BUG: KILL Fail to Terminate Orphan BCP Process on Banyan Vines

  - Microsoft SQL Server Programmer's Toolkit, version 4.2

SYMPTOMS

A BCP process that is left in an orphaned state (for example, a client connection has been broken and the process has not been cleaned up) can not be terminated by the KILL command.

Sp_who shows the BCP process as "runnable." When the KILL statement is issued, the process continues to stay in a runnable state.

CAUSE

BCP client connections made over Banyan Vines IP are not properly cleaned up when the network connection has been broken. The BCP process is left in a state where the KILL command fails to clean up the orphaned BCP process.

WORKAROUND

The only way to clear the orphaned BCP state after it has occurred is to stop the SQL Server service, and then restart. However, the situation can be avoided completely by using an alternate Network Library (Net-Library) to communicate with SQL Server. You can connect to SQL Server via named pipes, spx/ipx, or tcp/ip sockets. Using any of the three, network connections are properly cleared up by the network operating system.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in SQL Server version 4.2. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.