Question : Error Number (515) Severity (16) State (3)

Error Number (515) Severity (16) State (3)

"Attempt to insert NULL value into column 'ActualByPort', table '#tmp'; column does not allow nulls. Update fails.Command has been aborted."


We re getting this error on both our development and production boxes, but on production the job continues and finishes.  On development it does not.

Can someone explain this behaivor? Why does it finish in production?

Answer : Error Number (515) Severity (16) State (3)

leon,

I was going down a path similar to Joe.  When an issue occurs, we always look at the version(s) of the server(s).  However, you can see different behavior via the use of different trace flags on the same Sybase versions.  Do you have a copy of the run file from the various environments?  Are you the only dba that works on these systems?  If not, did your partner(s) adjust any traceflag(s)?  Sybase often recommends using various trace flags to adjust/ "fix" certain behavior at least until a patch(next EBF/version) comes out.  I know you mentioned that you dont have the ability to check this any longer.  In the future, you may want to check the OS version, Sybase version, and trace flags.  Of course, these are many things that need to be checked including the particulars of the system (Stored Procs, triggers, etc).

As an example I recently implemented the following, feel free to review Sybase et all for details.

If I wanted to set trace flags for enhanced remote optimization, I have the following options.

I can set it for myself  Dbcc traceon(11216)
I can set it for everyone Dbcc traceon(11216, -1)
I can set it in the run file.  In this case, I believe both -T11216 and  -T11217 would have worked.

11216 - disable enhanced remote optimization (spid)
11217 - disables enhanced remote optimization (global)

You can ignore the specifics of this trace flag.  The point being that trace flags can be set in the run file or on the fly.  In addition, these trace flags will cause different behavior on identical system (ie same solaris and sybase versions).  Therefore, you should verify the trace flag(s) on your systems.  Just one more thing to think about when things on your system go "wrong".

knel