SQL Server Error 4014: Know the Cause and Fix It!

Introduction

At the time of batch processing, SQL Server 2008 frequently shows a SQL error 4014 on screen and details of the message in event log is as below:

The error stated above suggest that there is some problem with the network due to which the data packets at the network are dropped. There are different reasons for which this error is recorded in the error log of SQL Server. The SQL Error 4014 error is mainly caused due to the TCP/IP Chimney Offload. Disabling this feature can give you solution to the problem.

With release of Microsoft Scalable Networking Pack (SNP), few features were launched that includes the TCP/IP Chimney, NetDMA, and the Receive Side Scaling (RSS). This isn’t the only error as users also try to fix Microsoft error 9003 as well. Let us discuss what they actually are.

Key Elements

• User Query
• TCP/IP Chimney Offload
• Receive Side Scaling
• Network Direct Memory Access
• Reasons of the Error
• Solution to Fix Error
• The Conclusion

SQL Server Error 4014 Common User Query

Let’s have a look at the user query in depth to know the concerns of users in real:

TCP/IP Chimney Offload

It is a networking technology that allows transferring the workload from CPU to the network adapter. It is made to take processing of the network.Users need to be aware of this in order to understand the error 4014 SQL server with ease.

Receive Side Scaling

It gives the facility of distributing the load from the network adaptor to the CPU that works with multiple processors.

Network Direct Memory Access offers the facility of discharging memory copy operation which is the job of networking subsystem.

You can check out all these services on system by running the following command: netsh int tcp show global

From the image,we can see how the activation/deactivation mode of the services can be checked out. If we talk about SQL 2008 and above versions, the TCP Chimney. To check out if the TCP Chimney offload is in functional state or not, run the command: netstat –t.

Network Direct Memory Access

NetDMA offers the services for offloading the memory copy task that the networking subsystem executes to a dedicated direct memory access (DMA) engine. That too while receiving the network packets.

Reason Behind SQL Error 4014

There can be a few causes of error: 4014, severity: 20, state: 11. in SQL server database. Let’s have a look at that in detail to proceed further.

The cause for SQL error 4014 is activation of TCP Chimney service running SQL 2005 instance on Windows Server 2003 service pack 2. And ideally, the service is meant for Windows Server 2003 scalable networking pack which is integrated with Win server 2003.

Fixing SQL Server Error 4014

Make sure that all latest updates are installed on the server machine. Check out if following updates are installed properly.

• The update for network adaptor. This comes under firmware or driver update section.
• The BIOS update for the server. This might need an update as a work around to the problem.

The above-mentioned hardware-related problems can be checked accordingly in order to fix the error 4014 error. But if there are no updates available, then you can recover SQL database and refresh the settings of server configuration.

Also Read: Various Scenarios to Handle SQL Server Error 983 Easily

Conclusion

Fatal error 4014 is caused due to the dissruption in network which result in drop in network packets. The error is captured due to the error in the error logs caused due to different reasons. Evidently, this blog discusses about the causes of this fatal error and what steps could be taken to fix this error.