Linked Server issue

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Linked Server issue

Siva Ramasamy

SSCarpal Tunnel

Points: 4026
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March 24, 2016 at 7:03 am

#326116

Hi All,
Thanks for your time to look into my question.
I have a SQL Server 2012 Enterprise edition connecting to another SQL Server 2012 Enterprise edition via linked server. It has been working well for many years.
But, the connectivity has broken suddenly.
There are some other linked servers on that instance working without any issues..
Has anyone seen an issue like this before...?
Thanks!

Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

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Siva Ramasamy SSCarpal Tunnel Points: 4026 More actions · Answer 1

To be specific, this is the error I see

OLE DB provider "SQLNCLI11" for linked server "XXX" returned message "Unspecified error".

OLE DB provider "SQLNCLI11" for linked server "XXX" returned message "Communication link failure".

Msg 64, Level 16, State 1, Line 0

TCP Provider: The specified network name is no longer available.

But when I right click and test connection of the linked server in the object explorer, the connection succeeded.

But the query execution failed in the query window

Brandie Tarvin SSC Guru Points: 172991 More actions · Answer 2

Siva Ramasamy (3/24/2016)
To be specific, this is the error I see
OLE DB provider "SQLNCLI11" for linked server "XXX" returned message "Unspecified error".
OLE DB provider "SQLNCLI11" for linked server "XXX" returned message "Communication link failure".
OLE DB provider "SQLNCLI11" for linked server "XXX" returned message "Communication link failure".
Msg 64, Level 16, State 1, Line 0
TCP Provider: The specified network name is no longer available.
But when I right click and test connection of the linked server in the object explorer, the connection succeeded.
But the query execution failed in the query window

This is a network issue. Either something in a firewall / IP address changed or the NIC is having issues. Get someone on your network team to sniff the connection while you run tests.

Brandie Tarvin, MCITP Database AdministratorLiveJournal Blog: http://brandietarvin.livejournal.com/[/url]On LinkedIn!, Google+, and Twitter.Freelance Writer: ShadowrunLatchkeys: Nevermore, Latchkeys: The Bootleg War, and Latchkeys: Roscoes in the Night are now available on Nook and Kindle.

Siva Ramasamy SSCarpal Tunnel Points: 4026 More actions · Answer 3

Thanks for your time to answer my question Brandie,

Let me check with them.

I have made sure that other linked servers from the source server is connecting successfully.

And Other source servers are connecting to the problematic target server successfully as well.

Do you still think it is a firewall / IP / NIC issue ?

Brandie Tarvin SSC Guru Points: 172991 More actions · Answer 4

Siva Ramasamy (3/24/2016)
Thanks for your time to answer my question Brandie,
Let me check with them.
I have made sure that other linked servers from the source server is connecting successfully.
And Other source servers are connecting to the problematic target server successfully as well.
Do you still think it is a firewall / IP / NIC issue ?

I know for a fact that it is some kind of network issue. What part of the network it's an issue with I can't tell you. But it is a network issue.

Brandie Tarvin, MCITP Database AdministratorLiveJournal Blog: http://brandietarvin.livejournal.com/[/url]On LinkedIn!, Google+, and Twitter.Freelance Writer: ShadowrunLatchkeys: Nevermore, Latchkeys: The Bootleg War, and Latchkeys: Roscoes in the Night are now available on Nook and Kindle.

vivek52 SSC Journeyman Points: 95 More actions · Answer 5

Hi..we are experiencing same sort of issue in our production environment. SQL job is getting failed for few intervals and once we re-run the job its getting completed successfully. Network team is unable to help in this case as they are saying that there is no issue at their end. DO we have any solution for this.

vivek52 SSC Journeyman Points: 95 More actions · Answer 6

Hi..we are experiencing same sort of issue in our production environment. SQL job is getting failed for few intervals and once we re-run the job its getting completed successfully. Network team is unable to help in this case as they are saying that there is no issue at their end. DO we have any solution for this.

Brandie Tarvin SSC Guru Points: 172991 More actions · Answer 7

vivek52 - Wednesday, January 2, 2019 2:07 AM
Hi..we are experiencing same sort of issue in our production environment. SQL job is getting failed for few intervals and once we re-run the job its getting completed successfully. Network team is unable to help in this case as they are saying that there is no issue at their end. DO we have any solution for this.

Other teams are famous for saying "it's not our problem" without actually doing any troubleshooting. Is there a consistent time of day when this is failing? If so, can you get them to run a network sniffer on all traffic points to verify?

Another possibility is a NIC card going bad (but not yet really bad) or a partially plugged in network cable on one of the servers (we had one that got "tripped" by a cleaning crew. Was still "in" the server, but had been pulled out just a little bit so it wasn't tightly seated anymore).

You should really start a new thread for your issue, though. Very few people are going to look at this thread and respond given how old it is.

Brandie Tarvin, MCITP Database AdministratorLiveJournal Blog: http://brandietarvin.livejournal.com/[/url]On LinkedIn!, Google+, and Twitter.Freelance Writer: ShadowrunLatchkeys: Nevermore, Latchkeys: The Bootleg War, and Latchkeys: Roscoes in the Night are now available on Nook and Kindle.