Database is in Transition state

Question

Today I was trying to restore a database over an already existing database, I simply right clicked the database in SSMS --> Tasks --> Take Offline so I could restore the database.

A small pop up window appeared and showed Query Executing..... for sometime and then threw an error saying Database is in use cannot take it offline. From which I gathered there are some active connections to that database so I tried to execute the following query

USE master
GO
ALTER DATABASE My_DatabaseName
SET OFFLINE WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE
GO

Again at this point the SSMS showed Query Executing..... for a sometime and then threw the following error:

Msg 5061, Level 16, State 1, Line 1
ALTER DATABASE failed because a lock could not be placed on database 'My_DatabaseName'. Try again later.
Msg 5069, Level 16, State 1, Line 1
ALTER DATABASE statement failed.

After this I could not connect to the database through SSMS. and when I tried to Take it offline using SSMS it threw an error saying:

Database is in Transition. Try later .....

At this point I simply could'nt touch the database anything I tried it returned the same error message Database is in Transition.

I got on google read some questions where people had faced similar issue and they recommended to close the SSMS and open it again, So did I and Since it was only a dev server I just deleted the database using SSMS and restored on a new database.

My question is what could have possibly caused this ?? and how I can Avoid this to happen in future and if I ever end up in the same situation in future is there any other way of fixing it other then deleting the whole database ???

Thank you

Answer 1

Check out this article.

http://oostdam.info/index.php/sectie-blog/289-sql-error-952-8ways-to-solve-it

I use TSQL most of the time, so I have not run into this issue yet.

What version is the SQL Server database and at what patch level?

Next time, do a usp_who2 to see what threads are running.

http://craftydba.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/usp-who2.txt

Since the output is in a table, you can search by database.

Kill all threads using the database before the trying the ALTER statement.

A night about 6 months ago, I had a terrible time getting a 2000 database offline due to an application constantly hitting it. I eventually disabled the user account so I would not get any more logins.

Answer 2

Check this out. This will help you release locks. Works great! https://dba.stackexchange.com/questions/57432/database-is-in-transition-error

use this

select
    l.resource_type,
    l.request_mode,
    l.request_status,
    l.request_session_id,
    r.command,
    r.status,
    r.blocking_session_id,
    r.wait_type,
    r.wait_time,
    r.wait_resource,
    request_sql_text = st.text,
    s.program_name,
    most_recent_sql_text = stc.text
from sys.dm_tran_locks l
left join sys.dm_exec_requests r
on l.request_session_id = r.session_id
left join sys.dm_exec_sessions s
on l.request_session_id = s.session_id
left join sys.dm_exec_connections c
on s.session_id = c.session_id
outer apply sys.dm_exec_sql_text(r.sql_handle) st
outer apply sys.dm_exec_sql_text(c.most_recent_sql_handle) stc
where l.resource_database_id = db_id('<YourDatabase>')
order by request_session_id;

and then
for each processnumber

kill <processnumber>