Database Management

Issues After Upgrading to SQL Sentry 2026.1

In some environments with very large EventSourceHistoryDetail tables, SQL Sentry 2026.1 may log Execution Timeout Expired errors from LoadAllLocalMaxValues / EventHistoryMonitor.DoWork, which can lead to various combinations of issues.

First published date

3/27/2026 4:51 PM

Last published date

3/27/2026 5:17 PM

Overview

You may see one or more of the following symptoms after upgrading to SQL Sentry 2026.1. 

  1. Errors in SQL Sentry Logs

    In SqlSentry.Server.EventHistoryMonitor:

    • System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException (0x80131904): Execution Timeout Expired.

    • The timeout period elapsed prior to completion of the operation or the server is not responding.

    • Call stack referencing
      Intercerve.SqlSentry.Providers.EventSourceUtilities.LoadAllLocalMaxValues(...) and
      SqlSentry.Server.EventHistoryMonitor.SynchronizeHistory() / DoWork().

    In SqlSentry.Api.Server.DeviceConnectionStatusMonitor you may also see:

    • Message: Default connection is offline.

  2. Missing SQL Server Metrics

    For affected SQL Server targets:

    • Server-level metrics continue to collect.

    • In the rolling.logs, SqlSentry.Api.Server.DeviceConnectionStatusMonitor may show:

      • Message: Default connection is offline.

  3. Performance Impact

    • You may see increased resource utilization on the SQL Sentry Database server

  4. Event Chain and general Event Monitoring Inconsistencies 

    • Event Chains may not start or fully run as expected

    • History and alerting may be impacted for event sources such as Jobs, Deadlocks, Blocking, Top SQL, etc

 

Product section

SQL Sentry (SQLS)

Cause

To support SQL Server Agent job collection for Contained Availability Groups (CAG), SQL Sentry 2026.1 introduced new processes to handle the unique nuances related to monitoring Jobs in on a Contained Availability Groups (CAG).

The primary query related to these new processes has been found no not perform well in some environments based on data volume and event history distribution, which can result in the query reaching application timeout thresholds.

Resolution

Upgrade to Service Release 2026.1.5

2026.1.5 puts the problematic process in question behind the CAG feature flag (UseContainedAvailabilityGroupListeners), such that the potential issues in question should only arise if the feature flag has been enabled.

If already upgraded to 2026.1.5 and running into issues after enabling the CAG feature flag, the current best option is to simply delete the "UseContainedAvailabilityGroupListeners " feature flag row from the "FeatureFlag" table in the SQL Sentry DB. Please still log a support case for tracking and information gathering purposes towards further resolving the underlying issue.