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in-doubt xact resolution Option

Use the in-doubt xact resolution option to control the default outcome of transactions that the Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MS DTC) is unable to resolve. Inability to resolve transactions may be related to the MS DTC down time or an unknown transaction outcome at the time of recovery.

The following table lists the possible outcome values for resolving an in-doubt transaction.

Outcome value

Description

0

No presumption. Recovery fails if MS DTC cannot resolve any in-doubt transactions.

1

Presume commit. Any MS DTC in-doubt transactions are presumed to have committed.

2

Presume abort. Any MS DTC in-doubt transactions are presumed to have aborted.

To minimize the possibility of extended down time, an administrator might choose to configure this option either to presume commit or presume abort, as shown in the following example.

sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1
GO
RECONFIGURE
GO
sp_configure 'in-doubt xact resolution', 2 -– presume abort
GO
RECONFIGURE
GO
sp_configure 'show advanced options', 0
GO
RECONFIGURE
GO

Alternatively, the administrator might want to leave the default (no presumption) and allow recovery to fail in order to be made aware of a DTC failure, as shown in the following example.

sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1
GO
RECONFIGURE
GO
sp_configure 'in-doubt xact resolution', 1 -– presume commit
GO
reconfigure
GO
ALTER DATABASE pubs SET ONLINE –- run recovery again
GO
sp_configure 'in-doubt xact resolution', 0 –- back to no assumptions
GO
sp_configure 'show advanced options', 0
GO
RECONFIGURE
GO

The in-doubt xact resolution option is an advanced option. If you are using the sp_configure system stored procedure to change the setting, you can change in-doubt xact resolution only when show advanced options is set to 1. The setting takes effect immediately without a server restart.

Note

Consistent configuration of this option across all MicrosoftSQL Server instances involved in any distributed transactions will help avoid data inconsistencies.