Last update: 5 October, 2016: added examples of using sp_getapplock and sp_releaseapplock.

Introduction

I ran into this problem lately. I had a stored procedure that did some global stuff for a database, it would do the exact same thing every time you executed it. It had no parameters.
It would at the best case be useless and use unnecessary server resources when executed multiple times concurrently, and in the worst case would cause deadlocks in that situation.
And this is exactly what this post is about: a stored procedure that is not supposed to be executed multiple times concurrently.
Examples are stored procedures that are purging a database log, updating derived tables or columns, etc.

Problem

You can start a stored procedure, and before it is finished, can start it again from a different connection.

Solutions

There are (at least) two possible solutions for this problem.

Use sp_getapplock and sp_releaseapplock (the preferred solution). My credits go to Andy Novick who has published about this before on MSSQLTips. I have added examples of using ‘Session’ as lock owner, and therefore I hope that my article will still have added value.
My initial solution using dynamic management views is still in this article for reference.

Using sp_getapplock and sp_releaseapplock

How it works

For your convenience the links to MSDN for help on those two system stored procedures:
MSDN page about sp_getapplock
MSDN page about sp_releaseapplock

Important to understand is that as @LockOwner you can either use a transaction or a session.
I have included two examples for both types of lockowner.

Using ‘Transaction’ as lock owner

In this stored procedure example (of which you can download the script) sp_getapplock is used with @LockOwner = ‘Transaction’.
When you use this example, it is really important to use the TRY .. CATCH code so that the lock is always released before the stored procedure execution ends.

sp_StoredProcUsingAppLock.sql

-------------- [sp].[StoredProcUsingAppLock] --------------
IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.objects WHERE object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'[sp].[StoredProcUsingAppLock]') AND type in (N'P', N'PC'))
  DROP PROCEDURE [sp].[StoredProcUsingAppLock]
GO
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO
/*
==========================================================================================
Author: Hans Michiels
Create date: 5-oct-2016
Description: Example of stored procedure that is using sp_getapplock by using a transaction.
==========================================================================================
*/
CREATE PROCEDURE [sp].[StoredProcUsingAppLock]
(
  @RaiseError BIT = 0
)
AS
BEGIN
  SET NOCOUNT ON;
  DECLARE @RC INT
  DECLARE @message VARCHAR(500)

BEGIN TRY

    --\
    ---) Protection Against Concurrent Executions
    --/
    BEGIN TRAN

SELECT @message = CONVERT(VARCHAR(30), GETDATE(), 121) + ': Try to obtain a lock ..'
RAISERROR(@message, 0, 1) WITH NOWAIT;

    EXEC @RC = sp_getapplock
        @Resource = 'StoredProcUsingAppLock',
        @LockMode = 'Exclusive',
        @LockOwner = 'Transaction',
        @LockTimeout = 60000 -- 1 minute

    IF @RC < 0
    BEGIN
        IF @@TRANCOUNT > 0 ROLLBACK TRAN;
        SELECT @message = CONVERT(VARCHAR(30), GETDATE(), 121) + ': Sorry, could not obtain a lock within the timeout period, return code was ' + CONVERT(VARCHAR(30), @RC) + '.'
        RAISERROR(@message, 0, 1) WITH NOWAIT;
        RETURN @RC
    END ELSE BEGIN
        SELECT @message = CONVERT(VARCHAR(30), GETDATE(), 121) + ': AppLock obtained ..'
        RAISERROR(@message, 0, 1) WITH NOWAIT;
    END

    --\
    ---) Stored procedure body
    --/
    -- Wait so that stored procedure has some considerable execution time.
    SELECT @message = CONVERT(VARCHAR(30), GETDATE(), 121) + ': Hello World!'
    RAISERROR(@message, 0, 1) WITH NOWAIT;

DECLARE @i INT = 0

    WHILE @i < 6
    BEGIN
        WAITFOR DELAY '00:00:01';
        EXEC [sp].[SubStoredProc];
        SET @i = @i + 1
    END

    IF @RaiseError = 1
    BEGIN
        RAISERROR('An error on demand', 16, 1);
    END

