On a computer that is running Microsoft SQL Server 2008, you experience one or more of the following issues when you create a linked server by using the SQL Native Client provider (Sqlncli.dll).

Note These issues also occur in Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3 (SP3). However, the hotfix in this article does not apply to SQL Server 2005 SP3.

Issue 1

Consider the following scenario:

• In SQL Server Management Studio, you open the New Linked Server window and create a linked server by using one of the following setups:
  • SQL Native Client provider with Server type as SQL Server
  • SQL Native Client (not SQL Native Client 10) provider with Server type as Other data source
  • Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server with Server type as Other data source
• You expand the Linked Servers catalog in SQL Server Management Studio to see the linked servers.

In this scenario, the SQL Server service shuts down unexpectedly or a mini-dump file is generated repeatedly in the SQL Server Error log folder. This issue continues until the SQL Server service is stopped. In addition, SQL Server Management Studio reports the following error:

TITLE: Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio
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Failed to retrieve data for this request. (Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Sdk.Sfc)

For help, click: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?ProdName=Microsoft+SQL+Server&LinkId=20476 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?ProdName=Microsoft+SQL+Server&LinkId=20476)
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
An exception occurred while executing a Transact-SQL statement or batch. (Microsoft.SqlServer.ConnectionInfo)
------------------------------

Timeout expired. The timeout period elapsed prior to completion of the operation or the server is not responding. (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: -2)



Note This problem does not occur if you run a linked server query when you use SQL Native Client provider with Server type as SQL Server.

Issue 2

Consider the following scenario:

• You create a linked server by using the Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers.
• The ODBC data source is created by using SQL Native Client provider with Server type as Other data source.

In this scenario, the linked server returns no results.

The fix for this issue was first released in Cumulative Update 7 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1. For more information about this cumulative update package, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: -Note Because the builds are cumulative, each new fix release contains all the hotfixes and all the security fixes that were included with the previous SQL Server 2008 fix release. We recommend that you consider applying the most recent fix release that contains this hotfix. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: - Microsoft SQL Server 2008 hotfixes are created for specific SQL Server service packs. You must apply a SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 hotfix to an installation of SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1. By default, any hotfix that is provided in a SQL Server service pack is included in the next SQL Server service pack.

You can confirm the version of the Sqlncli.dll and Sqlservr.exe files by running following query:If you are using Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 (SP1) or later versions of Microsoft SQL Server 2008, the query will return the following version information:

• The Sqlncli.dll file will have a version later than 9.0:3207.0.
• The Sqlservr.exe file will have a version later than or equal to 10.0:2531.0, but earlier than 10.0:2766.0.

If you are using Microsoft SQL Server 2008 RTM or later versions of SQL Server 2008 RTM, the query will return the following version information:

• The Sqlncli.dll file will have a version later than version 9.0:3207.0.
• The Sqlservr.exe file will have a version later than or equal to 10.0:1600.0, but earlier than 10.0:1835.0.

To work around these problems, follow these steps:

Workaround 1:

1.     Delete the failing linked server.

2.     Create a new linked server using the SQL Server Native Client 10.0 (SQLNCLI10) provider. To do this:
a. Right-click on Linked Servers and select New Linked Server.
b. Select Other data source and choose SQL Server Native Client 10.0 for Provider.

Workaround 2:

1. Create a registry subkey named "SQLNCLI" in the following path:
   HKLM\Software\Microsoft\DataAccess
2. Create a REG_DWORD-type registry entry named “SQLOSPartitioning” under this subkey.
3. Set the value of this entry to 0x0.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

SQL Server 2008 R2 BPA Information

The SQL Server 2008 R2 Best Practice Analyzer (SQL Server 2008 R2 BPA) provides a rule to detect situations in which the affected versions of SQLNCLI.DLL and SQLSERVR.EXE are used by an instance of SQL Server. The SQL Server 2008 R2 BPA supports both SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 R2. 

If you run the BPA tool and encounter the warning, "Database Engine - Detected use of older versions of SQLNCLI," you need to apply the fixes and take corrective actions as described in this article.

References

For more information about the Incremental Servicing Model for SQL Server, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

For more information about the naming schema for SQL Server updates, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

For more information about software update terminology, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: