior cmdBehavior, RunBehavior runBehavior, Boolean returnStream, Boolean async, Int32 timeout, Task& task, Boolean asyncWrite)
   at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteReader(CommandBehavior cmdBehavior, RunBehavior runBehavior, Boolean returnStream, String method, TaskCompletionSource`1 completion, Int32 timeout, Task& task, Boolean asyncWrite)
   at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteReader(CommandBehavior cmdBehavior, RunBehavior runBehavior, Boolean returnStream, String method)
   at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior behavior, String method)
   at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ExecuteDbDataReader(CommandBehavior behavior)
   at System.Data.Common.DbCommand.ExecuteReader()
   at System.Data.Linq.SqlClient.SqlProvider.Execute(Expression query, QueryInfo queryInfo, IObjectReaderFactory factory, Object[] parentArgs, Object[] userArgs, ICompiledSubQuery[] subQueries, Object lastResult)
   at System.Data.Linq.SqlClient.SqlProvider.ExecuteAll(Expression query, QueryInfo[] queryInfos, IObjectReaderFactory factory, Object[] userArguments, ICompiledSubQuery[] subQueries)
   at System.Data.Linq.SqlClient.SqlProvider.System.Data.Linq.Provider.IProvider.Execute(Expression query)
   at System.Data.Linq.ChangeDirector.StandardChangeDirector.DynamicUpdate(TrackedObject item)
   at System.Data.Linq.ChangeDirector.StandardChangeDirector.Update(TrackedObject item)
   at System.Data.Linq.ChangeProcessor.SubmitChanges(ConflictMode failureMode)
   at System.Data.Linq.DataContext.SubmitChanges(ConflictMode failureMode)
   ...

Update: evidently, this wording is included in the exception message whenever a command times out against a mirrored/failover partner environment. It does indeed reflect a command that exceeded its timeout, and has nothing to do with a failure to attempting to connect. You can verify this by running a simple WAITFOR DELAY '00:00:31' command, which exceeds the default 30-second SqlCommand timeout, and triggers the same exception message.

I have opened a Connect bug to ask Microsoft to correct the misleading wording in the message.

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  • Did anything ever come of your connect issue? The link no longer works
    – Joe Phillips
    Commented Jan 9, 2017 at 16:27
  • 1
    @JoePhilllips No, I don't believe so. MS reorganized Connect recently and I can't find the issue page anymore, even if I search by the ID 1423903. But it's basically just a misleading error message. The actual problem is a normal database timeout due to a query taking longer than the command timeout. It's just that the message wrongly indicates that the failure has to do with attempting to connect to the Principle failover partner.
    – Jordan Rieger
    Commented Jan 9, 2017 at 20:39

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