SELECT @message = CONVERT(VARCHAR(30), GETDATE(), 121) + ': Goodbye ..'
RAISERROR(@message, 0, 1) WITH NOWAIT;

    COMMIT TRAN
    SELECT @message = CONVERT(VARCHAR(30), GETDATE(), 121) + ': Transaction committed, appLock released ..'
    RAISERROR(@message, 0, 1) WITH NOWAIT;

  END TRY
  BEGIN CATCH
    IF @@TRANCOUNT > 0 ROLLBACK TRAN;
    SELECT @message = CONVERT(VARCHAR(30), GETDATE(), 121) + ': Transaction rolled back, appLock released ..'
    RAISERROR(@message, 0, 1) WITH NOWAIT;
    THROW;
  END CATCH
END
GO

When executed ..

I would not be me if I did not include a test and a proof that it works.

As you can see in the printscreens below, all executions as nicely after each other ..
mssql-e05-354
mssql-e05-356
mssql-e05-355
mssql-e05-357

As you can see in the printscreens below, this even works well, when an error occurs, due to the TRY .. CATCH block ..
mssql-e05-361
mssql-e05-358
mssql-e05-360
mssql-e05-359

Using ‘Session’ as lock owner

In this stored procedure example (of which you can download the script) sp_getapplock is used with @LockOwner = ‘Session’.
An “advantage” of using the session might be that you can also use it, when you do not want to use a transaction within your stored procedure.
As with the previous example, now also it is really important to use the TRY .. CATCH code so that the lock is always released before the stored procedure execution ends.

demo_setup_sp_StoredProcUsingAppLockNoTran.sql

-------------- [sp].[StoredProcUsingAppLockNoTran] --------------
IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.objects WHERE object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'[sp].[StoredProcUsingAppLockNoTran]') AND type in (N'P', N'PC'))
  DROP PROCEDURE [sp].[StoredProcUsingAppLockNoTran]
GO
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO
/*
==========================================================================================
Author: Hans Michiels
Create date: 5-oct-2016
Description: Example of stored procedure that is using sp_getapplock without using a transaction.
==========================================================================================
*/
CREATE PROCEDURE [sp].[StoredProcUsingAppLockNoTran]
(
  @RaiseError BIT = 0
)
AS
BEGIN
  SET NOCOUNT ON;
  DECLARE @RC INT
  DECLARE @message VARCHAR(500)

BEGIN TRY

    --\
    ---) Protection Against Concurrent Executions
    --/
    SELECT @message = CONVERT(VARCHAR(30), GETDATE(), 121) + ': Try to obtain a lock ..'
    RAISERROR(@message, 0, 1) WITH NOWAIT;

    EXEC @RC = sp_getapplock
        @Resource = 'StoredProcUsingAppLockNoTran',
        @LockMode = 'Exclusive',
        @LockOwner = 'Session',
        @LockTimeout = 60000 -- 1 minute

    IF @RC < 0
    BEGIN
        SELECT @message = CONVERT(VARCHAR(30), GETDATE(), 121) + ': Sorry, could not obtain a lock within the timeout period, return code was ' + CONVERT(VARCHAR(30), @RC) + '.'
        RAISERROR(@message, 0, 1) WITH NOWAIT;
        RETURN @RC
    END ELSE BEGIN
        SELECT @message = CONVERT(VARCHAR(30), GETDATE(), 121) + ': AppLock obtained ..'
        RAISERROR(@message, 0, 1) WITH NOWAIT;
    END

    --\
    ---) Stored procedure body
    --/
    -- Wait so that stored procedure has some considerable execution time.
    SELECT @message = CONVERT(VARCHAR(30), GETDATE(), 121) + ': Hello World!'
    RAISERROR(@message, 0, 1) WITH NOWAIT;

DECLARE @i INT = 0

    WHILE @i < 6
    BEGIN
        WAITFOR DELAY '00:00:01';
        EXEC [sp].[SubStoredProc];
        SET @i = @i + 1
    END

    IF @RaiseError = 1
    BEGIN
        RAISERROR('An error on demand', 16, 1);
    END

