Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Job running SSIS or DTS package in SQL Server hangs when using compression in one of the steps (WINZIP, WINRAR etc)

Problem
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SQL Server Job which calls a SSIS or DTS package may be hung if you are using any compression software in one or some of the steps

Cause:
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There may be a pop up from the compression software being opened in the background which waits for response, since you would not notice this when the job is running the job would end up waiting indefinitely on it and you would not get any error

You may run into same issue for any package which might be using a logic/software which gives pop up. In my case the job had been running fine for a while before it started to hang, finally I found out that Winzip had been uninstalled from the server and when it was being called in the package a pop up would appear with Winzip installation wizard. Once I installed Winzip manually the job reverted to normal behavior.

Solution
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To find out if the job is actually victim of a pop up dialog box in the background, run the package manually using BIDS (Business Intelligence Development Studio) or DTS Designer and you should get the pop up.

You could also run the package from the command prompt using a command similar as below and you should see the pop up:

1. Go to the path where dtexec.exe is present and run the following:

Syntax
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dtexec.exe /f "<complete location of the package with name>" >d:\packagelog.txt

Example
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dtexec.exe /f "D:\SSISpackages\abc.dtsx" >d:\packagelog.txt


As per the above command the log for the package would be saved to D drive as packagelog.txt


--Abhishek Soni

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