FIX: Concurrent Distribution Tasks May Cause an Unhandled Exception Error (178473)

SYMPTOMS

Concurrent execution of distribution tasks on a scheduled frequency (not Autostart) may result in an unhandled exception in SQL Executive. If Dr. Watson is your default debugger, you may receive a Dr. Watson message on SQL Executive.

This problem occurs on SQL Server 6.5 using the ODBC Driver Manager 3.0, SQL Server ODBC Driver 2.65.201 or higher, and Windows NT 4.0. To check the version of either the ODBC Driver Manager or the SQL Server ODBC Driver, you can use the ODBC icon in Control Panel.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, do either of the following:

Change the frequency of your distribution tasks to be Autostart.
Add an "-o" parameter to each distribution task. To add an -o parameter, perform the following steps:
1. Double-click the task in Task Scheduling.
2. In the Command dialog box, add "-o <file_name>" after the last command, where <file_name> is the name of an optional output file.

This outputs some debug information into the specified file as the distribution task executes. If an output file is not specified and SQL Executive is started as a service, this information will be written to a virtual desktop. Therefore, not specifying an output file after the -o parameter will save disk space.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in SQL Server 6.5. This problem has been corrected in Service Pack 5a for Microsoft SQL Server 6.5.For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

197177 INF: How to Obtain SQL Server 6.5 Service Pack 5a

For more information, contact your primary support provider.