SELECT @message = CONVERT(VARCHAR(30), GETDATE(), 121) + ': Goodbye ..'
RAISERROR(@message, 0, 1) WITH NOWAIT;

    EXEC @RC = sp_releaseapplock @Resource='StoredProcUsingAppLockNoTran', @LockOwner='Session';
    SELECT @message = CONVERT(VARCHAR(30), GETDATE(), 121) + ': AppLock released ..'
    RAISERROR(@message, 0, 1) WITH NOWAIT;

  END TRY
  BEGIN CATCH
    EXEC @RC = sp_releaseapplock @Resource='StoredProcUsingAppLockNoTran', @LockOwner='Session';
    SELECT @message = CONVERT(VARCHAR(30), GETDATE(), 121) + ': AppLock released after error ..'
    RAISERROR(@message, 0, 1) WITH NOWAIT;
    THROW;
  END CATCH
END
GO

When executed ..

As you can see in the printscreens below, all executions as nicely after each other ..
mssql-e05-363
mssql-e05-362
mssql-e05-365
mssql-e05-364

As you can see in the printscreens below, this even works well, when an error occurs, due to the TRY .. CATCH block ..
mssql-e05-367
mssql-e05-366
mssql-e05-368
mssql-e05-369

Other considerations

As you might have noticed, this only worked because the timeout was 60 seconds, and all the executions could be completed within those 60 seconds. If this would not be the case, the stored procedure execution that was waiting to obtain the applock would time out and would bail out due to a RETURN statement.
So you might play a bit with the timeout time to influence this behavior.
If you do not care that the non-first executions bail out, you could set the time out to a smaller value, e.g. 5000 (milliseconds).
If you absolutely want all executions to continue after waiting, you could set the time out to a higher value, that is above the maximum execution time of the stored procedure.
In this way you can choose to let non-first executions wait or not, as could be achieved by using the @WaitIfExecuted parameter in my initial solution.

My initial solution using dynamic management views

So if you want to create a stored procedure that is Protected Against Concurrent Executions, you have to do it yourself.
Making a PACE stored procedure is not very difficult. There is however one big pitfall. The examples on the internet I found all have nasty bug in it, at least when your stored procedure executes other stored procedures: when this happens, the “main” stored procedure goes off the radar, when the dynamic management objects sys.dm_exec_requests and sys.dm_exec_sql_text() are used, that means, you cannot detect that it is running as long as the “sub” stored procedure is being executed.
To make the challenge even bigger, the object_id of the “main” stored procedure is nowhere, so with the available dynamic management objects there is no way to solve this.
Therefore an extra “user” dynamic management table is needed, I called it [udm_storedproc_executions]. It is automaticly cleaned up in the stored procedure [sp].[GetPace].
This stored procedure is used to implement Protection Against Concurrent Executions.
You execute it at the beginning in stored procedures that you want to protect against concurrent executions.

How it works

You create the table [dbo].[udm_storedproc_executions] (or name it differently) in your database.
You create the stored procedure [sp].[GetPace] (or name it differently) in your database.
You add the code snippet below to stored procedures that are not supposed to run multiple times concurrently.

Create the table

udm_storedproc_executions.sql

/*
(c) Copyright 2016 - hansmichiels.com

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program. If not, see .
*/
IF OBJECT_ID('[dbo].[udm_storedproc_executions]', 'U') IS NOT NULL
DROP TABLE [dbo].[udm_storedproc_executions];
GO
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO
SET ANSI_PADDING OFF
GO

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[udm_storedproc_executions](
[start_time] [datetime] NOT NULL,
[session_id] [smallint] NOT NULL,
[connection_id] [uniqueidentifier] NOT NULL,
[task_address] [varbinary](8) NOT NULL,
[object_id] [int] NOT NULL,
  CONSTRAINT [PK_dbo_udm_storedproc_executions] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED
( [start_time] ASC,
  [session_id] ASC,
  [connection_id] ASC,
  [task_address] ASC
) WITH (PAD_INDEX = OFF, STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS = ON) ON [PRIMARY]
) ON [PRIMARY]
GO

