FIX: Very Large Numbers of Predicates AND-ed Together May Cause Stack Overflow

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This article was previously published under Q224581

BUG #: 54366 (SQLBUG_70)

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SYMPTOMS

A query that contains a large number of predicates that are AND-ed together may cause a stack overflow exception. Several thousand conditions are typically required for this problem to occur, and you may reach a limit on the maximum batch size of your query tool before encountering this situation. Many query tools limit batches to 128 KB, whereas SQL Server 7.0 now accepts a batch size as large as (65536 * network packet size).

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CAUSE

During optimization, memory for selectivity calculation was being allocated from the stack. This allocation depends on the number of nodes being AND-ed together and can result in a stack overflow.

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WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, rewrite the query to reduce the number of AND conditions required. For example, you may be able to rewrite the query as a join.

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STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in SQL Server 7.0. This problem has been corrected in U.S. Service Pack 1 for Microsoft SQL Server 7.0. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

232570 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/232570/ ) INF: How to Obtain Service Pack 1 for Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 and Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE) 1.0

For more information, contact your primary support provider.

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MORE INFORMATION

The SQL Server error log will contain an entry similar to the following when the exception occurs:

1999-04-01 16:22:13.78 spid7    04/01/99 16:22:13 Stack Overflow Dump not possible - Exception c00000fd E at 780348a4
1999-04-01 16:22:13.78 spid7    Address=780348a4 Exception Code = c00000fd
1999-04-01 16:22:13.78 spid7    eax=00000008 ebx=000d6558 ecx=00000008 edx=7804093a
1999-04-01 16:22:13.78 spid7    esi=00000001 edi=00000000 eip=780348a4 esp=02f82f38
1999-04-01 16:22:13.78 spid7    ebp=02f83208 efl=00010203
1999-04-01 16:22:13.78 spid7    cs=1b ss=23 ds=23 es=23 fs=3b gs=0
1999-04-01 16:22:13.78 spid7    Input Buffer 393228 bytes -
...<query text>...
1999-04-01 16:22:31.64 spid7    Error: 0, Severity: 19, State: 0
1999-04-01 16:22:31.64 spid7    language_exec: Process 7 generated an access violation. SQL Server is terminating this process.

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