SET ANSI_PADDING OFF
GO

Create the stored procedure

sp_GetPace.sql

-------------- [sp].[GetPace] --------------
IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.objects WHERE object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'[sp].[GetPace]') AND type in (N'P', N'PC'))
  DROP PROCEDURE [sp].[GetPace]
GO
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO
/*
==========================================================================================
Author: Hans Michiels
Create date: 17-sep-2016
Description: Generic stored procedure that can give a different stored procedure
             PACE (Protection Against Concurrent Execution).
==========================================================================================
*/
CREATE PROCEDURE [sp].[GetPace]
(
  @StoredProcedureName NVARCHAR(256), -- Quoted name including schema, e.g. [dbo].[SomeStoredProcedure]
  @WaitIfExecuted BIT = 0, -- Indication whether to wait when the stored procedure is already executing (and execute it afterwards).
  @PaceAction VARCHAR(8) OUTPUT, -- Domain values [ CONTINUE | WAIT | RETURN ]
  @InsertDmRow BIT = 0, -- Indication if a row must be inserted to table [dbo].[udm_storedproc_executions]
  @EnableDebugMessages BIT = 0 -- Speaks for itself
)
AS
BEGIN
  SET NOCOUNT ON;

  --\
  ---) Declarations.
  --/
  DECLARE @SpidThatWins INT
  DECLARE @WaitTime CHAR(8) = '00:00:03'
  DECLARE @message NVARCHAR(500)

  --\
  ---) Insert new row into table [dbo].[udm_storedproc_executions].
  --/
  IF @InsertDmRow = 1
  BEGIN
      INSERT INTO [dbo].[udm_storedproc_executions]
        SELECT
            der.[start_time],
            der.[session_id],
            der.[connection_id],
            der.[task_address],
            OBJECT_ID(@StoredProcedureName, 'P') AS [object_id]
        FROM
            sys.dm_exec_requests der
        CROSS APPLY
            sys.dm_exec_sql_text(der.sql_handle) xst
        WHERE
            der.session_id = @@SPID
            AND der.[sql_handle] is not null
            AND xst.objectid = OBJECT_ID('[sp].[GetPace]', 'P');
  END

  -- We need to prevent that this stored procedure would be executed multiple times
  -- simultaneously.
  SELECT @SpidThatWins = -- The one that first started. If started at exact the same time, the lowest SPID wins.
    (
    SELECT TOP 1 der.[session_id]
    FROM
        sys.dm_exec_requests der
    JOIN
        dbo.udm_storedproc_executions spx
        ON spx.[session_id] = der.[session_id]
        AND spx.[start_time] = der.[start_time]
        AND spx.[connection_id] = der.[connection_id]
        AND spx.[task_address] = der.[task_address]
    WHERE
        der.[sql_handle] is not null
        AND spx.[object_id] = OBJECT_ID(@StoredProcedureName, 'P')
    ORDER BY
        der.[start_time] ASC,
        der.[session_id] ASC
    )

  SELECT @PaceAction =
  CASE
    WHEN @@SPID = @SpidThatWins THEN 'CONTINUE'
    WHEN @WaitIfExecuted = 0 THEN 'RETURN'
    WHEN @WaitIfExecuted = 1 THEN 'WAIT'
  END

  IF @PaceAction = 'WAIT'
  BEGIN
      -- Still executing, so wait until I can start.
      IF @EnableDebugMessages = 1
      BEGIN
          -- Still executing, so wait until I can start.
          SET @message = @StoredProcedureName + N' is waiting for other execution to finish .. ';
          RAISERROR(@message, 0, 1) WITH NOWAIT;
      END
      WAITFOR DELAY @WaitTime
  END
  IF @PaceAction = 'RETURN' AND @EnableDebugMessages = 1
  BEGIN
      -- Still executing, so wait until I can start.
      SET @message = N'Cancelling execution of stored proc ' + @StoredProcedureName;
      RAISERROR(@message, 0, 1) WITH NOWAIT;
  END

  --\
  ---) Cleanup old rows from [udm_storedproc_executions].
  --/
  DELETE FROM spx
    FROM
        [dbo].[udm_storedproc_executions] spx
    LEFT JOIN
        sys.dm_exec_requests der
        ON spx.[session_id] = der.[session_id]
        AND spx.[start_time] = der.[start_time]
        AND spx.[connection_id] = der.[connection_id]
        AND spx.[task_address] = der.[task_address]
    WHERE
        der.session_id IS NULL;
END
GO

Add the code snippet

code_snippet_sp_start.sql

CREATE PROCEDURE [sp].[StoredProcGettingPace]
AS
BEGIN
  SET NOCOUNT ON;
  --\
  ---) PACE (Protection Against Concurrent Executions) code
  --/
  DECLARE @PaceAction VARCHAR(8), @InsertDmRow BIT = 1
  WHILE 1 = 1
  BEGIN
      EXECUTE [sp].[GetPace]
        @StoredProcedureName = '[sp].[StoredProcGettingPace]',
        @WaitIfExecuted = 1,
        @PaceAction = @PaceAction OUTPUT,
        @InsertDmRow = @InsertDmRow,
        @EnableDebugMessages = 1;

      IF @PaceAction = 'RETURN' RETURN 0;
      IF @PaceAction = 'CONTINUE' BREAK;
      SET @InsertDmRow = 0;
  END

  --\
  ---) Stored procedure body ..
  --/
END
GO

Proof that it works

For the demo I use the following stored procedures:

[sp].[SubStoredProc]
[sp].[StoredProcGettingPace]
[sp].[StoredProcGettingPaceNoWait]

By the way, all the scripts can be downloaded here.

[sp].[SubStoredProc] is being executed by both other stored procedures.

[sp].[StoredProcGettingPace]

First I will demonstrate the testresults with [sp].[StoredProcGettingPace].
It is executed from 4 query windows at the same time. Debug messages show us what happened.

mssql-e05-341 The query that predicts the order in which the session_ids will be processed: the order is 60, 59, 57, 52.

mssql-e05-342 As expected session 60 is processed first.

mssql-e05-343 As expected session 59 is processed after 60. The “Hello world” time (the beginning of the actual stored procedure body) is after the “Goodbye” time of session 60.

mssql-e05-344 Then session 57. Again the “Hello world” time is after the “Goodbye” time of session 59.

mssql-e05-345 And finally session 52. It goes without saying that the “Hello world” time is after the “Goodbye” time of the previous session.

[sp].[StoredProcGettingPaceNoWait]

It is important to understand parameter @WaitIfExecuted of stored procedure [sp].[GetPace].
In the previous example we used the value 1 (true), which means that every execution of a stored procedure protected with [sp].[GetPace] is eventually executed, but later.
But if we use the value 0 (false) for @WaitIfExecuted, we actually cancel the execution of a stored procedure if it is already running.

Here are the testresults of executing [sp].[StoredProcGettingPaceNoWait].
Again it is executed from 4 query windows at the same time and debug messages show us what happened.

mssql-e05-346 As expected the stored procedure is executed only once. The other executions are cancelled (see below).

mssql-e05-347

mssql-e05-348

mssql-e05-349

Download all the scripts here.

Conclusion / Wrap up

In this blog post you could read about two different solutions that can prevent a stored procedure from being executed multiple times simultaneously.
This can be convenient in certain situations, when the stored procedure does some “global” work in your database, and it would be unnecessary and potentially “dangerous” when it is executing multiple times concurrently.

Hans Michiels – Blog and more

Tag Archives: StoredProcedure

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How to protect your stored procedures against multiple concurrent executions (SQL Server Series)

Introduction

Problem

Solutions

Using sp_getapplock and sp_releaseapplock

How it works

Using ‘Transaction’ as lock owner

When executed ..

Using ‘Session’ as lock owner

When executed ..

Other considerations

My initial solution using dynamic management views

How it works

Create the table

Create the stored procedure

Add the code snippet

Proof that it works

[sp].[StoredProcGettingPace]

[sp].[StoredProcGettingPaceNoWait]

Download all the scripts here.

Conclusion / Wrap up

Business Intelligence and Datawarehouse Consultant using Microsoft Technology